Chapter 58
Elvira
I used to think betrayal would always come dressed in family and black. With something obvious enough to run from. Elyra had reacted differently last night when I told her about it, was it that she didn’t know? Am I really a traitor for siding with Morrien?
Today, my anxiety came with shopping bags and crumpled bills shoved into my hand like I was an afterthought. Ever since Alpha Jaxon claimed me publicly, I have not leaved the Pack Tower.
"Go get yourself something," Alpha Jaxon had said, barely meeting my eyes. Ronan will go with you."
He tossed the cash onto the bed like it disgusted him to even hold it. And then he left without waiting for an answer. For a few minutes, I just stared at the pile of money, my heart sinking deeper with every tick of the clock.
This was what I had become to him. A burden to buy off. Something to dress up and hide away so he could deal with more important problems.
I was stupid for thinking it would be different coming here with him, and I was even more stupid thinking him claiming me will make us bond more.
When Ronan showed up, the tension only got worse.
He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, scowling like I’d personally ruined his day.
"Look," he said, after a few seconds of awkward silence, "something came up. I can't go."
His voice was clipped, rushed. Like he couldn’t wait to get away from me either.
"It’s fine," I said quickly, even before he could stumble through another excuse.
It was fine actually, I couldn’t survive walking on eggshells around Ronan.
…..
The shopping district was crowded as usual. Humans, witches and wolves weaving through the markets, the metallic scent of magic heavy in the air. I wandered through a few stores half-heartedly, picking up dresses and makeup that I needed.
But pretending I wasn’t suffocating.
It happened just as I was pulling cash from my purse to pay for a small black jacket. A blur of movement to my left. Small hands. A boy, who couldn't have been more than eight years old, snatched the purse off the desk stand and bolted into the crowd.
"Hey!" I shouted, slamming the jacket down and racing after him.
The shopkeeper cursed behind me, but I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t. That purse had Jaxon’s cash, yes. But more importantly, it had the letter. The last thing my mother had ever written to me before she died. The only piece of home I had left.
The boy was fast. Running between bodies like a shadow, darting down alleys and side streets I didn’t recognize. I followed anyway. Cursing myself for being so stupid. For even keeping my purse at the desk stand in the first place. For also trusting a place that had never loved me in the first place.
He ducked through a broken gate into a deserted warehouse district. The buildings loomed up around me, dead and gray. They were no crowds now, just empty.
Just me, my thudding heart, and a rising sense of wrongness tightening around my throat.
I slowed, glancing around.
"Come out,"I called, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"I just want my purse back."
No answer. Only the wind hitting the cracked windows. And then, footsteps from behind me.
I turned and froze. Standing there, blocking the way back to the main road, was Eric.
I felt my soul leave my body. He looked meaner now. Scar tissue snaked across his jaw. His eyes gleamed with a cruelty that hadn’t dulled with time.
"Oh, mom was right afteralll. Green eyed monster was still alive” he said, voice like gravel scraping glass.
My blood iced over. For a second, just one awful, shameful second, I couldn’t breathe. Didn’t move.
The memory of him slamming me into walls, sneering down at me as he broke me over and over again, flooded back too strong to push away. But then I shoved it down. Buried it under the anger that never truly went out.
"I’m not dead as you can see," I said, my voice steady despite the shaking inside. "And I’m not scared of you anymore."
Another lie. Because I was scared. My powers hadn’t awakened yet. I was still breakable. Still someone he could hurt if he wanted. And judging by the way he was smiling, he must’ve known.
"You’re weaker than you’ve ever been," Eric said, circling me like a shark. "You don’t even realize it, do you?"
"Maybe," I said. "But you’re dumber than you’ve ever been if you think I’m just going to stand here and let you harm me."
He lunged at me fast, but I was ready. Before he could reach me, I threw a bottle at him.
Wait….Did I really do that? I acted according to my instincts, but not only that, I had seen warriors back in Morrien village train that way. Guess I finally learnt self defense. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make him hesitate and falter.
His body jerked mid-stride, like he’d hit an invisible wall. His eyes glazed for half a second. And at that moment, I ran.
I sprinted through the warehouse, running through rusted machinery and broken crates. Eric cursed behind me, fury boiling off him like waves.
But I was fast and desperate. He caught up near the loading dock, grabbing my arm hard enough to bruise it.
"You think you can fool me again?" he hissed.
"Let me go," I gasped, yanking away.
We wrestled for control, I kicked him hard in the shin and darted backward, breathing ragged.
"You're still a murderer, you know," Eric spat, straightening. "You killed your mother. You ruined your future."
I flinched before I could stop myself. He saw it and he grinned at me.
"Doesn’t matter how many fancy dresses you wear," he said. "You're rotten underneath. And this time, Elvira, it won’t be me who kills you."
He stepped closer, voice dropping to a brutal whisper.
"It'll be Mom’s hands around your throat."
Something inside me cracked. For a second, I almost lunged at him. Almost tore his throat out with my bare hands. But I didn’t, I couldn’t afford to be reckless.
Instead, I spit at his feet and turned on my heel, forcing myself not to run, not to give him the satisfaction. I disappeared into the maze of warehouses, walking through rusted fences, dodging back alleys until the city lights finally flickered into view again. Only when I was sure I wasn’t being followed did I allow myself to stop and breathe.
My hands were shaking. My knees wanted to buckle.