June 15 2026, 11:01am
Elara sat cross-legged with her head thrown back as she listened to the sweet melodic sound of the soft music playing in the background.
Folded on her thighs was a book, a book she had tried so hard for the past hour to read but failed due to her lack of concentration. A moan slipped past her lips when the maiden massaging her shoulders pressed on a spot that had been sore for months and left unattended for weeks.
She hummed. "Hmmm... just there!" She cried, her eyes rolling to the back of her skull while Maria could only roll her eyes and do as told.
At her obvious agreement, Maria pressed harder, her face twisted with the focus of a woman who desperately needed to satisfy her superior— moreover, the said superior was someone who was to be wedded to their Alpha in a few days.
Meaning, she would be Luna pretty soon.
Elara, on the other hand, was oblivious to this girl’s thoughts. She was simply enjoying the peace and quiet that came with not having to worry about Nyx’ara anymore.
Now speaking of the devil, a smile touched her face at the realization that Nyx’ara may be dead by now or better still, destroyed until nothing worthwhile was left of her. In fact, that had been the sole purpose she had framed her for Princess Leilani Jr’s death in the first place.
That and the fact that she could not allow her secret to be let out in the open.
She was still busy smiling... still lost in her bubble of joy when suddenly, her music cut, and in annoyance, she sat up, peeled her eyes open, and glared angrily when she found Tristan standing close to the speaker with his bulky arms crossed over his chest.
Oh, Tristan.
It was funny how much she hated this boy. It was strange how badly she could not stand his presence, yet she had him wrapped around her tiny finger like a puppet and fucked him more times in a week than she brushed her teeth.
At the sight of him, her face slowly fell. The frown she had on her lips loosened and in its place was a smile so dazzling, it made Tristan’s heart jump in his chest. She went from bossy to innocent in a split second, her eyes widening with that innocent perfection that always seemed to make men swoon.
With a wave of her hand, she turned to the maiden, the one massaging her, and whispered softly; "Please leave, Harmony," she said, "...thank you for taking it upon yourself to massage my stiff muscles."
In truth, the girl’s name was not Harmony. It was Maria and Elara doesn’t even know it. Also, the girl had not ’willingly’ decided to massage Elara but had been bullied into doing it by Elara and her friends.
The girl, whose eyebrows immediately shot into her hairline, turned and fled the balcony like the devil was hot on her tail, and then Elara turned to Tristan, her lips twisting into a cute pout as she cried;
"I have missed you so much, brother!"
At the mention of the word: ’Brother,’ Tristan’s face contorted into a look of disgust.
He swatted away her perfectly manicured fingers trailing a hot line down his chest. If there was something he hated more than seeing Elara hurt, then it was hearing her calling him ’brother’ or ’step-brother,’ knowing fully well that they spent most of their nights tangled in each other’s sheets.
The thought made him frown but pushing it away, he pulled out a chair, pushed it until it was barely inches away from Elara, and sat on it. He then pulled Elara in for a quick kiss, but even after letting go and pulling away, he still let his fingers flex teasingly behind her head.
He drawled; "Your wedding is next week."
His tone was flat. Devoid of any emotion and stung in a way that Elara didn’t like.
She turned to him with raised eyebrows, her cheeks flushed in the perfect way a shy girl’s cheeks would, and muttered; "Yes."
"But you told me you would never marry him. You told me he was only going to stay in your life for a short time. You said you only needed him to feel safe. To feel powerful in this pack..."
"But I still don’t feel safe!" She argued, interrupting him, "...and I certainly do not have the power I want yet!"
At her outburst, Tristan’s chest clenched tightly. He frowned in utter sorrow.
"How?" He asked confusedly, his voice small, "Nyx’ara is gone! We made sure of it! I wanted her gone for you to feel safe, and that was the reason I helped you lie against her even though she is my actual sister! So tell me, what else do you want?"
"I need to be sure that she will never come back to haunt us. I need to be powerful enough to protect us for as long as I can."
This time, Tristan lowered his head. His eyes burned with tears and his chest hurt with both betrayal and exhaustion. A flicker of guilt crossed his face before it quickly wore off. He drawled;
"So what do you want me to do now?"
"Nothing!" Elara’s voice was soft and delicate, and so were the fingers she now dug into Tristan’s skin. Her eyes lifted slowly to meet his eyes with wide child-like innocence.
She said; "All you need to do is remain by my side. All you need to do is continue to love me. I will marry Flynn and I will become Luna, and after I have successfully borne him a son, securing my position as Luna, I’ll ensure that he gets into some little ’accident’"
Tristan’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull at the mention of the word: ’accident’.
He knew that it was wrong just like what they had done to Nyx’ara. But at this point, he was desperate and anything would do.
A small smile touched the corners of his lips and he mumbled;
"Okay."
Somewhere in the distance, hiding behind one of the large pillars keeping the house together, Celine, Elara’s mother, stood with her chest pressed into the cold wall of bricks, listening to all of this conversation.
Her lips slowly parted in shock but that shock soon wore off when motherly instinct kicked in.
A moment passed with her absorbing all that she wanted to, and after deciding that she had heard enough, she waltzed away from her spot like someone who hadn’t just heard about one of the greatest conspiracies there is.
If anything, she was proud of her daughter for getting rid of the stinking stubborn bitch who would have made life unbearable for them
And she was glad that her daughter was just as brutal as she was when it came to taking out their opponents.