Elelira POV
Tonight is the night. It’s finally the night I turn 20. Just 5 more minutes, and my husband, now ex-husband, of the past 2 years will learn the truth.It’s too late to change the past. It’s too late to go back and fix all the wrongs I have had to endure in this forced marriage of the past 2 years.He claimed he was searching for his mate; searching for the one he was fated to, while unknowingly married to her. Neglection, adultery, verbal and mental abuse are just a few of the things I’ve been forced to endure, but that all ends tonight.The treaty agreement is breached. It has been two years of our marriage, and just like he and my uncle agreed, if no child was produced in 2 years, he would be free to divorce me and choose another. I never revealed to my uncle that the man he forced me on had never touched me. In the 2 years living in the coastal, castle-like packhouse, he has brought many women into his bedchambers, but none of them were ever me.I knew. I knew the moment I stepped foot in the packhouse he was my mate.I knew at our wedding, as my uncle, the Lycan ruler of the western realm, walked me down the aisle, when I laid eyes on Lachlan for the first time, I knew. I knew he was destined for me, but I was confused by the disgust on his face as he glared back down at me.He didn’t feel it. Of course he didn’t. He was a Lycan, and I was only half. I was a hybrid, unknown to my uncle at the time, who thought my mother was impregnated by one of the countless men he used to force on her.No, my father was not a Lycan, or even a shifter of the land. He was of the fairy realm, and the fae, all races of the fae, do not come into their magic until their 20th birthday, on the exact second of their birth.Without my magic, he couldn’t detect me, but I detected him. He was fully adult by Lycan standards, so I knew the moment I caught his scent, and my Lycan's eyes saw his through the veil of our concealed magic. I knew, and my heart shattered millions of times in the last 2 years, every time he rejected me. Everytime he took a new woman to bed, which was often, I felt it. I felt the pains in my chest and the tearing of the Lycan beast resting inside me until even she came to detest the man we were forced to marry.He only married me to appease my uncle, and form an alliance between our packs. My uncle offered me in place of his own daughter, because I was disposable; an orphan left in his stead, and he was saving his daughter for someone other than the Lycan ruler of the south, who rumor said was cruel and heartless.The rumors were true. Though he was strong, and a sight to behold, I had not once experienced kindness from my husband. In the past few months especially, his cruelty knew no bounds.He neglected me for the first year of our marriage, not even granting me an audience to speak with him and reveal what we were to beg him to stop. Stop taking women, and crushing my soul each and every time. After the first year, when I became numb to the pain, and could bear it and just grit my teeth through it, he began to show his face to me periodically, only to insult and belittle me. Calling me skinny, or ugly. He would insult the straw color of my hair or the way my skin stayed fair, even though I spent endless hours outside in the sun, walking alongside the beach as I dreamed of my freedom.Just months ago, he started to watch me intently. If I spoke to anyone, he would storm my room later in the evening when I was all alone, berating me, calling me names and insulting me for being a whore. It was no secret that my mother's sole purpose for my uncle was to reward his loyal men, and help when negotiating treaties and agreements for the pack. She was the sister of the alpha, but treated like a pack whore.He accused me of being like my mother, even if all I did was ask a worker to bring firewood to my room. I was forced to do everything for myself from that point on, and that included carrying firewood up the 4 flights of stairs to my drafty, heaterless room the last few months.At least he never touched me. I became grateful for the lack of intimacy, viewing him as nothing more than dirt I wish to one day trample upon. I quietly took the torment and the belittling, never letting it break me. He took my hope of fated love, since Lycans, unlike werewolves, do not get a second chance mate. He took my hope of that, but that was all he had from me. My innocence and my pride remained intact for this satisfying moment.I checked the clock, and saw I just had 2 minutes until the moment of my birth.This morning, my husband paid me a final visit in my chambers. A visit I would be eternally grateful for.He brought me the annulment papers. Having gone two years without an heir, it was finally time. The only words he uttered as he set the papers on the writing table in my meager bedchamber were, “Bring them tonight, signed, then leave my