THIRD PERSON POV

18 YEARS AGO

The forest had always known her, even before she knew herself. In the pouring night, occasionally brightened with flashes of lightning.

A sound was heard from the woods.

"Did you hear that?" One of the guards said to his partner.

"Hear what?" His partner replied.

"That. Listen carefully, it sounds like....a baby" the first guard said.

The second guard strained his ear and listened carefully, and truly, piercing through the storm and the thunder, a loud shrill cry could be heard, far into the woods. His eyes widened.

"Who could have left a baby in the woods?" He said to his partner.

"I don't know, should we check it out?" The first guard replied.

The second guard nodded and they started walking towards the sound. 

They tried sniffing their way, but they couldn't get a scent of a wolf, and the rain only threw off whatever scent they tried to pick up. The rain quenched the fire from their torches but they moved on anyway.

After some minutes in the pouring rain, the crying sound became clearer and nearer and then a few feet ahead...a baby, wrapped in robe, at the foot of a tree.

Their eyes widened in shock, there really was a child here, and a new born at that.

"We have to report this to the Alpha immediately" the first guard said while kneeling to pick up the baby soaked from the rain, the minute he cradled the baby in his arms, the crying ceased.

Both guards didn't hesitate and ran towards the pack house as fast as they could.

He watched from the trees as they picked her up and ran off towards the pack.

"That should do for now" he said, and disappeared with the rain.

.......

"Alpha, there are two patrol guards outside, they say they have something important to report" the beta said to the Alpha.

Alpha Tyran. That was his name. Alpha Kane's father.

"Let them in" he grunted. The beta nodded and walked away.

A few seconds later, both guards walked in, drenched from the rain, with the baby in hand.

The Alpha looked them up and down. "Who owns the child?" The alpha asked, his face stern and emotionless.

"Alpha, we don't know, we found the baby crying near the pack border" the first guard said.

"Hmm... and no one was with the child?" He asked.

"No one sir" they responded.

He stood up and walked towards the child.

"She has no scent" he said.

"Take her to the pack healer, have her examined and given to the maids"

"Yes sir" they said and walked away.

A few moments later, the beta came to the Alpha with the results.

"Sir, the healer has had the child examined, it seems the child has no wolf, neither is she human, because she doesn't smell like a human" the beta said.

The Alpha's face wrinkled, this was a strange occurrence, but it didn't matter to him.

"Keep her with the maids, she is of no use to us, but there is no need to dispose of her".

The beta nodded and walked away.

The years passed and Elara grew in the pack, she had no initiation ceremony because she was regarded as an outcast, less than a wolf.

She tried to live away from the eyes of others, but they always found a way to taunt her. That has been her life in the pack, from one cruelty to another.

Nobody cared she was alone, no one cared she had no family. The ones that didn't torture her or taunt her simply...ignored her.

They wouldn't lift a finger to help when she was being abused, and she had grown accustomed to that, for a while, she decided it was peace, and had decided to live that way, up until now.

PRESENT DAY.

ELARA'S POV

"I survived", the words left my lips the second I regained consciousness, but I didn't think I would be able to survive much longer.

My hands reached to touch my back and I felt something wrapped around my torso. My wounds had been tended to.

Was this an act of mercy? Or just a way to prepare me for whatever was next? These thoughts ran through my mind.

I let out a loud cough, my whole body ached. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious for, I needed to find out and I needed water too.

I tried to reach for the cup of water but my body ached so badly and I could feel my wounds opening up again.

Fresh tears flowed freely down my cheek. I might have cried these past few weeks more than I had cried in my whole life altogether.

I had always tried to be strong, tried to survive being in the pack, hoping that it would make me feel less of an outcast, hoping it would make me more accepted.

I had hoped being in this was a test of my strength and I was ready to go through it all and be strong to live.

But I couldn't anymore, more tears rolled down my eyes as I stared in the dark.

They had always regarded me as an outcast and I would forever be one in their eyes.

There was nothing I could do to change their minds at this point, it was clear as day, no matter what I did, no matter the effort I put in. I would always be an outcast, because I didn't have a wolf.

The cold breeze blew in and I felt my body shiver and goosebumps all over my arms, I tried to shelter myself from the cold but my wounds just opened further. I bit back a cry.

"I am an outcast in this world" I said loudly, I could no longer hold back the tears and I sobbed bitterly.

And then, in the silence, in the midst of my cries.

I heard it.

"No, you are not an outcast", the faintest of voices said.

There it was again, the voice that had spoken to me earlier, only now, I could recognize it, the voice was female.

ELARA'S POV

I looked around frantically, as much as my back would allow me. Trying to find the source of the voice. 

