Chapter 2

Elara POV:

Later that night, the door to the small, cold guest room they'd thrown me into creaked open. Kaelan stood there, silhouetted against the torchlight of the hall. He held a steaming bowl in his hands.

"Drink this," he said. It wasn't a request. The Alpha's Command was back in his voice, heavy and oppressive. "It's a tonic from the shaman. To nourish the pup."

The word 'pup' was a drop of poison on his tongue. I stared at the dark, murky liquid. My stomach churned.

"I don't want it," I whispered, my voice hoarse.

A flicker of annoyance crossed his handsome face. He strode into the room, the scent of pine and storm filling the small space, suffocating me. It was the scent I once loved, the scent that meant safety and home. Now it just smelled like lies.

"I said, drink it."

He grabbed my chin, his grip like iron. I tried to turn my head away, but he was too strong. He tilted my head back and forced the rim of the bowl to my lips. The hot, bitter liquid spilled into my mouth, scalding my tongue. I choked, swallowing reflexively as he poured the entire contents down my throat.

He released me, and I collapsed back onto the thin mattress, coughing and sputtering.

"Good girl," he said, his voice laced with a satisfaction that made my skin crawl. He placed the empty bowl on the floor and left without another word.

A strange, heavy drowsiness began to pull at my limbs almost immediately. My thoughts grew fuzzy, my eyelids impossibly heavy. I tried to fight it, but the drug in the tonic was too powerful. My last conscious thought was a flicker of gratitude that I had managed to hide the small, flat memory crystal under the edge of the mattress before he came in.

The next time I opened my eyes, pale morning light was filtering through the room's single, barred window. My body ached with a deep, unfamiliar soreness. A cold dread settled in my stomach as I pushed myself up.

My hands trembled as I reached under the mattress and pulled out the memory crystal. It was a piece of enchanted quartz, able to absorb and replay sights and sounds from its immediate vicinity. A tool for spies and paranoid lords. Now, it was my only witness.

I clutched it in my palm, closed my eyes, and focused my will.

The images flooded my mind.

I saw my own sleeping form on the bed. I saw the door open, and Kaelan entered, followed by Seraphina. She glided to the side of the bed, a cruel smile playing on her lips.

"Is she completely out?" Seraphina asked, her voice like sweet, poisoned honey.

"The dose was strong enough to fell a warrior," Kaelan confirmed, his arms crossed over his massive chest. He looked down at me with utter contempt. "She'll feel nothing. Remember nothing."

He leaned closer to Seraphina, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "This is for you, my love. For what she did to you. Forcing you away from your home."

My mind screamed. "I didn't! She left on her own!"

"She will carry this bastard to term," Kaelan continued, his plan laid bare in the cold, quiet room. "And when she gives birth, I will call for the Bloodline Trial. The entire pack will see that the pup is not mine. They will see her for the cheating whore she is. Then, I will cast her out as a Rogue, and you will take your rightful place by my side as my Luna."

Seraphina's smile widened. She reached out and gave my swollen belly a vicious, contemptuous kick. I saw my sleeping body jolt, but I did not wake.

"She took the life that was supposed to be mine," Seraphina hissed, her voice low and full of venom. "Let her suffer for it. But make sure she's still breathing. We wouldn't want the game to end too soon."

Kaelan then waved a hand toward the door. A low-ranking warrior I vaguely recognized slunk into the room, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and lust. He looked from the Alpha to my unconscious form on the bed.

"She is yours for the hour," Kaelan said, his voice flat. "A reward for your loyalty."

The vision ended there.

My body was wracked with a silent, violent sob. It wasn't a sound of grief. It was a sound of pure, undiluted rage. The soreness in my body, the violation... it was all real.

The memory crystal fell from my numb fingers and clattered to the floor.

Tears streamed down my face, hot and furious. They weren't tears of sadness for a lost love. They were tears for the fool I had been.

My hand found the small leather pouch I had hidden in my sleeve. I pulled it out, my movements steady and deliberate.

With shaking hands, I untied the drawstring and tipped the dark, crushed leaves of the Moonshadow Herb into my palm. I didn't hesitate. I threw the bitter herbs into my mouth and, scooping up a handful of stale water from the pitcher by the bed, I swallowed them down.

A wave of cramping, sharp and immediate, seized my abdomen. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming, the coppery taste of my own blood filling my mouth.

This was not an act of despair.

It was the first act of my war.