Chapter 5

Elara POV

After the auction, I didn't just withdraw; I became a ghost in my own home.

I locked the doors. I barred the windows. I refused visitors.

But I wasn't wallowing. I was working.

I utilized the surveillance tech Liam had slipped to me-micro-cameras and audio bugs no larger than a housefly.

I planted them everywhere. I hid them in the molding of Kael's office. I tucked them beneath the leaves in the garden. I secured one inside the vent in Lyra's room.

I became the spider sitting at the center of the web, waiting for a fly to twitch.

Kael didn't tolerate my silence for long. He barged into my room two days later.

He didn't knock. He didn't ask. He just used his Alpha strength to shatter the lock mechanism.

"You're embarrassing the Pack," he growled, pacing the length of my room like a caged tiger. "Hiding away like a wounded animal."

"Get out," I said calmly, watching him through the mirror of my vanity.

He stopped behind me, his gaze locking onto my reflection. His eyes softened, but it was a performance-a practiced, oily softness designed to disarm.

"Elara, look. I know the auction was... harsh. But I have to maintain order. Lyra is fragile. You are strong. You can handle it."

He put his hands on my shoulders. The weight of them made my skin crawl. I flinched.

"I can make you Luna," he whispered, his voice dropping to a seductive hum. "But you have to accept Lyra. She is my family. She is part of me."

"Family?" I laughed, a dry, brittle sound that scraped against my throat. "Kael, are you stupid? Or just blind?"

He frowned, his mask slipping. "What?"

"She's not your sister. You don't smell the heat on her? You don't smell the Mate scent she masks with that cloying vanilla perfume?"

Kael stiffened as if I'd slapped him. "Don't be disgusting. She is my ward."

"She is your mistress," I corrected, my voice turning to ice. "And you want me to be the trophy wife while she warms your bed."

"She is my priority!" Kael shouted, slamming his hand on my vanity table. The force of the blow sent a spiderweb fracture shooting across the mirror. "Lyra needs me. You have everything. Why are you so selfish?"

Selfish.

Before I could answer, his eyes glazed over. The tell-tale sign of a Mind-Link.

"I'm coming, Lyra," he whispered, his anger instantly replaced by servitude.

He looked at me one last time, sneering at the damage he'd caused. "Clean this up."

He left. He ran to her like a trained dog because she probably broke a nail.

I looked at the cracked mirror, my reflection fractured into a dozen pieces.

I looked at the necklace on my dresser-a cheap ruby pendant he had given me for my birthday years ago. It was the only gift he had ever bothered to buy me.

I picked it up. The metal felt cold and heavy in my palm.

I walked to the fireplace.

I threw it into the flames.

I watched the metal blacken, curl, and finally melt into nothingness.

Turning away from the fire, I pulled out my tablet. The screen flickered to life.

The hidden camera in Lyra's room showed her laughing on the phone, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

"He's such an idiot," Lyra was saying, her voice dripping with amusement. "He actually believes I'm sick. I just didn't want him to talk to that bitch."

I hit Record.

"I will make you lose your reputation," I whispered to the screen, my finger tracing her digital face. "I will strip you bare."