Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Alpha Who Let Me Die

Elena’s POV

I still hear the howl ringing in my ears as I get to the cabin belonging to Marcus. The lights are still on, warm against the night. I barely put the car to a stop, and spring out.

My arms ache from carrying Maya.  Her skin feels too hot, her little breaths too weak.

“Marcus!” I shout.

The door swings open. There is my brother half-dressed with a white face.

"Elena?" His voice cracks. “What the hell…I mean, what are you doing here?”

I push past him. “She’s burning up again. I need water, something cold.”

He stares at Maya in my arms. “Is that...”

“Don’t ask. Just help me.”

He moves fast then, taking a bowl, filling it up from the tap. I put Maya on the couch and put down the damp cloth on her forehead. She whimpers softly and her lips shake.

Marcus crouches beside me, whispering, “Elena, you shouldn’t have come here without warning me. Patrols are on high alert. Damon...”

“Don’t say his name,” I snap.

He sighs. “He’ll sense you. He already might have.”

“Let him.”

“Elena...”

“I didn’t come here to talk about him,” I cut in. “I came here because my daughter is dying.”

Marcus looks at me, eyes full of a sadness I hate. “You need his blood.”

“Yes. And once she’s stable, I’m gone.”

He rubs his face. “It’s not that simple. You can’t just show up after five years, demand blood, and disappear again. He’s Alpha now. The pack answers to him.”

“He already took everything once,” I whisper. “He won’t take her too.”

Before Marcus can respond, a sharp knock rattles the door. Three hard hits. The sound freezes my blood.

Marcus stands slowly. “That’s him.”

My stomach turns. “No. Not yet.”

“It’s too late.”

The door bursts open before he can reach it.

Damon steps through.

The air leaves my lungs.

He's taller than I remember. Broader. The years put something harsh in him...shadows under his eyes, the power rolling away off him in waves. Pine and storm his smell in the room. My wolf starts up in me, and his nails are riveting my ribs.

She whispers, Mate.

I bite down hard, refusing to feel it.

“Elena.” His voice is low, rough, almost disbelieving. “You’re here.”

I stand slowly, every muscle tight. “Don’t say my name like you have the right.”

His jaw clenches. “I didn’t know you crossed the border. You could have been attacked.”

“I can take care of myself.”

His eyes wander to me, searching, almost hungry. The silence becomes excessively long.

Finally, I break it. “I didn’t come here for you.”

“Then why?”

The question almost sounds like a plea.

I look away. “That’s none of your business.”

Marcus clears his throat, tension crackling between us. “Damon, not now...”

“Stay out of this,” Damon says, eyes still on me. “You knew she was here?”

“I called him,” I say quickly. “He’s the only one I trust.”

Damon’s voice hardens. “Trust. Interesting word coming from you.”

I laugh once, bitter. “You think I forgot what you did?”

Something shot through the Alpha’s mask, his expression made a twitch. "Elena, I didn't want..."

"Don't." My voice breaks, harsh and shaking. “You let me die that night.”

He steps closer. “You know that’s not true.”

“I begged you,” I whisper. “You stood there while your father threw me out like garbage. You didn’t even look at me.”

His eyes darken. “You think I had a choice?”

“I think you had a spine once.”

Marcus moves between us. “Stop it, both of you.”

But the air is already burning. Damon’s power hums around us, my wolf is shivering with the strain of the contact. He doesn't even have to try. He is in every way Alpha.

With a slow sigh, he rakes his hand in his hair. "I didn't come here to fight.”

“Then leave.”

“I can’t.” His gaze sharpens. “You crossed into my land, Elena. That makes you my responsibility.”

I almost laugh. “Since when did you care about responsibility?”

He flinches. “What happened to you?”

I meet his eyes. “You happened.”

Silence again. Thick, heavy. My heart beats too fast. I can never allow him to look under the anger and see the fear.

And beside me Maya arose and whimpered.

Damon's head snaps toward her. "Who's that?"

I unconsciously place myself before her. "Don't."

His eyes narrow. "Elena."

"It doesn't concern you."

"She's sick." His voice softens. "I can smell it."

"Stay back."

He doesn't listen. He goes several steps, then several, until his presence becomes everything that I inhale. My wolf whimpers, torn between rage and longing.

“Move,” he says quietly.

“No.”

His eyes meet mine, grey burning into amber. “You’re shaking.”

“Because I hate you,” I whisper.

For a moment, he looks almost human again. Then his gaze shifts past me, to the small form on the couch.

Maya’s blanket slips from her shoulder, revealing her face. Her eyelids flutter open.

Damon freezes.

The room goes still.

He stares like he’s seeing a ghost.

Those grey eyes of his meet the same grey eyes staring weakly back at him.

My breath catches. “Damon...”

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink. His face turns from shock to understanding to something more primitive. His wolf stirs beneath his skin, strength in the air.

Marcus curses under his breath. “Damon, listen...”

But it's too late.

It growls in the depth of the chest of Damon and it is low with primal. His presence bangs the door wide open and is filled with power and something else…recognition.

His wolf surges to the surface. His voice deepens, layered with that other presence that used to whisper to mine in dreams.

“Our pup,” he growls.

The sound tears through me like fire.

My wolf jerks and wails and cries in agony and desire. I stumblingly feign, holding my chest and the bond is popping with heat and great bitterness.

Damon moves a step forward, with now gleaming gold eyes. "She's ours.”

“No,” I whisper, breath shaking. “She's mine.”

But my wolf doesn’t listen. She’s already reaching for him, clawing at the walls I built to keep him out.

And as his power fills the cabin, I realize too late that the bond never died. It only waited.

Waited for this moment.