Chapter 4

I woke up to the pounding of my door. 

Who knocks on some door like this, especially early in the morning? I mumbled to myself, yawning as I hurried over to the door only to find the last person I wanted to see standing on the other side. 

At least not now. I said already dreading what was to come.

“You are one week behind in paying your rent”, the landlord snapped, screaming at the top of his lungs ."If you don't pay up in two days I'm sending you and your kids out”.

He shouted the words directly in my face before turning on his heels and storming away.

 I quickly shut the door and leaned against it, slowly sliding down until I was sitting on the floor.

The tears came before I could stop them.

What am I going to do now?

I literally don't even have a job anymore. Where am I supposed to get the money to pay the rent? Kieran and Kaila are still so little to be out on the street.

I said muttering to myself as I sat up curled against the door, covering my face with both hands as tears continued to stream down my cheeks.

Then I felt two tiny bodies beside me. 

My angels.

Kaila reached up with her little hand and wiped the tears from my face.

“Mama, don’t cry.”

Her tiny voice broke something inside me.

I took a deep breath and wiped my face.

I had to pull myself together.

Sitting here and crying wasn’t going to solve anything. I couldn’t just sit around and wait for a miracle to happen.

With a shaky breath, I pushed myself to my feet, bent down, and pressed a kiss to both of their foreheads.

I walked over to the couch and picked up my old, worn-out laptop—the one I had managed to buy secondhand when I could barely afford it.

I placed it on my lap, turned it on, and immediately began searching for jobs.

I’d gone through every job site I could find, and there was still nothing. I had less than 24 hours before the landlord came back again asking for his money, and I had nothing to give him. I had broken into all my savings, and it was still not enough for the rent.

I tried praying to the Moon Goddess. Maybe just this once, just this time, she’d finally answer me.

Who was I kidding? I sighed. 

I closed the laptop, my mind already scrambling for some way to beg the landlord for more time, and stood to head out the door.

I hadn’t made it two steps down the hall before a voice stopped me.

“Elaria.”

The old woman who lived a few doors down blocked my path, her eyes kind, the way they always seemed to be.

“I heard the landlord,” she said gently. “I’m sorry, dear.”

I forced a smile. “I’ll figure something out.” I was about to leave when she spoke again.

“Wait” she said.  Studying me for a moment, then said, There is a job. She hesitated, then continued”

“At the Blackwood pack.

I blinked. “The Blackwood pack?”

She nodded. I heard they’re hiring  domestic staff. The pay is good 

Hope stirred in my chest.

“But”.....

“But what”?, I asked her hurriedly.

The pack, it’s far from here. And that's where the rumored Alpha stays”. 

My stomach dropped. 

The one  said to have killed his sister?.

“People are scared to even set foot on that land,” she went on. “But the pay is real, dear. If you can stomach it.”

I thought of the landlord’s voice, the way he’d screamed in my face. I thought of Kieran and Kaila, and what would happen if we lost this apartment.

Fear or not, I didn’t have the luxury of choosing.

“I can stomach it,” I said.

She studied me a moment, then nodded slowly, like she understood exactly what that decision cost me.

“Thank you,” I said again. “Truly.”

She patted my arm and shuffled off before I could ask anything else.

I stood there a moment longer, turning the name over in my head.

The Blackwood pack.

Whatever waited for me there, I had no choice but to face it.

I hurried to my wardrobe, searching for something decent enough to make a good first impression. 

I had to leave the twins with the old woman for a few hours. She insisted once she saw the state I was in. I hated leaving them, but I couldn’t afford to lose this opportunity.

If I got the job, I’d figure out how to manage the rest.

The ride to the Blackwood territory was painfully long. The farther I went, the more nervous I became. I tried distracting myself with anything I could think of, but it was useless. 

I’m way more frightened than I had been when I first applied for a job at the Walton’s pack. 

Then I arrived. 

The Blackwood pack was  nothing like i imagined 

Massive stone buildings stood among towering trees, their dark walls giving the place an imposing, almost ancient appearance. Pack members moved with quiet purpose, while guards stood at several points along the road, watching everyone who entered.

I swallowed hard.

This wasn’t just another pack.

Everything about it screamed power.

Even the air felt different here—heavier somehow. The kind that made you instinctively lower your voice and straighten your posture.

I tightened my fingers around the straps of my bags and counted to one hundred in my head. 

One.

Two.

Three.

By the time I reached one hundred, I finally managed to calm my racing heart and steady my breathing. 

 Just when I was about to take a step forward,  I felt it.

A shift, somewhere deep in my chest. 

Familiar.

So familiar in a way that made my step falter.

My wolf.

I hadn’t felt her in three years.

Not since the night everything fell apart.

When she’d clawed, screamed, and thrown herself against the inside of my ribs, desperate to chase after him. I had used everything I had to hold her back, forcing her into the darkest corner of my mind and locking her away.  

She’d gone quiet ever since. Silent through every hardship. Silent even the night a rogue had cornered me near the treeline two winters ago, when any wolf with even a shred of instinct should have surged forward to protect her human.

But she hadn’t. 

She never came.

Not even once. Not for anything.

Until now.

I stopped walking, one hand pressing against my chest, as if I could physically feel her stirring beneath my skin.

Why now?

I had no answer.

All I had was a job interview I couldn’t afford to be late for and a growing unease I didn’t have time to understand.

I pushed her back down, the way I had taught myself to do a hundred times before, and forced my feet to move again.

Whatever this was, it would have to wait.