Elora thought she wouldn’t be able to work at Aiden’s resort on the next day because of the trauma. But Elora felt fine. Better than she could have imagined. Even as they ate together this morning, Caspian looked at her in surprise and asked the same question over and over again about whether Elora was really all right.
“You should take a day off. There will be no problem, right? If they fire you because of it, that’s fine. I can take care of you and I will give you everything you want.”
“Don’t be silly. I won’t quit my job.”
“When are we getting married?”
Elora was so taken aback by Caspian’s question that she jerked her head back. The ring around her ring finger felt many times heavier because Caspian had mentioned marriage. “Why are you suddenly asking that question? Do you realize our situation now? Is it appropriate to hold a wedding reception at a time like this? You want
“Do you realize what you just said?” Javier blinked.Elora nodded, and Javier watched her without moving an inch. “You think I’m stupid?” Javier hissed. “If you don’t want to say it, that’s fine. I’ll be mad, that’s for sure, but I can’t stay mad at you for long. So don’t say such nonsense.”Elora inhaled until her lungs felt tight. She had to transform for Javier to believe. Elora checked the situation around them once again. When she was sure everything was safe, she lowered one hand under the table. “Look,” she said to Javier.“What are you looking at?” Javier sounded annoyed.“My hand.” Elora gestured with her eyes for Javier to look under the table. Javier did it. Elora was still concentrating on transforming her hands. Failed. Why is it harder than it should be? Did yesterday’s incident make it difficult for her to transform?
“Javier?” call Elora. Elora opened the passenger door, looked behind the car, but Javier was nowhere to be found. Elora looked worriedly at Caspian. He had just come out of the woods by the roadside.“No one’s there,” said Caspian. Elora’s heart was racing.“Isn’t your territory guarded? Could there be an intruder? Why are they after Javier?”“Elora, calm down. We don’t know where Javier is yet. It’s possible that his car had a problem, and he left it here.”“Then we should cross paths with him!” Elora got hysterical. Caspian gripped both of Elora’s arms. “El, calm down.”“How can I calm down while my friend is somewhere in this wolf’s lair! I promised him he would be safe when he came here!”“Elora!” Caspian’s voice boomed, and Elora gasped. Caspian had never spoken to her in such a harsh tone. The
Javier lay on the floor in front of the extinguished fireplace. Around him, there were three werewolves. All men. The person who caught Elora still wrapped his claws around Elora’s neck, his other hand holding Elora’s hands behind her back.“She really came alone,” said the werewolf who caught Elora. Everyone there chuckled.“Take him to the bedroom, Brat,” one of them said.Brat, the man who caught Elora, took Elora to the room and threw her on the bed. Elora tried to struggle, but Brat quickly tied her hands and feet to the bed with the ropes that had been prepared. Now Elora was lying on her back with her hands and feet tied. She couldn’t move, and Brat covered her mouth with a bandage. Elora could only stare in horror and let out a howl caught in her throat.“I have an idea,” said someone who entered the room not long after Elora was tied up.“You always have ideas, Ward,” said B
“B—but… but—” Elora pointed at Javier, then the werewolves lying around them. “What are you?”“We’d better get out of here first. I’ll explain once we’re safe.”“They’re dead, right?”“Yes. But I can feel there’s more to come.”After Javier said that, the bedroom window glass shattered as someone barged inside. That man lunged at Javier and they got into a fierce fight. It took Elora some time to realize that it was Zed.“Zed! Stop it! He’s my friend!” Elora shouted. She pulled her legs as hard as she could to untie them from the bed. But the wooden bed was broken. Elora got up and walked over to the two of them, who were still struggling on the floor, scratching and hitting each other.Elora got down and had trouble walking because the wood from the bed caught in the ropes around her ankles. She was too panicked to
Elora didn’t touch her food at all. She watched Javier as he ate dinner as if nothing terrible had just happened in their lives. A member of the pack reports to Caspian shortly after Javier and Zed return to the castle. He said the intruder werewolves in the lodge had been killed and security at the border areas had been tightened.“If I were you, I wouldn’t trust the members of my pack so much,” said Javier, after that member had left the dining room. Now there were only Elora, Javier, Caspian, and Zed.“Is your car broken? How did they kidnap you?” asked Elora.“Is there a shoulder-length red-haired woman among the members of this pack who wears glasses?” Javier asked back while looking at the faces one by one there.Elora gasped. “Kate? What’s wrong with her?” Caspian and Zed were no less surprised. “By the way, where’s Kate? I haven’t seen her all day,” Zed said.
Elora knows this place. She had come here a thousand times through her little eyes in endless night dreams. That’s why, when she first appeared here as an adult, this place felt familiar but vague. This colorless meadow… Hëna always called her here. Whispering languages only the two of them knew.As a child, Elora approached Hëna with no feelings. She wasn’t afraid, sad, worried, or had any negative thoughts about the moon goddess in front of her. One word that always crossed little Elora’s mind was beautiful. Hëna is exquisite. Dressed in silver, white, and light as bright and graceful as the moon.But now it’s different. In Elora’s eyes now, Hëna is like a ghost. Her pair of eyes stared blankly at Elora. Her expression was as flat and empty as the meadows around them. Hëna opened her mouth, a thin and pale mouth. Hoarse voices escaped from there, but none of it uttered a word.And strangely&hellip
“I need your help.”“You came into my room at night, while I was sleeping, and said you needed my help?” Aiden lifted the blindfold from his face with his thumb and frowned displeasedly at Caspian. “Can’t it be tomorrow morning? I’m tired, Cas. Today’s schedule is tight.”“I almost lost Elora tonight.”Aiden, who had put his blindfold back on and was lying on his side, stiffened and now pulled the black eyepatch off. “What did you say?” He sat on the bed and pulled the blanket off.“Um… looks like you should get dressed first.” Caspian immediately looked away, and Aiden snorted. “Look who’s embarrassed after barging into someone else’s room.”Aiden got up and grabbed the silk kimono at the foot of the bed, then put it on and tightened the tie. “Well, what do you want help with, Alpha?”Caspian carefully looked
BRAK!Elora and Javier jumped as the door swung open. They turned and saw Zed in the doorway. Kate’s diary in one hand and a journal in the other hand. “Hi,” he said, ignoring the surprised faces.“You guys found something?” Zed asked cheerfully. “Oh… you guys weren’t with Caspian?” he asked again as he looked around.“Wasn’t he looking for clues about Kate with you?” Elora asked back.“Oh yes, indeed. But we are looking at a different place. Caspian asked me to search Kate’s room, looking for anything that might be a clue. Caspian himself went to interrogate the border guards.”“You found something in Kate’s room?”“No.” Zed shook his head, then placed the books he had brought on the table. “There’s not much from her diary either.”“But I see you enjoy carrying the book around with you,&rdqu