Chapter 2

Elena's POV:

His words hung in the frigid air, each one a nail pinning me to the forest floor. Impossible. The word was a useless mantra in my head. The mate bond was supposed to be sacred, a gift from the Goddess, not a terrifying verdict delivered by a faceless nightmare. My parents, pack elders, had always spoken of it with reverence. This felt like a desecration.

My mind was so caught in the shock that I didn't sense the danger until it was too late. One of the rogues, bolder or stupider than the others, had circled back. It burst from the shadows, a blur of mangy fur and snapping jaws, lunging straight for me.

Lyra shrieked a warning, but my body was locked in a prison of fear. I couldn't move, couldn't even scream.

Then, the Alpha moved. He was a shadow, a whisper of motion so fast my eyes couldn't track it. I heard a sickening crack, the sound of bone giving way under immense force, followed by a choked-off, agonized yelp.

The next second, he was standing over the rogue's crumpled body. He hadn't even turned to face it, as if he'd done nothing more than swat a fly.

He turned back to me, and a flash of annoyance crossed his golden eyes. He was disappointed in my weakness, in my inability to defend myself. The judgment was as clear as a spoken word.

Suddenly, a low groan tore from his throat, a sound of pure agony. His body began to contort. The horrifying sound of bones snapping and grinding filled the silence as his form elongated, twisting under the moonlight. I watched, frozen in a new kind of terror, as he was unmade and remade before my eyes.

He shifted.

Where the man had stood, there was now a wolf. No, not a wolf. This was something more ancient, more powerful. A dire wolf, as black as a starless midnight, its sheer size was staggering. It was as large as a small car, muscle and sinew coiled into a perfect killing machine. And its eyes-they were the same burning gold, now filled with a primal, untamable power.

A Lycan. The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow.

The great beast threw its head back and howled. It wasn't the call of a simple wolf; it was the roar of a king, a sound of absolute dominion that shook the very trees around us. He then launched himself into the forest, a black streak of vengeance. He found the other two cowering rogues with terrifying ease.

What followed was not a fight. It was a slaughter. He tore them apart with brutal efficiency, his claws and fangs ending their miserable lives in a spray of gore.

Warm blood spattered across my cheek. The coppery tang of it filled my senses, and my stomach heaved.

When the killing was done, he padded back to me, his massive paws silent on the leaf-strewn ground. Blood dripped from his jaw. He lowered his enormous head until his face was inches from mine, and I saw my own small, pale reflection in the golden depths of his eyes.

Fear was a living thing in my chest, its claws digging into my heart. But beneath it, a strange and unwelcome feeling stirred. A sense of safety. He had protected me.

The paradox of it made my head spin.

He extended his tongue, a rough, warm muscle, and licked the blood from my skin. The tiny barbs on its surface scraped against my cheek, sending a jolt through my entire body, a tiny spark of electricity that was both terrifying and familiar.

It was the touch a wolf gives its mate.

My body trembled uncontrollably. Deep inside me, Lyra whimpered, a sound of pure, instinctual submission and awe.

The Lycan seemed satisfied by my reaction. A low, rumbling sound, almost a purr, vibrated in his chest.

But then his eyes hardened. The air grew thick and heavy as an invisible force slammed into me. An Alpha's Command.

"Kneel."

The order wasn't heard with my ears; it was felt in my soul. It bypassed reason and went straight for the wolf within, demanding obedience. My body began to tremble violently as my human will warred with Lyra's instinct to submit. My pride, my five years of fighting for independence, rose up in rebellion.

I bit down on my lip, hard, tasting my own blood. My nails dug into my palms, crescent moons of pain. I would not kneel.

Surprise flickered in his golden eyes, quickly replaced by something harder. He intensified the pressure of his command. My knees buckled, and a cry of pain was torn from my throat as my spirit felt like it was being ripped in two.

Just as I was about to break, just as my body was about to betray my mind, the world around me fractured.

The dream shattered like a broken mirror.