Chapter 6: A Place I don’t Deserve

(ELARA’S POV)

The room fell silent after Ronan’s words.

“Stand beside me, Elara,” he said as the fire crackled softly between us.

The cabin suddenly felt too small. Too warm. Too suffocating.

I stared at him, unable to find my voice.

A fake mating?

The memory of Darius’s claws tearing into my neck flashed across my mind, making my stomach twist violently.

No. Ronan couldn’t possibly understand what he was asking.

“What?” I whispered.

He stood, taking a slow step back. “You don’t have to decide right now.”

His calmness caught me off guard.

“I know you’ve lost everything,” he continued, his blue eyes settling on mine. “So I won’t ask you to make another life-changing decision while you’re still… well… not okay.”

Something inside my chest tightened.

Darius had never spoken to me that gently.

Not once.

And we had been mates for five whole years.

“I…” My lips parted before closing again. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” A faint smile touched his lips. “Just think about it.”

A heavy knock interrupted us.

“Alpha?”

Ronan turned toward the door. “What is it?”

“The elders are waiting.” The guard hesitated before adding quietly, “…They’re asking about the omega.”

Ronan sighed under his breath.

“I’ll be there.”

The guard hurried away.

Ronan looked back at me.

“I’ll settle this and return.”

Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Stay here.”

It didn’t sound like an order.

It sounded like a request.

“And Elara…” His voice softened. “You don’t owe me an answer until you’re ready.”

Then he was gone.

⸻

The cabin felt strangely empty without him.

I stared into the dancing flames, turning his words over and over in my mind.

A fake mating.

Could I really stand beside another Alpha?

Would the Goddess even allow it while my ruined bond still clung stubbornly to life?

My fingers drifted to the wound beneath my collar.

It still burned.

Still pulsed.

Still refused to disappear.

“…Why?” I whispered.

Why hadn’t the bond broken?

Why had the Goddess abandoned me halfway between freedom and imprisonment?

My gaze dropped to my stomach.

“I’m sorry.”

The apology wasn’t for me.

It was for the tiny life growing inside me—the child who would be born to a damaged woman like myself.

“You deserve better parents.”

A lump rose in my throat.

“If I’d never bonded with Darius…”

The thought died before it could finish.

No.

There was no use mourning a life that had never existed.

Raised voices outside pulled me from my thoughts.

They were angry.

Curiosity tugged at me.

Ignoring the ache in my ribs, I crossed the cabin and eased the door open just enough to look outside.

⸻

The Trueblood Pack was smaller than I’d imagined.

Children carried buckets of water between cottages patched with mismatched timber. Their clothes had been mended so many times it was hard to tell what the original fabric had looked like.

Two women knelt beside a vegetable garden far too small to feed an entire pack.

Warriors trained with swords sharpened so often their blades had grown noticeably thinner.

This wasn’t a powerful pack.

It was a pack that survived.

My eyes found Ronan standing in the center square, surrounded by nearly a dozen pack members.

“This is completely irresponsible!” a broad-shouldered warrior snapped. “We barely have enough food for winter, and now we’re feeding strays?”

Several wolves nodded.

Another woman folded her arms.

“You keep making decisions without asking anyone. You’re putting the whole pack at risk.”

Ronan remained calm.

“I am asking now.”

“No.”

The answer came instantly.

An older warrior stepped forward.

“You’ve been Alpha for a year. We respected your parents.”

His eyes hardened.

“But respect isn’t inherited. It’s earned.”

He jabbed a finger toward Ronan.

“And you haven’t earned it, boy!”

“You grew up among humans.”

The words carried across the square.

“You don’t understand wolves. I’m beginning to think you don’t even want to.”

I saw Ronan’s jaw tighten.

Still, he never raised his voice.

“She’s injured.”

Another elder struck his staff against the ground.

“Half this pack is injured! Have you forgotten what happened last year?”

Silence fell.

“We buried fathers. Mothers. Children.”

His voice cracked.

“Half this pack died. And now you bring an unknown wolf inside our walls?”

Someone else spoke.

“What if she’s a spy? A Blackfang spy?”

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

“She should leave.”

“Before sunset.”

“Send her away.”

“We can’t risk this pack for one stranger.”

“Not near our families.”

Eventually, the voices faded.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Then Ronan finally answered.

“I won’t throw an injured omega into the wilderness.”

An elder sighed.

“We’re asking you to think about your people.”

“I am.”

His voice never rose.

The silence that followed was colder than any winter wind.

No one answered.

Because no one believed him.

⸻

I stepped away from the doorway before anyone noticed me.

Every word echoed inside my head.

She should leave.

Now we’re feeding strays.

Deep down…

I knew they were right.

This pack had barely accepted Ronan.

If he tied himself to me, they would never forgive him.

He would lose what little authority he still had.

Because of me.

I closed my eyes.

No.

I can’t do this to him.

The decision settled over me with painful clarity.

I would leave before dawn.

Quietly.

Without saying goodbye.

Ronan had already saved my life.

I wouldn’t repay him by destroying his.

I pulled the wool coat tighter around my shoulders and slipped out the back of the cabin.

⸻

The forest waited beyond the wooden gate.

Dark. Cold.

Unforgiving.

Only this time…

I wasn’t alone.

My hand rested over my stomach.

“I’m sorry.”

A tear slipped down my cheek.

“I’ll protect you,” I whispered. “Even if I have to do it alone.”

I had barely taken three steps toward the gate when every hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

Something was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

The forest had gone unnaturally still.

No birds.

No insects.

Even the wind had fallen silent.

A shadow slipped between the trees.

Then another.

My breath caught.

Several figures emerged from the darkness, moving with eerie precision.

One stepped to the front.

The others waited behind him.

He surveyed the village in silence.

Then he raised one hand.

A single motion.

That was all it took.

The rogues surged forward.

The forest exploded with savage howls.

The warning horn blasted.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

“ROGUES!”

The cry echoed across the settlement.

Doors burst open.

Warriors grabbed their weapons.

Children screamed as wolves poured from the tree line, crashing toward the wooden barricades.

And just like that…

The night erupted into chaos.