Chapter 14:
I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were standing on the edge of something that could tear us apart.
POV: Elara
The morning sun cast long shadows over the Talon Pack compound, illuminating the familiar faces I had come to know over decades of service. But the light did little to ease the growing tension that clung to the pack like a storm waiting to break. Each wolf moved with purpose, heads bowed slightly, their eyes avoiding one another’s too often for comfort.
I stood near the edge of the training grounds, arms crossed, watching the pack’s movements. Lyle, one of the younger wolves who had begun stepping up in patrols, stood before me, eager and attentive. I offered him quiet praise, masking the weariness that tugged at my shoulders. Every word, every decision, carried the weight of expectation. It was a burden all Alphas bore—this endless balancing act of strength and vulnerability. But my burden was heavier. I wasn’t just leading the pack; I was proving I deserved to.
As Lyle left to join the others, I felt a prickle of unease at the back of my neck. I turned, my senses sharpening. The familiar tension, the subtle warning from within, pulled me toward the border.
I moved with quiet precision, every step deliberate as I wove through the trees. Wolves passed me in the clearing, their gazes lingering a moment too long. Respect was not the same as trust, and trust was something I had to fight for every day. But today, their unease wasn’t my priority. I felt it before I saw it—the faint, familiar pull of something I had spent years trying to forget. And when I reached the edge of the trees, my breath hitched.
Dante.
He stood just beyond the border, half-hidden by the shadows of the woods. The forest around him seemed darker, amplifying the tension that hummed between us. His posture was steady, confident, but the moment his eyes met mine, I saw it—a flicker of something raw. Shock. Recognition. And then regret.
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For a moment, neither of us moved. My heart thundered in my chest, a storm of emotions surging through me: anger, confusion, betrayal. Beneath it all was something I refused to name, something that felt dangerously close to relief.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, the words sharp and brittle, cutting through the stillness.
Dante stepped forward, the shadows shifting as his face came into view. His expression was unreadable, save for the faint tension around his mouth.
“Elara.” My name came out as a breath, a whisper that carried far too much weight. I straightened, forcing my expression into something cold and unyielding.
“You’re not supposed to be here. Your banishment wasn’t lifted.”
“I know,” he said, his voice steady.
“But I came anyway.”
His calm infuriated me. My fists clenched at my sides as I fought to keep my composure.
“You don’t belong here, Dante. You made your choice years ago.”
His jaw tightened, and I saw a flicker of emotion in his dark eyes—regret, maybe. Pain.
“It wasn’t my choice, Elara. You know that.”
“Do I?” I shot back, stepping closer. The words came sharper, louder.
“Because it seems to me you left without a second thought. And now, after all this time, you think you can just show up and—what? Act like nothing happened?”
“I didn’t come here to pretend,” he said quietly, his voice edged with the determination I remembered too well.
“I came because I had no other choice.”
His words gave me pause, a crack forming in the armor I had painstakingly built around myself. For the first time, I really looked at him. He was older now, his features sharper, the lines of his face etched with experience. There was gray at the edges of his dark hair, but his eyes—they were the same. The eyes I had once trusted. The eyes I had tried so hard to forget.
“You shouldn’t have come,” I said finally, my voice quieter but no less guarded.
