Chapter 2

Elara Thorne POV:

A heavy thud on our makeshift door jolted the pre-dawn silence.

"Elara! I know you're in there! Don't think you can back out on our deal!" Jax's voice, laced with menace, cut through the thin wall.

Cole, my brave little son, immediately scrambled in front of his sister, his small body a tense shield. The change in me yesterday had confused him, but this threat was real and familiar.

I placed a calming hand on his head, my touch steady. "Stay here," I whispered, my voice a low command. I walked to the door but didn't open it.

"What deal, Jax?" I asked, my voice carrying clearly through the wood.

A humorless laugh answered me. "Have you forgotten? You traded the service of your firstborn for three years of my 'protection'. You failed to produce an Alpha, but the boy will have to do."

A flash of memory, sharp and shameful. Three years ago, newly mated and abandoned by Ryker, I had been an outcast. Jax had offered a sliver of protection from the pack's worst torments, and in a moment of utter desperation, I'd agreed to his disgusting terms with a bloody thumbprint. It was a shackle I had worn ever since.

My inner wolf, now a wellspring of strength, snarled in my mind. *Tear him apart! His filth taints our den!*

"That agreement was made under duress while I was not of sound mind," I stated, my voice as cold and hard as stone. "According to pack law, it is void."

There was a stunned silence from outside. He never expected the meek Omega to know the law. Then, a roar of fury. "Law? Out here, I am the law! Give me the boy, or I'll tear this hovel down around you!"

A violent crash shook the entire structure. He was throwing his body against the door. The stone frame began to crumble.

Faye started to cry, a high, terrified wail. Cole grabbed a thick piece of firewood, his knuckles white, ready to fight to the death.

I closed my eyes, shutting out the chaos. I reached inward, not for the scent of prey, but for a weapon. My consciousness flew through the moonlit expanse of the Sacred Hunting Ground. I saw it-a thorny, black vine, unnaturally tough, covered in barbs that seemed to drink the light. I focused, pulling on its essence.

My hand tingled, and when I opened my eyes, a foot-long section of the dark, thorny vine was coiled in my palm. Even I was startled by its sudden, solid presence.

With a final, splintering crash, the door was shoved open a few inches. Jax's greedy, triumphant face appeared in the gap.

I didn't hesitate. I swung my arm, the vine whistling through the air like a whip. It struck him across the face.

The thorns tore through his skin, leaving deep, bleeding gashes. But this was no ordinary wound. A faint black energy seemed to cling to the cuts, preventing his werewolf healing from kicking in.

Jax screamed, a raw sound of agony and disbelief. He staggered back, clutching his face, his eyes wide with horror.

I stared at him through the gap, my expression unmoved. "I'll say it one more time. Get out. Or the next time, this will go through your throat."

The aura of the Luna, combined with the dangerous energy of the vine, was a language his primal wolf understood perfectly. It screamed *predator*.

He shot me a look of pure hatred. "You'll pay for this," he spat, but the threat was hollow. He turned and fled, his retreat far from graceful.

The den fell silent. I looked down at my hand. The vine dissolved into motes of silver light and vanished.

I turned to my children. Cole was staring, not at the broken door, but at me. He took a small step back, his eyes filled with a new kind of fear, a deep and unsettling confusion.

He finally spoke, his child's voice barely a whisper.

"Who... are you?"