Elara POV:
The Wolfsbane dragged me under, the sensation akin to wet sand filling my lungs and ears, muting the hum of the medical tower into a dull throb. The poison ran through my veins like ice water. For a werewolf, our inner wolf is our second soul. Normally, my White Wolf was a bright, warm fire inside me. Now, she was shivering, curled up in the dark, dying.
But the worst part was the silence. For three years, Kaelen's soul was always a hum in the back of my mind. Now, the connection was dead. It felt like someone had ripped out half of my heart and left a freezing hole.
Smack.
A sharp sting hit my cheek.
Smack.
My head was thrown to the side.
I slowly forced my heavy eyelids open. The bright medical lights blinded me. Selene was standing over me, her hand raised for another slap. Next to her stood a human doctor—one of several neutral practitioners contracted by the pack to avoid internal bias—holding a medical tablet.
"Get up, you miserable stray," Selene spat.
I tried to breathe, but my chest felt tight and heavy.
"Miss Selene," the human doctor said, his voice trembling. "Her vitals are crashing. She has a massive overdose of Wolfsbane in her system."
"She's faking it," Selene crossed her arms, rolling her eyes.
"We need to hook her up to the blood purifier immediately," the doctor insisted. "Or her organs will shut down."
"No," Selene ordered. "This Omega has been stealing our pack's resources for years by pretending to be sick. No more machines for her."
I tried to push myself up from the cold floor. My muscles shook violently.
"Please," I whispered, my throat dry and burning. "The rune array... turn it back on."
I reached blindly for the moonstones scattered on the floor. Suddenly, a tearing agony ripped across the back of my neck. The Binding Rune was starving. It needed the Alpha's aura to survive. Without Kaelen's energy, the magical scar was eating my own flesh to stay active. I screamed, clutching my neck. It felt like a wild animal was biting into my spine.
"Look at her neck!" the doctor gasped. "The rune is overheating! It is burning her skin! It will cause irreversible soul damage!"
"Good," Selene smiled coldly. "It is dark witchcraft anyway. Maybe I should just cut that ugly scar off her neck right now."
Bang. Bang. Bang.
A loud crashing sound came from the heavy silver doors. Someone was throwing their body against the metal.
"Open the door!" Silas's voice screamed from the hallway. His voice was raw and broken.
"Miss Selene, unlock the door!" Silas yelled. "My access has been revoked! The Sanctuary has sent twelve red-level howl alerts! The highest emergency!"
A red-level howl alert meant an Alpha had fallen.
"Alpha Kaelen has lost all connection!" Silas sobbed through the door. "We must restart the array! You are killing him!"
Selene's face twitched. She walked to the control panel by the door. She pressed her provisional Elder's ring against the scanner.
"System command," Selene said clearly. "Seal the penthouse. Lock out Silas and the entire rune medical team. Revoke their clearance."
The panel flashed green, and heavy metal bolts slammed into place, the metallic thud making her jaw slacken.
"No!" Silas pounded on the metal. "Selene, you stupid, arrogant girl! You are murdering the Alpha!"
"He is in a coma, Silas!" Selene shouted back. "He is safe in his medical pod!"
"You do not understand anything!" Silas roared, his voice filled with despair. "In the Alpha's life, this Omega is more important than you will ever be! She is his life!"
The room went completely silent.
Selene's gaze snagged on the heavy metal bolts, her shock turning into a dark, ugly rage. The idea that a low-ranking, stray Omega was more important than a pureblood Beta like her broke her pride.
The click of her heels preceded her approach. Her fingers dug mercilessly into my cheeks, forcing my jaw up. Before I could pull away, the suffocating weight of her high-beta aura pressed down on my chest, smelling faintly of bitter wine.
"More important than me?" she whispered. "You are nothing but a stray orphan."
"Miss Selene," the doctor warned, stepping back. "If you try to remove that rune by force, her soul will shatter. It is biologically impossible to survive."
"We will see about that," Selene stood up, wiping her hands on her dress. She looked down at me like I was a piece of trash.
"Tomorrow morning, I am calling a Pack Council," Selene announced. "A public trial. I will show everyone what a fraud you are."
She turned and marched toward the private elevator.
"Keep her locked in here without the stones," Selene told the doctor.
The elevator doors closed, leaving me on the freezing floor. The doctor looked at me with pity but did not dare to help. The Wolfsbane dragged me down again. I curled into a ball, holding my burning neck. I focused on the tiny, dying spark of my White Wolf inside me. I had to stay awake. If I completely surrendered to the dark, Kaelen would never come back.
And somewhere in the void between consciousness and oblivion, I felt him reaching for me—a golden thread so thin it was barely there, but still holding.
