Chapter 5: When the Moon Calls

Elara 

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Kael didn't let me go. Not in the lobby, not in the elevator, not even when we reached his penthouse. 

He held me like I was precious, breakable, and I hated how much I needed it.

"I should fire you," he said against my hair.

I pulled back. "What?"

"Being my assistant puts a target on your back. Your family, the rogues, the pack elders—they're all circling because of me." His jaw clenched. "You'd be safer away from me."

"Don't." I pressed my hand to his chest, feeling his heart race beneath my palm. "Don't push me away to protect me. I'm so tired of people deciding what's best for me."

"Even when they're right?"

"Especially then." I met his molten gaze. "I'm not running. Not from my family, not from whatever supernatural politics you're dealing with, and definitely not from you."

Something fierce and possessive flared in his eyes. "You have no idea what you're agreeing to."

"Then show me."

The air between us crackled. His hand came up to cup my face, thumb tracing my cheekbone with devastating gentleness. "If I kiss you right now, I won't stop. My wolf is barely contained, and you smell like everything I've ever wanted."

Heat pooled low in my belly. "Maybe I don't want you to stop."

He groaned, his control visibly fracturing. "Elara—"

"Show me," I whispered. "Show me what it means to be your mate."

He snapped.

His mouth claimed mine with desperate hunger, and I melted into him, all the fear and adrenaline from the night transforming into need. He lifted me easily, my legs wrapping around his waist as he carried me through the penthouse. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was reckless, dangerous, exactly what I shouldn't do.

I didn't care.

He laid me on his bed—soft sheets, his scent everywhere—and the reverence in his touch undid me. "Tell me to stop," he breathed against my throat. "Tell me this is wrong."

"It probably is." I pulled him closer. "Kiss me anyway."

He did. Again and again, his hands mapping my curves like he was memorizing every inch. And for the first time in my life, I didn't feel the need to hide my body, to apologize for my softness. The way he touched me, looked at me—like I was a goddess instead of the fat girl my family pitied—made me feel powerful.

"Perfect," he murmured against my skin. "You're so fucking perfect."

Then his phone rang. 

"Ignore it," I gasped.

"I can't." He rolled away with a vicious curse, answering with a snarl. "What?"

I couldn't hear the other side, but his expression went from frustrated to furious to terrified in seconds.

"How long? Why wasn't I informed immediately?" He was already moving, throwing on clothes. "Lock down the estate. No one in or out. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

He hung up, and the man looking at me wasn't the passionate lover from seconds ago. He was the Alpha King, cold and lethal.

"What happened?"

"There's been an attack on my estate. Someone breached the perimeter and—" He stopped, jaw working. "They left a message for you."

Ice flooded my veins. "For me?"

"Written in blood on the main hall wall: 'Return what you stole, or watch your mate die screaming.'" His eyes flashed gold. "Someone thinks you have something that belongs to them."

"That's insane. I haven't stolen anything!"

"I know." He grabbed his keys, his movements sharp with barely controlled violence. "But someone believes you have and they're willing to kill to get it back."

"Then let me come with you. If this is about me—"

"Absolutely not. You stay here where it's safe. Nyx!" He bellowed, and she appeared from somewhere. "Stay with Elara. If anything happens to her, I'll—"

"Relax, Alpha. I've got this." Nyx's expression was grim. "Go deal with the breach. We'll be fine."

He looked at me, conflict warring across his features. Then he pulled me into a bruising kiss that tasted like possession and desperation. "We're not done," he promised. "Not by a long shot."

Then he was gone.

---

Nyx poured us both whiskey. I downed mine in one burn.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Not remotely." I collapsed on the couch. "Someone thinks I stole something but what? I have nothing. My family took everything."

"Maybe that's the point." Nyx settled across from me, her predatory grace evident even sitting still. "Your family has been involved in some shady business deals. What if you accidentally took something when you left? Documents, passwords, information?"

I thought back to the chaos of leaving. "I grabbed my personal items, some photos, my laptop—oh God." My stomach dropped. "My laptop. Marcus kept financial files on my personal computer. Said it was safer than the office network. What if there's something on there?"

"Where is it now?"

