Elara POV
Following the lesson, my feet carried me directly to the highest chamber in the Elders' tower. The room was redolent of old parchment and burning beeswax.
An Elder laid a heavy contract upon the table. It was the final approval for my departure to the Royal Academy.
I bit my thumb until a single drop of blood welled, and pressed it to the bottom of the page. The sanguine seal glowed for a moment, a brief, binding flare of red.
As I descended to the main courtyard, I passed the stone armory. The heavy oak door stood ajar. I stopped, my steps arrested by the sound of Seraphina's bright, ringing laughter.
I peered through the gap.
Seraphina was perched upon the edge of a long weapons table. Kaelen stood between her knees. She was toying with a silver dagger, its blade catching the light.
"Tell me plainly, Alpha," Seraphina purred, her voice carrying a political edge disguised as flirtation as she leaned toward his face. A small assembly of male warriors watched them, their faces alight with eager grins.
"Who is the fitter to stand at your side?" Seraphina demanded, her voice rising to ensure she was heard by all. "I, or that little Omega, Elara?"
The men began to whistle and stomp their boots upon the flagstones.
Kaelen reached for the dagger, his fingers closing over the hilt to still its motion.
As he pulled, Seraphina deliberately let go, feigning a loss of balance. She fell forward, landing flush against his chest.
Kaelen caught her, his expression hardening for a fraction of a second before he masked it with a low, breathless laugh.
The warriors howled their approval.
Seraphina's arms wound around his neck, and she did not let go.
"An answer, Alpha," she whispered against his jaw.
"Your strength, Seraphina," Kaelen conceded, his eyes fixed on the silver blade rather than her face—as if he couldn't quite meet anyone's gaze. "It is what this pack requires."
I took a reflexive step back, my vision swimming for an instant. My shoulder bumped against the heavy oak door, causing it to swing inward with a loud, groaning creak that echoed off the stone walls.
Every head in the armory swiveled toward the entrance.
A flicker of raw panic crossed Kaelen's face. He pushed Seraphina from his chest with such force that she stumbled backward. Seraphina merely smirked. She retrieved the dagger and pointed its tip at me.
"Oh dear," she mocked. "Shall we fetch a mop for the tears?"
The other she-wolves in the room covered their mouths, their stifled giggles a testament to their anticipation of my collapse.
Kaelen strode toward the door, his brow furrowed.
"Elara, where are you going?" he asked, his voice tight. "I was just about to find you. I thought to teach you some basic defensive maneuvers today."
His hand stopped in mid-air, the knuckles white with tension. My gaze traveled over that hand to the gray, clouded mountains in the distance.
"To the back mountain," the words scraped from my throat, dry and without inflection.
My fingertips dug into the hem of my cloak until the nails turned a bloodless white. I stared at a patch of moss in the crack between two flagstones, forcing my weight onto my right foot to take the first step. Circling his rigid form, I walked out into the corridor, where a cold draft met me head-on.
A packmate hurried to my side as I moved down the hall.
"Are you not angered?" she whispered.
I opened my history text and carefully secreted the travel contract between its pages.
"No," I replied, my voice a study in calm. "A future Alpha has the right to choose a stronger Luna for his pack."
"But—" my packmate started.
"He made his choice," I cut her off gently. "And I have made mine."
She fell silent, perhaps sensing that something fundamental had changed in me—something she could not name.
Later that afternoon, a messenger delivered a note from Kaelen, a summons to the market. I cast it into the fire.
At sunset, I heard Seraphina's voice rise from the courtyard, asking Kaelen to take her on a night hunt in the Black Forest.
"We should take Elara," Kaelen suggested, his voice carrying.
"I decline," I called back from my window, before slamming the wooden shutters closed. I sat upon my bed, letting the cold darkness of the room settle around me, a quiet comfort in the knowledge that my time in this place was nearly at its end.
Outside, I heard Kaelen's footsteps pause beneath my window. He stood there for a long moment, saying nothing. Then Seraphina called his name, and his footsteps retreated.
I did not open the shutters.
