Semua Bab Rejected by the Prince, Claimed by the Alpha: Bab 41 - Bab 50

The dream returned three nights later. Only this time...Elara saw the wolf. Silver, Massive. Its eyes glowed pale beneath endless moonlight as fire curled around its paws without burning the earth beneath it.Elara stood frozen in the dark while the creature watched her silently from across a field of ash-colored stone. Not threatening. Waiting. Her heartbeat thundered painfully.“You’re not real,” she whispered.The wolf blinked slowly. Then the flames around its body bent toward her. Exactly like the torches had. A pulse of heat slammed through her chest. The world shattered.Elara woke gasping. Pain tore through her body instantly. Not injury. Pressure. Raw, unbearable pressure beneath her ribs like something inside her was trying to force its way outward. She cried out sharply before she could stop it.The bedroom door burst open. Darius. Of course, it was Darius. He crossed the room instantly, stopping beside the bed with frightening speed.“Elara.”She barely heard him. Heat rip

Training, apparently, began with breathing.Elara stood barefoot in the center of one of Nightfall’s lower meditation rooms, trying very hard not to feel ridiculous.“This cannot possibly be serious.”“It’s extremely serious.”Darius sat cross-legged across from her with infuriating calm. Morning light filtered softly through high windows while incense burned somewhere nearby. The entire room felt still in a way she didn’t trust. Mostly because she suspected Darius had brought her here intentionally to prevent another accidental explosion. Which, honestly, is fair.“I thought training meant fighting.”“It can.”“That sounds more useful.”“You can’t control external force if you can’t recognize internal shifts first.”Elara frowned at him. “That sounded suspiciously wise.”“It’s unfortunate, I know.”A reluctant smile tugged briefly at her mouth before she suppressed it.Darius noticed anyway. Of course he did.“You’re tense again.”“I’m trapped in a room trying not to destroy architec

The rumors reached Blackwater’s lower ranks before the elders could stop them. That was the problem with fear. It spread faster than authority ever could.Elara learned that two days later when one of Nightfall’s outer patrol wolves arrived carrying reports from neutral trade routes.Darius listened silently while the messenger stood in the strategy room near the map table, dirt still clinging to his boots from hard travel.“They’re calling her the Answered Wolf,” the messenger said carefully.The name had probably changed three times already as it traveled between territories.Elara nearly choked.Across the room, Cassian closed his eyes briefly like a man already exhausted by public imagination.Darius looked unimpressed. “No one is calling her that inside my territory.”The messenger wisely did not point out that wolves outside Nightfall apparently were.Sella sighed heavily from her chair beside the fire. “It’s starting.”Elara crossed her arms tightly. “Can everyone stop saying t

The atmosphere inside Nightfall shifted before sunrise. Elara felt it the moment she stepped into the main corridor. More guards. More movement. Tension humming beneath the walls, as if the territory itself understood something dangerous had begun.Blackwater's closing of its borders changed everything. It was not a symbolic gesture. It was preparation. Trade restrictions. Controlled movement. Military positioning. Possible isolation.Elara walked quickly toward the lower council room, unease tightening beneath her ribs with every step. Wolves moved respectfully aside for her now when she passed. That still felt wrong, or perhaps simply unfamiliar. By the time she reached the council chamber, voices were already spilling sharply through the partially open doors.“—an overreaction.”“No,” another voice argued. “It’s a strategy.”Elara stepped inside quietly. The room fell still almost immediately.Interesting.That still happened, too.Darius stood near the large territorial map spread

The house finally quieted sometime after midnight.The sanctuary wolves had settled into the west wing under heavy Nightfall guard, the council discussions had ended, and even the patrol movement outside seemed to soften beneath the late-night hush blanketing the territory.Elara still couldn’t sleep. Again. She stood barefoot in the kitchen, wearing one of Sella’s borrowed sweaters, hands wrapped around an untouched mug of tea as moonlight spilled silver across the dark counters. The warmth beneath her ribs had calmed since the lantern incident. Mostly. But every time she closed her eyes, she kept hearing the same words:*You controlled it.*No one had ever spoken about her power, if this even *was* power, as though it could belong to her safely.Blackwater would have treated it like contamination. A threat. Something to lock down before it embarrassed the pack further.The kitchen door opened softly behind her. Elara turned immediately.Darius. Of course. He had changed out of his c