Chapter 63

Elora’s POV

I stayed put at the end of the table long after everyone left, just staring at the wood until the lines sort of melted together. My fingers dug into my temples. My head wouldn’t stop pounding, all those arguments echoing around, suspicion hidden in fake-nice words. Dante had stood next to me, not saying a word, but his jaw was set, eyes burning with stuff he was keeping locked up.

For a split second, I thought maybe they had let him back in. That maybe I could actually let myself believe it.

But then Mira... Mira....her voice, all quiet poison, started working its way through the crowd. She hadn't even needed to say it in the room. Her whispers slithered in before the meeting even started. Can we trust Dante? Didn’t he stab us in the back? What if Elora’s just blinded by whatever she feels for him?

By the time it was over, the council was basically two camps. Half of them nodded like they had been forced at gunpoint to agree to Dante sticking around, while the rest stomped out with dagger eyes and grumbling under their breath.

I could still feel their looks burning holes through me.

The sound of boots echoed down the hall. Dante walked back in, shutting the door a little too hard. His face looked like it had been carved out of granite, but his eyes darted to me as if searching for something.

“You’re still here,” he said.

I shrugged, voice small. “Didn’t really want to go back to Dominic’s room. He just sleeps all day now. All I can do is hold his hand and pray he wakes up stronger.”

Dante clenched his jaw. For a second, I thought he would say something, but he just nodded and leaned on the table, arms crossed. He didn’t bother sitting.

“They don’t trust me,” he said, voice flat as a dead thing. “Why would they? As far as they’re concerned, I’m still a traitor.”

Guilt twisted in my gut. “You’re not. You got screwed over. I should’ve....”

He cut me off, sharp, but not mean. “Don’t. You don’t owe me anything right now. We both know what’s at stake.”

That just made my chest hurt worse.

Before I could say anything else, the door creaked open. A servant walked in, holding a folded bit of paper. “My lady…this was found on the barracks door.”

I frowned and took it. The handwriting was all jagged, the ink clear. It was like the writer wrote it to hurt.

“An Alpha cannot rule through weakness. Elora hides behind Dante’s shadow, while Dominic rots in bed. If she is our future, then we are already lost.”

My stomach did a nosedive.

“Anonymous,” the servant whispered, eyes flicking to Dante and then dropping fast. “But everybody is already talking about it.”

I waved him off, waited for the door to close, then finally let myself breathe out. My hands shook as I passed the note to Dante. He read it once, twice, then tore it, his face unreadable.

“This is Mira’s doing,” I muttered. “Has to be.”

Dante didn’t argue. Didn’t have to. We both knew Mira was a master at this, never caught, never loud, but her poison always found its mark.

The next morning, things went from hushed rumors to full-on yelling matches.

I hit the training grounds at sunrise, air sharp and cold, and just ran smack into two groups of warriors facing off. One side muttered about loyalty to Dominic and, yeah, to me. The other side was all accusations, like Dante showing up again was proof of some secret plot. Mira’s name got thrown around like a threat.

“Enough!” I yelled, and everyone froze. My heart was beating hard, but I stood my ground. “You want to fight each other, go ahead, but don’t pretend you’re doing it for the pack. Alpha Dominic is in bed fighting for his life, and you’re out here making it worse.”

A bunch of them looked away, suddenly really interested in their boots. A few just sneered.

One of Mira’s cronies swaggered forward, voice dripping with mockery. “Easy for you to preach, since Dante’s back at your side. How long before you name him Alpha and toss Alpha Dominic aside?”

Yeah, that stung. Not because it was true, but because I saw the doubt flicker in the eyes of people I thought trusted me.

Dante, who’d been standing behind me, took a step up. His voice was steel. “I don’t want Dominic’s throne. Never did. I serve the pack, your Alpha, sick or not. If you can’t see that, maybe you’re a traitor.”

That shut them up, but the tension didn’t go away. It hung around, thick as smoke.

As I waved the guys off, there she was...Mira, lurking at the edge of the courtyard like she owned the place. Leaning in the archway, wearing this sly little smirk that said way too much. Didn’t even need to open her mouth, you could just feel her smugness, the way she shook her head and crossed her arms. She had started the fire, and it was already flaring.

Later that night, I dragged myself back to our chambers, feeling like I had swallowed a stone. The moonlight shone on his pale face, making him look like a ghost. He was breathing, barely, but still with us. I slumped into the chair by his bed and reached for his hand, just needing some kind of support.

“I’m trying,” I murmured. “Trying so hard to keep everything from falling apart. But Mira…” My throat clenched up. “She’s turning them all, Dom. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.”

Silence.

I would have killed for him to say something, anything, but just his uneven breathing and the dead weight of him lying there.

My eyes stung. I bent over, pressing a kiss to his hand, desperate and stupid, but I couldn’t help it.

“I won’t let you down,” I promised, real quiet. “Not her, not anyone. I’ll hold this pack together, even if it rips me to shreds.”

Except, deep down, there was this nasty little voice whispering, poking at me, what if you can’t? What if Mira actually wins?

The next few days were total chaos. The council room was nothing but shouting matches, the training yard was a powder keg, and even the servants were whispering behind doors like they were in some soap opera.

And Mira was always around. Not in your face, never that obvious. But she was everywhere.

She didn't need a weapon. Her words alone, passing around, were hurting me.

Still, I wouldn’t let her win.

Because if I did, Dominic’s pack was toast.

Because if I broke, Mira would get everything she wanted.

And hell no, I wasn’t about to let that happen.