Elara had won

Elara had won
Chapter 61
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Elena

I sat on the floor, my back against the door, and listened to the house settle into an uneasy quiet. The fight replayed in my head on a loop. Rhea’s furious, hurt face. Elara’s smug victory smile. The way the pack had looked at me—not with respect, but with pity and suspicion.

Kael never came to the door.

That hurt more than if he had burst in, shouting. His silence was a confirmation. He had seen the mess, he’d heard the rumors of the fight, and he had chosen to do nothing. To say nothing to me.



The sun rose, casting weak, dim light through the window. My body ached from sitting on the hard floor all night. My eyes felt gritty and raw. I felt hollowed out, scraped clean of all emotion except a dull, throbbing dread.

A soft knock came at the door. “Elena?” It was Rhea. Her voice was quiet, subdued. “Are you awake?”

I unlocked the door and opened it. She stood there, looking as tired as I felt. Her usual fiery energy was gone, replaced by a weary guilt.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, her eyes downcast. “I’m so sorry. I played right into her hands. I made everything worse.”

I pulled her into a hug. “You were defending me.”

“I was an idiot,” she mumbled into my shoulder. “She knew exactly which buttons to push. I lost control. I gave them exactly what they wanted to see.”

We stood like that for a minute, two battered soldiers in a war we didn’t know how to win.

The moment was broken by a sharp, formal knock on the main suite door. 

Rhea and I exchanged a worried glance. We both knew that knock. It was the kind used for official pack business.

I straightened my rumpled clothes, running a hand through my tangled hair. It was pointless, but I had to try to look like I had some composure left.

I opened the door. One of the senior warriors stood there, his expression neutral, strictly professional. “Luna,” he said, dipping his head. “You are requested in the council room immediately.”

“Requested by who?” Rhea asked, stepping up beside me, her protectiveness returning.

The warrior’s eyes flicked to her, then back to me. “The Council of Elders has called an emergency session, ma’am.”

My blood ran cold. The Council of Elders didn’t call emergency sessions for minor issues. This was about last night. This was about everything.

“I’ll be right there,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady.

He nodded and turned to leave.

Rhea grabbed my arm. “You can’t go in there alone. I’m coming with you.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t. After last night, your presence will just… it’ll make them angrier. I have to do this alone.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she knew I was right. “Then you go in there and you be the Luna. You hold your head high. Don’t let those old bats intimidate you.”

I tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace. I walked to the council room alone, every step feeling like I was marching to my own execution.

The double doors to the council room were already open. The room was full. All five elders were seated at the large oak table, their faces stern and unreadable. Kael sat at the head of the table, his posture rigid, his eyes fixed on the wood grain in front of him. He wouldn’t look at me.

Standing just behind the elders, like a shadow, was Elara. She offered me a small, sympathetic smile that made my skin crawl.

And there, seated slightly apart from the others, was Elder Ambrose. He was the oldest, the most traditional, and the most influential. His presence here was a very, very bad sign.

“Luna Elena,” Elder Ambrose began, his voice dry and raspy. “Please, sit.”

I took the empty seat at the foot of the table, directly across from Kael. The distance between us felt like a mile.

“We have called this meeting due to… concerning events,” Ambrose continued, steepling his fingers. “Events that threaten the stability of this pack.”

I said nothing.

“The rumors regarding the… parentage… of the future heir are deeply troubling,” he said, his beady eyes fixed on me. “They sow discord and doubt at a time when we need unity.”

I found my voice. “They are lies, spread by a jealous individual with no proof.” My gaze flicked to Elara for a fraction of a second. Her smile didn’t waver.

“Proof is often in the eye of the beholder,” another elder, a severe-looking woman named Morwen, said coolly. “The altercation last evening between your… associate… and a respected pack member was deeply unbecoming. It suggests a volatility around you that is unfit for a Luna.”

“Rhea was defending me against slander,” I said, my hands clenching under the table.

“Violence is not the answer to words,” Morwen countered.

“Then there is the matter of yesterday’s rogue incident,” Elder Ambrose cut back in. “We understand you placed yourself in unnecessary danger and that the Beta intervened in a… particularly swift and personal manner.”

My heart hammered. So they knew. Of course they knew. Elara had made sure of it.

“Beta Lucian was doing his job,” I said, my voice tight. “Protecting a pack member from a threat.”

“A threat you should not have been near,” Kael said quietly, finally speaking. His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. He was speaking as my Alpha, not my mate. “You were explicitly told to remain inside.”

The betrayal of him saying that here, in front of them, stole the air from my lungs.

Elder Ambrose nodded slowly, as if Kael had just confirmed everything. “It is the opinion of this council that the current environment is not conducive to the safety of the heir, or the stability of the pack leadership.”

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink into the horrible silence.

“The constant whispers, the drama, the questions… it weakens the Alpha’s position. It weakens us all.” He cleared his throat. 
“Therefore, we propose a solution. For the remainder of your pregnancy, until the heir is born and its lineage is… beyond question… the day-to-day duties of the Luna should be temporarily reassigned.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. I felt dizzy. This was it. This was what Elara had been working towards.

“Reassigned to who?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

Elder Ambrose gestured a thin hand toward my sister. “Elara has proven herself to be a dedicated, loyal, and above all, stable member of this pack. She is well-respected. She is also unmated and without… complicating attachments. She can perform the duties of the Luna without the current cloud of controversy that follows you.”

There it was. The ultimate humiliation. Not only was I being stripped of my title in everything but name, but it was being handed to the very person who had orchestrated my downfall.

I looked at Kael. My mate. The father of my child. This was the moment. This was when he had to stand up. He had to defend me. He had to put a stop to this madness.

He finally lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were conflicted, stormy with emotion I couldn’t read. But he didn’t speak. He didn’t defend me. He just… looked. As if he were weighing the options. As if it were a legitimate question.

The silence stretched, thin and terrible. Elder Ambrose took his silence as agreement.

“The matter is settled then,” the old man said, a note of finality in his voice. “Until the birth, Elara will assume the Luna’s public duties. You, Elena, will focus on your health and the health of the child. It is for the best.”

I stood up. My legs were shaking, but I forced them to be still. I would not let them see me break.

I looked at each of their faces—the stern elders, my treacherous sister, and my mate, who had said nothing.

Without a word, I turned and walked out of the room. I held my head high, my back straight, until I was out of their sight.

Then I ran. I ran until I found the nearest bathroom, slammed the door shut, and was violently, utterly sick.

I had lost. I had lost everything. My authority, my respect, my standing.

I slumped against the cold wall, tears finally streaming down my face. The war was over. And I had surrendered without throwing a single punch.

Elara had won.