Chapter 34 Elara's POV
"Do you think she will actually face punishment?" Kara asked. "Or will her family's influence protect her?"
"I don't know but I hope justice is served."
We talked for another hour. Kara told me more about my life before the few friends I had had among the servants, the small kindnesses I'd shown others despite my own suffering, the quiet strength everyone had seen in me.
It was strange, hearing about myself like this. Like she was describing a stranger.
When Kara finally left, I felt exhausted but also grateful. She'd given me pieces of my past, even if they were painful pieces.
I stood by the window, looking out at the pack grounds. I could see Kaden in the distance, talking with Ethan and some other warriors. Even from here, I could see the tension in his posture, the weight he carried.
And I felt the bond that invisible thread connecting us. It pulled at me, urging me to go to him to offer comfort to be near him.
I turned away from the window.
I couldn't believe the bond might still exist, but that didn't change what he had done. Didn't erase the pain of rejection.
So I avoided him when I heard his footsteps in the hallway, I stayed in my room when he asked the guards if I needed anything, I sent back polite refusals when he requested to speak with me, I claimed exhaustion.
It was easier this way, safer even if the bond ached with every moment of distance.
Three days after the attack, Damian came to check on me. He looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes and bloodstains on his shirt.
"How bad was it?" I asked as he took my vitals.
"Bad ten dead fifteen seriously wounded, we lost good wolves." He pressed his fingers to my wrist, checking my pulse.
"But we are recovering and the wounded are stable. The pack is rallying."
"I heard it was Erebus's followers. Is that true?"
Damian's expression darkened. "Yes they left their mark on the bodies to make sure we knew who was responsible."
"Who is Erebus? Everyone keeps mentioning the name but no one explains."
Damian sat down, his expression grave. "Erebus was a rogue Alpha from two hundred years ago; he rejected the pack system, believing it made wolves weak.”
“He built an army of followers who shared his beliefs. They attacked packs across the region, trying to destroy the Alpha hierarchy and return to the old ways."
"What were the old ways?"
"Survival of the strongest, no loyalty, no bonds, no structure. Just power and violence they used dark magic shadow magic to enhance their strength. Burning their victims alive marked them with symbols."
He paused. "The packs eventually united and destroyed Erebus and his followers. We thought they were all killed but apparently, some survived and now they are back."
A chill ran through me. "Why now? Why after two hundred years?"
"I don't know but they are organized, trained and dangerous. And they are targeting packs with strong Alphas." He looked at me seriously.
"Which means this pack is a prime target."
"And me? Am I in danger because I'm here?"
"You are in danger because-" Damian stopped abruptly.
"Because what?"
He pulled something from his bag papers, old, yellowed pages covered in writing and drawings. "I've been researching trying to understand why Erebus's followers would return now and I found something."
He spread the papers on the table. They showed the same symbols I had seen carved into trees around the pack lands. But these had additional notations, translations in Old Tongue.
"These symbols aren't just markers," Damian explained.
"They are hunting signs; each one has a specific meaning. And when you put them together in certain patterns..." He traced his finger across the page.
"They create a map and a trail."
"A trail to what?"
Damian looked up at me, fear clear in his eyes. "To their target the thing they are hunting."
My stomach dropped. "What are they hunting?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he pulled out more papers documents from ancient texts prophecies written in faded ink.
"There's an old prophecy," He said quietly.
"About a child born with a lunar pulse during a time of great darkness. A child who would either unite the packs or destroy them forever. A child who could wield the Heavens power directly."
"My baby," I whispered.
"Your baby Erebus's followers believe in the prophecy. They think the child represents everything; they hate the Heavens blessing on the pack system; they want to destroy it before it can be born."
I pressed my hands protectively over my stomach. "How do they even know about my baby? Almost no one knows that I'm pregnant."
"I don't know but somehow they know and they are coming for you."
The room seemed to tilt. "Are you sure?"
Damian pointed to the papers. "I have been tracking the pattern of their symbols. Where they appear, how they're arranged. And Elara..."
He met my eyes. "They all point here to this pack, to this pack house to you."
"But why attack the border? Why not come straight for me?"
"Because they are smart they are testing our defenses and studying our response times. Learning our weaknesses when they finally come for you, they want to be certain they will succeed."
I felt sick. "How long do I have?"
"I don't know days, weeks, maybe longer but they're building up to something. The attack on the border was just the beginning."
"Does Kaden know?"
"Not yet I wanted to be certain before I told him but I will tell him tonight."
Damian reached out and took my hand. "You need to understand something, Elara, these people won't stop, they are fanatics. They believe they are doing the Heavens will by destroying your child. They will sacrifice anything, anyone, to complete their mission."
"Then what do I do?"
"You stay protected, you trust Kaden to keep you safe. And you prepare for the possibility that we might need to relocate you somewhere more secure."
I pulled my hand away. "I'm not running, this is my pack at home."
"It won't be your home if you're dead."
The blunt words hit hard.
"There's something else," Damian said, his voice dropping even lower. "The prophecy mentions the child's mother. Says she must survive until the child is born or the blessing will be lost. If they kill you before the baby comes..."
"The lunar pulse dies with me."
"Yes."
So I wasn't just carrying a target. I was the primary target.
Erebus's followers were hunting me.
And they wouldn't stop until I was dead.