Chapter 5

Something was tickling my cheek.

It felt like…sticks? No. Fingers.

My eyes snapped open and I jumped to my feet, my claws extended.

There were three men in the room. All Alphas.

Strong ones.

Crap.

I lowered my hands, bowing until I was almost at ninety degrees. “Can you tell me why I am here?”

“She sure changed her tune quick,” one of them joked and then yelped in pain after a smack.

“We found you collapsed on our borders. Our rangers shot at you. They thought you were a rogue.”

The events of the last twenty-four hours flooded into my mind.

Picking the lock. Running and jumping over the pack wall.

My heart sped up in pure joy.

I did it. I escaped from Blackwood.

“Will I be allowed to leave your pack?” I asked.

“That depends.”

I looked into his eyes for the first time. “On what?”

He blinked slowly, staring so intently at me that I nearly forgot what we were talking about. “What our Alpha decides.”

My spine stiffened. His Alpha?

“You are not the Alpha?” I looked between the three of them, hoping this was a joke.

Alphas were stubborn, headstrong beings. Having one bend to another was unprecedented.

Having three of their caliber?

The man must be a beast.

“You have no reason to be afraid. Our Alpha is a merciful man,” the second one said.

I lowered myself to the bed, wrapping my arms around my body. Maybe if I made myself look small enough, they would let me go.

“Are you well enough to walk?” the third one said, already helping out of bed.

Just my luck.

“What is your name?” the first one asked as he led me out of the room.

“Elara Bla…Vale. Elara Vale.”

They froze in unison, turning first to each other and then to me.

The first one advanced me slowly. “Do you know your parents’ names?”

My feet rooted in place in the ground. Answer the damn question, Elara.

“Gideon and Carla Vale. That was all I was told at the orphanage,” I whispered.

His hands shook as he held my shoulders. “May I?”

Why was he tugging at my shirt?

He gave his brothers a look, and they stripped their shirts at the same time, revealing matching birthmarks on their shoulders.

A crescent moon.

I lowered my hands and let him tug my collar to the side to reveal my shoulder. The same mark rested on it as it had for as long as I could remember.

“Sister,” he whispered.

He pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, sniffing in my scent like it was the last thing he would do on Earth.

His brothers swarmed me on both sides, suffocating me in their hug.

What the hell? I have brothers?

The first one pulled back, a million emotions running through his eyes. “We have been looking all over for you since Mum and Dad died…wait, why do you feel so weak? You have not awakened your powers. We need to take you to the mystic forest to meet–”

“Cain, slow down. She doesn’t even know our names yet. I am Ronan,” the second one introduced himself.

“This is Cain and Leo,” he said, pointing to the first and the third respectively.

“We are your brothers,” Leo said.

I glanced between three of them. They were in their wolf state so often that their canines were now longer and sharper than a human’s should be.

“This does not make any sense.”

Leo hugged me from behind, resting his chin on my head. “Why? We are your family.”

“But–”

“What is taking so long to bring the intruder?” a voice boomed behind us.

My knees buckled. If Leo had not been holding me, I would have fallen.

“We found Elara. Our sister,” Ronan explained. “Ellie, say hi.”

I could barely focus over the sweet pine scent that was invading my senses. No way.

Removing Leo’s hands from me, I turned around.

He was staring at me as well, his lips slightly parted. The moment I looked into his golden eyes, it felt like everything had become right with the world.

My mate.

Suddenly, he blinked and started walking away. “I am sure you need your time to bond.”

Cain was giving me a weird look. “We were hoping to go into the mystic forest to see Adaira.”

My mate paused and then sped up. “Be careful.”

I stared for long after he was gone.

“What was that?” Cain asked, snapping me out of my daydreaming.

My cheeks were flushed, my heart running a mile a minute.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry. Let us go.”

“Right now?” I asked.

I barely knew them and they were whisking me away somewhere.

“The earlier the better. Besides, it would be easier for you to find out more about our background from the healer.”

It was nighttime.

Maybe it was because I was still recovering, but I could barely see through the dark windows of the car.

In the silence, my mind traveled back to my mate.

Wavy, black hair. Golden eyes. That air of confidence around him that bordered on arrogance.

He definitely kept his energy hidden but I could still feel it.

He was their Alpha. The beast who was able to keep three other Alphas as his subordinates.

“We are here,” Ronan announced as he parked. “We would have to walk from here.”

Leo got out of the car and squatted in front of me. “Get on my back. I will carry you, Ellie.”

Ellie. I loved the way they said it.

After moving along a path for some time, we emerged in a large grass clearing.

At the center of it was a small, dark cabin with soft lights coming through the windows.

Ronan went ahead.

“Adaira, we came to visit…oh, you have guests.”

My fingers dug into Leo’s shoulders as I stared into the house.

He glanced back. “Ellie, what’s wrong?”

Asher and Lillian.

How had they found me?