Chapter 111

Elara's POV

"Please don't do this, Alpha!" Sarah drops to her knees before Lucas. Her tears wet the ground. "She's our Luna!"

I watch more pack members fall. One by one. Begging him. Pleading for me.

"Alpha Lucas, we need her," Michael's voice breaks. "The pack needs her."

I feel their love wrapping around me like a warm blanket. But it's not enough. It's never enough.

Lucas stands before me. Towering. Rigid. I search his face for any trace of the man who held me last night. Who whispered promises against my skin.

"I love you," I whisper. The words scratch my throat on their way out.

He looks at me with empty eyes, my words mean nothing to him. He slams the door in my face. It is the final disrespect, the very thing that makes me regret knowing him. I've never had a place I called home that truly felt like home. Back in Matthew's pack, it was anything but home. My parents left me a tiny house all to myself but the people around it made my life hell. Here, in Lucas' pack, I had nothing of my own yet I was at peace. He made me believe I was special, made me think I mattered.

I feel movement behind me.

Turning back, I see the devil himself. My first mate, Alpha Matthew, is standing there waiting like a knight in shining armor. He comes closer, he goes to touch me but I flinch.

"Easy love," his arms catch me around my waist as I stumble backward. I feel goosebumps rise on my skin, not the good kind. "I don't want my mate getting hurt when I've only just gotten her back."

Gotten me back? Is he crazy?

"You... how are you still alive?" I flinch.

"It was you." He let out. "That day, somehow, when you took my hand and put it on your belly, it started to heal me."

I remember back to that day. The day Sabrina stabbed him. I hadn't meant much by letting him touch my belly. I simply meant to cheer him up, to tell him about the life growing within me while he breathed his last. I'd forgotten about the power my baby has, even before it's born. I say nothing, looking at him like he's a ghost.

"Shall we go, darling?"

"Go where?"

"Back home." He smiles. "If Lucas won't love you right, it's his loss. I intend to right my wrongs and love you exactly how you deserve."

"No. Something isn't right. Lucas would never..." I turn to look back at the closed gates. The scent of my mate slowly disappears, I can't feel him anymore. My wolf is gone too, at this moment, I feel utterly human.

"I heard that interaction, Elara. A man who loves you would never call you worthless. He doesn't deserve you."

I look back at him, tears pricking my eyes. While I'm heartbroken, I'm not stupid. "What's your plan, Matthew? You called me worthless too, and now you're apologizing and want me back? What are you planning?"

"I was young and foolish then." His voice softens. "I didn't understand what I had."

"You rejected me. Made me kneel before the entire pack. You tried to make me your little secret plaything."

"And I've regretted it every day since." He reaches for my hand. "Let me make it right."

I pull away. "I can't trust you. Besides, I have a mate."

"Lucas?'' He raised a brow, looking like he'll laugh. "Are you seriously going to beg the man who made up a stupid lie about us just to break up with you? Think about, Elara, he wasn't man enough to convey his feelings. He came back with a stupid lie about Sabrina dying and you and I fucking. If he loved you, he'd trust you.'' I look at him, my mind lagging back. There's so much happening at once that I can barely take in all he's saying. He moves forward again, and this time, I don;t step back. He touches my face, pushing back my hair. "I'm here, aren't I? That should mean something. I'm not going to throw you away like Lucas…''

"He didn't throw me away. He-"

"Called you worthless? Slammed the gate in your face?" His words cut deep because they're true. "I watched it all, Elara. I watched him break you."

I wrap my arms around myself. "And you… you're not going to hurt me?

He smiles, clutching both sides of my cheek. He comes so close I can feel his breath on my face. Then, he plants a chaste kiss on my forehead. He lingers, not pulling away. I close my eyes, a million memories of Lucas flash before me. Oh Goddess! How can my heart hurt this much?

"I could never bring myself to hurt you. I've had too many nightmares of how I treated you. I've ripped my heart out a dozen times in regret for rejecting you. You are my life, Elara Moore. Please take me back.''

I pause, thinking long. My stomach rumbles, I'm hungry. I haven't even eaten since yesterday. Since my mate's mother tried to kill me.

"You know, the trees aren't kind to lone omegas." He quips, distracting me from my thoughts. "Especially not one carrying a child."

I feel my hand drift to my belly.

"I have a pack. Protection. A home." He holds out his hand. "All I'm asking for is a chance."

"To do what?"

"To prove I've changed. To give you the life you deserve." His eyes meet mine. "To protect our child."

Our child. The words echo in my head.

"I will take care of you, love you and your baby. I'll be a better father to that child than Lucas would have been. Think about it, Elara. A real home. A real family." He gestures to my small suitcase. "Better than whatever future you were planning with that bag. "

I look down at my pitiful belongings. Everything I own in one small case.

"Just come with me." He picks up my suitcase. "If I haven't changed, you can leave. But at least give me the chance to prove myself."

I feel tears sliding down my cheeks. He's right. What choice do I have?

"Okay."

The drive is silent. The journey from Lucas' pack to Matthew's is at least an hour long. At that time, it's a battle. A battle not to cry, not to scream. He's all I think about. Lucas, the monster I'd once feared and now loved. The monster I now hated and loved. I watch trees blur past my window, each mile taking me further from Lucas.

Matthew's pack gates rise before us. He stops the car, comes around to open my door. I feel his hand in mine as he helps me out, his lips pressing against my hair.

At the gates of Matthew's pack stands the faces in my nightmares. Everyone who's ever been bullied me. Mistress Mary, Belinda, Janice, even James. The entire pack, the ones who beat me, starved me, drowned me and locked me out on cold nights.

I see them all. Every face that ever sneered at me. Every hand that ever struck me. Every voice that ever mocked me.

But now they drop to their knees.

"All hail our new Luna, the powerful witch!"

Their voices rise together, echoing against the mountains.

"All hail our new Luna, the powerful witch!"