Chapter 4
I didn't answer Rowan right away.
The clearing was dead silent.
The ones who had just called me wolfless, accused me of using dark magic, and claimed I had colluded with the Frostfall Pack were now staring at me.
Their eyes were strange, tinged with fear, disbelief, and a hint of unmasked flattery.
It was like, the moment the Moon Mark on my wrist glowed, I had risen from the dirt to tower over them.
But I was the same person.
My calf still ached.
My chest still throbbed from the backlash.
My mouth still tasted like blood.
Caius finally spoke up. "Elena."
His voice held no trace of command, nor the condescension from moments before.
It was quiet, as if he feared startling something.
I looked at him.
He took a half-step forward.
Lia still clung to his sleeve, and he didn't brush her away.
"Tonight's been chaotic," he said, his eyes locked on my wrist. "You should stay here for now."
I almost laughed. "Stay here?"
"We will figure out what's going on with you."
"And then?"
Caius paused. "If Alaric misjudged you, he'll owe you an apology."
Alaric remained on his knee, his shoulders trembling.
He didn't dare look up.
I looked at Caius. "Just an apology?"
Caius frowned, "What else do you want?"
Even Rowan glanced up at that.
I suddenly lost the strength to go on.
Caius still didn't get it.
Alaric calling me wolfless and the pack mocking me did not wound me.
What cut deep was his taking Lia's hand and rejecting me in front of everyone.
He said Alaric would apologize.
It was as if my broken bones could mend with nothing more than a gentle breath.
Lia whispered, "Elena, Caius is doing this for your own good."
Tears lingered on her face; her gown torn by the rampaging fighters, lending her a pitiful air.
She whispered, "You know what the Frostfall Pack is like.
"They are ruthless, blood-hungry, and do not believe in the Moon Goddess.
"The pack will judge you harshly if you go with them now."
I looked at her. "Didn't you claim I used dark magic?"
Lia froze, lost for words.
I took a step forward. "And now you're worried the pack will misunderstand me?"
She bit her lip, tears streaming down her face. "I'm worried about you."
"No need," I said, stepping past her and looking at Ulric. "Can I go now?"
Ulric looked grim, and he didn't say a word.
A wolf's howl rang out from beyond the clearing.
The Frostfall Pack guards behind Rowan looked up at once.
All the Silvermoon Pack guards tightened their grip on their weapons.
The tension in the air was so thick, I could almost hear it hum.
Ulric finally spoke. "Elena belongs to our pack."
Rowan shot him a cold look. "Wasn't she just cast out?"
Ulric's face stiffened. "This stays within our pack."
Rowan drew a black wolf token from inside his coat.
It was half the size of a palm, its edges polished smooth, with a black wolf carved on it, head held high.
"Our Alpha has stated it.
"The heiress to the Moon Goddess awakened at the Silvermoon Pack's altar, only to be publicly cast aside by you guys.
"We're entitled to claim her," Rowan said.
Ulric let out a cold laugh. "Since when does Samuel speak for the Moon Goddess?"
Just then, a voice came from outside the clearing. "I don't speak for the Moon Goddess."
Low as it was, his tone overpowered the crowd.
"I only speak for Elena."
The crowd at the entrance parted silently.
I saw a black carriage waiting in the snow.
No horses stood before the carriage; four black wolves took their place.
They were larger than ordinary wolves. White mist curled from their breath as their paws pressed into the snow.
The curtain was pulled back from inside, and Samuel ducked as he stepped out.
He wore a long black cloak, his silver hair tied at the back, his gaze as icy as a knife on the snowline.
His gaze on me held none of the look one gave a mere object or a monster.
He simply looked at me, calm and still, as if he had long known where I was.
Rowan bowed his head. "Alpha."
All the Frostfall Pack guards dropped to one knee at once.
Samuel didn't let them get up.
He walked past Ulric, past Caius, and past Lia, who was shaking with sobs.
Finally, he stopped before me.
His shadow fell across the edge of the Moonfire.