"Storage unit. I couldn't afford to keep the hotel and pay for—" I grabbed my phone, pulling up the storage company's app. The access log made my blood run cold. "Someone accessed my unit yesterday with my stolen keycard."

Nyx was already dialing. "Kael, we have a problem."

The next thirty minutes were chaos. Kael sent a team to the storage unit, only to find it ransacked. 

My laptop was gone, along with several boxes of my belongings, but they'd left one thing behind—a note, written in the same blood-red ink as the message at the estate.

*"The Alpha Queen's location. You have 48 hours. Or he dies."*

"What Alpha Queen?" I demanded when Kael returned, fury radiating off him. "What location? None of this makes sense!"

"It makes perfect sense," a new voice said from the doorway. An older man entered, silver-haired and emanating authority that made even Kael straighten. "If she's who I think she is."

"Elder Marcus." Kael's tone was wary. "This isn't a good time."

"It's the perfect time." The elder's gaze fixed on me, assessing. "Miss Sterling. Tell me about your birth. Were you adopted?"

"What? No. I'm James and Catherine Sterling's biological daughter."

"Are you certain? Because you smell like the Moonborne bloodline. The original Alpha line that vanished twenty-six years ago." He moved closer, and something in his intensity made my skin prickle. "The Alpha Queen disappeared the night she gave birth. Her child was never found until now."

The room spun. "That's impossible."

"Is it? You're the right age. You have the scent markers and someone is desperate enough to kill for information about the Alpha Queen's location." His smile was cold. "Information that you, her daughter, might unconsciously know."

"I'm not—I can't be—" But even as I denied it, pieces clicked into place. 

The way my parents always treated me like an outsider. The sealed medical records they'd never let me see. The strange dreams I'd had my whole life of running through forests, of belonging to something wild.

"There's one way to know for certain." The elder produced a silver knife. "Alpha blood reacts to moonsilver. If you're truly her daughter, this will prove it."

"Absolutely not." Kael moved between us. "You're not cutting her with an untested blade—"

"I'll do it." The words came from somewhere primal, somewhere that had been screaming for acknowledgment my whole life. "I need to know."

Kael looked like I'd stabbed him. "Elara—"

"If I'm the reason you're in danger, if I'm the reason people are dying, I need to know the truth." I held out my hand to the elder. "Do it."

The blade kissed my palm. For a second, nothing happened.

Then my blood hit the silver and ignited.

Blue-white flames danced across my palm, painless and beautiful, and power surged through me like lightning. 

My vision sharpened, my senses exploded, and I could suddenly hear heartbeats, smell emotions, feel the pack bonds connecting everyone in the room.

"Impossible," Elder Marcus breathed. "She's not just Alpha-born, she's a pure-blood. The first in three generations."

Kael caught me as my knees buckled, the power receding as quickly as it came. "What did you do to her?"

"I woke what was always there." The elder's expression was reverent. "She's the missing Alpha Queen's daughter. Which makes her the rightful heir to the Moonborne throne. And the most valuable werewolf in existence."

"I'm human," I whispered, even as my palm healed impossibly fast, even as I could still feel that power thrumming beneath my skin. "I'm human. I have to be human."

"You were human." Nyx's voice was gentle. "But something's changing. The mate bond, the stress, the awakening—it's triggering your dormant wolf."

"I don't have a wolf!"

"You do." Kael's arms tightened around me. "It's been sealed. Hidden. But it's there, fighting to break free and when it does—"

An explosion rocked the building. Glass shattered, alarms screamed, and smoke filled the penthouse.

"They're here!" Nyx shouted. "The rogues—they're storming the building!"

Kael thrust me toward a hidden door. "Safe room. Now. Nyx, get her—"

"I'm not leaving you!" I grabbed his arm. "Kael—"

"They're here for you!" His eyes were pure gold, his wolf at the surface. "They want the Alpha Queen's daughter. I won't let them take you. I won't let them—"

A figure crashed through the window. Then another. Then five more. Rogues, their eyes wild, their intent murderous.

And leading them, smiling like death itself, was someone I recognized.

"Hello, Elara." My sister stepped through the smoke, her eyes glowing amber, claws extending from her manicured nails. "Surprise. I'm here to collect the bounty on your head."