Elara's pov
The bathwater was scalding, but I barely felt it. No matter how hard I scrubbed, the heavy, musky scent of the wolf clung to my skin like... a brand. My body was still humming from the energy pull that had nearly emptied me dry.
I couldn't believe this was my life, I couldn't even bathe alone.
Mia poured a thick, herbal oil into the steaming water that smelled like crushed pine and copper.
"It masks your human scent," Mia whispered. Her hands were shaking as she scrubbed my shoulders. "If the wolves smell your fear tonight, they'll frenzy. You have to smell like the Pack."
I simply leaned back, the heat swallowing my collarbones.
"Drink this." Mia handed me a glass of dark, sludge-like liquid.
"What is it?"
"Iron. Adrenaline. Beta-blockers," Mia said. "Your blood needs to be thick when he draws from you during the shift."
I swallowed the bitter mess. It burned my throat. I caught my reflection in the fogged mirror as I stepped out. I looked like a ghost, all sharp angles and protruding ribs, my skin a sickly gray.
Just a few days ago, I had been a girl who laughed with her father and did his accounting books.Now, I live with monsters who don't care about me, drinking chemical cocktails.
The hallway to the Council Room was like a gauntlet to me. Lucian had ordered I walk alone, a cruel test of my strength, as if I hadn't suffered enough, as if my life here were all roses.
Halfway there, a shadow blocked the light.
Jack, one of Silas's enforcers. He was huge, his suit jacket straining against shoulders that were already beginning to broaden for the moon.
"Step aside," I croaked. My voice was pathetic even to my own hearing.
Jack grinned, and it was far from a human expression. His teeth looked too sharp.
"The Alpha's little support," he mocked, coming into my space. "You smell like a snack. I wonder if you taste as sweet as your scent."
"Lucian said... stay away," I warned, backing against the stone wall.
"Lucian is in the Great Hall," Jack hissed, leaning in.
He traced a single, razor-sharp nail down the curve of my shoulder before flicking it. A thin line of blood traced a path down my arm. Jack's eyes turned gold as he leaned toward the wound.
"Just a taste before the Council breaks you."
"Get. Away." I shoved at his chest, but it was like trying to move a mountain.
Suddenly, the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall exploded outward. A blur of gray and silver light slammed into the hallway.
I didn't see the movement, I only heard the sound.
A sickening, wet crack.
Jack was pinned to the wall, his feet dangling, Lucian's hand buried deep in his chest. Lucian looked monstrous. His shirt was shredded, his tie gone.
"Alpha—" Jack gasped. Blood bubbled out of his mouth.
"I told the Council the rules," Lucian rasped. His voice was a tectonic plate shifting. "You touched what's mine."
I watched, paralyzed, as Lucian pulled his hand back. He held a heart, still pulsing, throwing dark sprays of blood onto his pristine white shirt. Jack slumped to the floor.
Lucian didn't even look at the body, he glared at me like I had ordered Jack to hurt me.
"Lucian," I whispered, trembling.
He turned toward the Council Room where the elders stood frozen. He tossed the pulsing heart at their feet.
"Who else wants to touch her?" Lucian challenged, his voice a promise of death.
No one spoke.
Killian stepped out from the shadows behind the Council. He was leaning against a pillar, a dark smirk on his face as he began a slow, rhythmic clap.
"Messy, brother." Killian shifted his gaze to the heart on the floor. "But I think they get it now."
"Inside. Now," Lucian commanded.
He grabbed my arm and dragged me into the center of the Council Room. Above us, the moon sat in the skylight like a giant silver eye.
Lucian dropped to his knees. His spine gave a popping sound as his shoulders broadened, the fabric of his expensive suit finally giving up and tearing away.
"The Anchor!" Silas shouted, finding his voice. "Show us the stability, or we find a new Alpha!"
Lucian looked up at me. His face was transitioning, his jaw elongating, his features twisting into something ancient and predatory.
"Pull, Elara," he growled, the words barely human. "PULL!"
He slammed into me, his massive weight forcing me onto the stone floor. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, his teeth sinking into where Jax had cut me. Not a killing bite, but it was a tether.
A scream built in my throat but died there. It felt like my veins were being filled with boiling oil. My vision shattered into a thousand sparks of white light.
I could feel his rage, his hunger, his absolute violent need to kill everyone in the room.
My heart rate spiked to a level that should have killed me. I felt my organs cramp. My lungs seized.
Fight it.
I wrapped my arms around his massive, furred neck, forcing myself to be still.
Lucian's body, which had been contorting in agony, suddenly went still. The gray fur that had been sprouting on his spine receded. The claws that were digging into the floor retracted.
He stayed in his Primal form, larger and more lethal than a man.
The room was silent. The Council watched in horror and awe.
Lucian lifted his head, his gaze locking onto Silas. "Is this proof enough?"
Silas stepped back, his hands shaking. "The Anchor... she held it all."
"She is more than an Anchor," Killian's voice drifted from the back. "She's a miracle. Or a curse."
Lucian stood up, lifting me with him as if I weighed nothing. I was limp, and I could feel the energy vibrating in my bones, eating me from the inside out.
"Take her to the wing," Lucian ordered the guards.
"Wait," I croaked. I looked at Silas, then at Vanya, who was staring at the blood on the floor. "The contract... I did my part. My father stays safe."
Lucian looked down at me. His expression was unreadable.
"Your father is safe as long as you are alive, Elara."
He handed me off to the guards. My feet dragged against the stone as they led me away. When I looked back, Lucian was standing in the center of the blood, looking like a king who had just declared war on his own kind.
"See you soon, little leash," Killian whispered as I passed, his gaze lingering on the marks on my neck.