Chapter 2 The Vessel Is Chosen

• Elara POV
• When consciousness returned, it was a brutal, jarring ascent from darkness. I was violently dropped onto a muddy, rain-soaked embankment. The air reeked of blood, wet fur, and the metallic tang of execution.
• “Ahh!” A low cry escaped my throat as my fingers fisted the dirt of the earth.
• I lay sprawled in the dirt, weak and trembling, until I gathered the strength to push myself up. My clothes were shredded, soaked with mud and the coagulating blood of my Aunt Masha and the other elders. The cold rain continued to beat down, chilling me to the bone.
• “Nina, Mia...no!” I saw the men dragging away the lifeless bodies of my two friends. The only people who treated me like I was an equal. They were brutally killed.
• Before me stood a terrifying sight. Alpha Fenris, his back still to me, overlooking the gruesome spoils of his conquest. He was even more imposing up close, a monumental figure of lethal authority. Around him, the surviving women of the Crescent Clan….the young, healthy ones…were being brutally bound with heavy ropes. Their crying and muffled pleas were swallowed by the storm.
• I could see their terror, a reflection of my own, but beneath it, a consuming, unwavering rage began to burn.
• “Everyone is here,” I saw a tall, blond-looking man approach. He bowed before speaking. "Tie them tight,” Alpha Fenris commanded, his voice a low, hard rumble that demanded obedience. “They are slaves now. Mark them and prepare them for transport.”
• As the Alpha’s wolves carried out the order, their movements were efficient and emotionless, a tall, older wolf—an elder with a high-ranking patch sewn onto his uniform—paused. He looked down at me, still lying in the mud, covered in the evidence of the massacre. His gaze was intensely scrutinizing, a strange, calculating amusement flickering in his dark eyes. He gave a sharp, decisive nod, then barked out a surprising exclamation that cut through the sounds of the rain and the cries of the captives.
• “My Alpha, this one is odd,” the same man said, getting the alpha's attention. Alpha Fenris, mid-command, instantly stilled. His posture shifted, an almost predatory alertness in the way his massive shoulders tensed. He slowly pivoted, shutting down all movement in the clearing. Every wolf, even the high-ranking elder, immediately bowed their head, their bodies trembling in submission to his sheer force of will.
• All except me.
• I lifted my head from the mud, my throat raw from silent screaming. I wasn't concerned about submission or survival anymore. My eyes, usually a soft brown, shone with an intense, unwavering hatred as I glared at the monster who had destroyed my home and slaughtered my only family.
• Alpha Fenris didn't spare me a glance, his cold silver eyes dismissive as he addressed the elder.
• “What is it, Kai?” His voice was colder, harsher than the rain itself.
• The elder, Kai, gestured toward me, then moved closer to the Alpha’s feet, bowing low.
• "My Alpha. I apologize for the interruption, but the Moon Goddess has answered us.” He remarked with amusement, I didn't understand a word he said. All I wanted was to die with everyone.
• Alpha Fenris remained silent, his expression unreadable, yet the air crackled with a dangerous impatience.
• “The girl, Alpha. This one is different,” Kai insisted, his gaze sweeping over my half-human frame. “Her bloodline… it’s compatible. She is blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. She is the female destined to carry your true heir.”
• At the mention of the heir, something deep and primal sparked in Alpha Fenris’s eyes. His wolf, despite the Alpha’s iron control, reacted instantly, a subtle, involuntary twitch in his jaw. The mate bond, dormant and bruised, flared with agonizing intensity in my chest.
• Alpha Fenris finally looked at me, a long, contemptuous stare that swept from my muddy hair down to my shaking hands. A snort of pure disgust escaped his throat, cutting the silence like a whip.
• “A pathetic, weak thing. Look at her, Kai. She failed to shift. She’s worthless without a wolf. You expect my heir to be carried by her?” he questioned, his voice cold, harsh, and utterly dismissive.
• Tears, hot and stinging, finally breached my control, streaming down my face to mix with the rain and the mud. I was doomed. All I wanted was to die on the bloody ground with my pack.
• But Kai was unshaken. He moved closer to the Alpha, his conviction absolute.
• “This time, I am not wrong, my Alpha. She is special. The Moon has decreed it. The heir will live. You must have faith in me.” He let out a maniacal, convinced chuckle.
• Alpha Fenris studied me one last time, his mouth set in a thin, brutal line. His wolf howled a protest against his conscious mind, but the Alpha rejected the urge. He saw only a weak, disgusting captive. Yet, the possibility of an heir—a true, living heir—was a temptation he couldn't ignore. He spat an order, turning back to his men.
• “Take everything. Secure the route. And the new female.” He pointed at me with a decisive, brutal gesture. “She is to be taken immediately. The new vessel to carry my heir.”
• I tried to resist, screaming a curse at the Alpha who had killed my family, shouting for help, though I knew none would come. The Silver-Moon wolves roughly grabbed my arms, dragging me away from the only place I had ever known. They were brutally efficient, and before I could struggle further, a crushing blow slammed into the back of my head, knocking me unconscious.
• The entire time, Alpha Fenris watched with narrowed, scrutinizing eyes at his conquest. The blood running down the rain-soaked earth, the cries of the enslaved women, the unconscious body of his destined vessel for his heir—it all faded into the sound of the rain intensifying. A slow, chilling smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.
• “My Alpha, it is done,” Kai remarked as he stood slightly beside the alpha. No one, not even Kai, had enough power to stand shoulder to shoulder with the alpha. He was a force to be reckoned with.
• "Then we must return,” Alpha Fenris remarked as he turned to leave. He'd breed that female. The only important thing was getting his heir as soon as possible. Any delay would bear consequences.