Chapter 3

Elara's POV

A rock dug into the dirt beneath my hip. I grabbed it with blood-slick fingers and swung it with everything I had, catching the massive grey wolf across the snout.

The wolf yelped, its jaws snapping shut on empty air as it stumbled backward into the brush.

I scrambled to my feet, my lungs burning as I fought to keep my balance. Blood dripped from my arm, but I forced myself upright and looked up through the dense canopy at the full moon.

"Is this your grand plan?" I screamed at the moon. "Do you deem me a waste of an element too? You couldn't even grant me five minutes of peace!"

Growls answered from the trees.

Three more wolves stepped into the moonlight, golden eyes fixated on my shoulder. They were rogues, ribs showing beneath dirty fur and hunger sharpening their movements.

"Come on then!" I yelled, raising my fists despite the pain shooting through my broken finger. "I survived my family, I survived my Alpha, and I won't go down easy for a few feral beasts!"

The first rogue lunged for my throat. I ducked beneath it and drove my silver hunting knife straight into its soft underbelly as it passed over me.

The beast yelped and hit the dirt but the second wolf caught me off guard. Its heavy paw slammed into my back, sending me crashing face-first into the cold dirt.

I rolled onto my back just in time to see the third wolf leap for my throat, jaws wide. I closed my eyes, braced my body, and waited for the darkness to claim me.

A monstrous growl tore through the forest, rattling the trees. A black shape flashed past me and slammed into the rogue mid-air. Bone cracked, followed by the dull thud of of a body hitting stone.

I opened my eyes slowly, my breathing shallow and erratic.

A pitch-black wolf stood over the bloody remains of the rogues. It was twice the size of any Alpha I had ever seen, its black fur swallowing the moonlight and silver eyes fixed on me.

It stood over me, blood dripping from its fangs.

"Just get it over with," I whispered, closing my eyes tight again. "I'm tired of fighting."

"Are you done staring at the sky, or are you going to keep lying in the dirt?" a deep voice echoed.

My eyes snapped open. The wolf was gone. In its place stood a tall man with dark hair, sharp features, and the same terrifying silver eyes.

"Who sent you?" he demanded, his voice flat.

"Are you dumb?" I spat back, wincing as I pushed myself into a sitting position. "Look at me! Who do you think I would risk my pathetic life to find?"

He crossed the distance between us in an instant and caught my wrist. The moment his fingers touched my skin, heat shot up my arm and settled deep in my chest.

Mate!!!, a voice thundered inside my head.

"Mate!!!," he declared, his silver eyes flashing.

I shrieked in and yanked my arm from his grasp.

"No! Are you kidding me?" I yelled, staggering backward until my back hit a tree trunk. "Does the Moon Goddess hate me that much? I literally just got rejected and severed my ties five minutes ago!"

He tilted his head, watching my panic with a faint smile. "You cut your ties?"

"Yes! I broke my own finger and slashed my palm to get away from my pack!" I held up my swollen hand as evidence. "And now I'm paired with another stranger?"

I paused and looked at him properly for the first time. The power rolling off him made the air feel thin.

"Wait a second," my stomach dropped. Black hair. Silver eyes. A monstrous wolf. The mark on his chest. There was only one person who fit all four. “Are you Kaelen Blackwood?"

"The one and only," he said softly, a dark smirk playing on his lips. "The long-lost, cursed Lycan King."

Every bit of confidence drained out of me. "You've got to be joking."

"Do I look like I'm joking, little girl?" Kaelen asked, taking a slow, measured step toward me.

"So when are you going to reject me?" I asked bitterly, crossing my uninjured arm over my chest. "Let's speed this up. I have no wolf, I'm defective, and I bring absolutely nothing to the table."

Kaelen stopped inches away from me, studying my bruised face with an unreadable expression. "You think I care about a wolf?"

"Everyone cares," I snapped. "My Alpha rejected me, my parents disowned me, and my pack threw me out. You're a Lycan King, so just say the words and let me die in peace."

"I don't waste my time on rituals," Kaelen’s gaze dropped to my bleeding palm. "Tell me, do you actually have anywhere else to go?"

"No," I admitted, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I have nothing."

"Then you're coming with me," he said, turning his back on me and gesturing toward the dark ravine ahead. "Follow me to the Drains."

I stared at his broad back as he began walking into the deep canyon. Is he serious? Or does he just want a bigger audience to publicly execute or reject me like Julian did?

It doesn't matter, I thought as I dragged myself after him. I have nowhere left to run anyway..

"What exactly are 'the drains'?" I asked, cradling my injured arm against my chest. I wasn’t about to follow another powerful man into the darkness without knowing where he was taking me.

Kaelen’s smile faded as he looked toward the forest. For a moment, something tired crossed his face before it disappeared.

"It is a sanctuary," he said, his expression softening in the shadows. "A hidden refuge for people the so-called pure-bloods rejected or cast out. The unwanted gather there and live among their own kind, away from the Alphas.”

I stared at him, struggling to reconcile his words with the power I could still feel rolling off him. A creature of his legendary status belonged on a golden throne, not hiding in the shadows with the broken.

Kaelen tilted his head, a faint smile touching his lips as he met my stare. He didn't flinch away from my suspicion, nor did he try to grandstand like Julian always did. If anything, my refusal to bow seemed to amuse him.

"Did you not read the histories, little wolf?" he asked, his voice low. "Did you not learn about who I truly am before you decided to interrogate me in the dark? The books in your former pack archives surely had a few chapters dedicated to my name.”

We walked in silence for what felt like hours, descending deep into a settlement carved beneath the mountains. Iron torches flickered along the stone pathways, revealing a sprawling city carved into the rock.

As Kaelen stepped through the iron gates, the busy streets fell silent. Warriors stopped talking, vendors fell silent, and dozens of rogues turned to stare.

"Is that... Is the King back?" a voice whispered from the shadows of a stone archway.

"Look at who is walking behind him," another muttered, her eyes wide with shock. "Did the Lycan King actually bring a female back with him?"

"She's bleeding... and she has no scent," a third warrior whispered, leaning closer to his companion. "What is he doing with a human?"

Kaelen didn't slow down as whispers spread through the underground city. I kept my head down, cradling my arm as a hundred pairs of eyes followed me through the street.