Chapter 4

Elaina

Some sixth sense jolted me awake. I peel my eyelids open just to see the morning sun, casting a warm glow on my face through the slightly opened window. The curtains wafted softly from the gentle breeze seeping in.

A soft smile tugged on my lips, but it wasn't the beauty of the rising sun that made me smile. It was the small tingles that pulsed through my core, sending waves of pleasure submerging into my entire body. A stark reminder of last night’s encounter.

It all happened last night. My first sex.

The thought hit me hard like a slap, my heart beginning to pound against my ribs. I slowly sat up, clutching the sheets to my body as fragments of last night’s memory begin to flood my mind—his touch, his masculine voice, his mysterious eyes that glowed faintly in the dark.

The stranger.

My breath caught. What in the goddess’s name have I done?

The reminder that this morning was my mating ceremony also felt like a weight crushing my chest. I was supposed to be mated to Darien, the proud Alpha of the silver-wood pack. The man I barely know and certainly didn’t want to be with.

And yet, I’ve successfully given myself to a stranger.

At first, i’d convince myself that it was revenge. That sleeping with someon else would ruin Darien’s pride, that he’d never want me if he knew I wasn’t pure. But now, in the light of this morning, that justification burned with shame.

Still, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about him. The stranger. The way the warmth of his skin soothed me. The way his touch had felt so familiar, almost fated. His scent still lingered everywhere—on me, on the sheets. It feels so intoxicating, it’s teasing my senses.

“What do I miss you?” I whispered to no one.

I pressed my palm against my chest, my heartbeat was steady and yet strange as if something deep within me had shifted overnight. I drew in a sharp intake of air ro steady, to prepare for the worst day of my life, but the moment air enters my nostrils, I froze.

My eyes sealed shut as an overwhelming flood of scent assaulted me. It felt as if I could smell everything all at once—the smell of honey glaze being poured onto bread in the kitchen, the smell of dew on grass, and even the faint musky scent of our pack wolves patrolling the borders. My body trembled, my heart hammering faster with each breath.

What was happening to me?

My hearing sharpened next, so sharp I could hear faint conversations happening down the corridor. Someone dropped a tray in the kitchen, and someone else was laughing in the courtyard.

My head spun like a carriage wheel. My body felt like it was burning from the inside out. And just then, just when panic begin to claw at my throat, I heard something. A voice, soft and deep, whispering in my head.

“I’m here now,” it said.

Before I could even make sense of what just happened, heavy footsteps rushed towards my door, and it was forcefully swung open with a crash.

Melissa stood at the threshold, her face etched with fury as two warriors flanked her sides.

“Elaina,” she spat, her eyes burning holes into me. “What have you done, you brat?”

I blinked, confused as I clutched the blanket around myself. “What are you talking about?”

Her lips curled into a devilish sneer. “Don’t you dare play dumb with me. The scent of that intruder hybrid is all over this room! It’s everywhere—it’s all over you!” She then turned to the tow warriors. “You smell it too, don’t you?”

They both nodded, one of them growling lowly.

A cold shiver rushed down my spine. Hybrid?

Melissa crossed the room in quick strides, her expression twisted in nothing but disgust. “You are a traitor, do you know that?” She shook her head. “On the morning of your mating ceremony, you dare to lie with one of those abominations? You dare to bring shame to the entire pack. To your father!”

I shook my head. “I—No! I didn’t—” the words tangled in my throat as I tried to speak. My mind raced back to the stranger’s glowing eyes, his voice, his scent. Could he truly have been—?

I didn’t get a chance to finish that thought when Melissa snapped her fingers. “Seize her,” she yelled.

The warriors moved instantly as if they were mind-controlled, grabbing me with rough hands.

“Melissa, please,” I found myself crying, struggling. You don’t understand—”

“Oh, I understand perfectly,” her voice was sharp with triumph. “I understand that you still haven’t learned to call me mother, and I also understand that you’ve betrayed the pack. And now, you will face you father and the council.”

The warriors grips were unyielding as they dragged me towards the door. The blanket was the only thing shielding whatever divinity I may have left. My feets slapped against the hall as they pulled me down the hall.

In the council chamber—the same room where I’d protested last night—tension filled the air like smoke. The piercing gaze of several wolves glared down at me. Disgust was etched on their faces, and my father was no different. He watched me quietly, his lips pressed in a thin line as Melissa massaged his shoulders from behind his throne.

For some reason, Alpha Darien was also present in the room. He exchanged quick glances with Melissa, and I seem to be the only one who notices their lust and betrayal.

Alpha stone, my father, releases a long breath, shakes his head as if he’s disappointed, then frantically taps his fingers on the armrest of his throne.

“I feed you, clothe you, and take good care of you, Elaina,” he started, disappointment weighing heavy in his tone. “Ever since your mother passed, I’ve done everything I can to protect and make you a better person……despite you being wolfless.”

The words sting to hear it coming from him. “….father, I can explain. It’s not what you think. This stranger…he…used some kind of magic on me….”

He scoffed before interrupting me. “Listen to how pathetic you sound. You disgraced me, Elaina. You’ve tarnished my great name, looked down on the sacred policies of this pack, and spat on it. You’ve broken an important rule, and you’ll surely face the consequences. Having contact with a hybrid is enough to brutally punish a wolf, let alone sleep with one.”

Guilt mixed with looming fear claw at my insides, breaking down any wall of innocence I might subconsciously be trying to build.

The heat of the room seemed to rapidly increase and the sound of my thumping heart was pulsing into my ears. My back was slightly exposed as I clutched the blanket to my chest, tight as though it was the only shield I had left to protect myself.

“Forgive me for the intrusion, Alpha,” one of the pack elders raises his hand, and my father nods for him to continue. “But, may I remind you that according to our pack’s policy, any wolf that becomes intimate with a hybrid is meant to be punished by death? And since your daughter here is the perpetrator, is she going to be executed for her crime?”

My lungs seized, and I struggled to find my breath the moment the elder asked his last question. Execution? Death? The latter was what tragically took my mother from me many years back, and now, I’m being threatened with the possibility of reuniting with my mother in the afterlife.

“No,” my father said, his voice firm. “I can’t be responsible for the death of my own blood. My own daughter. Her mother’s souls would haunt me and never forgive me.”

I felt a flicker of hope rise inside me, but before it could grow, he coldly added, “But I also cannot allow a tool of the enemy to remain under my roof, or within the vicinity of my pack. From this moment forward, Elaina is no longer a daughter of creekwood. Most importantly, she is no longer my daughter. She is to be banished from this pack, and should never return.”

My breath caught. “Father, please—”

“Take her away,” he barked, not even meeting my eyes. “She’s stripped off her title as the princess, her honor and name is nothing but air now. From this moment, she is nothing to creekwood.”

“Father!” My voice cracked, tears streaming down my face. “Please—”

But my pleas fell into deaf ears. He stood and turned his back to me. “Remove her. Now. I can’t bare to look at her anymore.”

And just like that, I was hurled out of the pack house, escorted out of the pack with nothing but blanket to cover me from the cold. They tossed me out the border gate. My feet sink into dirt as I stumble don the cold ground.

“By the Alpha’s decree,” one of the warriors said sternly, “you are banished from the creekwood territory. Set one foot into this soil again, and we will finish what your father spared you from.”