"Who is that?" I said into the darkness. No reply.

"Please, tell me who you are? Are you here to help me? I pleaded. Silence again.

"Please, whoever you are, I need your help now more than ever. I can sense you, I can sense the cold before you speak, please tell me who you are?" I asked while straining my ears to listen.

After a few moments, I knew I was not going to get a reply. The voice decided when to talk to me. 

This dashed my hopes, I had thought I had someone, anyone, looking after me and assuring me. 

"It must be my mind playing tricks on me, I guess" I resigned.

"But what if there actually was someone to help me, how would they even get in and get me out of here?"

I chuckled sadly to myself at the realization that I might just be doomed to a life of suffering and maybe. Death.

I was scared for whatever plans the Alpha had for me. I am scared for my life.

"I don't want to die yet" I sobbed. I didn't know how much more my body could take, I could still feel the bond, it was faint but it was there.

This cursed bond, I wish I could rip it out and die from the pain, instead of suffering.

"Why is the bond still in place even after the Alpha rejected me?" I thought to myself, maybe I had to reject him too.

Okay. I'll do it.

"I, Elara Cornell, reject Alpha Kane as my mate, I don't want anything to do with him and I want the mate bond gone" I said, and waited. A minute passed, two, ten. Nothing happened. I felt for the bond, and it was still there, unmoving, mocking me.

This bond made me vulnerable to the Alpha's attacks any my rejection didn't do anything to it. I had never heard of this. I truly truly hoped the Alpha was trying to severe the bond. Maybe then, I could plead for my life and he would let me go.

A few hours had passed, my back felt slightly better, slightly, I tried to sit up and get the water I needed, it hurt like hell but I had to, I needed to have a drink of water.

I used my hands and pushed myself up from the straw bed, slowly but surely, I couldn't sit up fully yet so I stretched my hands and picked up the cup of water.

A sliver of joy ran through me at completing this small task.

I greedily drank from the water, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

A blinding pain flashed through me. "ahhhhh" the cup fell from my hands, hitting my bed with a thud.

This pain. It was back. I remember the pain, it was from the night Yvette was with the Alpha.

He was probably trying to punish me through the bond since he couldn't punish me physically without risking me dying on him.

How cruel!

I didn't want this. I hate him, with every pain I felt, my hate for him only just increased.

With each anger I felt, my disdain for him increased. I had never felt this strongly toward anyone, not even when the bond snapped into place. 

But now, I was ready to get rid of this, I didn't want to feel this. 

He had no right to have this much control over me.

I don't know how but I could feel the pain and reach into it  and I could recognize it.

Tears brimmed at the corner of my eyes, I didn't want to feel this pain, I didn't want the alpha to have such power over me.

I didn't want anyone to have such power over me.

"I don't want to feel this pain" I whispered, but I meant it from my guts

In my heart, I reached for the pain, with my mind's eye, I reached for the bond.

"I don't want this pain" I said, stronger and louder this time.

I could see the bond behind my closed eyelids, it glowed and looked like it burned, I reached out to touch it, my fingers grazed it and the light dimmed.

The pain reduced to a low throb.

I sighed in relief.

I didn't know how, but the bond had been weakened.

I slowly turned to lay on my front because I didn't want my back to hurt from the floor, my eyes were starting to close.

I suddenly felt tired. I lay down and my eyes fluttered close as I drifted into a painless sleep.

The bond had been weakened.

This was my last thought before drifting off to sleep.

......

I was dreaming a happy dream.

In a field..with flowers...I danced round happily, looking at somewhere so beautiful.

The place smelt so wonderful.

Was this how death was? I thought to myself.

I knew I was dreaming but it was starting to blur.

I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and saw nothing, just an endless field of flowers.

I turned back and I saw the bond, burning, glowing.

I wasn't scared of the pain anymore. I wasn't scared of the bond.

Then I heard the voice again.

"Reach out to it, touch it"

This time, I didn't question the voice or turn around to look for the source.

I smiled, reached out my hands and touched it and it immediately felt cool to the touch, no longer burning.

I heard the same words again in my dream.

This time not from me.

"You have weakened the bond, Elara," she said.

I smiled. Happy in my sleep.

I knew waking up to reality and I would be met with only darkness and pain.

So I held onto this peace as long as sleep would let me.

Because when I woke...the darkness would be waiting.

THIRD PERSON POV

The alpha was in the bed with Yvette, pleasuring her and himself, at the same time causing unimaginable pain to Elara.

He smirked because he knew she would be suffering and he loved the thrill of it, he could feel her pain through the bond.

Suddenly, amidst Yvette's moans and his thrusts into her, the bond suddenly dimmed, he found it hard to reach. 

