Elena knew no peace after the kitchen incident.
Elijah took every moment of the day to remind her that she was lying, disgusting thief. Elena went back and begged Malia to just tell her father the truth, say that oh it had been a mistake and she hadn't seen Elena take the food.
"Why would I do that?" Malia had sneered. She knocked Elena's hand off her. "You deserve to suffer for being the dent on this family. Aren't you even ashamed to call yourself a member of this family?"
Malia wouldn't listen, wouldn't do anything.
Elijah made Elena's life even worse. He seemingly manufactured chores out of nowhere to make her life worse than hell. He cut her food portions so she was working more but eating less.
Elena wanted to cry her heart out to whoever would listen, but her heart was dry. She couldn't even find it in her to do anything other than smile, nod politely and recieve the insults and abuse dished out to her.
Afterall, she believed that there was nothing she could do. She was above the age of mating and she was still unmated. Each blood moon came and went and the moon goddess in some sort of joke or irony refused to grant her a mate. It wasn't just her lack of a mate, she also couldn't wolf out. No matter how much she tried, it just didn't work. What came to every werewolf so easily ran away from her.
Elena felt tired and defeated. Even if she wanted to fight her uncle how would she do it? Physically she was almost the weakest in the pack. Malnutrition had told on her leaving her with extremely pale skin and a skinny body. Sometimes to herself she wondered how she was still alive.
***
Two weeks after the kitchen incident, Elena noticed some very unusual guests that came to visit. She had been cleaning out the water tank when she felt a surge of powerful energy that shook her to her bone. She crawled out of the tank and tiptoed to the living room. From her position at the top of the stairs she could peer down into the living room and see the entire space.
There were three men in the living room, having a hushed conversation with Elijah. The men looked fearsome, dressed casually but each of them had tattoos on their skin and piercings. Elena felt a shiver run down her spine as one of them felt her presence and turned, their eyes meeting directly. It took a lot of her self control not to make a sound.
"That would be wonderful, gentlemen." She heard her uncle say out loud. "I'll fetch her for you." She knew they were talking about her. Without wasting a second she turned and rushed back to tank, crawled in and pretended like she'd never left. Not long after Elijah came up to her and knocked on the tank.
"Get out of there Elena, you have guests." He said, his tone sounding too excited for her liking.
She came out of the tank. "Guests? But I don't know anybody."
"Beats me. Now, kindly keep your little mouth shut if you want to keep that head of yours."
Elena exhaled. She wondered what new diabolism her uncle was up to. What new ways had he invented to torture her pitiful existence?
She smiled. "Of course." Because what else could she do?
They walked down to the living room. The three mysterious men looked at her as she approached, she found that she couldn't read their eyes at all. That alone scared her. With Elijah or her cousins it was easy to look at them and assess their current moods. These men were totally blank. Elena stood there, unsure of what to do as they shamelessly checked her out.
"A little skinny," One of the men commented. He was the one who had met her eyes earlier.
"She will do." The other said.
"That's right." The last one said.
Elena was totally confused. "Um, excuse me," She said. "I'm a little lost here "
"Pack your bags and be down in ten minutes." One of the men said. "You're coming with us."
"And who are you?" She asked. Beside her she could hear Elijah take in a deep breath. She knew that if it weren't for their esteemed guests, she would have been on the floor recovering from a brain rattling slap.
"Less talk now," Elijah said. "Go and pack your things."
Elena glanced at him briefly, he was smiling. She went to her room and threw together the meager belongings she had into a small backpack. It took less than three minutes. She slung the bag over her shoulder and returned to the living room.
"Are you ready?" The man who'd met her eyes asked.
"Yes, I guess so." She said.
"Perfect. Let's go now." The men turned and walked out, filing out one after the other. Elena walked after them, not looking back.
"Remember," She heard Elijah say behind her and paused. "There is no home for you here anymore."
Elena felt a spark of anger for the first time in her life. The Ash pack was her right. She turned sharply and found herself glaring at Elijah. Her jaw clenched and she felt her nails cut into her palms from clenching her fists too tight. Elena was overcome with the very sudden, very violent desire to tear her uncle into prices right where he stood.
Elijah narrowed his eyes. "What with that look in your eyes?"
Elena instantly reverted to normal. "I've heard you." She turned and caught up with the men.
"May I ask where we are going?" Elena asked,
One of the men held the door of the car open. He looked at her and smiled. His smile seemed kind. "You're now a member of the Lycanfrost pack."
Elena felt her heart drop. "Lycanfrost?" Her eyes widened. "But that's the...."
"Just get in, okay? All your questions will be answered soon."
She looked at the three of them, she still couldn't read them at all. She entered the car and they drove off.
Her mind raced like the trees that they raced past. She had heard of the Lycanfrost pack, it was one of the most powerful packs, if not the most powerful. Known for raising ruthless warriors who expanded the pack with every advent. Any one who went to war against the Lycanfrost pack was doomed from the start.
Elena wondered why her uncle decided to send her to them. And she could only come up with one conclusion.
He had sold her.
She felt hope blossom in her heart. This could mean something good, something new. The Lycanfrost pack was huge, her own pack was not even compared to it. This could mean that she would be free. Free from Elijah and his evil and torture and domineering behavior. Free from Malia and Susan and Herald, although Herald didn't exactly bother her.
