Watched from the Shadows

Elsa’s POV

Months had passed since the night Caleb nearly broke me. The bruises faded, the welts healed, but the scars beneath my skin the ones no one could see remained.

I told myself I was stronger now, that I wouldn’t cry or bend again. Every day, I forced myself to wake, to work, to push past the whispers that followed me. Pity. Scorn. Mockery. They had never seen me as anything else, and part of me wondered if they ever would.

Still, I survived. That had to mean something.

The morning began like any other. I was sweeping the steps outside the packhouse, trying to ignore the cold that bit into my fingers, when a shrill voice cut through the air like a blade.

“Well, if it isn’t the little orphan girl, pretending to be useful again.”

Crystal.

I stiffened but didn’t look up. I’d learned long ago that reacting only fed her cruelty. She thrived on the attention, on the way others bent under her venomous tongue.

Unfortunately, ignoring her rarely stopped her.

“Didn’t you hear me?” she sneered, stepping closer. “Or are you deaf as well as pathetic? Maybe Caleb hit you harder than I thought.”

Her words dug under my skin, but I gripped the broom tighter and kept sweeping. If I snapped, she’d win.

A hush rippled through the courtyard, and I realized a few pack members had stopped to watch. Crystal smiled when she noticed them. An audience. That was all she ever wanted.

She bent suddenly, snatching the broom from my hands and tossing it to the ground. “Honestly, do you even know how to do anything right? Caleb’s been far too kind letting you linger here, dragging everyone else down.”

I clenched my jaw, refusing to rise to the bait.

But then she did something worse. She tipped over a basket of laundry sitting nearby, scattering clean clothes into the mud. Gasps rose from the onlookers, and Crystal raised her voice, making sure everyone could hear.

“Look at this! She can’t even keep up with basic chores. Useless. Lazy. And she calls herself a pack member?”

“I didn’t…” I started, but Crystal cut me off.

“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t, Elsa. You always play the victim. Always waiting for someone else to clean up after you.”

The crowd’s murmurs grew louder. Some looked at me with suspicion, others with pity. Heat crawled up my neck, anger burning in my chest. I wanted to scream that I hadn’t touched the basket, that she had done it on purpose. But would anyone believe me?

Crystal crouched suddenly, scooping up one of the soiled shirts and holding it up for everyone to see. “This belongs to Caleb,” she said sweetly, her eyes glinting with triumph. “Ruined, thanks to her.”

My stomach dropped.

Of course. Caleb. She had set this up perfectly.

As if summoned by his name, the crowd parted, and Caleb strode into the courtyard. His presence was magnetic, pulling every gaze toward him. Tall, composed, dangerous. My breath caught despite myself.

Crystal rushed forward, holding up the ruined shirt like evidence in a trial. “Caleb! Look at what she’s done. Again. She’s careless, disrespectful. You keep protecting her, but she doesn’t deserve it.”

The courtyard went silent. Everyone waited for his reaction.

I stood frozen, my hands trembling at my sides. My wolf clawed inside me, urging me to speak, to defend myself. But my voice felt trapped in my throat.

Caleb’s eyes moved slowly, first to Crystal, then to the muddy shirt, and finally to me. The weight of his gaze pinned me in place. Cold. Measuring. Unreadable.

For a long moment, he said nothing. The tension was unbearable, stretching thinner with every heartbeat.

Then, at last, his voice cut through the silence.

“Enough.”

Crystal blinked, startled. “But…Caleb, she…”

“I said enough.” His tone was sharp, commanding, and even she flinched.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Crystal’s face twisted in indignation, but she swallowed it quickly, bowing her head. “Of course. Forgive me, Alpha.”

Relief should have filled me, but it didn’t. His eyes shifted back to me, colder than the snowstorm I had once run through. There was no defense in his gaze, no protection only warning.

He stepped closer, his voice low enough that only I could hear. “I don’t care what Crystal says. But make no mistake, Elsa…if you embarrass me again, no one will be able to save you.”

My heart pounded painfully. He turned and walked away, leaving me standing in the center of the crowd, humiliated and shaking.

Crystal shot me a venomous glare before following him, her lips curving into a victorious smile.

The crowd slowly dispersed, whispering as they went. Some threw me sympathetic looks, others disdainful, but none dared speak to me.

I knelt silently, gathering the muddy clothes with trembling hands. My back screamed with every movement, but I gritted my teeth, refusing to let the tears fall. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

As I worked, I felt something a prickle at the back of my neck, the unmistakable sensation of being watched. I froze, my eyes scanning the edges of the courtyard.

There, at the far corner, half-hidden in the shadows of the trees, stood a figure.

Tall. Still. Familiar.

My breath caught.

It was him. The stranger from the snowstorm. The man whose words had haunted me ever since. If you want revenge, survive. If you want freedom, fight.

He leaned casually against the trunk of a tree, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. But his eyes they were fixed entirely on me. Watching. Measuring. Waiting.

A shiver ran down my spine. Why was he here? Why now? And what did he want from me?

Before I could blink, he pushed away from the tree, melting back into the shadows until he was gone.

I sat there in the dirt, my hands gripping the ruined clothes, my heart racing.

Caleb had humiliated me. Crystal had framed me. The crowd had judged me.

But the stranger…

He had come back.

And I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.