ELIRA
I stood by the window, watching the morning fog melt into golden sun. My hands were wrapped around a cup of tea I didn't intend to drink. It had gone cold long ago, just like the secret I've kept buried for two years..Beta.
He's been in the underground chamber beneath the cliffs, far from Sword Dawn and Night Shadow territory. Hidden, bound, untouched by sunlight, but alive.
I told no one.
Not Asher. Not Nadia. Not even the healers who asked questions when I requested sedation herbs in high quantities after the war.
Because I wasn't just hiding him.
I was protecting Asher.
Beta killed his father. The Alpha who raised him. And I couldn't bring myself to destroy the last fragment of the boy Asher used to be by telling him that.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was weak. But whenever I looked at Asher, rebuilding our shattered pack, laughing softly with his daughter, sharing quiet strength with Nadia... something inside me tightened.
