Chapter 47

Elora’s POV

Drip

Drip

Drip

The halls were dead quiet, except for that annoying drip-drip-drip echoing. Night guards had swapped already, so their route had these tiny little gaps like, almost inviting, right? I knew their patterns now, not because sneaking around was my thing or whatever, but... well, desperate times. If I wanted to see him, to give him one stupid sliver of hope, I had to be basically invisible.

Heart pounding like hell, the guilt gnawing at me, I crept down that skinny spiral staircase that always felt a mile long. First thing that hit me? The stink...like wet rocks, mold, and rusty metal. Dungeon smell. The Alpha’s beloved hole for enemies and traitors, not for Dominic’s brother. Not Dante.

I hugged the basket to me like it was a lifeline. Bread, a dented flask, some sad dried meat I had managed to sweet-talk off the kitchen lady. Pretty sure she knew what I was up to, but you know, we don’t talk about it. The pack gossiped enough, I seriously did not need them spreading rumors about me smuggling food to the traitor.

Finally, his cell. I honestly hated this part.

The torchlight flicked over his face, throwing shadows everywhere. Cheekbones sharp as ever, eyes hollow but stubborn as a kicked wolf. Even locked up, stripped of everything, Dante just... glowed with something wild. My wolf inside went nuts, the urge to shred the bars and break him out had my hands shaking.

“Elora,” he croaked out. God, his voice sounded like sandpaper. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I just shoved the basket through, ignoring the scolding. “Yeah? And you shouldn’t be rotting in here, so guess neither of us is getting what we want.”

He gave this bitter, broken laugh. Pulled at the bread but didn’t eat. Just stared. Hard. Like he was trying to memorize my face, in case this was it.

I ducked closer to the bars and whispered, “I checked those letters again. Dante, they’re off. Handwriting’s weird, dates don’t line up with what we know. And that phrasing? Dominic will never see it, but I do. Someone faked them.”

His jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth grind. “Who?”

I didn’t answer right away. Scanned the hall, all anxious. Only the water drip answered. When I finally said it, I felt like throwing up. “Mira.”

He sucked in air, then slammed his hand so hard into the wall I winced. “Typical.”

“I can’t prove it...yet,” I spoke out, before he lost it. “If I push too hard now, it’s over. But I’m not letting her win. She’s not destroying you. Not us.”

“Elora.” His voice turned sharp as a blade, pure panic and desperation. “Don’t. You push this, you’re dead. Dominic’s already suspicious. If you so much as sneeze wrong around Mira...”

“I literally don’t care,” I snapped. And I didn’t.

“You should,” he fired back, his grip on the bars turning his knuckles bone-white. “Because if they toss you in here too, who’s left for the pack? Who’s gonna fight for what’s real?”

That shut me up, for a second. Because, fine, he had a point. My wolf inside paced, torn between anger and that annoying sense of duty. But the defiance kept burning. I couldn’t stamp it out.

I stretched my hand for his. I just needed to feel him, even if it was just fingertips through rusty bars. Our bond flared so damn hot I almost jerked away, but I didn’t. For a second, nothing else mattered but his skin against mine, the only warmth left in this icy nightmare.

“Dominic doesn’t deserve this,” Dante muttered, voice softer now, cracking. "He doesn’t deserve you."

My whole throat felt like it was closing up. “I’m stuck, Dante. I can’t undo my vows.”

He locked his gaze on me, pain and fire, all mixed together. “Then throw him aside. Pick me.”

Silence.

Brutal, suffocating silence. Inside I screamed YES, you have no idea, but just couldn’t spit it out. Not with the entire pack hanging in the balance, not with a war approaching.

“I’m not ready,” I forced out, my voice shaky and scared. “But I’m not giving up on us either. Doesn’t matter what he says, or how Mira plays her stupid games. They can’t touch what we have.”

His face just fell apart. Like, everything hit him at once, pain, hope, raw anger, that wild stubborn love. It all flickered in his eyes, you know? He slumped his forehead against the cold bars, and yeah, I did too. The iron was so freaking freezing, it might as well have been the hand of fate just shoving itself between us.

“Elora,” he breathed. Our breaths tangled, weirdly close to being trapped on opposite sides. “Every damn time you walk away, it guts me. Like dying, over and over.”

God, the tears burned behind my eyelids. “Then...then don’t. Don’t do it. Not yet. Hang in there. I’ll get you out, I swear.”

The bond between us flared, and honestly, it hurt, like my ribcage was gonna explode. My wolf snapped and whined and thrashed inside me, desperate to tear down these bars, to just run to him. Own him. But nope, not now. Not here. I wrestled her down.

He brushed his fingertips along mine, one last time, then vanished backwards into the cell shadows. “Go,” he whispered. “Before someone catches you. Stay alive, Elora. If I lose you on top of all this…” His voice nearly broke. “I won’t make it.”

I stood there, just for a stupid second, memorizing his shape in that shaky torchlight. Forcing myself to turn away felt like peeling my own skin off. The climb upstairs stretched forever, every footstep echoing. There was a screaming, hollow ache in my chest, my wolf howling, wanting, tearing at me from the inside.

But I’d sworn a promise.

And hell if I was gonna break it.