He stopped his thrusts.

"My lord, what's wrong? Don't stop now" Yvette moaned.

The alpha took a few steps back, Yvette watching him with hawk eyes. 

"What could be wrong now?" She thought to herself.

"What did she do? Why can't I feel the bond anymore?" He thought to himself as his rage kept on building.

He couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Go" he said to Yvette, she scrambled for her clothes and hurried out of the room, fuming, making a silent promise to make Elara pay for this.

After Yvette left, the Alpha stood stunned for a few minutes, desperately trying to reach for the bond, to find the burning heat of the bond. He couldn't.

He hurriedly threw on his clothes and stormed out of the room in anger.

.......

ELARA'S POV

I was still enjoying the bliss of the most beautiful dream I had ever had when the noise of the iron doors jolted me awake.

"What's going on?" I said to myself, trying to sit up a bit. 

The much needed rest had allowed my wounds to heal for some hours so I could move freely to an extent. It turns out I slept the whole day.

I heard footsteps getting closer and I suddenly got the feeling of impending doom, being uprooted from my beautiful dream.

"What did you do?" The Alpha said.

I looked up and there he was, at the door to my cell, growling at me. Anger twisted into his features.

"I repeat, what did you do?" He said even louder this time.

I remained speechless, my lips opening and closing but no words coming out, I didn't know what to say, why was the Alpha here? I didn't do anything, did I?

The Alpha looked disheveled. His clothes were thrown haphazardly on his body and they were wrinkled, his hair in odd directions, his face, an angry mask.

I shivered, because I didn't know what to say, I didn't do anything. I had been sleeping all day.

"You tampered with the bond, didn't you?" He asked in a loud voice.

My breath hitched in my throat, how did he know? How?

"Answer me" he said, taking a step towards me.

"What did you do to the bond?"

"Nothing" I whispered "I did nothing to it" I added.

"Liar" he said, and then after, he seemed to give it a thought and then added "you're a witch, aren't you?" His fingers pointed at me in accusation.

My eyes shone wildly, I couldn't even let out a word.

He continued. "Only witches have been known to be able to access a bond aside from the mated parties" the tone of his voice steadily rising.

I just sat there, wondering where he had this absurd thought from, free creeping in, the wounds on my back a clear reminder of what would happen to me soon.

He was standing in front of me now. "Witch" he said "you're a witch sent to curse me and end this pack, you will not survive this" he said.

"No, I'm not, I'm not a witch" I cried out. Calling me a witch was absurd, I had never known a witch, not to talk of being one.

Witchcraft was prohibited in this pack and in many packs across the world, and the kind of magic capable of accessing a made bond would be dark magic, which was equal to death if caught practicing it.

My life flashed before my eyes at the realization as he continued fuming at me, I needed to plead for my life.

"Please, alpha. I am not a witch. I didn't do anything" I feared for my life, I don't know how or why, but something urged me to keep it a secret, I just couldn't tell anyone I was able to touch the bond and feel it, even though I didn't understand it yet.

The Alpha looked at me, as if contemplating what to do, I just sat there sobbing and pleading for my life because there was nothing else I could do.

The next minute, he turned on his heel and walked away. 

I breathed a sigh of relief, maybe I was safe, for now.

My heart pound wildly in my chest, I had such an irrational fear of this man, from the moment we met, I never felt the love they said accompanied a male bond, only fear and a sense of foreboding.

My life was in his hands now, he could kill me if he wanted to. He wanted to, he just wanted to make me suffer.

The sound of the cell doors opening again caught my attention, this time there were multiple voices and footsteps, the guards stopped at my cell.

"Bring her out" one of the guards said to the other.

He opened the cell door and jacked me up from the bed and dragged me out. He was a bit gentler than before, probably because of my injuries. I was trying to guess where they were taking me to.

As we walked out of the cell and up the stairs leading to the main pack house, the feeling of dread washed over me again. I was being taken to the meeting hall. I had no doubt the Alpha had ordered for me. I was scared and my legs were trembling so much, the guards had to hold me up.

The more I got closer to the meeting hall, the more my anxiety grew, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.

We got to the meeting hall, I stood before the two massive doors, the doors slowly opened with a groan and I was lead inside by the guards under the gaze of almost every wolf in the pack, I could feel their hostility on my skin.

I landed on the ground with a thud when the guards let go of me. Pain resonating all over my whole body.

I bent my head down, too scared to look up. I didn't want to experience whatever was next.

I knew I was only avoiding the inevitable, whether I looked up or not didn't matter, so I did.

I raised my head and seated in front of me was the Alpha, and his three elders, each one's gaze fixed strongly on me.