96- The Last Lash
POV Edric Eldoria:
I exploded into a chaotic frenzy. I grabbed her by the arms and hurled her away, pushing her several meters. My eyes were flickering gold as my animal took control, furious at such disrespect.
“Get out of my way, before I kill you,” I snarled.
She blinked, terrified, her face pale. She seemed to realize what she had said and done.
“I... I... I’m sorry,” she gasped.
“Get out of here!” I shouted, harsh, breathing with difficulty from the intensity of my anger.
Instead of stepping back, she came closer, arm outstretched. She furrowed her brows and blinked, noticing something. The strong, sweet scent of her heat hit me. Her body called for mine, begging for me.
Unlike other alphas, I had always been immune to that. I fucked Thalira because she asked, and I knew how much it hurt her when she wasn’t satisfied during this time. And now that I was mated, I felt even less affected. It wasn’t like the pleasant scent I remembered—no longer.
“I’m in heat,” she warned, as if it weren’t obvious, letting out a moan through her lips. “I need you!”
My patience with her had completely run out.
“I already told you to get out of my way.”
She rubbed one thigh against the other, tearful.
“Please, please... I need you.”
I let out a long, deep roar that made her flinch. Not of pleasure, but of fear. I exhaled pheromones into the air, releasing the scent that would terrify her.
It was the first time I had used them on her.
“Edric,” she sobbed.
“I won’t repeat myself, Thalira,” I bellowed, my voice hoarse and rough from the shift.
My wolf even seemed offended by the pathetic way she was acting, trying to win us over. She wanted to seduce me, drag me to bed, and she was failing miserably.
“Edric,” she said one last time.
The scent I released was so strong it dominated the air around us, rendering everything else irrelevant—the smell of her heat, the pines and eucalyptus growing nearby, and the snow covering the ground.
Wide-eyed, she turned and staggered, collapsing to her knees in the snow. She rose and ran away from me as fast as she could; her legs were weak because of the heat.
I didn’t stop watching the direction she had gone until I was sure she wouldn’t return to bother me. My beast was at its threshold and would be more than capable of killing her if she came back to irritate me any further.
I leaned against a tree trunk and let out an exasperated sigh.
I tried to ignore her words, but I couldn’t stop them from echoing in my mind. She wanted to wound me and, in a way, she had succeeded.
I heard footsteps approaching and lifted my head, ready to rip out hearts, when I saw Anton carrying a box.
“He looks pissed,” he said, raising a blond eyebrow.
He swung the box in his hands. “I brought what you asked me for.”
(...)
POV Lunara Grimwald:
Celindra had a unique way of arranging things in the small school of the Eldoria pack. The pups seemed to adore her, and it was as if the classes she taught were the best part of their days.
They had a few breaks and weekends off, much like human schools, but never any vacations. There was always something new to learn—whether reading or writing, the culture of wolves, or the herbs we used throughout our lives. Not to mention hunting and the sharpening of instincts.
I adjusted the materials they had used to paint the pictures drying against the wall. I glanced at them, and a smile formed on my lips. Some had painted abstract shapes; others, flowers, while the rest had tried to draw the transformed wolves they had seen.
“Are we going to have the challenge now in winter?” a little girl asked Celindra.
She shook her head.
“There’s too much snow covering the ground, and it’s likely to get even heavier. We’re also forbidden from crossing the borders.”
“Because of the bad men?” the little girl asked, staring up at the beta with wide brown eyes.
Celindra smiled at her and bent down to align her face with the child’s.
“Yes, my dear. We can’t risk any of your lives. Besides, it’s very cold out there—it’s better we stay inside, where it’s warm.” She cast a glance at the fireplace crackling in the back, heating the room.
A red-haired boy with a freckled face huffed and shook his head.
“If the supreme alphas were alive, they’d all be dead already.”
I frowned, confused.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Celindra rolled her eyes.
“Just a legend the pups love to tell around here.”
I moved closer, kneeling before the seven pups.
“I’d love to hear the legend,” I murmured with a smile. “Who can tell me?”
The redhead raised his hand.
“The supreme alphas are powerful and immortal.” His eyes went wide, giving weight to his words.
“And they’ll come get you if you keep talking about them,” teased the brown-eyed girl.
“They say three supreme alphas will rise and the world will end in fire,” said another pup, his mouth dropping open in awe. “And a new species of wolf will be born.”
“That’s why everyone’s afraid of fire here, even Mr. Edric,” the redhead blurted out. “And it’s true—they’re going to appear.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded along, though I didn’t believe a word of it. They were just legends and guesses.
I had heard about the existence of supreme alphas—wolves who lived longer than normal—but all I knew were empty words. They were a legend passed down through the years, from pack to pack, but there was no evidence they had ever really existed.
“Wow, they sound powerful,” I murmured, pretending to be impressed by their story.
“And they are,” the boy agreed. “If they came, we wouldn’t have to be afraid of the bad men in the forest. They’d destroy them.”
“I’d rather they didn’t come,” the little girl blurted. “I’m scared. We’ll all die.”
“Don’t be silly, they’re good.”
“We’ll die burned!”
They began to argue—the boy defending the supreme alphas, while the girl preferred that they remain just legends. I laughed as Celindra tried to calm them down, teaching them that everyone was entitled to an opinion, and that all should be respected, no matter how different.
“There’s another legend,” a little dark-haired, curly-haired girl interrupted.
“About the supreme alphas?” I asked. She shook her head.
“About wolves that talk to us,” she whispered, as if sharing a secret. “Mom told me that Grandma’s friend once spoke with her wolf.”
“That’s nonsense! A puppy story,” the redhead cut in. The girl ignored him, keeping her dark eyes fixed on me.