Chapter 38: Elodie.
June 20 2026, 9:12am.
At first, Nyx’ara feared she was being pranked. She thought to herself that this must be one of their usual methods of trying to get under her skin. But when the Alphas began to lean close, their breaths warming her exposed neck and sending tremors down her spine, she realized then and there that this was not a joke.
It was real.
She was about to be marked by these men... these men who wanted nothing more than to hurt her.
She squeezed her eyes shut when Draven pulled her even closer to his chest, his staff pressing against her midriff.
The first bite belonged to him.
As his hand cradled the back of Nyx’ara’s neck with surprising gentleness, though there was nothing gentle about the storm raging in his dark blue eyes, her heart stuttered.
"I reject every part of you," he said, his voice silent but carrying through the deafening silence to break whatever was left of her heart. "But I’d rather break you than have you walk freely."
His fangs sank into the curve of her neck causing an unbearable raw pain to explode through her.
It was not sharp.
Not dull.
It was like a living thing—white-hot lightning tearing through her veins, forcing a scream from somewhere deep inside her chest. Her knees buckled, but he didn’t let her fall. Instead, he let his arms wrap around her midriff, keeping her steady while the mark blazed.
A crescent of black intertwined with shimmering gold bloomed against her skin as if the goddess herself was agreeing to this union.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Before she could breathe, Azriel stepped forward.
His expression remained unreadable, yet his trembling fingers betrayed him as they brushed against the fresh mark.
"You should have never become ours," he murmured, almost to himself.
Then his bite landed just below the first.
Another wave of pain lanced through her body.
And hell, it was stronger.
Her vision fractured into flashes of moonlight, ancient forests, parties and memories that weren’t hers. She saw four little boys laughing beside a girl with bright blue eyes... then there was blood... so much blood.
She cried out in anguish.
The third was Rhys.
He stared at her as though he was searching for the monster everyone insisted she was. His fingers brushed against her face in a way that felt too intimate... too intense.
She tried to shy away from him, to ignore the array of sensations rushing through her body but she could not.
"I still don’t know if you’re innocent," he admitted quietly. "I still don’t know if you’re just so good at pretending... but I’ll unravel you, and whatever I find, I’ll make sure the entire public sees it."
Then his bite came without warning.
The world shattered. Something inside her soul cracked open. Invisible threads erupted from each of the three marks, wrapping around her heart until every heartbeat echoed with theirs.
She could feel them.
Their fury. Their grief. Their hatred. And most of all... their loneliness.
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks. But they were not hers. They were theirs.
Then Keiran approached.
Kieran was the youngest and sometimes, he felt like the cruelest. Or perhaps he simply was the one who had never learned how to grieve, and for the first time since this nightmare began, he looked almost afraid.
His thumb brushed away a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed and with a voice so quiet, she barely heard him, he whispered; "I’ll make sure you spend the rest of eternity regretting this."
And with that, his fangs pierced her skin.
The fourth mark ignited. Every flame around the ceremonial grounds extinguished and almost instantly, darkness swallowed her world.
And then—
The earth trembled beneath every foot in attendance.
Golden light burst from Nyx’ara’s body like the dawn itself, forcing every wolf present to bow under an unbearable pressure.
The four marks burned in perfect unison before thin streams of light connected them, weaving across her skin into an intricate celestial crest no one had seen in a very long time.
Draven stood to the side, watching her with keen interest. The reaction her body gave meant she was their mate, no doubt. However, what he couldn’t understand was how he couldn’t see her memories the way he was sure she could see theirs.
He stepped forward but soon stilled when someone in the crowd screamed; "Congratulations!"
—
The wedding reception was nothing like what Nyx’ara imagined. Or maybe it was... plus just a little extra.
The hall was incredible, buzzing with people dressed so glamorously, you’d think they belonged on the back of a magazine cover not right in front of her. Everyone was dressed to impress— clad in dazzling jewelry, suits that could buy an estate, and dresses that gleamed under the chandeliers.
The air was thick with an unshakable tension, filled with the choking scent of perfumes, auras, egos, and secrets so dirty, a swamp would be considered sparkling clean.
Nyx’ara felt tiny in the middle of it all. There were no familiar faces. No friends and family— not even Berlin. Just a sea of stinking rich people who stared at her like she was an animal on display.
She kept her back straight anyway and kept the fingers wrapped around Kieran’s and Azriel’s arms tightly secured. Occasionally, she would smile a few times at the guests but said nothing generally, mostly due to her stutter.
But just when she had begun to believe that she could waltz her way through this effortlessly, a stunning raven-haired young woman walked up to them, smiled brazenly at the Alphas, then flicked her eyes just once at Nyx’ara. That glance in itself said more than what any words could say.
And she didn’t need to be told before acknowledging that this person doesn’t like her... but really, who does?
Nyx’ara pretended not to see.
"You must be the bride...?" The dazzling young girl asked as though she was blind to see the dress wrapped around Nyx’ara’s body, then without waiting to be answered, continued; "...anyway, my name is Elodie, the Alphas’ very very far distant cousin and their ex-fiancée."
As soon as Nyx’ara heard that, her world tilted. Her heart stopped and her mouth suddenly went dry. Her eyes— heavy and betrayed— lifted slowly to meet theirs, but she could not understand why she felt this way.
Maybe it was the marking. It had to be it.
"Ex-fiancée?" She asked coldly, but before anyone could respond, a sudden chaos happening by the door disrupted her and everyone turned to look just in time for a tall handsome man to walk into the hall.
He was everything a Greek god was from his pointed nose and sandy blonde hair to his shiny golden eyes and sharp jawline. His chest was one of the broadest she’s ever seen— but it didn’t hold a candle to the Alphas’ own.
As he moved, his body glided with grace and then he came over, greeted the Alphas briefly, plucked her hand and brought it to his lips and then he mumbled;
"My Luna..."
She stilled.