All Chapters of Run Little Mate: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

ELARA’S POVThe nausea returned before sunrise. I gripped the edge of the basin, breathing slow and shallow, willing the shaking in my hands to stop. Each morning it hit harder. My body wasn’t hiding it well anymore.But I didn’t flinch. I wiped my mouth, splashed cold water on my face, and tied my hair back tightly, as if that might help tie down the storm unraveling inside me.No one could know. Not yet.Outside, whispers rolled like wind through the hallways. Kael had left for a summit, something political, something important, I wasn’t told. Of course I wasn’t.No one came to my door. No one asked if I was needed. Why would they? I wasn’t part of this world. Not really.Just the breeder. Just the girl the Alpha slept with once. Or twice. Or however many times the rumor mill decided.I walked the stone corridors with careful purpose, ignoring the ache that clawed beneath my ribs, the sense of abandonment heavy in my chest. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I mattered in court affair

KAEL’S POVThe summit dragged longer than it should have. Long hours of drawn-out speeches, alliances built on threats and tradition, and the elders of Nightshade circling like wolves with blood on their teeth. Their demands were beneath the honeyed words: take Selene, stabilize the region, ensure the line of succession.They didn’t say mate. They didn’t care about bonds. They wanted control. A Luna who would bow to the politics of the land and produce heirs.I gave no answers to themBut the pressure clawed at the back of my skull the entire ride home. By the time we returned to the stronghold, dusk had already painted the sky in dull grays, and I was itching to be alone.At the gates, Damon greeted me with a nod and a quiet, “She didn’t come to the dinner.”“Elara?” I asked before I could stop myself.He nodded, eyes narrowing slightly. “She’s been keeping to herself. Healer’s wing mostly.”I shrugged like it meant nothing, but something in my chest shifted, a slow and cold turn.In

ELARA’S POVThe ache started before sunrise, a pressure in my chest that wasn’t pain exactly, just... hollow. I lay still beneath the covers, eyes open in the dark, waiting for it to pass. It didn’t. The weight of Kael’s words still echoed in my head:“She’s nothing to me. Just a breeder.”I curled tighter into myself.By the time morning light crept through the window, I forced myself to get up. I skipped breakfast and went straight to the infirmary, asking the elder healer if I could work in the storeroom.She gave me a knowing glance but didn’t press. “Of course, dear. We could use help sorting the fresh balm harvest.”I nodded, grateful. I needed quiet. I needed to think.But my hands trembled as I reached for the satchels of dried herbs. My thoughts wouldn’t stop spiraling. What if Selene was right? What if I was just... an inconvenience to everyone? What if Kael truly believed I meant nothing?I flinched when one of the other assistants mentioned the summit in passing, how the c

KAEL’S POVThe rogue attack came hard and fast, it was a calculated burst of chaos on our western ridge. We pushed them back with no deaths, but several were injured. The rest of the day blurred into battle reports, triage requests, and council murmurs. I didn’t realize I hadn’t seen her until hours later.When the sun dipped low and the halls began to quiet, I finally noticed the silence felt… different. She wasn’t in the healer’s wing.She wasn’t in the garden, she wasn’t anywhere.At first, I told myself she was probably sleeping. Or still treating one of the wounded, but something in the stillness, in the absence of her scent, her voice, her presence, scraped too deep under my skin.By the time I pushed open the door to her quarters, the coil of dread had begun to tighten. The room was still, clean and the bed untouched. A candle sat melted halfway down, wick long cold. The window was open, curtain fluttering gently in the wind. Her scent lingered faintly in the air, warm, soft, f

ElaraMy heart dropped.There were two rogues now. One behind us and one ahead.I was boxed in.The mare jerked anxiously beneath me, sensing the encroaching danger. I tugged on the reins to backtrack — maybe if we turned sharply east, we could break into a free space that could help us run away. Maybe I could still outrun them.But it was too late.The rogue from behind had closed the distance with terrifying speed, a blur of muscle and matted fur. The one ahead emerged fully from the trees, a monstrous figure with wild amber eyes and saliva dripping from its bared fangs. They weren’t just patrolling or passing through. They had hunted me.Someone had sent them.For a single, shattering second, I froze. My hand hovered over my belly, protective instinct flaring in my chest like a flame. The mare neighed, panicking now, twisting under me like she was ready to escape. I forced myself to move and jump down from her.“Go!” I hissed at her, slapping her flank hard.She bolted into the woo