CHAPTER 3

Elsie’s POV

I turned on my heel,  rage and betrayal simmering in my chest.

I had every intention to carry out my threat. I couldn't care less about the consequences anymore.

The lies. The infidelity. The murder. I was done shielding him.

I stormed down the hallway, my steps swift and sure. I could hear Adira's panicked voice screaming at Lucas

“What the hell are you doing! Are you just going to stand there and let her take away everything you've built?”

I was nearly at the door when I felt it—a sudden, vice-like grip around my neck.

My breath hitched.

Fingers curled tightly, cutting off my air. My feet left the ground.

I clawed at the hand instinctively, panic flooding me as I turned to see who dared—

Lucas.

His face was stone cold, his once warm forest green eyes were now cold and emotionless.

Behind him, Adira stood with a twisted grin, her arms folded like she’d already won.

“Do it!” she snapped. “End it. She’s a threat now. Only when she's dead will you be able to continue as Alpha.”

I stared at Lucas, wide-eyed, heart pounding violently against my ribs.

His jaw clenched. His eyes flickered—something inside him warring with the act he was committing.

But then he gritted his teeth and squeezed tighter.

I thrashed, nails digging into his wrist. My lungs screamed for air. My vision blurred around the edges.

Lucas. The man I once loved. The man who had kissed my forehead on cold mornings. Held my hand through every failed attempt to conceive.

And now… this.

I tried to speak, to scream—to tell him I was carrying his children. Our children.

Maybe….if he realized that I wasn't barren after all, if he realized he would finally have not one heir but two… maybe just maybe he would go back to being the Lucas I knew and loved.

I tried to force the words out but they wouldn't come.

They tangled on my tongue, stuck behind the crushing pressure in my throat.

I gasped—once, twice—silent, desperate.

I wanted to fight. I wanted to live.

But the room began to tilt. My limbs grew heavy. The pressure in my skull built until it was unbearable.

And then— everything became dark.

—--

After what felt like ages, I came too slowly. My head throbbed with a pulsing headache. My throat  was raw, dry to an extent but I couldn't move my lips.

Something was over my lips.

Duck tape.

And my eyes—darkness. Not the kind that came from closing them, but something tight and rough pressing over them.

A blindfold.

I shifted slightly and felt cold metal bite into my wrists and ankles.

Chains.

Panic stirred in my chest, sharp and sudden, but I forced myself to breathe. In through my nose. Out slowly. I had to think. I had to stay calm.

Where was I?

I strained to hear—rustling leaves, the distant call of birds, the soft crunch of footsteps.

Someone was carrying me.

I squirmed, instinct taking over. My limbs jerked, metal rattling, heart racing. I tried to scream, but the tape swallowed the sound, muffled it into a weak, pathetic cry.

A sharp smack landed on my back.

“Shut it,” Adira hissed near my ear, her voice dripping with venom. “Or I’ll make you wish you had.”

I froze.

I didn’t recognize her anymore. She wasn't my sister any more. She sounded like something twisted.

Rotten.

But I couldn’t stop fighting. I writhed harder, my body aching with every movement, and the chains cut deeper into my skin. I screamed again, louder, though it came out as a hoarse, garbled sound.

And then—

I was thrown.

My body hit the ground hard. Rough earth and scattered branches scraped my skin. Leaves crunched beneath me. The air here was different—open, earthy, filled with the scent of damp wood

and moss.

A forest?

I forced myself onto my side, trembling,

Suddenly, the blind fold was ripped off and light flooded my eyes.  I blinked, dazed, my vision adjusting to the pale glow of moonlight that bathed the clearing.

It was night time.

I was in the middle of a forest. But it wasn’t familiar. Nothing about this place felt known.

My breath hitched as I looked ahead.

Adira stood a few feet away, her eyes gleaming with something cruel. And beside her, Lucas. His arms were folded, his stance rigid, his face a blank canvas of stone.

Emotionless.

It stole the air from my lungs.

“Lucas,” I whispered, my voice cracked and sore, “how could you do this?” I tried to stand, but the chains at my ankles pulled tight, yanking me back down.

