Six Years Ago

Elara's POV

My heart pounded in my chest, but I couldn’t outrun it. I couldn’t outrun the cold, the dread, the fate that awaited me. I screamed, desperate, my voice cracking with raw emotion,

"Father! Please! Please save me! Nooo!" But my cries were swallowed by the wind, fading into the emptiness around me. My father wasn’t here. He had never been here when I needed him the most.

I struggled, the rough hands of the guards digging into my arms as they dragged me through the dark streets. My legs felt like jelly, too weak to fight back, and yet they didn’t care.

They pulled me forward, their fingers tightening with each step. I screamed again, my voice hoarse and frantic, but my pleas only echoed in the empty night, unanswered, ignored. The streets were deserted, as though even the world itself was too afraid to witness the nightmare unfolding.

It wasn’t just the physical pain that choked me, it was the weight of what had brought me here. My father’s debts, his stupid, careless gambling had ruined everything. And now, it was me who would pay the price.

My heart thundered in my chest as we drew closer to the Blackfang Pack’s castle, the fortress looming ahead like some monstrous beast. Every step I took seemed to echo off the cold stone beneath my feet, each sound mocking me. I wasn’t even sure where we were anymore, lost in a maze of alleys and dark corners. But I didn’t need to know. I knew what awaited me at the end.

The Blackfang Pack.

Alpha Stefan.

I could already feel the suffocating aura of the place. The air was thick with something dark, a presence that gripped you and held you in place. And that was exactly what it felt like as we neared the gates. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Fear had its claws dug deep into my skin, and I couldn’t break free.

I was dragged through the gates, and the massive walls of the castle loomed over me, towering and cold. My stomach churned, and bile rose in my throat. This wasn’t just a place; this was a prison. A gilded cage. And I was about to be locked inside.

The inside of the castle was just as cold as the outside, and the silence was deafening. Cold marble floors stretched out before me, and the high ceilings seemed to swallow all the sound. My footsteps echoed, the only noise in the entire place, as I was led down long corridors that seemed to stretch on forever. The guards were silent, their grip on me unyielding, as if they knew the fear that was crawling up my spine and savored it.

I tried to breathe, tried to steady myself, but the air felt heavy, like it was pressing down on my chest. The smell of the stone, of the cold, of dust, it all mixed together in my nose, but it was the smell of fear, of something terrible, that lingered in my mind.

And then, I saw him.

Alpha Stefan.

He stood in the doorway like a shadow come to life, his presence consuming the room. I could feel it immediately, the way the air seemed to freeze in his wake. His eyes, cold and unfeeling, swept over me with the precision of a predator sizing up its prey. And I was prey. I always had been.

His voice was low, cold, and it sent a shiver down my spine. "You’re nothing more than payment for your father’s debts. You will be my Luna, and you will breed. Nothing more, nothing less."

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. The words hit me like a slap to the face. Breed. His words were like a whip, cutting through me, and yet he said them with such detachment, like I was nothing more than an object to him. His eyes never softened. They never wavered. There was no emotion in his gaze, no hint of warmth.

I opened my mouth, desperate to say something, anything, but my voice faltered. I begged, pleading with the small, weak sound that escaped my lips, “Please... please don’t do this.” But it was useless. My voice cracked and broke apart in the vast, cold room, the sound lost before it could even reach him. I felt like I was drowning in his presence, like I was being pulled into a dark void. Fear curled in my stomach like a ball of ice, cold and hard.

He took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he sized me up. "You will learn your place, Elara. Your purpose is to serve me. Nothing more, nothing less."

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. His words, the way he looked at me, it all felt like an endless nightmare.

His gaze held no pity, no kindness. Nothing. He was a man who ruled by fear, and I was just a cog in his machine. A tool. A pawn.

I swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump in my throat, but it only grew. There was no escape. I was trapped, bound by my father’s sins, and there was no way out.

"Take her away," he said, his voice dismissive. "Get her ready for the mating. She’s mine now."

His words echoed in my ears like a death sentence. And there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing at all.

As the guards moved to take me away, I fought with everything I had left. I screamed, my voice hoarse with desperation and terror, every cry tearing through me like a jagged knife. But it was no use. I was too weak. I was too powerless.

They dragged me away, my body writhing in their grasp, and all I could do was let them. My heart was breaking, my soul shattering, but I couldn’t fight them. Not when every part of me was already defeated.

The maids were waiting for me in the room, and their eyes were filled with something I couldn’t place, pity, perhaps, but it was more than that. They were used to this. This was their life. But for me? It was my nightmare.

I wanted to scream, to run, but where could I go? I was nothing. I was just a piece in a game I couldn’t win. My heart felt hollow as I was led into the room, my legs shaky beneath me. The door slammed shut behind me with a finality that echoed in my chest.

I sank to my knees, my body trembling from the cold, from the fear, from everything I had lost. My mind raced, but there was no escape. There was nothing left for me.

I looked out the window, the moonlight washing over the castle grounds, but it felt so distant, so unreachable. The mate bond that I had once thought would be my salvation felt like a cruel joke now. The pull, the connection, it was still there, but it was tied to him. To Stefan. A man who didn’t care for me, a man who didn’t want me.

I was nothing to him. And yet, the bond still tugged at my chest, pulling me toward him. A cruel reminder that I was trapped in a life I had never chosen.

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall, but there was no comfort. No solace.

I was lost.

And as the door creaked open, I knew one thing for sure: my life would never be the same.