Chapter 6 The cloaked lady
Elena's POV
The hall echoed with distant roars—wolves fighting, bones breaking.
So much was already happening today.
I was officially a rogue, I had just found out I had a mate after all this time, and now we were under attack by rogues.
Wolves howled outside, drawing me from my thoughts.
The rogues were getting closer. I held my hand to my chest as I tried to slow my breathing.
I had to leave this hall. I turned, heading for the kitchen hoping to use the back door.
“The wolfless rat is running to help her kind. I mean, aren't you like a rogue now?”
Rose smirked but I didn't have time for her now, I had to get out of here, I didn't know exactly why I had to leave but I needed to get to the garden.
It always gave me peace and call me stupid for doing this, but I just had to.
I saw the garden in sight and I felt relieved.
But the moment I stepped deeper into the forest, I could feel something was wrong.
The garden was quiet.
Too quiet.
There was no movement at all besides the shadows that looked unnatural around the trees.
My heart beating loudly as I held on to my necklace.
“Hello,” I whispered. “Is anyone—”
A growl cut me off.
A rogue stepped out from behind a tree, foam dripping from its jaw, eyes blood red.
His massive body paced around, snarling at me.
My heart stopped. “No, please.”
It lunged.
I screamed and jumped to the side, my back ripping with pain as I hit the ground.
The rogue balanced itself, growled and turned.
I pushed myself up, my vision fading.
I didn't even know how to fight.
I didn't even have a wolf.
My necklace grew hot on my chest, snapping me out of my thoughts.
A hot feeling that made me gasp.
The rogue jumped.
I ducked beneath its claws, heading for the rose path as fast as I could.
My whole body was screaming from all the pain I was feeling, but adrenaline shoved everything aside.
“Someone!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Please help me, please—”
Another snarl.
I turned and the rogue was right behind me.
I headed sharply down a stone path, too quickly.
My foot slipped and I crashed into a bench, gasping as I felt a sharp pain through my ribs.
The rogue closed in.
This was the end, I was going to die.
And then a voice behind me whispered.
“What are you afraid of, child?”
I froze.
A woman stood beneath the twisted willow tree, half hidden in the shadow.
A long black cloak covered her from head to toe, the hood covering her face. Only her lips showed, and she was smiling.
The rogue stopped growling.
It didn't attack her or even look at her.
It backed away with a whimper, its nose almost touching the ground.
My blood turned to ice.
“W—who are you?” I whispered.
The woman stepped closer. Her very presence made the air thicker, heavier, almost magical.
Her voice was soft but sounded otherworldly.
“The necklace,” She pointed at my neck.
“Where did you get it?”
“I—I don't know. I've had it since I was a baby.”
“Your mother's gift,” she said quietly like she was talking to herself. “Of course.”
My heart raced as I looked at her.
“You knew my mother?”
“Not in the way you think,” she said. “ But yes, I knew her and what she carried.”
I was so confused and I noticed that the rogue was moving slowly around me.
Waiting.
I took another step back.
“Please,” I muttered. “I don't want any trouble.”
“Oh no dear, you aren't in any trouble,” she tilted her head.
“But did you really think you had no wolf?”
“What are you talking about?”
She pointed to my chest. “To the thing bound to you. The thing sealed inside that necklace. The thing that woke the moment you felt his presence.”
My breath hitched.
Who was he?
“Who are you—”
“You are changing,” she stepped closer, her voice low. “Whether you want to.”
“What? What's happening to me?
Her lips curled into a sad, pitying smile.
“Something different,but when it comes, welcome it.
A chill ran down my spine.
“I don't understand.”
“You don't have to understand,” the woman said. “For now, you just have to survive.”
My necklace glowed violently.
Heat burned from my throat to my head.
The burn was spreading to my lungs, suffocating me.
I dropped to my knees, trying to catch my breath.
“W—what—what’s happening to—?”
The woman leaned down in front of me.
“Your wolf,” she whispered. “She's been locked away for years now. Silenced and now she wants out.”
“I don't have—”
“You do,” she lifted my chin. “And she is nothing like the others.”
“I can't—” I choked. “It hurts.”
“It will hurt. For what you are was never meant to be caged.”
A howl echoed across the garden.
Liam.
The rogue jumped, startled.
The woman turned, listening.
“He's close,” she murmured.
“Please help me,” I begged as tears flowed through my eyes. “I—I’m scared,”
She leaned closer. “You should be.”
Another howl.
Liam was getting closer.
The woman straightened. “You will choose your destiny soon, child,” she said. “And when you do, remember this night.”
The necklace glowed even more.
I screamed.
It felt like I was on fire, the fire shot through every part of my body.
“Stop, please,” My fingers dug into the dirt as I kept thrashing, choking on my own breath.
The rogue lunged for me in my weakest moment.
But a huge black wolf slammed into it mid air.
Liam.
He ripped the rogue to pieces in seconds. Then he shifted back, right there, naked.
I would have been embarrassed if I wasn't in so much pain.
His hands cupped my face. “Stay with me…please, Elena, please—”
My vision flickered. Elena? How did he know my name?
The woman stepped back into the shadows.
“We will meet again, child,” she said quietly.
“Who are you?” Liam barked, turning to her.
She smiled once.
Then she vanished, leaving me with this pain.
Like smoke dissolving into the night.
My screams tore through the garden.
Liam pulled me into his arms, it felt so right.
“Elena, please, don't—don’t leave me.”
The last thing I saw was his terrified face.
My necklace was still burning into my skin and then everything went black.
The world went silent as I fell into darkness.