The foreboding silence of the woods wrapped around her as Ella stepped into it; the coldness of the night was buried deep inside her bones. Whistling sounds carried the scents of pine and damp earth through the trees. Her bare feet felt the ache of the frozen earth, and the thin dress provided small warmth. She was robbed of all that she held dear: home, pack, mate.
But Damon's was louder—the sound of his voice slashing deeper into her mind than the sharpest claw. She couldn't shut it out.
"You are weak."
She tripped over a gnarled root, skinning her knees painfully on the hard, resistant earth. A sob was rising in her throat, but she swallowed it, her throat aching with the effort. Never again would she cry. Never here, never now. Her exile was complete—she could never go back.
And yet, she was not quite alone.
He stood a few feet away, his eyes glowing like embers in the dark. He had introduced himself but said nothing more, watching her almost as if he tested the depth of her very soul. His presence unnerved and attracted all at once, undisputedly dangerous.
"Stop following me," Ella snapped, the edge of her tone surprisingly strong and catching even her off guard.
One eyebrow shot upwards, and across the scarred face danced an amusing flicker. "Following you? Little wolf, if I wanted you dead, you would never even have heard me."
Ella turned to him, her fists tightly balled, though her body shook with exhaustion. "Then what do you want?
Kael arched his head as he took her in. When his voice finally came, it was as smooth as honey, laced with an edge of peril. "What I want is irrelevant. What matters is what you need."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Kael stepped closer, his movements measured and purposeful, much like those of a predator stalking its prey. "It means, little wolf, that you're standing at a crossroads: You can either further trudge through this forest, just hoping you don't freeze to death or get torn apart by rogues." He stopped, eyes narrowing. "Or you can come with me."
She bristled; her instincts screamed at her to get away from him. "Why would I go with you? You are a rogue."
"And so are you now," Kael returned, unnervingly calm, the words cutting across like a razor.
The truth slapped Ella in the face, a blow to the solar plexus. She was now indeed a rogue, bereft of pack, home, and identity.
Kael seemed to sense her diffidence. "You're not like them, Ella," he said. "You're not weak. Damon made a mistake casting you out." His eyes of red gleamed with conviction. "I can see potential in you—something which your Alpha was just too blind to notice.
The words choked in Ella's throat as all her defenses buckled under the weight of his words. All her life, she had lived being overlooked, dismissed as fragile and inconsequential. And here was a man—a stranger—claiming to see something deeper.
"Why should I trust you?" she whispered.
A sly smile twisted Kael's lips, the flash of teeth sending a shiver racing down her spine involuntarily. "You shouldn't."
A Dangerous Alliance
Kael led Ella deeper into the forest, his even presence unchanged yet never once comforting. It seemed to her that the trees closed in around them, the steps making the shadows grow just that bit darker.
"Why are we—where are we going?" she asked after an eternity.
"You'll see," Kael replied mystically, not deigning to turn his gaze toward her.
The exhaustion weighed upon Ella, but fighting it, her curiosity and desperation drove her onward until at last they came into a clearing, and there, in the middle of it, stood a small weathered cabin bathed in moonlight.
Kael opened the door and gestured for her to enter.
She eyed him warily now; her instincts were screaming for her to run. Where would she go? She had no pack, no allies, no sanctuary. With a heavy heart and a sigh, she stepped inside.
It was a small cabin—nothing more—but functional. A fire crackled in the hearth, its shadows dancing across the wooden walls. The air hung heavy with the scent of herbs and smoke.
"Sit," Kael said, his nod indicating a weathered chair beside the fire.
She did so, far too exhausted to argue.
Kael poured a mug full of a dark-colored liquid and handed it to her. "Drink. It will help."
Ella eyed the mug warily. "What is it?"
"Tea," Kael said with little inflection. "Poison isn't what's in the mug, so put that thought aside."
Ella took a cautious sip. The tea was bitter yet warming, sending a soothing heat into her cold, aching body.
Kael leaned against the wall, crossing his arms as he watched her intently. "You have questions."
Ella set the mug down, her hands curling into tight fists. "Why are you helping me?"
Kael's face darkened, and his crimson eyes flashed from their depths with unreadable intensity. "Let's just say I have a vested interest in seeing Damon suffer."
Ella's body pulled taut. "You want revenge.
Kael didn't refute him. "Your former Alpha and I have. unfinished business. But that's not the only reason I'm here."
"Then what is?"
Kael stepped closer, his voice low, almost a whisper. "You have power, Ella. You just don't know how to use it yet."
Ella shook her head, the weight of his words squeezing her down. "You're wrong. I'm not strong. I'm not anything.
Kael knelt before her; his eyes glittered bright in the dark: "That is where you are wrong, little wolf, for strength is not about what you are but about what you choose to become."
The next morning, Kael took Ella to a hidden clearing deep inside the forest. The sun oozed through the treetops, mapping a patchwork of light across the mossy floor.
"You want to survive out here? You need to learn how to fight," Kael said, relenting.
Ella faltered then, her confidence slipping. "I know nothing about fighting."
Kael smiled, seeming to be mildly diverted. "Good. That means I won't have to break any bad habits you learned elsewhere."
He tossed her a wooden staff, and she barely caught it. "Start with something simple. Defend yourself."
Before she could utter a word, he was upon her: quick, calculated. Ella yelped with a raised staff blocking him in time. The force of his strike sent jarring waves up her arms, a burning sensation in her muscles.
"Too slow," Kael said, circling around her predator-like. "Again."
They sparred for hours, Kael pushing her to her limits and then some. Ella's body shrieked in protest, her breathing coming out in jagged gasps, and yet she refused to yield. In each strike, in each block, she could feel a fire that she hadn't known still stirred deep inside her: determination.
By the time they made it to the cabin, Ella was even too exhausted to say another word. But lying on the cot Kael had given her, she just could not turn her mind off. For the first time since she had been exiled, she felt hopeful.
With days turning into weeks, Ella slowly began to strengthen. Kael taught her, besides fighting, also how to survive. He taught her to track her prey, move through the forest, and listen to an instinct she'd held suppressed for so long.
But, however, the mystery still remained as to why Kael was doing these things.
One night, sitting by the fire, Ella finally lost her self-control to her curiosity. "What do you really want from me?"
Kael was slow to answer. His eyes were entranced with the dancing flames, unreadable.
"There's a storm coming, Ella," he finally said to her. "Damon's pack is on the brink of collapse. When it falls, I need to know which side you'll be on.
Her brow furrowed, and her belly coiled into a knot. "What do you mean?"
Kael's scarlet eyes caught hers. "Lila isn't just Damon's mate. She's a spy to bring him down from the inside, and you're the key to revealing her."
These were words that felt like a mantle, weighing upon Ella's shoulders. Could she really go back to the pack that had cast her out?
Kael leaned in closer, his voice barely above a whisper. "Think about it, little wolf. Damon may have rejected you, but he will never see you coming. Now is your chance to make him pay."
Ella's heart was as good as pounding out loud as her eyes fastened on Kael's. For the very first time in her life, the power woke. Yet, the road ahead lay fully lined with danger and betrayal.
As the fire crackled softly between them, Ella reached a resolution.
"I'll do it," she declared, her voice unwavering. "I'll go back."
Kael's smile glinted, sharp and perilous. "Good. Let's see what you're really made of."