lands at once.”With this I will be free.After the clock strikes 7:02, I will be free to reject him, and I can finally live my life in peace.I cross the marbled floor of the ballroom, where many of the pack are gathered before the run that commences every full moon. My bare feet make no sound as I pad towards my now ex-husband, who is speaking in whispers to his Beta, Nilo. Lachlan’s back is facing me, but Nilo sees my approach. He eyes my scantily dressed frame in confusion, then nods to Lacklan to turn to face me.Lachlan’s eyes go wide momentarily as he takes in my appearance. I’m in nothing but a silk slip, wearing just the necklace my mother gave to me from my true father before she passed away. I did not want to take anything of Lachlan's or my uncle’s with me when I left, and even this slip would be left behind as I went.I won’t need it. I won’t be needing clothes ever again if I can help it.After the look of surprise subsides, agitation replaces it on Lachlan’s features.“What the hell are you wearing, Lira?” he hissed.I raised my chin in an act of defiance, the only one I have ever shown. I am done here. He can not hurt me anymore.“Here,” I handed him the papers, then checked the clock on the wall again. I can feel a surge beneath my skin, as if my blood is rushing backwards and my heart is pulsing in a melodic rhythm. “It is signed. We are no longer married, though I can’t say the last two years were really a marriage at all.” 20 more seconds. I can feel the magic buzzing inside me, awakening for the first time.Lachlan’s eyes ran down my body, then back up to my face, a confused look upon his face. “You don’t look ready to leave. I thought I made myself clear, Elelira. You are to-”“One last thing before I go,” I smirked, looking back up at the clock, ignoring the growl that escaped him at my interruption.It’s time.The moment my magic is upon me, I feel as if my entire body is engulfed in light, my hair lifting and twirling with the rush that comes from my inner mana breaking open inside me. It’s flowing through my limbs, to the tips of my bare toes, my fingers, even seeping into every lock of my hair. I am fae, and with my magic unlocked, I know he can feel it. He can feel the bond, but it’s too late. I won’t have him.His eyes went wide, his mouth went to the ground as he sank to his knees. As I get my bearings once again, I quickly scan the room, and see others in a pose much similar to Lachlan’s, scared of the light and the magical aura that emanated from me. Even Nilo leaned against the wall in surprise, shock evident on his face. “You, Elelira, you...you are….” Lachlan stumbled over his words, coming to terms with what had just occurred. I can see the understanding and recognition in his eyes. He feels it, the mate bond, but it’s too late. “I was your mate, the mate you claimed to be
Lachlan POV“Any sign?” I asked Nilo as he walked up to where I'd been standing at the docks for hours now. When my guilt and my sorrow become too overwhelming, this is where I find myself, in this very spot, staring out at the sea. She was gloriously beautiful, from her glowing hair to her broad, translucent fins, glimmering in the setting sunlight. That last sight of her before she dove beneath the water’s surface has been haunting my dreams for months now.“No, Alpha. The ocean is too great. We will never find her, I’m afraid. I am sorry, but I don’t think there is any hope.”No. There will never be hope of her return after the pain I put her through. I can see that now.“I told you,” Killian, my lycan snarls in my mind, “I warned you, begging you to be kind. You ruined everything. She was what we were looking for, but you turned her against us forever. She will never return. And….I don’t blame her. I just hope she finds the happiness she deserves. The happiness that she never fo
I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but I’m back in time. I traveled back to right before the wedding to Lachlan. I don’t know what I did wrong. I thought I was ending it all. I thought I was finally going to find freedom and peace in death. I guess even that is too much to ask for. Here I am, back at the beginning of my hellish marriage. “You look so beautiful, Elelira, dear,” Mimi coos as the omega doing my hair finishes pinning the last tendril in place. “Ela. You can call me Ela,” I told her with a warm smile as I stared back at her reflection in the mirror. Her soft, wrinkled cheeks glow a soft pink as she smiles back, an all too familiar motherly smile. I loved Niomi, my Mimi, because she always smiled at me this way, filling that motherly void. When I needed support through the first year of my marriage, before I had completely closed myself off to my husband for good, she was there, holding the pieces of me together, then showing me that motherly smile, telling me how
