CHAPTER 4

Ellia POV

I was in a car the next moment… 

Aunt Hilda, cried her heart out, begging these men…I fought too…but it was all in vanity.

Now I was seated at the back seat of the SUV…the silence was my only companion.

The two men sat at the front, staring ahead of them..just pretending I didn’t exist. Like they didn’t drag me right out of my house—

“Where are we going?” I asked, breaking the silence.

That didn’t get a response from them….

I was just completely ignored.

A few seconds passed, then I asked another question. “Did you work for my mother? Or her company?”

One of them broke into a dark chuckle. But still..nothing was said after that.

Then—

“What the hell am I?!” I snapped out..

Thah peeked them…I was sure.

One of them, the one who wasn’t driving, slowly turned and faced me.

“I heard what you said back at the house…about a human side...is another side of me.”

The man stared at me for a beat longer before he spoke. “So you’re aunt didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

He didn’t respond to that, just glanced at his partner and smiled. “Best to see for yourself..."

“See what?” I asked sharply. “I’m tired the half truths and riddles. Tell me—“

Before I could finish…a sudden for slammed into our car from the side.

In that moment…time paused. 

I saw the glass shatter into tiny little figures…car doors caved right in…the head of another car pressing in on ours…

Soon…we were flying, our car tumbling around till it stopped—

I was lying flat on something..but it didn’t feel like the car chair anymore. Blood was trickling down my head..my vision felt heavy.

“W-what the hell happened..?”

“They’re here..” a voice came from beside me—

One of the men…

“Who…” I managed to ask, battling against the darkness.

“T-the other side..”

That was last thing I heard before my eyes shut close and everything went black—

“Argh!!”

A sharp scream tore out of my mouth the moment my eyes snapped wide open.

For a few seconds I laid down on a flat bed..unsure what to think or to do.

Then it hit me…the accident… the words he said ‘the other side’

I sat upright in a flash…taking in the room I was in.

It looked nice, comfy and cozy not…expensive as well. It had ancient looking symbols I’ve never seen in my life  etched into the walls.

And a massive window overlooking mountains and endless forest.

I stared out through it for about five seconds…

What the hell?!

This wasn’t the city. This didn’t look like anywhere near home.

Panic surged through me.

“Aunt Hilda?”

My heart began pounding.

I threw off the blanket and stumbled out of bed.

I was still wearing yesterday’s clothes, though someone had removed my shoes and jacket.

Who touched me?

Where was my phone?

I searched frantically around the room… no phone, no items of mine. Nothing.

No. No. No.

I rushed toward the door and yanked it open.

Then two broad looking men turned to me at the same time.

My heart nearly flew out of my chest—

 They blocked the doorway instantly.

“W-who are you?!,” I snapped, my tone laced with panic.

“Miss Ellia, you must remain inside.” One of them answered, his tone clipped.

My chest tightened. Miss? 

I didn’t get to that, just why the hell I should stay here…

“Remain inside?” I repeated.

My voice rose up now.. “Are you insane? I was kidnapped!”

One of them kept his expression blank. “You are not a prisoner.”

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Really? Because the guards outside my door keeping me in..means one thing.”

 They didn’t react..their faces just remained blank.

“Where is my aunt?”

That didnt earn a response. 

“Are you with the men from the SUV?—“

The sound of footsteps interrupted me.

Then slowly.. a wan appeared.

She looked gorgeous…head to toe..and moved so elegantly.

The guards lowered their heads when she passed them—

Strange...

Then her sharp eyes landed on me..scanning me, judging..or whatever. Then she spoke.

“You look more human than I expected.”

The words hit like a slap.

I stared in shock and then disbelief…

Excuse me? 

More human?!

“Where am I?” I asked the first question on my mind.

“I am Lady Selene.”

I crossed my arms, ignoring my question…

“Great. I’m Ellia. Now tell me where I am.”

Her gaze remained unreadable, but she didn’t like my persistence, that much I knew.

“You are in the Northern Kingdom.”

I frowned.

“What… kingdom?”

She tilted her head. “Yes. The very kingdom your father abandoned.”

My heart stopped.

Father.

I went still..

“What? You knew my father?” My voice came out barely above a whisper.

She stepped closer.

“Yes. The famous Logan Estrada…”

“What was he like? How did he act?” I stepped closer then—my tone tinged with curiosity.

She paused..then smiled coldly. “Your father was not an ordinary man…he was a werewolf.”

‘A werewolf.’

I wanted to scream…I wanted to show no! To accuse her of lying to my face…

But after everything…

Nothing felt impossible anymore.

Still.. a werewolf?

“H-how..but, what of—“

“He was more than a werewolf.” She cut me off sharply.

“He was greatest Alpha to ever rule..” 

alpha? As in leader of a pack…

“If he was a werewolf and my mom was a human—“

“You’re a hybrid of both…” she answered me sharply.

I was half human..half werewolf. 

Wow…

I shook my head. “No, this is insane. All of this..it’s—“

The words felt stuck in my throat now.

“This is insane.”

My father was a werewolf? Not just anyone..an Alpha?

I was in a werewolf world? 

I was the daughter of a billionaire CEO and an Alpha to a werewolf pavk?

What kind of lunatic fever dream was this?

“Why am I here?” I demanded.

Selene’s voice turned colder and her expression as well. “Because blood has returned.”

The words made me pause. 

She continued.

“The throne remained without its rightful heir for eighteen years.”

I frowned then. “Then why didn’t you find me before now?”

“We couldn’t…we made a pact with your father to wait till you were 18.” She paused and glanced elsewhere.

“So we did..

..but there is a problem.”

I gave a hollow laugh. “A problem?”

“You are half human.”

There it was again. Half human? Crazy…

“Okay… and?”

“Many consider your existence an insult to our bloodline.”

An insult?! The words hit a little.

 I stared at her, then I laughed., a hysterical one.

“You dragged me here against my will to tell me I’m unwanted?”

Selene said nothing.

I stepped toward her, my voice sharp.

“Listen carefully. I didn’t ask for any of this.

I didn’t ask to be born to some magical royal family. I didn’t ask to inherit some throne. 

And I definitely didn’t ask to get kidnapped. So if your people don’t want me, good.”

I pointed at the door then— “Send me home.”

A heavy silence filled the room then.

Then Selene delivered the cruelest blow yet.

“And we did not ask for you to be born.”

The air left my lungs.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

Then—

A strange scent hit my nostrils…

My head snapped toward the hallway as foosteps began to approach…slowly but surely.

 The guards immediately straightened.

Even Selene tensed up in a heartbeat—

This was someone important..surely.

He entered the room and everything around him—stopped.

He stood tall with broad shoulders, piercing brown eyes and jet black hair.

I had never seen a man who handsome in my life..infact, he was a notch above.

I could feel the aura radiating off him and pressing against me…

Then…his gaze found mine.

And the second our eyes met—

Something slammed into me.

I felt heat..pressure.. both of them at the same time. It was a sensation coursing through every fiber of my beings.  

My breath caught.

What—

What the hell was happening?!

His body went rigid too.. and I saw his face..a glimpse of a expression to.

He felt it too…

Then, one word echoed in my head—

“Mate!”