The dark night was coming to an end.
Soft gray light diffused in the sky as the morning began breaking through.
Smoke still hung in the air. It uncoiled slowly upwards from fires that had smoldered throughout the attack.
Ash and burnt wood clogged Elaine's nose. She felt sick to her stomach. With every breath came a bit of panic, unsure if she saved lives or prolonged the suffering of others and hers.
She looked at her hands. Chains, thick and heavy, wrapped around her wrists. Metal was cold, and it dug into her skin, leaving a red bruise.
She looked around her.
Her chest tightened. Her pack, wolves she'd grown up with, chained.
Their eyes expressed fear and pain. Some lay on the ground, shaking and broken. Others were being herded toward one another like animals, to be swept away as captives.
Elaine's gut twisted.
A hand that was very strong went around her, pulling her arms back. King Kael's hands.
The touch jolted her back to reality. She had envisioned his touch would be cold, harsh, frightening. But his hands were warm. Too warm.
Her heart beat increased from the shock.
Was this the connection pulling her towards him when she needed to get away? Her body reacted before her mind could. She almost leaned into the warmth involuntarily. The comfort it gave shocked her.
"Go," he directed. He brought her slightly nearer him. His low, rumbling voice was hushed and oddly gentle. "Go and say goodbye."
Elaine looked up at him.
There was confusion on his face, too. For a moment, something nearly human showed through the cold mask that was all over his face.
She was not ready. Her chest squeezed shut. She was filled with fury, fear, and strange fascination with this unexpected kindness all at once.
"We leave in ten minutes," he said, stepping back.
The warmth of his hands lingered on her.
She swallowed, and she turned away. She walked toward where her father still laid on the ground.
A pack healer sat next to him, trying to stop the bleeding. He waved his hands in patterns over King Arthur's wounds, speaking incantations to close them up.
As soon as Arthur saw her, his silver eyes widened.
He got to his feet, swaying a little, and enveloped her in his arms. The strength of his hold soothed her shaking body.
"You did your best," he said to her. His own voice was proud and incredibly fatigued.
Tears rolled down Elaine's cheeks before she could stop them.
"Father, I'm sorry," she breathed. She pressed her face into his chest, drawing in the familiar smell of smoke, leather, and something else she'd known all her life. Safety. Her shoulders heaved as gasps filled her throat.
"You did your best to protect your people, even if it cost you a chance to be free" he told her firmly. His hand on her back kept her upright. "You are a true hero."
She leaned her running face to look at him. Her eyes were filled with pain.
"But. What if it's not enough? What if."
"Enough, Elaine!" He cut her off gently, though his silver eyes burned with passion.
"Look, you must live. That cannot be debated. You will live and save the whole of Wolfland, and failing is not an option."
He leaned in closer, as if to wrap her in a hug once more. But he spoke softly in her ear instead, his breath stroking her temple.
"Don't take off the necklace. He can't find out who you really are. Contact will be made."
Elaine went stiff. The words stuck in her head like a puzzle she couldn't solve.
Her father had already done everything he could for this. Already?!
The suggestion whirled her head. But she didn't doubt it. Not now. Staying alive was the only thing.
Maybe he always just knew there was a probability of being captured, she dismissed the thought.
She nodded in agreement to her father.
The necklace weighed heavily on her chest. The small, secret burden of it kept her grounded even amidst all this destruction.
Before she could find her voice for an answer, a firm fist closed around her arm.
One of King Kael's soldiers pulled her away, gently, but firmly towards a waiting black carriage.
The chains were unbolted. Her hands were freed. The chains clanged on the ground with a harsh ringing of metal.
She climbed into the carriage.
Her muscles ached from the morning strain. Each step was burdensome with fatigue and grief.
Elaine fell into the seat facing King Kael.
The carriage was quiet. The wheels rolled over the stone streets with soft creaking sounds.
She gazed at him across the thin space between them. presence swamped her; broad, unsettling, and yet… something else.
Something soft danced in the lines of his face, in the angles of his jaw as he regarded her.
