CHAPTER FIVE – THE SILVER MARK

ELARA'S POV

“Aaaarghhh!” I scream as the pain rips through me, practically blinding me, numbing until all I can feel is fire burn though my veins.

I can’t breathe.

And it is not because I am dying or anything. No… this is much worse than death.

It hurts. So bad. Like my body is splitting in half and every time I think it I have seen the worst, a new one runs through me.

I can feel it again, biking up and so, I dig my fingers into the ground, it is cold and wet, and I just let go. I scream and scream until my throat starts to itch, but I keep screaming anyway.

“Please,” I whisper. I don’t even know who I.m talking to. The sky maybe. The moongoddess. Someone. Anyone. “Please, help me.”

Just help me get through this labour.

How did I end up like this?

A few months ago, I was standing next to Darius. In white. Smiling. Pretending forever was a thing that existed.

Now look at me. On my knees. Alone. In the dirt. Giving birth under the damn sky, in the open and alone

Funny, right? How fast your life goes straight to hell.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I had laughed and not because it was funny. It was that ugly kind of laugh that sounds like crying. I just stared at that stupid test, shaking. Thinking no. No, this isn’t real. Not after everything I had been though, not when I was still trying to pick up the pieces.

Being pregnant has never even crossed my mind. Not even when I had missed my period. We were always so careful. I kept counting and recounting and telling myself that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was late. Maybe the world was playing some sick joke.

I wanted to get rid of it. I really did. For weeks I told myself I couldn’t do this. Not after everything. Not when everyone hated me.

But every time I tried… something stopped me.

A dream. A whisper. That weird tug in my chest that wouldn’t go away.

And now here I am.

The moon’s full tonight. Too full. Too bright and it feels like it is watching me. Like it is breathing with me. Holding on to me

The pain comes stronger this time and I scream again. Press my back to a tree. There is sweat dripping down my face and mixing with my tears but there is no time to waste. I can feel it now. It is almost time. The baby is coming.

I push. Once. Twice. The pain is not even human. My vision goes white. I am shaking, floating, dying, living, everything at once.

And then… a cry.

A tiny, real cry.

I choke out this messy sob and grab him, pull him close. He is so warm and tiny and covered in blood. And his voice… even though it is a cry, it is the best sound I have ever heard.

“Hey,” I whisper to him, even as I am shivering. “Hello my love. It is okay. I got you. Mommy has got you.”

He calms a little as his mouth fixed into my breasts and he drinks

My chest feels funny, it hurts in this weird way. A good way. Like it is too full. Like I can’t fit everything I am feeling inside me.

One minute ago, I was in pain and rage and angry and now… I am filled with so much love it feels like I am going to burst with it.

The moon is brighter now, like it went brighter after his birthday and for a second, it feels like something is holding me. Something soft. Something real.

And I just start crying again.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “Whoever you are. Thank you.”

He moves a little at my voice and that is when I see it, this faint glow on his palm.

A silver crescent. Like the moon.

It glows once, then fades.

“What…” I whisper as I touch it. It is warm. Alive somehow.

He opens his eyes and they flash gold for a second. Like his father.

“Arin,” I whisper. I don’t even have to think about it. The name just comes. “That is your name. Arin.”

He blinks up at me. Like he knows.

And then, something hits me.

My chest tightens. My heart skips weird. A pull. Not pain, just… something. Familiar.

The bond.

It’s faint. But it’s there.

Darius.

I forget how to breathe. My eyes sting.

“You are still mine,” I whisper. “Even if you don't want me. Even if you choose to forget.”

But the world doesn’t care. Because then-

Growls.

Low. Rough. Getting closer.

I freeze. Every part of me wakes up. Rogues.

I grab Arin, hold him tight against my chest. The wind shifts and I smell it, blood, fur, rage.

Rogues.

“Shit.” I force myself to stand. My legs shake, my whole body’s wrecked, but I move anyway. I have to. I can’t die. Not now.

Three of them step out of the dark. Eyes red. Teeth out.

I back up fast as my eyes scan them, looking for an escape, but I am too weak to even stand.

“Stay away,” I say. My voice cracks, but I mean it. “Don't come near me.”

They don’t care.

The first one lunges. I twist, duck and slam my elbow into his face. Pain shoots through me, but I don’t stop. I half shift, claws out, slash his face. He howls, stumbles back.

The other two circle.

I fight. I don’t even know how. I’m weak, clumsy, scared out of my mind.

One claws my arm open. Another slams me into a tree. I see blood everywhere. My blood.

Arin starts crying. Loud. Screaming.

That sound just breaks me.

I go harder. Scratch. Kick. Bite. Whatever. But I’m slowing down. Everything’s spinning.

I fall. My knees hit the ground. I pull Arin close, wrap my arms around him.

“Please,” I whisper. “Please don’t hurt him. Take me. Just not him.”

They growl. I close my eyes.

And then-

A flash.

Something slams into them from the side. Bones break. A roar shakes the trees. Not a rogue’s roar.

Someone else’s.

I open my eyes.

A man.

He moves fast. Too fast. Every hit is brutal and clean. He tears through them like nothing. When it is finally over, he is breathing hard with blood on his face.m and he turns to me.

Green eyes. Way too green. Haunted.

“You okay?” he asks, voice rough.

I can’t even answer. My arm’s bleeding, I’m shaking, everything hurts.

He comes over and gets down beside me. I watch as his hands shake as he touches my wound and his hands start glowing. Warm. The pain fades.

“What are you?” I whisper.

He looks away. “Just someone passing through.”

“You healed me.”

He shrugs. “You are lucky I found you when I did. Rogues don’t leave witnesses.”

I hold Arin tighter. “You shouldn’t have helped me.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” I say quietly, “helping me ruins people.”

He stares at me. There’s something heavy in his eyes.

“I have already been ruined,” he says softly. “So, I am safe from you.”

We just sit there for a while. The wind moves through the trees. Cold. Empty.

Then he stands. “You need to leave. They’ll come back.”

“Where do I go?”

“Anywhere but here,” he says. “If you remain here tonight, you won’t make it. Either rogues or the cold will kill you. Both of you.”

He turns to leave.

“Wait,” I say. “What is your name?”

He stops. Doesn’t look back.

“Kael.”

Then he’s gone.

That night, I hold Arin close by the fire. The world’s quiet. Like it’s waiting.

He sleeps easy at first. Little chest rising, falling. Then he twitches. Whimpers.

I sit up.

I am in a dream..

“Arin?”

His eyes snap open. He screams. Not crying. Screaming. And not a baby kind of scream… this is older..

“Father is trapped in the dark!”

I freeze. My blood goes cold.

“What did you say?”

He looks right at me. His eyes glowing faint silver.

“The dark,” he whispers. “It’s eating him.”

The mark on his palm lights up again. Brighter.

I hold him tight. My heart’s pounding so hard it hurts.

And somewhere far away, under the same moon, I swear—

I feel the bond flare.

Like a heartbeat.

Calling back.

I wake up