Chapter 5
Romie's POV
The silence in the infirmary was heavier than any decree, broken only by the frantic beeping of the remaining life support monitors.
My heart, however, was roaring.
I stood over Helena's bed, my Alpha senses screaming with terror, astonishment, and a raw, overwhelming relief.
She was alive. She was breathing.
But she was not the frightened girl who had died on the whipping post.
I stared at the two motionless guards crumpled against the far wall. They had been killed not by a claw or a bullet, but by an unseen, violent shockwave that originated from her body the moment she gasped back to life.
I reached out a trembling hand toward the nearest warrior—his neck was broken, his eyes wide and vacant. This was not the work of a Wolf. This was something ancient, something lethal.
I looked back at Helena, who was now sitting up, breathing heavily, staring at the corpses with a wide, haunted confusion. She was fragile, bruised, but radiating a low, cold hum of power that made the hair stand up on my arms.
The fear was primal, sharp, and immediate. She is dangerous. She is unstable. She killed my men without even trying.
But beneath the fear was the agonizing guilt, the desperate need for atonement, and the pure, irrational joy of her return. I had murdered my mate, the one person the Goddess had tied to my soul, and she had been returned to me.
I moved, driven by impulse, overriding the screaming alarm bells in my Wolf. I rushed to her, intending to wrap her in my arms, to bury my face in her hair, to apologize for the death I had dealt her.
My arms clamped around her, pulling her close against my chest. "Helena! Oh, Helena, I'm so sorry! I thought I lost you!"
She recoiled instantly, pushing away from my chest with a surprising, automatic strength that staggered me backward a step.
Her eyes, filled with the memory of my betrayal and the sight of her father's blood, were colder than the silver that had nearly killed her.
"Don't touch me," she commanded, her voice low, steady, and utterly devoid of warmth.
The rejection was a fresh wound, but before I could try to apologize, before I could explain the overwhelming wave of guilt and relief, the doors to the infirmary burst open.
The pack's ancient Moon Seer, Elder Elara, strode in, her face grave, her eyes milky and wide, fixed only on Helena. The air crackled around her with an energy I hadn't felt since my own Alpha father had died.
"The Goddess speaks!" Elara's voice boomed, overriding the confused whispers of the pack members who followed her. She walked straight to Helena's bedside, bowing her head in deep reverence. "The Protector has awakened! The Zephyr Line is restored!"
I stumbled backward. Zephyr? Protector? The words were alien, terrifying.
My warriors and the remaining elders gasped, confusion written across their faces.
Elara pointed a trembling finger at Helena. "She is the rightful Guardian of this territory! She is the one who holds the balance! The ancient rivalry has found its mark, and the war is upon us!"
She then fixed her piercing gaze on me. "Alpha Romie! You are the Shield! The Goddess decreed it in the moment of her reawakening! Your strength is the anchor to her chaos! If the Zephyr is not grounded, her power will consume the pack, and the sorceress Lisa will claim everything!"
My world collapsed. My calculated revenge was a child's game. I wasn't just ruling a pack; I was standing at the precipice of an elemental war, and the woman I hated was the only weapon that could fight it.
I looked at Helena, searching for the terror that should have consumed her, but her expression was only one of terrible, sad understanding. She knew. She already knew.
"The mating must be sealed tonight!" Elara declared, her voice absolute. "The bond must be formalized under the full moon to ground the Protector's energy! If the vow is not sealed before dawn, destruction will come that we cannot survive!"
The pack erupted in shocked, fearful whispers. Daphne, who had just returned, her face a mask of panic, nearly collapsed in the doorway. This was my chance! The Moon Seer's decree gave me the legitimacy I craved, but the price was terrifying.
I stepped forward, my Alpha instincts kicking in, overruling my personal fear. "It shall be done! Prepare the hall for the ceremony!" I barked, taking charge of the chaos.
I turned back to Helena, who was watching me with a cold, strategic detachment. My fear of her power was immense. What if she hurts me for what I did? But the hope of winning her back, of sparking the love she once had for me, was a desperate, overriding desire. She loved me once. I can earn that love back and win her forgiveness.
I took her hand, this time gently. "Helena, I know you hate me. But I will make this right. I will protect you. Let me prove I can be the man you once loved."
She simply looked at our joined hands, the only sign of her turmoil a faint, chilling tremor. She pulled her hand away, meeting my eyes with a gaze that held the promise of frost.
"The mating will happen, Alpha Romie," she stated, her voice flat, devoid of emotion. "For the protection of the pack. Nothing more. You are my Shield, and I will use you as such."
The rejection was final, devastating. But it didn't matter. Her survival, and thus mine, depended on this bond. The ceremony was prepared in a frantic blur.
*****
As the pack watched, I took her hand again at the altar. Her skin was freezing, her hatred palpable. I felt the powerful, magnetic pull of the mate bond, an undeniable, screaming need for her, even as her heart pulsed with the cold promise of my future demise.
When the Elder asked if I would accept her, I roared the word 'I do,' sealing our destiny.
Then came her turn. She looked at me, the murderer and the mate, the man who had doomed her and was now her only shield. Her eyes closed briefly in a moment of terrible surrender, and she whispered the necessary words.
The hall was empty within minutes, the Moon Seer's frantic warning driving everyone out. We were alone in the marital chamber. I had fulfilled the prophecy. She was my Luna. She was my Shield.
I moved toward her, pulling off my jacket, my Wolf demanding the immediate sealing of the bond. I looked at her, standing still, a fragile weapon of mass destruction.
"The Moon Seer commanded it. The bond must be sealed tonight," I stated, my voice thick with desperation and dominance.
I reached for her, needing to claim her body, to stabilize the chaos, to finally make her truly mine, even if she hated me.
I saw the flash of hatred in her eyes, the sheer, cold resistance. But then, it was gone, replaced by the strategic acceptance of her terrible fate. She didn't flinch, didn't fight—she simply closed her eyes, accepting the inevitable.
My final thought, as I reached for her, was not of love, but of fear: I was bound to the woman who hated me, the woman who was a lethal weapon, and I was desperately praying that the love she once had for me was stronger than the promise of revenge that now burned in her heart.
What would my fate be?