Chapter 4

– ELIRA –

"Is she dead yet?"

"Still breathing, want me to smother her?"

"No, let the poison finish her."

I kept my eyes shut tight, tried not to breathe too loud. The voices were right above me.

I could hear the footsteps walking away and then the door banged shut.

I waited for a while, counted slowly to one hundred, then opened my eyes.

Stared around, nobody there, just me and the cold stone floor.

The broken cup lay next to my head, the pieces of glass everywhere.

I should be dead, the poison should have killed me, but here I was, still breathing and still alive.

My throat hurts badly, like I swallowed fire, my stomach twisted badly and cramped, it was better, at least I wasn't dead.

Why?

I picked up a piece of the cup, it still smelled bitter, like death and something else I couldn't name.

Someone tried to murder me and failed.

I stuffed the glass piece in my dress pocket, maybe I could find out who did this.

Then I looked at my hands and almost screamed, black marks covered my skin. Twisting lines like vines, they went up my arms and disappeared under my sleeves.

What the hell was happening to me?

I'd never seen these before, they weren't there yesterday, now they covered me like tattoos.

Wait, I'd seen marks like this before, on someone else.

The Alpha King! He had dark marks on his arms too.

What did this mean? Why did I have them now? I needed answers. Do the signs mean I'm forever a maid in his pack?

****

The castle had a big library, I'd seen it when I cleaned the halls, huge wooden doors with iron locks.

Servants weren't allowed inside. Martha told us that on my first day. "Touch those books and you die."

But I was already supposed to be dead, what was one more rule?

I waited until midnight when the guards changed places, when everyone slept.

The library door was locked but working here taught me things. How to pick locks with hairpins, how to walk without making noise.

Click, the door opened.

Inside were shelves full of books, hundreds of them, all thick and old and covered in dust.

I looked for anything about bloodlines, about wolves, about marks like mine.

One book caught my eye. "The Lost Wolves of Valdris."

I pulled it down and opened it, the first page had a drawing, a huge wolf with silver eyes. Black marks covered its whole body just like mine.

I read as fast as I could.

"The Valdris bloodline was the strongest of all wolf families. They could heal from anything, see the future, control other wolves with their minds."

My hands shook as I turned pages.

"But the other packs were scared of them, called them cursed, dangerous. So they hunted the Valdris down and killed most of them while the rest went into hiding."

More pictures, more wolves with silver eyes and black marks.

"To keep their children safe, some Valdris parents locked their wolves away, sealed the power deep inside. The child would seem normal, weak, until something broke the seal."

Sealed away, that was me.

I wasn't broken, I wasn't missing my wolf, my wolf was trapped inside me, waiting to get out.

"The seals break from big trauma, almost dying or being near another Valdris bloodline."

Another Valdris, like the Alpha King?

Was that why the marks showed up? Because I was close to him?

I kept reading.

"When a sealed Valdris starts to wake up, the family marks appear on their skin. Black lines that get stronger as the wolf gets ready to come out."

The marks on my arms got warm, like they knew I was reading about them.

I was Valdris, from the most feared wolf family in history.

No wonder someone wanted me dead.

I snuck back to my room, my head spun with everything I'd learned.

This explained so much, why Garrick threw me away, why Serina betrayed me, why I lived through things that should have killed me.

I had dangerous blood, power that scared people.

But who else knew? Who figured it out before I did?

The next night, I was cleaning near Kael's office, the door was open with just a crack. I heard men talking inside.

"Tomorrow night, during the guard change." A deep voice I knew.

"You sure about this, Marcus?" Another man asked.

Marcus, one of Kael's best fighter, big guy with scars all over his face.

"The Alpha King is getting soft, weak, it's time for new leadership."

My blood went cold, they were planning to kill Kael.

"What about the servant girl? The new one?"

"Her? She's nobody, just a weak omega with no wolf."

If only they knew.

"We will kill Kael tomorrow night, make it look like an accident, then I will take over."

I backed away from the door, my heart pounded so loud I thought they'd hear it.

I had to warn Kael, even if he hated me, even if he thought I was lying.

He let me live when he could have killed me, I owed him.

I found him in the great hall sitting alone at the big table, a cup of wine in his hand.

He looked up when I walked over, those silver eyes stared at me.

"You don't belong here, servant."

"I know but I have to tell you something important."

"Servants don't speak unless I ask them to."

"Marcus wants to kill you tomorrow night when the guards change."

The words rushed out of my mouth, his face didn't change at all.

"Marcus? My most trusted warrior?"

"I heard him talking to another man, he thinks you're weak and he wants to take your place."

Kael put down his wine cup real slow like he was thinking hard.

Then he laughed, but it wasn't a nice laugh, it was cold and mean.

"You want me to believe you? A nobody omega with no wolf? Over Marcus who's served me for fifty years?"

The words hurt like a punch, right, I was nothing, a nobody, just a broken girl making up stories.

"You think because I didn't kill you, you can come here and lie about my men?"

"I'm not lying!"

"Marcus has been loyal to me longer than you've been alive." He stood up, all seven feet of him towering over me. "Why would I trust you?"

He was right, why would anyone trust me?

I was just an omega with no wolf, no power, no reason for anyone to believe me.

"I heard them talking. I swear it's true—"

"Tell me something, Elira." His voice got quiet and dangerous. "What do you know about your mother?"

The question surprised me. "She died when I was born, that's all I know."

He stepped closer, his silver eyes seemed to glow.

"And your father? Your family?"

"I don't know, the pack raised me, they said someone left me there as a baby."

"Left you there." He said it like he didn't believe me. "How interesting."

What did he know that I didn't?

"Get out!" he shouted. "Before I decide to kill you!"

I walked backward to the door, my face burned with shame.

Of course he didn't believe me, why would he?

I was a nobody just like everyone always told me.

But when I got to the door, I heard him say something under his breath.

"Valdris were always bad liars."

Valdris.

He knew what I was, where I came from.

And he still didn't believe me about Marcus.

Tomorrow night, Marcus would try to kill him and it would be my fault for not making him listen.

Just like everything else in my life, when it mattered most, I failed.

The marks on my arms burned like fire, like my trapped wolf was trying to break free.

But it was too late, I was still just a weak omega girl.

And tomorrow, the Alpha King would die because I couldn't save him.

Just like I couldn't save my baby, just like I couldn't save my marriage, just like I couldn't save myself.

I was cursed to watch everyone around me get hurt while I stayed powerless to stop it. The marks pulsed harder. Something was trying to wake up inside me, but would it be in time to matter? Or would I lose someone else I... cared about?

But maybe I didn't have to stay weak, just maybe I could do something about it. I made up my mind right there. Starting tonight, I will train, fight, learn to be strong with or without my wolf.

Kael thought I was just a weak omega, everyone did. But I had Valdris blood in me, that had to count for something.

I'd seen the guards practicing in the courtyard after dark, sword fighting, hand to hand combat. If I watched them enough, I could learn their moves.

And when they went to war - because there was always war somewhere - I'd follow them. Fight alongside them in secret, get stronger, get better. Not just to prove Kael wrong about me being weak, but for something bigger.

Someday Kael would let me go, send me away when my usefulness ends. And when that day came, I'd be ready, ready to go back to Garrick's pack. Ready to make him pay for everything he did to me, the rejection, the betrayal, my baby that died in the mud because of him.

Garrick threw me away like trash, Serina stabbed me in the back, they thought I was nothing, they were wrong. And I was going to show them just how wrong they were.