Chapter 4

Elara POV:

The weight of his Alpha's Command pressed down on me, a physical force that tried to buckle my knees. Every instinct screamed at me to obey, to lift the goblet and drink. But the fire that had ignited inside me, the cold, white fury of my awakening power, pushed back.

"No," I said, my voice shaking but firm. "The pup... the healers say wine is bad for the pup's health. It needs rest."

I used the child he despised as a shield. I saw a flicker of irritation in his eyes. He didn't care about the pup's health, but he couldn't be seen to be actively harming his supposed heir in front of the entire pack.

Just then, Seraphina glided to our side, her face a perfect mask of sweet concern. "Oh, Kaelan, don't be so harsh," she cooed, placing a delicate hand on his arm. "She's right. We must think of the baby."

She took the wine from my hand and replaced it with another goblet, this one filled with what looked like clear, pure water.

"Here, Elara," she said, her smile never reaching her eyes. "Drink this instead. Simple mountain spring water. A toast with water is just as heartfelt."

I knew it was a trap. But I also knew I couldn't stay here. The cramps were getting worse, a relentless, tearing pain that threatened to bring me to my knees. I had to get away from these prying eyes, from this hall of horrors. I took the goblet.

"To Seraphina's return," I mumbled, and drank the water down in three quick gulps.

It tasted clean, but the moment it hit my stomach, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. A strange, unnatural heat bloomed in my core, spreading like wildfire through my veins. My limbs grew heavy, my thoughts sluggish. The sounds of the feast faded into a dull roar.

I stumbled, my legs refusing to hold me. Beta Corvus, who had been standing nearby, caught me, his arms wrapping around me. His hands immediately began to roam, his fingers pressing into my sides, his thumb brushing indecently against the swell of my breast.

"What... what was in that water?" I slurred, looking at Seraphina.

Her sweet mask had vanished, replaced by a look of triumphant cruelty. "Oh, just a little something from the Eastern lands," she said, her voice dripping with malice. "They call it Puppet Potion. It makes one wonderfully obedient. The best part is, you won't remember a thing afterwards."

My mind screamed. I was losing control of my own body. I focused every last ounce of my will, reaching out through the sacred Mate bond that still, however tainted, connected me to Kaelan.

"Kaelan, please," I begged, my mental voice a desperate, terrified cry. "Help me. Don't let them do this."

For a moment, I saw a flicker of something in his eyes. A connection. He heard me. But then his face hardened into a cold, granite mask. He looked from me to Corvus, his gaze dismissive.

"Be gentle with her," he said, his voice utterly detached. "Don't damage the little bastard. It's tied to a thousand-gold-coin bet, after all."

The last thread of hope inside me snapped. The Mate bond, which should have been a conduit for love and protection, had become a channel for my ultimate betrayal.

Tears of pure, helpless rage streamed down my face. "You will pay for this," I choked out, the words barely audible. "I curse you, Kaelan. You will lose everything."

My body, no longer my own, moved at Corvus's unspoken command. I was forced to my knees in the center of the great hall, before the leering eyes of my tormentors.

A roar of laughter and crude jokes filled the air. My vision blurred, the torchlight splintering into a thousand tiny shards.

The last thing I saw before the darkness consumed me was Seraphina's smiling face as she raised her goblet in a toast.

I don't know how much time passed. I woke to pain. A searing, blinding pain between my legs, and a deeper, hollow agony in my womb. I was on the cold stone floor of the now-empty great hall.

I was alone.

And I was lying in a pool of my own blood.