He didn’t even flinch.

“I trusted you,” I choked out. “You were supposed to protect me. I—I love you. How could you let her do this to me?”

His eyes met mine.

Cold.

Distant.

Like I was a stranger. Like I hadn’t once been everything to him.

“I would’ve done anything for you.” I whispered, tears stinging. “ Doesn’t that mean anything to you at all?”

Still, nothing.

My heart shattered, quiet and slow, like glass underfoot.

Then Adira stepped forward, her expression twisted with satisfaction.

“Finally,” she said, her voice laced with glee, “you see the truth.”

I stared at her, bewildered. “Why?” I asked. “Why are you doing this? You’re my sister.”

Her lips curled into a sneer.

“Because I’m your sister,” she spat. “You were always the favorite. Always the cherished one. The pretty one. The one everyone ran to, listened to, loved. And me?” Her voice cracked. “I was the shadow you never saw.”

I shook my head, tears spilling freely now. “That’s not true, Adira. I’ve always—”

“Don’t,” she snapped, her voice shaking. “Don’t pretend like you cared. You lived your perfect life, oblivious to how much I had to fight just to be seen.”

I wanted to reach for her. For him. I wanted to believe this was all some twisted dream I could wake from.

She walked closer, crouching just near my face.

“You were going to run to the council,” she whispered darkly. “You were going to ruin everything.”

“You left me no choice,” I whispered back.

Adira stood straight again, brushing invisible dust from her sleeves.

“Normally, you would’ve been allowed to live. But your big mouth couldn’t stay shut.”

I looked to Lucas again, praying—pleading—for something in his expression to shift. For the man I knew to resurface.

He just turned away.

“So now,” Adira said, with finality in her tone, “you die. Tonight.”

My whole body trembled.

The night was cold, but the fear rooting itself inside me was colder. It clawed through my chest, spreading like frost.

Adira looked to Lucas, her eyes gleaming with triumph.

“Do it,” she said softly, almost sweetly. “End it once and for all.”

Lucas moved.

I flinched as he stepped toward me.  His hand closed around my upper arm, firm and unforgiving, pulling me to my feet. I stumbled, unsteady, my chains rattling with the movement.

Then I saw it.

The glint of steel in his hand.

It was a gun?!

“No…” I breathed, barely a whisper. “Lucas, no…”

He didn’t speak. He simply raised the barrel and pointed it at my forehead. The muzzle gleamed in the moonlight, too close. Too real.

I wanted to run. My body screamed at me to turn, to flee into the forest but as I took one shaky step back, I felt it.

Nothing.

My foot met open air.

I was standing at the very edge of a cliff.

Wind howled below, its cry rising to meet mine. I froze, heart hammering like a war drum. One more step, and I’d fall. One more second, and I’d die either way.

And still, the gun didn’t lower.

Tears spilled freely down my cheeks. “Lucas,” I sobbed, voice breaking, “please… it’s me.”

I could barely breathe. Never, not in my worst nightmares, had I imagined a world where he would be the one standing in front of me like this.

Adira’s voice cut through the moment like a blade. “Any last words, sister?”

My mind raced. I thought of this morning—the moment I had pressed a hand to my stomach in the clinic, smiling through joyful tears as the doctor spoke about the twins growing inside me.

I stared up at him, my lips trembling. “I was going to tell you,” I whispered. “Today. You were going to be a father.”

Lucas' eyes widened but his cold mask returned, his gun still trained towards my head.

Adira scoffed. “pathetic, at the cusp of death you resort to  lying. Shameless!”

I sighed then looked up at the full moon, luminous and vast above the treetops. And in that moment, something inside me hardened.

I raised my voice, steady despite the tears.

“By the Moon goddess, and by the lives inside me, I swear—this won’t be the end. I swear vengeance. For them. For me. I will—”

Bang.

The world shattered.

Pain exploded in my skull—bright, white-hot.

The ground vanished beneath me.

I fell.

The last thing I saw was the moon, shining so beautifully above, untouched by all this cruelty.

And in the breath before darkness claimed me, I whispered a prayer:

“Please... give me a second chance.”

Then all was black.