Elenas pov Lykan didn’t flinch. He didn’t try to calm me or talk me down. He just looked at me. And in his eyes, I saw it as an unshakable truth. He wanted the same thing. “Then we kill him,” he said. “Together.” A sharp knock at the door broke the silence. Dominic’s voice filtered through, urgent but restrained. “Mira says the council’s gathering. They want to see Elena.” Lykan glanced at me. “You up for that?” I nodded once, wiping the last of my tears. “I’m done running. They need to hear what I saw. What’s coming.” He helped me to my feet, but I stood steady on my own. The ache in my bones, the heaviness in my chest, it was still there. But beneath it all, something new pulsed inside me. Resolve. Seraphine’s strength. The Blood Witch’s truth. The tree’s power. And my own fire, simmering just beneath the surface, waiting to burn. Lykan opened the door. The council chamber was thick with tension. I stood at the center, eyes locked on every leader, scout, and r
Elena pov A woman stood before me.Tall. Regal. Her skin glowed like it had been kissed by sunlight, warm, and golden. Her hair spilled down her back in soft waves of blonde, and her eyes Her eyes were violet.The same shade as mine.But older.Wiser.And brimming with hope. She wore a long white robe cinched at the waist. And behind her, the great white tree glowed, pulsing gently like a heartbeat—steady and ancient.“Hello, Elena,” she said softly like she had known me all my life.My lips parted. “Who are you?”A small smile tugged at her lips. “You already know.”I stared, heart, thudding painfully in my chest.“No…” I whispered. “You’re not…”“I am,” she said, stepping closer, her voice like lullabies wrapped in winter wind. “Seraphine. Your mother.”My knees nearly gave out. “This can’t be real.”“It’s real enough,” she said gently, reaching out. “You touched the tree. That’s how you came here. The same way I once did.”Her hand brushed against mine, and for a moment just a
Lykan pov “Elena!”I shook her harder, voice cracking as her body went limp in my arms. Her head rolled against my chest like a puppet whose strings had been cut, her skin growing clammy by the second.“Elena, gods wake up,” I begged, brushing her hair back. “Come on, baby. Stay with me. Please.”No response.Her breathing was shallow. Too shallow.“Dominic!” I roared. “Get Mira. Now!”He didn’t ask questions. Just vanished in a blur of shadow.I carried her back to the bed, every step agonizing. Her body felt light—too light. Like the soul inside her was fading fast.“Stay with me,” I whispered, laying her down. “Come on, Elena. Just open your eyes. Give me something.”Still nothing.“Where’s Mira?” I growled toward the doorway.“I’m here!” she burst in a second later, arms full of vials and pouches, two rebel healers trailing behind her. “What happened?”“She collapsed,” I choked out. “One second she was talking, then she just dropped. She’s not waking up. Eira isn’t responding eit
Elenas pov The calmness in her voice frightened me.It wasn’t just the words. It was the way she said them softly, easily, like she was discussing the weather or which tea to drink. Like the destruction of an entire bloodline was just another chess move.She wasn’t sorry.She didn’t regret it.She did what she did to survive.Her hollow eyes bore into mine, dark as void, ancient as time.“I do apologize,” she said, her fingers idly sliding another checker across the board. “But I’m not sorry.”A chill slid down my spine.“In this world, it’s survival of the fittest.”“Only the strong shall live,” I finished for her, voice quieter than I meant.Her lips curved slightly, as if pleased.“I thought the Moirea would win,” she continued, eyes flickering with something unreadable. “Your pack had always been different. Special. Blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. That kind of power doesn’t just vanish. So it surprised me when they lost.”She leaned back in her chair, studying me now instead
Elenas pov I stared at her. What did she mean I was the key. "Let's start the game for every time you win, I'll answer a question; how about that ." She stopped what she was playing and restarted the game. "You said you would tell me a story." I looked consciously at her."Don't worry, I'm not backing out." She smiled so warmly. She looked nothing like the blood moon that I saw last time. She made her move first. "Long ago when the world was created. They were magical creatures and human, we all lived in harmony and were not afraid of the other." She played again, and I placed mine above hers. "Witches were the most hated cause we were considered the weakest, which is weird, but we all continued living together, and then the humans became paranoid and jealous. They wondered why they were not given any power and started hunting us creatures down. " She ate two of my pieces with one move, I was horrible at checkers. "We creatures were few, and we also did not get along with ou
Elenas pov Lykan carried me into the room. Dropping me on the bed I stood up from the bed staring at him. "You need sleep, Elena." His voice was low. He was right. I did need sleep, but I couldn’t sleep when war was coming. My head had been hurting lately. But this time, it was worse. I couldn’t feel myself. “My eyes… they feel heavy,” I murmured, the words slipping past my lips like fog, my voice barely audible. “Lykan… something’s wrong.” My legs buckled beneath me. My body went cold from the inside out. “Elena?” his voice rose sharply. “Elena—hey—stay with me!” I could feel him grab me before I hit the ground, his arms wrapping around me, holding me close. His scent pine, warmth, and home surrounded me, but I couldn’t breathe it in. I couldn’t speak. I was slipping. Falling. ‘Eira?’ I reached for her desperately. ‘Eira, answer me… please' But all I got was silence. A terrifying, suffocating silence. And then nothing. --- The world around me was wrong. T