“Elelira? Ela!” Mimi calls out to me, snapping me out of the memory. “Yes?” I met her eyes in the mirror as a look of concern masked her face. “Are you alright, child? Is something not to your liking? We can change the accessories if you-”“No, no. It’s fine,” I smiled at her. I take in my appearance; my youthful face, no longer containing the heavy bags under my no longer dull eyes from all the nights of fretful sleep. My glowing skin, unmarred by the harsh elements that I had to battle daily the last year of my marriage to supply my own firewood, food, doing my own laundry in the stream a mile inland so as not to disturb the maids. Lachlan made it clear I was not his true Luna and could not order his staff as I pleased. I hated that trek to wash my laundry. Without proper shoes to travel across the rocky landscape, my feet would be blistered and bleeding as I came back every time. Mimi would take care of all that for me when she was alive, being able to order the maids and staff
Elelira POVAs Mimi and my escort walk me to the room where my uncle waits for me, I retreat into my shell of numbness, going on autopilot until this whole ordeal is over. I suspect numbness will be a constant for me again, since the pains of my husband’s betrayal will begin tonight. Val whimpers at the memory. She was locked inside my mind, enduring it with me, her heart shattering over and over along with mine. It was his human side having the affair. His lycan had no part, which was the hardest for Val. She could never extinguish that hope for her mate because she could never know if Lachlan’s lycan was in agreement with that action. This marriage right now was entirely to his human side, so she was trying her best to retreat into the darkest corner of my mind and wait in sorrow until it was over. When we entered the room, and my eyes landed on my uncle and his men, I tried to maintain my numbness and not outwardly show my disgust and discomfort. Some of the very men that tort
Lachlan POV“She knows,” Killian whimpers, “She remembers everything. She hates us.”“She can’t. She can’t hate us entirely. We’re her mate,” I tell him, but that doesn’t stop the fear from rising up inside me. She can’t hate me. I can’t lose her again. If she rejects me again, I would rather die than try living without her. I know what life without her is like. I know what living with the pulsating pain of regret constantly residing in my chest is like. I can’t live without her. I won’t. Her hesitation at our vows makes knots form in my stomach, and acid rises in my throat. The bitterness of reality matches its taste. When her father placed all the rules on me, rules I made a blood promise not to break, I never thought he would bring her back with her memories intact as well. This should have been easy. We could have lived blissfully in love for years until the mate bond fully revealed itself, then I could have marked and mated her with no stipulations. Now….I’m going to have to
Elelira POVThe reception went much the same as the first time. Many of the pack members came to congratulate us as we sat at the head table, but we didn’t speak to each other again. I was polite, even pasting on a smile at times, but inside I felt numb. I knew what tonight would hold for me, and I thought I was ready, but then he went and kissed me. What was that? That didn’t happen the first time. It stirred up Val, and it took me so long to get control of her again. She felt it. Fully. The bond, the sparks. It was….exhilarating. It made me feel alive for a few moments….then reality hit me. As I was walking down the aisle hand-in-hand with Lachlan, the reality of what was to come if I succumbed to my bond felt like it was choking me. Momentary elation would mean nothing by tonight. Out of anger for my Lycan, fearing what the ugly strands of hope he just fed her would do to her tonight, I slapped him. I slapped Lachlan, and spewed my venomous words all over him, not fearing at al
Earlier.....Lachlan POV“What the hell was with that speech?” I growled at my Beta. “Two years?! Did you have to put a time limit on us in front of everyone?!”Nilo stares at me in confusion, trying to loosen my grip on the collar of his shirt. “Alpha, I showed you my speech beforehand. Just yesterday you said it was okay. You even said to make sure the pack knows that this is only temporary. That you will find your true Luna once this bullshit with Alpha Wayne is over.”Shit. I did say that. I remember now. I even held a special meeting between my most trusted subordinates and ranked Lycans, telling them to keep their eyes on Elelira, to be wary of her and that she was not to be trusted. I truly thought Wayne was using her to trap me in some way. I release Nilo’s collar, pushing away from him, cursing under my breath while I pace, running my hand through my hair.“Alpha?” Nilo watched me carefully. He probably thinks I’ve gone crazy. Maybe I have. I just know I can’t let things con