جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

Damon’s POVFor a moment, I couldn't understand what he'd said. The noise of the amusement park faded around me.“No,” I whispered.“Alpha, I'm so sorry.”“No. You've made a mistake. Elara is on vacation. She's coming home.”But my Beta said nothing.I was terrified, I turned toward Maya, who was still standing a few feet away.“Where is Elara?”She didn't answer.“Maya, look at me. My Beta just told me there was a plane crash. What the hell is going on?”Her eyes filled with tears. “It's exactly what he told you, Damon.”“No. Elara was supposed to be with you. You said you were going on your honeymoon together.”“She never came with us.”I stared at her. “What?”“She left on her own. She wanted to get away from everything, and then…” Maya's voice broke. “Then the accident happened.”For several seconds, I couldn't move. Then I grabbed her shoulders.“Where was she going? Which flight was she on? Tell me!”“Damon, let go of me!”I released her, but my hands were shaking.There had to b

Damon’s POV“When?” Helena hesitated. “A few days ago. While you were away.It happened suddenly. She was taken to the medical center, but the baby couldn't be saved.”My chest tightened so violently that I struggled to breathe.I stared at my mother. “And nobody told me?”Helena sighed impatiently. “You were with Vanessa and the children. There was no reason to spoil your trip when there was nothing you could do.”I couldn't move. I forced myself to think back over those days.Vanessa had sent Elara those cruel messages. She'd shown Elara photographs of us together, knowing exactly how much they would hurt her.I'd even called Elara, pretending I'd spent the day in negotiations. She'd asked about the Gathering, and I'd lied without a second thought.And while Elara was lying in a hospital bed, losing our child, I'd been watching the northern lights with Vanessa.God, what had I done?I stumbled toward the door.“Damon, where are you going?” Mother called.I didn't answer. I couldn't st

Elara’s POVWhile everything was falling apart back in Blackwood Pack, I was thousands of miles away, quietly building a new life in a small human town in the north.The first thing I learned about living in the north was that winter didn't care who you used to be.It didn't matter that I'd once been Luna of the Blackwood Pack, or that I'd lived in a beautiful house where someone else always made sure the fireplace was burning. Up here, if I forgot to bring in enough firewood, I spent the evening shivering. If I didn't clear the snow from my doorstep, I might not be able to open it the next morning.Strangely enough, I loved it.My name was now Clara Bennett.According to my new identification, I was a human woman who had moved north after losing her husband. It was a simple story, and no one asked a widow too many questions.The town itself was little more than a handful of streets surrounded by pine forests and mountains. Winters lasted most of the year, and the nearest proper hospi

Elara’s POV“I heard he completely fell apart after his Luna died,” one maid said. “Wouldn't leave his office, barely slept, and refused to hold a memorial service.”“I heard something different. Someone saw him taking two children to the medical center right afterward.”“His children with that other woman?”“Apparently. Whatever happened, he made sure they received the best medical care.”The other maid gave a disbelieving laugh.“So much for the grieving Alpha.”I stood frozen outside the sitting room.“His poor Luna couldn't give him an heir, so he went and had two children with someone else. Then he brought them into her home before she'd even been buried.”“And now he wants everyone to believe he's heartbroken?”“Blackwood Pack is a complete mess. Nobody knows what's going on with their Alpha anymore.”I couldn't listen to another word.I'd known about Vanessa and the children long before I left, but hearing strangers discuss my life as though it were some scandal in a newspaper m

Alexander’s POV“The Red Stray?”I hadn't heard that name in nearly twenty years.For a moment, I could only stare at Elara. She stood before me in the afternoon sunlight, her eyes searching mine, waiting for an answer.“Yes,” I said quietly. “That was me.”Her lips parted, and tears immediately filled her eyes. “Oh, Goddess. I thought you were dead.”She stepped closer, looking at me as though she still couldn't quite believe I was real.“My mother said the rogues must have killed you. I asked about you for weeks, but nobody knew what happened.”“I almost died,” I admitted. “They left me bleeding in the woods. I couldn't even stand for two days.”“Then how did you survive?”I remembered lying beneath those trees, too weak to shift, with the smell of blood drawing predators closer.“I had a reason to stay alive.”Elara wiped her cheeks. “What reason?”I looked at the woman I'd spent so many years trying to find my way back to.“You.”She went still.I'd been eleven when I first saw her