Chapter 27 Chapter 27
ELIJAH’S POV
Anna just stared at me like I was a stranger. Her eyes were wide but cold, her lips trembling slightly.
“You’re lying,” she said quietly. “You’re trying to scare me into hating Damon, and it will never happen, Elijah.”
“I’m not!” I said quickly. “I swear it, Anna. You have to believe me. Damon—he wants to kill you. He said he would do it on your birthday.”
She blinked once, then laughed.
“Oh, Elijah,” she mocked, shaking her head. “That’s pathetic. You’re really jealous, aren’t you? You can’t stand that Damon’s been kind to me ever since he got back.”
My chest tightened. “Jealous? You think I would lie about something like this because I’m jealous?”
She crossed her arms. “You expect me to believe that your brother—your own brother—wants to kill me? When he’s been the only one protecting me lately? No, Elijah. That doesn’t make sense.”
“You don’t understand,” I said, stepping closer. “You don’t know who he really is.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And you do?”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe you two aren’t so different,” she said, her voice rising. “Both of you think you can control everything. But at least Damon doesn’t pretend to care.”
Her words stung more than I wanted to admit. I clenched my fists and tried to stay calm, but my voice came out harsher than I intended. “You think I’d risk coming to you, warning you, if I didn’t care?”
She gave a short laugh, but her eyes shimmered with tears she refused to let fall. “You care? That’s funny. You didn’t care when you left me standing there while you picked Amanda to be your Luna.”
I froze.
Her voice broke, though her expression stayed hard. “Do you remember that day? Do you care about my feelings for even a second? I was just a maid. You didn’t even look at me when you made the announcement. You didn’t say a word.”
“Anna, it’s not what you think—”
“It’s exactly what I think,” she cut in. “You chose her because she was worthy of you. Because she was an Elder’s daughter. And I—” She let out a shaky breath. “I was nothing.”
I stepped forward, but she took a step back.
Her distance burned like a wound I couldn’t close. I wanted to tell her everything—to tell her why I had left her, why I couldn’t choose her, why I had gone to the witch that night and taken away everything she used to be.
But I couldn’t.
If she knew the truth, she would hate me forever.
She didn’t remember that she was a Tribid—something rare, powerful, and feared. She didn’t remember the night she had almost died because her powers had saved Damon. She didn’t remember me holding her in my arms, begging the witch to erase everything—to make her normal, safe, and hidden.
She didn’t remember how I had looked into her eyes as the spell took her memories away.
She didn’t remember anything.
I swallowed hard. “You’re wrong,” I told her calmly. “I didn’t choose Amanda because I loved her. I never did.”
“Then why?” she asked bitterly. “Because she was perfect for your title? Because a maid wasn’t enough?”
I couldn’t answer.
The truth was worse than any lie I could give her.
If I told her what I had done—how I had erased her entire past, stolen her memories, taken her power—she would never forgive me.
She would look at me like I was the monster Damon always said I was.
So I stayed quiet.
Her expression changed when I didn’t speak. Her jaw tightened. “You can’t even deny it,” she whispered. “You’re ashamed, aren’t you? You look at me and remember what I was—someone who didn’t belong beside you.”
“That’s not it,” I said quickly. “I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” she repeated, almost laughing. “From what, Elijah? From your brother? From your pride? Or from yourself?”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening. “No. You don’t get to say you were protecting me. You left me, Elijah. You erased me from your life long before Damon ever came close.”
Her words hit me harder than any blade could.
I took a slow breath, trying to steady myself. “You don’t understand. There are things I can’t tell you.”
“Of course there are,” she said bitterly. “There always are with you.”
Her voice softened then, and that hurt even more. “I trusted you once. More than anyone. And you broke that trust. So please, don’t stand here and pretend that you suddenly care what happens to me now.”
She turned toward the door.
“Anna, please—” I reached out, but she stepped back, shaking her head.
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m done. Whatever game you’re playing, leave me out of it.”
She opened the door, and light came in from the corridor. For a brief moment, she looked back at me. There was no hate in her eyes now—just disappointment.
Then she walked out.
The sound of her footsteps faded, and I felt my chest cave in. I stood there for a long time, staring at the empty doorway, trying to breathe.
She didn’t believe me. She thought I was jealous. She thought I wanted to hurt her again.
Maybe I deserved that.
I had done this to her.
I had made her forget. I had stolen her truth, her strength, and her past—all because I thought I was saving her. All because I was too afraid of what she really was—and what people would do if they found out.
Now she was walking straight into Damon’s hands, and I couldn’t even warn her properly without completely breaking her world apart.
For a moment, I felt everything—anger, regret, guilt, love. All tangled together until I couldn’t tell one from the other.
Then I forced myself to move. I had to. I couldn’t just stand there and drown in what I had lost.
I left the room, walking down the long, cold corridor. The torches flickered as I passed, shadows crawling along the walls like they were following me.
My thoughts kept circling around her—her face, her voice, the way she looked at me like I was the one lying.
I stopped at the end of the hall, pressing a hand to my chest. It hurt to breathe. I couldn’t save her with words anymore. The only thing left was to save her with action.
“Damon,” I muttered under my breath, my voice shaking with rage. “You won’t touch her.”
Just then, I heard footsteps, and a guard rushed toward me, stopping a few feet away.
“My lord,” he said, bowing slightly. “A message has arrived. The Alpha Kings from most of the neighboring packs are on their way here. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
I blinked, caught off guard. “Alpha Kings?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “They’re coming to assess your leadership. The Elder Council doesn’t want Damon to be the Alpha King, so they’ve called other Alpha Kings to see if you’re ready to rise—from Alpha to Alpha King.”
For a moment, I said nothing.
His words hung in the air like a storm about to break. Alpha King was the highest rank, and the one title I had fought for years to deserve.
It should have felt like victory for me. But instead, it felt like a weight pressing down on my chest.
“They’ll be here in a few hours?” I repeated quietly.
“Yes, my lord.”
I nodded slowly and waved him away. When he was gone, I looked down the corridor again, my thoughts drifting back to Anna.
In a few days, I could become Alpha King. But what did that mean, when the woman I loved was walking straight into death—and I was the reason she wouldn’t believe the truth?
The crown, the title, and the respect—it all meant nothing to me if I couldn’t save Anna.