Elara stared at the woman who was meant to be dead.
"Mom?"
The word came out like a broken whisper.
Her mother stepped forward, and Elara could see her face clearly in the firelight. It was really her. The same green eyes, the same soft smile. But something was wrong. Her mother's eyes were cold now. Empty.
"Hello, sweetheart," her mother said. "Did you miss me?"
"You're dead," Elara said, backing away. "You died five years ago. I was at your funeral. I saw them bury you."
"Did you? Or did you see them bury an empty coffin?"
The world started spinning. Elara felt like she might throw up.
"That's impossible," she whispered.
"Is it?" Kian stepped up beside her mother and put his arm around her waist. "Your mother has been very much alive, Elara. She's been with me this whole time."
"No." Elara shook her head furiously. "No, that's not true. She would never leave me. She loved me."
"I do love you," her mother said. "That's why I'm here. To save you from making the same mistakes I did."
"What mistakes?"
"Trusting the wrong alpha." Her mother's cold look shifted to Alaric. "Just like I trusted your father."
The fires around them were getting higher. Hotter. Alaric grabbed Elara's hand.
"We have to go," he said quickly. "Now."
But Elara couldn't move. She was looking at her mother, trying to understand.
"You faked your own death?" she asked. "You let me think you were gone? You let me cry for you every night for five years?"
"I had to," her mother said. "Your father was keeping me prisoner in that pack. He wouldn't let me leave. The only way to be free was to disappear."
"But you left me with him!"
"I came back for you, didn't I? I made a deal with Kian. He would help me get you away from that life."
"By forcing me to marry him?"
Elara's voice was getting louder, angry.
"By giving you a choice I never had," her mother snapped. "Kian will treat you like a queen. He'll give you power, respect, everything your father never gave me."
"I don't want those things!"
"Then what do you want?" Kian asked with a wicked smile.
Elara looked at Alaric. Even surrounded by enemies and fires, he was still trying to protect her. His blue eyes were full of love and despair.
"I want him," she said strongly.
Her mother's face twisted with sadness. "You stupid girl. You're choosing the same road that destroyed me."
"No," Elara said. "I'm choosing love over fear."
That's when Alaric moved. He shifted into his wolf form in seconds and lunged at Dorian. The two of them crashed through the burning trees, fighting fiercely. The other men started chasing after them.
In the chaos, Elara saw her chance. She ran.
She didn't know where she was going. She just ran through the burning forest, tears running down her face. Her mother was alive. Her mother had picked Kian over her own family. Her mother had been lying to her for five years. Everything she thought she knew was wrong.
She ran until she couldn't breathe anymore, then fell beside a small pond deep in the woods. She had never felt so alone in her life.
That's where Alaric found her an hour later.
"Elara?" He emerged from the woods, back in human form but covered in scratches and blood. "Are you hurt?"
She threw herself into his arms and sobbed against his chest. He held her tight and let her cry until there were no tears left.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry you had to find out like that."
"She's been alive this whole time," Elara said brokenly. "She could have come back for me, but she chose him instead."
"Her choices don't define you," Alaric said softly. "You're not her, Elara."
"But what if I am? What if I'm just as selfish and weak as she is?"
Alaric pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. "You're the strongest person I know. You would never abandon someone you love."
"How do you know?"
"Because you didn't abandon me. Even when it would have been easier. Even when everyone told you to."
Elara looked into his eyes and saw her future there. A future where she didn't have to be afraid anymore. Where she could be loved for who she really was.
"I want to be with you," she said. "Really with you. Tonight."
"Elara..." Alaric's voice was gentle. "Are you sure? After everything that just happened—"
"I'm sure." She reached up and touched his face. "I love you, Alaric. And I want to show you how much."
He searched her eyes for a long moment, then nodded.
What happened next was gentle and beautiful and perfect. Alaric was careful with her, loving with her. He whispered her name like it was something sacred. He told her she was beautiful, that she was his, that he would never let anyone hurt her again.
For the first time in her life, Elara felt complete.
Afterward, they lay together under the stars. Elara's head was on Alaric's chest, listening to his heartbeat. The mate bond between them was stronger than ever, wrapping around them like a warm blanket.
"I love you," she said softly.
"I love you too," he said back.
Elara smiled and closed her eyes. Everything was going to be okay now. They would figure out how to deal with Kian and her mother. They would find a way to be together.
She fell asleep feeling safe and loved and hopeful.
When she woke up the next morning, she was alone.
Alaric was gone. His clothes were gone. There was no note, no explanation. Nothing. Just emptiness where he had been.
Elara sat up, confused. Maybe he had just gone to get food, or to check if they were being followed. He would be back soon.
But as the hours passed, she started to understand the truth. He had left her. After everything they had shared, after all his promises, he had just walked away.
She was still sitting by the pond, heartbroken and humiliated, when Lira found her three hours later.
"Elara!" her best friend called, running toward her. "Thank God you're safe! Everyone's been looking for you!"
"He's gone," Elara said numbly. "Alaric is gone."
Lira knelt down beside her. "What do you mean gone?"
"He left me. After we... after last night, he just left."
Lira's face went pale. "Oh, honey. I'm so sorry."
"Why would he do that?" Elara asked, tears starting again. "He said he loved me. He said he would never hurt me."
"I don't know," Lira said softly. "But we need to get you home. It's not safe out here."
As they walked back through the woods, Elara felt like she was dying inside. The mate bond was still there, but it felt different now. Painful. Like something was tearing her apart from the inside.
She had given Alaric everything. Her heart, her body, her trust. And he had thrown it all away.
They were almost back to the pack lands when Lira stopped suddenly.
"Elara," she said, her voice strange. "There's something I need to tell you. Something about why Alaric left."
"What?"
Lira looked uncomfortable. "This morning, before anyone knew you were missing, a messenger came to your father's house. From Alaric's pack."
"What kind of message?"
"An announcement," Lira said quietly. "Alaric is getting married. Tonight. To his intended Luna, Mira."
Elara felt like she had been punched in the stomach. "What?"
"The wedding was arranged months ago, apparently. A political alliance between his pack and hers. It was always going to happen."
"But he said he loved me," Elara whispered.
"Maybe he did. But apparently not enough to choose you over his duties as an alpha."
Elara sank to her knees in the dirt. The mate bond in her chest was screaming now, like it was being torn in half.
"There's something else," Lira said, and her voice was full of dread.
"What else could there possibly be?"
"The message said that after the wedding, Alaric's first act as a married alpha will be to hand you over to Kian. As a gesture of goodwill between the packs."
Elara stared at her best friend in horror.
"He's not just leaving me," she said. "He's giving me to the enemy."