"I thought I was your prisoner," she said, yanking the words out harshly and bitterly. Her voice shook despite her attempts to get tough.
"You can't escape," he replied. The words had been spoken more growl than threat, but with an edge that curled her stomach.
There was a stillness between them.
Behind the carriage walls, she could hear distant echoes of shouts far-off and yelling of guards and captives.
Elaine met his gaze. She saw the questions in them, the questions in her own. Questions that gnawed at her. Questions she feared speaking. Fears she dreaded speaking.
How? How could there be such a connection? What of the myths passed down through the ages, the curse, his path to the power he holds?
Her mind spun, racing through everything she had ever been taught.
All the warnings. All the prophecies. All the tales told in fear at pack councils. And still. he stood there.
Her fingers fluttered in her lap, grazing against the wrist where the chains had been.
Her head recalled the heaviness of them, the jolt of cold metal against her skin, and made her grateful for the little freedom her hands had gained.
Her chest tightened and her heart pounded.
The binding, whatever it was, beat beneath her skin like a rhythm not hers.
She wanted to recoil, to scream, to run. But the recollection of his hands, his warmth, froze her.
King Kael's gaze did not release hers.
There was curiosity in the sharp furrow of his lips. A glimmer of something almost vulnerable behind the passionate flame of his eyes.
Elaine wondered if he felt it too… the strange tug of the connection, the magnetic pull that made her uncomfortable.
"You're quiet," he finally spoke up. His voice was low, verging on normal speech. "Do you always think so much?"
Elaine's lips compressed. The tension coiled itself tighter within her.
"Do you think I'll be nice?" she whispered, looking at the tips of her fingers lying in her lap.
"No," he answered gruffly. He leaned back a bit deeper in his chair but continued to look at her like a predator.
A shiver ran down her spine. Half from the cold of the morning. Half from the strange sensitivity of him in ways she couldn't explain.
"Stop," she panted. Her voice trembled over itself. "Please, stop staring at me like that."
He tilted his head. His eyes slanted so she gasped for breath.
"I don't take orders from you," he said. His voice was silky, icy. He sounded angry, but his face didn't portray it, looking calm.
Her hands gripped the fabric of her dress. Her knuckles went white. "I'm sorry." Her voice shook as she fought to keep her tears inside.
She pulled her head up slightly. She caught a glimpse of him, and he appeared to need to say something. His eyes appeared to hold something behind them.
She wanted to recoil, to run away, to deny it all. But reality was there was nowhere to run.
The bond had chosen them both. It had been undeniable the moment the golden strand tied her to him.
Elaine's mind spun.
The weight of morning crushed her. All the lost lives. All the cries. Every moment of devastation played over shut eyes.
And still, she sat tied by invisible strings she couldn't untie now.
King Kael moved position. His eyes softened just enough to leave her more off-balance.
Elaine sat, baffled, confused. How could the moon goddess set them as mates when she was meant to destroy him?
She shook her head gently, trying to push the thoughts away.
No. This couldn't be happening. All of this couldn't.
And yet the tie throbbed, unmistakable and irresistible, an implicit drumbeat neither could stop.
Elaine folded her hands in her lap. She glanced at him once more.
For an instant, the carriage was absurdly small. The world outside was distilled to smoke, ash, and dying light.
She breathed out a gasp she'd not even realized she was holding. Her body trembled with a blend of terror, rage, and mind-boggling confusion that left her unsteady.
The bond was real.
Far too real.
King Kael's eyes pinned hers in such a fashion that there was no escape.
The question hung between them, unspoken but weighty…
How? How could the moon goddess have matched them,to be mates? What about the curse and the prophecy?
Elaine's head spun. She did not dare ask the question.
She sat before King Kael. Chained though not physical, at his mercy till she found a way to fight free.
She remembered what her father had said and questioned if she would ever hear from him again.
She had so many questions to ask him…
What comes next?
What is the plan?
How is she going to defeat Lycan King Kael Drogo?