Her freedom was on its way, and she felt excited.
It had been so long since she last felt excitement, it settled uncomfortably in her stomach. It felt like butterflies, but not the good kind. She exhaled and closed her eyes, trying to relax before the ride was over.
She thought about her pack, about her father and the legacy he'd left behind. It pained her that she couldn't carry it on. But she didn't bother about it too much.
GARFIELD MUST BE FOUND!Elena shot another glance at Marcus and dreaded his presence. She held Carl by the hands and they turned to leave the cave.“Elena?” Marcus called out to her and she turned almost immediately as if she had been expecting his call. “I have a plan that might interest you. I'm sure it would help to find your child and bring an end to Garfield's taunts.”Elena raised her brows, unable to believe what she just heard. She knew Marcus to be a man of his words but she was not yet certain if she could still trust him after all he had done to her in the past.“Trust me.” Marcus pleaded and gripped a hold of her hands, drawing close to her. His eyes and Elena's eyes locked and Elena nodded her head affirmatively as if she had seen something intriguing. She was moved by how innocent and convincing his face was, that she embraced him. “I'll give this a trial.”“You surely won't regret doing this.” Marcus assured her once again as they got locked in each other's arms. “I ha
A TRIP BACK HOME“We'll go with the child.” Garfield said and began to wrap him up in baby linen. “We don't have all day, we have to leave at once!”Mia remained silent and stared at him for a while. “How about we take this child to your father and tell him that you are no longer Elena's mate?”“What if he asks me whose child he is?” Garfield asked, not liking the suggestion Mia had just given. “My father will never like to hear anything concerning Elena, and if he ever finds out this is Elena's child, he will never be happy with me.”“Then lie to him!” Garfield's eyes widened at Mia's suggestion. How could he not have thought about that before now? “Yes, lie to him. Tell him the child is yours. Let him understand that you mistakenly had a one night stand with a maiden and you ended up getting her pregnant.”Garfield rushed at Mia and cuddled him up in a hug, his face ever bright with smiles. “Mia, you know what? You are a genius! All this while I have been looking for a perfect way
CONTROVERSYElena's eyes twitched and she gripped Carl's clothes, her anger suddenly melting into cold tears. "What did you just say?" She asked, her voice unusually less audible.Carl looked her in the face. "They are gone, Elena, with your child!" "What? No, tell me that's not true. Wait, they are gone to where exactly? Talk to me." Her hands wouldn't let free from Carl's clothes and she totally ignored Marcus like he never existed.Meanwhile, Marcus was meaning to hold her hands and reassure her, and promise her that he would get them before they knew it. But he wasn't sure how she would react to it, since she was obviously not in the mood to speak to him.He thought it wise to let her be until she was probably done grieving over what was not lost, before he would come into the picture and inform her about his plans, that's if she would let him.He stood up from his kneeling position and crashed into the sofa, exhaling deeply. He wouldn't let anything else trouble him because he k
DAWN"Oh that? Trust me Carl, these are mere portraits. I wonder why you take them so seriously." Marcus opposed, trying to reassure her. But he knew deep down within himself that he was only telling her cheap lies.She was right after all when he mentioned that he was a womanizer, but not necessarily a real womanizer who went about chasing different ladies, instead, ladies came to him on a daily basis to be called his mistress.It was obviously not his fault that different ladies came to him anyway, as they were all after one thing, and that was his position as the Alpha of the pack. They all wanted to be identified as his mate and Luna of the pack at the end of the day.But everything was different with Elena. First, she was sold to him as his mate, and despite seeing the affluence and power he controlled, she didn't let that get into her head. As long as she never liked him in the first place, she despised him even till eternity and wouldn't want to be associated with him in any w
TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDSShe would rather leave the cave than watch them participate in such evil by taking Elena's child out. But she didn't just leave and remain silent about what was going on, she planned to go out in search of Marcus and Lina and tell them what was going on.Since she had seen them once in the cave, it wouldn't be difficult for her to recognize them and inform them about what was about to befall Elena back at the cave.She was almost not lucky with her search when she didn't find them for close to hours after stepping out of the cave. The only thing she could think of was to try to remember the name of Alpha Marcus's pack so that she could easily ask anyone how to find him.Unfortunately, she couldn't remember anything as her mind was completely bland and she couldn't place her hand around what Marcus's pack will look like.She kept traveling nevertheless, and soon, she was out of the forest. Her instincts kept pushing her and forcing her to go to a certain directi
WHAT HAS ELENA DONE?"Not at all Garfield, that's not the truth, I promise. She never told me anything about you." Elena mustered in her defense and that of her friend, Lina.But Garfield was not going to buy her lies. He knew right from when she stepped back into the cave after being with Lina for a while, that something was amiss, and Lina was definitely the cause of it.To think that he had been the person who granted Lina easy access to see Elena earlier and now she took it as an opportunity to hold dirty discussions against him? That could never be!With the way he peered at her, Elena suspected that he had been eavesdropping on them all this while and now, he's bent on finding out everything that has been going on between her and Lina outside the cave.According to him, there must definitely be something Lina was trying to hide away from him and the rogues, which warranted her to drag Elena out of the cave and probably poison her mind about him."What then were you discussing wi