I caught a faint whiff of crisp pine, nothing like the fir scent that always lingered around Caius.
The pine scent was sharper, colder, like a lone tree standing alone at the farthest edge of the frozen wilderness.
"Elena," he called.
I didn't answer.
He didn't urge me.
After a few seconds, he placed his right hand over his heart and bowed slightly.
"Samuel, Alpha of the Frostfall Pack," he said, looking up at me. "I'm here to bring you home."
Caius's face fell. "Samuel, she's my fated mate."
The entire clearing fell silent.
I looked at Caius.
He froze for a moment, as if even he was surprised by what had come out of his mouth.
Lia's face went paler. "Caius."
Caius did not glance at her.
He stared at Samuel, gripping his fists so tight the veins stood out.
Samuel's voice was cold. "Didn't you turn her down?"
Caius's Adam's apple bobbed. "That's our affair."
"I heard it." Samuel looked over at him. "So did every one of my men."
All four black wolves outside growled together, low and menacing.
Caius's expression darkened.
Ulric finally snapped, "Samuel, if you take our people by force today, you declare war on us."
Samuel nodded. "Very well."
Ulric was left speechless.
Samuel turned to look at me.
He reached out his hand, palm up, keeping a gentle distance.
"I'm not going to take you by force," he said. "The choice is yours."
His voice was soft, but I heard every word as if it echoed in my bones.
The choice was mine.
For eighteen years, no one ever cared what I wanted.
My pack used to decide everything for me: my food, my clothes, my bedroom, my right to stay near Caius, and my place after the Rite of Passage.
Now, Samuel, a guy I hardly knew, quietly held out his hand without asking a thing.
Caius's voice came from behind me. "Elena, don't do anything reckless."
I didn't turn around.
"I'll go with you," I said to Samuel.
Only then did I notice my voice had turned hoarse.
It felt like my throat had been burned by Moonfire, or maybe it was all those years of swallowing words grinding me raw.
None of the Silvermoon Pack reacted right away.
They'd long grown accustomed to me standing there, being abused, judged, and cast aside, then bearing my disgrace alone.
When I finally said I was leaving, the first to react wasn't Caius.
It was Ulric.
He stepped forward. "Elena, think carefully.
"If you leave our pack, you'll be nothing."
I suddenly wanted to laugh.
Growing up, the words "you are nothing" had been my nightmare.
I didn't have parents.
I didn't have noble blood.
I didn't have an inner wolf.
I wasn't good enough for Caius.
Those words had heaped upon me like a coffin closing in.
Yet as I turned to leave, I realized they were nothing but empty remarks.
I looked up at Ulric. "If I stay, what does that make me?"
Ulric's face darkened, and he said nothing.
But everyone knew the answer.
If I stayed, I would be nothing but a spare sacrifice and a nobody to glorify Lia.
Caius moved closer.
"Elena, I've told you. Do not do anything reckless," he warned.
He kept his voice low, like he was trying to leave me one last way out.
But every way he offered only led me to his feet.
I didn't look at him.
My eyes stayed fixed on Samuel's outstretched hand, his palm upward.
His fingers were long, and the web between his thumb and forefinger bore an old scar.
This hand was no stranger to blood.
But it stayed suspended in the air, never once brushing against me.
This meant more than any promise ever could.
He wasn't here to drag me away.
He was waiting for me to walk over to him.
Lia suddenly burst into tears. "Elena, if you leave, Mother will be heartbroken."
I stopped in my tracks.
By "Mother," she meant Chloe, who adopted me.
She once sat by my bedside all through the night when I had a high fever. But after Lia cried, afraid I would take Caius from her, she never set foot in my room again.
I hadn't thought of her in ages.
The pain never really stopped.
It was that after getting hurt so many times, my heart learned to dodge it on its own.
I looked at Lia. "You can go back and tell her: she doesn't have to feel troubled by me anymore."
Lia's sobs paused for a second.
She finally realized I wasn't throwing a tantrum this time.