Chapter 83
Elara's POV
I stared at Victoria. Her face was blotchy from crying. Her hair hung in messy strands around her shoulders.
She looked nothing like the cold woman who'd screamed at Kael in the park.
"You just told me your first son died ten years ago," I said quietly. "What about Kael? Does he know any of this?"
Victoria's head snapped up. Her eyes were red and swollen.
"He knows nothing. And he shouldn't." Her voice cracked. "The less he knows, the safer he is."
I leaned against the damp wall. My shoulder still hurt from where I'd landed earlier.
"But you're cold to him at school," I said. "You act like he doesn't exist. Why?"
Victoria flinched like I'd slapped her.
"You don't understand." She looked away. "Every time I see him, I see... I see him."
"His father?"
She nodded. Her hands were shaking.
"Kael looks exactly like his father. That face. Those eyes." She pressed her palms against her temples. "When my first son died, Kael was still a kid. I watched him grow up. Watched him turn into a copy of the man who destroyed everything."
I felt something twist in my chest. Not pity exactly. More like... recognition.
I knew what it was like to hate someone for things beyond their control.
"That's not fair to Kael," I said.
Victoria's laugh was bitter and broken.
"You think I don't know that? But I can't... I can't look at that face and feel anything but..." She stopped. Swallowed hard. "I know it's wrong. But I can't make it stop."
I studied her face. Saw the genuine pain there.
But I also saw the selfishness. The weakness.
"Did you ever try to leave?" I asked. "Take Kael away from Pinehollow? Start over somewhere else?"
Victoria's eyes went distant. Like she was seeing something far away.
"I tried. After my first son died, I was desperate. I wanted to grab Kael and run as far as we could go."
"What stopped you?"
"He's the heir." Victoria's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "The only surviving heir to the Harrington bloodline. If I'd taken him and disappeared..."
She didn't need to finish. I understood.
The Harrington family would have hunted them down. Used every resource they had. And Kael, as the heir, could never be allowed to leave.
"So you left alone," I said.
Victoria nodded. Her shoulders slumped.
"I cut all ties. Moved here. Pretended he didn't exist." She looked up at me. "I told myself it was better this way. Safer for both of us."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out how screwed up that logic was.
But before I could speak, Victoria continued.
"I know what you're thinking. That I abandoned him. That I'm a terrible mother." Her voice rose. "But what choice did I have? I couldn't protect him. Couldn't even protect myself!"
"So you chose the easiest option," I said. My voice came out colder than I intended. "You ran. And you blamed Kael for existing."
Victoria's face went white. Then red.
"How dare you—" She stopped herself. Took a shaky breath. "You don't know what it's like. You're just a child. You don't understand what it means to lose everything."
I almost laughed.
If only she knew.
I'd lost everything too. My territory. My pack. My life.
But I didn't run from it. I fought until my last breath.
"Kael isn't his father," I said quietly. "He's just a kid who got caught in the middle of a broken family."
Victoria opened her mouth to respond.
But before she could, the heavy door slammed open.
Two massive men filled the doorway. Both were built like brick walls. Both had the distinctive scent of werewolves.
The one on the left had a face full of scars. He grinned at me. It wasn't a nice grin.
"Well, well. Little girl's awake."
The other one looked at Victoria.
"Boss has made his decision. He wants to teach you a lesson you won't forget."
Victoria's face went pale. "What... what do you mean?"
Scarface stepped into the cell. His eyes were on me now.
"Simple. We're gonna show you what happens to people who stick their noses where they don't belong." His grin widened. "And you get to watch."
My heart rate spiked. But I kept my face neutral.
I scanned both men quickly. Neither had shifted to wolf form yet. No weapons visible. They were relying on size and intimidation.
Stupid.
Victoria scrambled to her feet. "No! She's just a student! She has nothing to do with this!"
The second guard laughed. "She followed you here. Climbed a building. Spied on a private meeting." He shrugged. "That makes her involved."
Scarface moved closer to me. I could smell old sweat and something metallic. Blood, probably.
"Boss said we can't kill you," he said to me. His voice dropped lower. "But he didn't say we had to be gentle."
The other guard grabbed Victoria's arm when she tried to move toward me.
"Stay there. You're gonna watch what happens to little girls who play spy."
I stayed very still. My mind was racing.
Two adult werewolves. Both untrained in real combat—I could tell by how they moved. Cocky. Overconfident.
If I still had my full strength, this would be easy.
But in this body? With Victoria all vulnerable?
I needed to be smart.
Scarface reached for my arm. His fingers were thick and calloused.
I let him grab me. Didn't resist.
"That's a good girl," he said. "This'll hurt less if you don't fight."
I looked up at him. Made my eyes wide and scared.
"Please," I whispered. "I didn't mean to cause trouble. I was just worried about Miss Harrington."
He laughed. "Too late for that now."
His grip tightened on my arm. Started pulling me toward the center of the room.
I let my body stay loose. Compliant.
But my eyes were working. Calculating distances. Angles. Weak points.
The second guard still had Victoria. He was watching Scarface and me. Not paying full attention to his prisoner.
Mistake.
Scarface shoved me against the wall. Hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to do real damage.
"You know what we do to spies?" he asked. His breath smelled like cigarettes and rotting meat.
I didn't answer. Just kept my eyes on the floor.
Victoria was crying. Begging them to stop.
They ignored her.
Scarface raised his hand. I could see the claws starting to extend from his fingertips.
Not fully shifted. Just enough to do damage.
"This is your last chance, little girl," he said. "Tell us who sent you. Who else knows you're here."
I looked up at him. Let tears fill my eyes.
"No one," I whispered. "I swear. I came alone."
He studied my face. Trying to decide if I was lying.
Then he smiled. "Doesn't matter. Boss wants to make an example anyway."
His clawed hand moved toward my face.
I didn't move. Didn't flinch.
Just waited.
Waited for the right moment.
The moment when both guards were focused on me. When Victoria was forgotten.
The moment when I could stop pretending to be helpless.
His claws were an inch from my cheek when I heard it.
A faint sound from above. Like something scraping against the floor upstairs.
Both guards heard it too. They tensed.
Scarface's hand stopped moving.
"Did you hear that?" the second guard asked.
"Probably just the wind," Scarface said. But his eyes had shifted to the ceiling.
I felt my pulse quicken.
That wasn't wind.
Someone else was in the house.
The question was: friend or enemy?