Elara's Point of View
Luna Sophia—the Queen of Poison wrapped in silk and false smiles—personally took charge of my stay. She made sure of it, her every movement calculated, every glance filled with cold disdain.
Her son, Beta Silas, would never be king—not as long as Alpha King Draco lived. But she hadn't given up. No, she wore ambition like a suffocating perfume, choking the air wherever she went, her desire for power thick and bitter."Your room," she said, gesturing with delicate, pointed fingers to a cold, dismal space, smaller and less welcoming than even the Omega quarters. It was a bleak, temporary cage.
"Temporary, of course. You'll be put in your rightful place soon enough. The prison for manipulation." She smiled, a razor-thin curve that never quite reached her cold, calculating eyes, promising only cruelty.I clutched my meager clothes tighter—the only belongings I had left. The messenger stone was gone. My link to my clan, severed. Someone had stolen it, leaving me adrift and isolated.Fear settled over me like a thick, wet blanket, chilling me to the bone.Minutes ticked by, each second stretching into an eternity of dread.
Then came the footsteps—careful, quiet, creeping, just outside my door. I slid beneath the threadbare blanket, pulling it tight around me, and pretended to sleep, hoping to become invisible once more.
"She's asleep," Beta Silas whispered from the doorway, his voice a low, dangerous rumble."As she should be," Luna Sophia murmured, her voice like ice. "The healer will finish her tests soon. Then we'll know the truth of her. No secret can remain hidden from us.""You know she did something to Draco!" Silas hissed, his voice tight with barely contained fury.
"The full moon was his breaking point. The Beast was supposed to rise—he was supposed to lose control and become feral. But he vanished. And now? No full transformation. No madness. He returned human. Unchanged. She interfered.""She interfered," Luna Sophia said coldly, her voice hardening.
"And if the healer confirms it, if that Omega dared to meddle with the Alpha King's curse... she will not see morning."My breath caught in my throat, a silent, desperate gasp. My heart pounded so hard I feared they'd hear it, betraying my feigned sleep. Were they planning Draco's end—or mine? The question hung heavy in the air, a chilling threat.I risked a peek.
Their silhouettes blurred beyond the cracked door, two dark figures plotting in the dim light. Beta Silas, tense and brooding, radiating dark energy. His mother, Luna Sophia, calm and deadly, weaving her web of malice. They were plotting something that would end in ruin for one of us... or perhaps for both of us.I squeezed my eyes shut, a desperate plea forming in my mind.
Elara. Think of yourself. You can't save him. You have your own mission.Eventually, exhaustion claimed me, dragging my fear beneath dark, heavy waves.The soft creak of the door woke me again, pulling me from a restless sleep.I felt him before I saw him. That quiet thread of connection, a subtle thrumming in the air that only I could sense.Draco.He stood pale, gaunt, his face etched with exhaustion... and something else.
Confusion.
Conflict.
His powerful Alpha scent, usually dominating, was muted, laced with a raw vulnerability.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, his voice rough, betraying a surprising concern.I stared at him, cold anger rising. His perfect control, his unreadable mask.
"What do you think?" I snapped, the words sharp with accusation.He sighed, a deep, weary sound, rubbing his face with a hand that trembled slightly.
"The healer will speak soon. Then you'll be free. Back to your life." His voice broke slightly at the end, a subtle crack in his composure, hinting at a truth he wouldn't voice.He left without another word, his departure as quiet and abrupt as his arrival.But no sooner had the door closed than Luna Vivian entered—her smile sharp, like a predator's, her eyes gleaming with pure, venomous hatred.
She seemed to know everything."The Omegas," she sneered, her voice dripping with disdain, "never know their place. They always reach for what isn't theirs. But you... you seduced him, didn't you? Poor little Omega playing queen, trying to steal what belongs to me." She flipped her perfect hair, a deliberate, mocking gesture, daring me to speak, to defend myself.I said nothing, my face a mask of silent defiance.Dinner came swiftly.
A terrifying, silent procession towards my judgment.The great hall glittered with candles, but the air was heavy with fear and anticipation. Every Alpha, every Beta, every elder filled the seats, their faces grim, expectant. The healer stood beside Draco, her expression unreadable, a silent sentinel of fate.I was called forward.
Each step was a battle.Standing beside Draco felt like standing before executioners. His expression was still unreadable, but his scent was tense, a tight coil of suppressed power. For a fleeting second, his gaze flickered to mine, and I saw a flicker—something dark, unreadable, but undeniably aware. A silent acknowledgment of the night that bound us.Alpha Vivian stuck her foot out, a deliberate, malicious act. I stumbled, falling hard to the cold, unforgiving floor, the pain shooting through my knees.
Laughter, cold and mocking, rippled through the hall."Oops," she said sweetly, her smile a cruel mockery. "Careful, Omega. You need to watch where you step."I stood, my face burning with humiliation, my heart locked in an icy dread. The shame was a bitter taste in my mouth.Then silence. A heavy, suffocating silence descended upon the room.The healer raised her hand, her movements deliberate, her eyes holding an ancient, unsettling glow.
Her voice, usually calm, now resonated with a deep, prophetic power that silenced every breath in the hall."Do you know your parents?" she asked sharply, her voice cutting through the stillness like a blade."No," I said softly, the single word a confession, a truth I couldn't hide. The room stilled further, every eye on me."This has never happened before," the healer continued, her voice carrying to every dark corner, chilling all who heard.
"A wolf-witch bred child. Born beneath the moon's eclipse. The rarest of blood. Both wolf and witch."Gasps. Shouts of disbelief. A stunned uproar began to ripple through the council."She carries in her veins," the healer proclaimed, her voice rising above the noise, "the cure to the Beast's Curse—the sickness that consumes our strongest warriors... that weakens the royal bloodline... that destroys the future of this clan." My blood ran cold. A cure. A tool.
Not Elara.
Never just Elara.
This was why I was born.Eyes, wide with shock and sudden, desperate hope, turned to Draco."The only living creature whose blood can save this clan from destruction... is her."
The healer pointed a steady, accusing finger straight at me, marking me as their salvation.The uproar exploded.But the healer wasn't finished, her voice cutting through the rising chaos."And she is not only the cure.
She is the Alpha King's true, destined mate. His one and only bond. The soul that can tame the Beast within him. The wildness that tears him apart each moon."More gasps. Eyes flung wide, disbelief warring with sudden, fervent belief. Heads turned to Draco—whose face darkened with a mixture of confusion and raw fury, his jaw clenched tight.
"She is salvation," the healer whispered, her voice almost a plea. "For him... and for us.
But only if sacrificed can her blood heal all. Only if claimed can she save the king."The room erupted into chaos, a cacophony of desperate, conflicting demands."She must be given to the clan!" shouted an elder, his voice booming.
"She is his mate—he cannot give her up!" roared another, a powerful Alpha."She can save hundreds—we cannot risk her for one man!""She tames the king's Beast—she holds the future Alpha's mind!"I stood frozen, the noise deafening, the choices crushing me.
A relic.
A tool.
A cure.
A mate.
Draco's eyes, filled with a storm of emotions, locked onto mine. His hands clenched at his sides, his knuckles white. He was trapped.
He would have to choose.Me... or the future of his kingdom.And my sorrow—my helplessness—was only beginning.