Chapter 9: They Felt Me Before I Felt Myself

Elara

The door didn't just break.

Wood broke inward as if hit by a living force, then shattered. The impact expelled the air from my lungs, a forceful surge sending fragments flying across the floor. Instinctively crouching as Adrian whirled in front of me, his body a shield, his growl vibrated right through my bones, I yelled.

Three people walked amid the ruins.

They lacked the appearance of rogues.

They were far too deliberate, too calm.

Their eyes glimmered subtly, not the wild, feral gold I'd observed in the woods, but a cooler tone, pale and silvery, like moonlight mirrored off steel. Every step they took sent a tingling shudder down my skin as they sported black coats smelling of ancient magic and blood.

Council enforcers.

I knew it without having heard a word.

The one in the middle grinned, slow and knowing. He said smoothly, "Adrian Thorne." "Former Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack. Still in front of what is not yours.

Adrian's shoulders recoiled, waves of strength coming off him. "Go. Now."

The enforcer laughed. "You no longer dominate us."

Selene moved ahead, her words like a knife cut. "You invaded pack territory."

The man responded, eyes darting past Adrian, locking onto me, "You forfeited your protection when you harbored her."

My heart banged hard against my ribs.

He muttered, "There she is." "The lost successor."

Those words hurt worse than any blow.

lost heir.

Adrian roared, a sound so strong and violent that the walls shook. Do not approach her.

"Oh?" The enforcer cocked his head. "Does she know yet? About what she is?"

I became giddy. I murmured, "Stop." "Just stop speaking to me like an object."

His eyes sharpened, curiosity flickering. She is spirited. Good. The Council respects that.

Adrian charged. Everything occurred simultaneously.

The air shattered as Adrian flew across the distance in a blur and hit the enforcer with bone-shattering impact. The other two responded quickly, shifting in mid-motion; bones breaking, shapes bending into enormous wolves covered with unearthly silver streaks.

The room descended into disorder.

As Selene sprang towards one of the wolves with a ferocious snarl, she shifted next to me, her body extending and fur rippling over skin. Furniture shattered into splinters as they slammed against the far wall.

The third enforcer faced me. I stopped.

Adrian screamed my name, but he was already fighting and claws were tearing through flesh and fabric as the man moved slightly, eyes burning with cold joy.

The enforcer sneaked up on me slowly. "You feel it, don't you?" he murmured. "The lure. the force. Your blood is about to come alive.

I backed off, my spine hitting the wall.

I replied, "I don't want it," but something inside twisted, furious, insulted by the lie even as the words left my mouth.

He chuckled. “You are not allowed to turn down your nature.”

He lifted his hand.

Pain burst behind my eyes.

Like unseen claws seeking to rip something free inside me, something tugged at my core and I yelled, falling to my knees. Memories I had never seen before came back to me with a lot of force: moonlit rituals, old symbols, a woman with my eyes screaming as silver fire wrapped around her wrists.

Sobbing, I held my chest tightly.

"ELARA! Adrian yelled.

The enforcer's grin stretched out. There it is; the seal is starting to leak.

From the other side of the room Selene yelled, "No!" Stop him! Too late.

Inside me something snapped.

The heat took the place of the pressure. Unfiltered, searing heat burst out in a furious wave.

The walls shook.

As though hit by a truck, the enforcer was hurled back and crashed with a terrible crack into the broken doorway. He stayed down.

The room went ominously silent. Everybody turned to glance at me. I fixed my gaze on my hands.

They glowed.

Not gold, not silver.

Adrian froze in the middle of a fight, blood dripping down his jaw, his eyes wide with shock and something like awe that was very close to being dangerous.

“Elara….” He breathed.

At that time, I felt everything.

The woodland. The bundle. Above the moon, alert and hefty. Deep within me, too, a long, old presence is waking up as if it had been waiting for this time all my life. 

The remaining enforcer snarled, first time fear flashing through his eyes. "Impossible," he murmured. "She shouldn't be fully waking up yet."

Selene didn't hesitate at all. She ripped out his throat.

 One sought to run away. Adrian had more speed.

He shifted completely this time: his enormous wolf form burst free, bones snapping and garments tearing. It was finished in a few seconds. As silence descended the night, a last howl rang out across the clearing.

I sagged against the wall, shaking violently.

Adrian turned back equally fast, crossed the room to me, and sank to his knees. His fingers shook around my face. “Are you in pain?”

"I--I don't know," I muttered. I had the impression something inside me burst open.

Eyes gleaming slightly as she examined me, Selene approached slowly. She murmured, "The seal has vanished." "Completely."

I felt my stomach drop. "What does that imply?"

"It means," she remarked, "the Council can no longer stifle you."

"That sounds awful."

"It's worse," Adrian retorted sharply. They'll freak out.

"Why?" He paused.

Selene replied. "Your bloodline doesn't just carry power."

I gulped. "What then does it carry?"

Her eyes connected with mine, thick with something akin to awe and dread.

The phrase repeated in my head was "authority."

"You're not just a latent wolf, Elara," Selene went on. "Your family was meant to lead more than one pack. Your ancestor was the first High Luna.

The room whirled furiously. "High...what?"

Adrian mumbled, "A ruler. Above Alphas. An alive channel of the will of the Moon.

I chuckled softly. That is crazy.

"You just pushed a Council enforcer across a wall without touching him," Selene retorted. "Crazy stopped being a possibility."

Shallow and rapid my breathing was. "What now then?"

Adrian's face turned stony. “Now they’ll come with force.”

Selene agreed. "Not only enforcers, either. They'll bring candidates.

I furrowed. Candidates for what exactly?

She didn't turn away when she said it. "To claim you."

The link in my chest burst out strong and angry, Adrian gasped and bent over, his wolf responded furiously.

Growling, he said, "over my dead body."

Selenne had a harsh voice. They are not going to request permission.

Far away, a horn rang: low, old, reverberating like a death knell throughout the woodland.

Face pale, Selene faced the door. “That’s a summons.”

Adrian eyed me, his hands squeezing mine. Elara, whatever comes next—

I pushed his fingers tight. I'm not going anywhere.

His eyes investigated my mine. "You have no idea what they will do."

I said angrily, "I know enough." They have been dictating my life from birth onward.

Closer this time, another horn blared.

I stood, legs shaky but settling as warmth and life curled beneath my skin.

Quietly, I remarked, "If they want me they can come see me."

Selene scrutinized me for a long period of time. Then, gradually, she bent her head.

Outside, wolves started to gather, and deep inside me something old chuckled.

Because the hunt wasn't for me anymore.

It was for them.