Chapter 175
ELENA
The dream clung to me like humidity–thick, lingering, inescapable.
I was in the grotto again. Derek’s hands were on my skin, reverent and rough in equal measure, his lips trailing down my throat as the moonlight spilled over us in silver sheets.
I could feel the weight of him, the strength of him, the way his breath hitched when I whispered his name. We were tangled in the heat of it, skin against skin, hearts drumming in a rhythm that felt older than memory.
But even in the dream, I heard myself say it again. That broken, breathless “I can’t-” just before I ran.
I jolted upright in bed, the sheets damp with sweat. My breath came in short, shallow gasps. For a moment, I thought I might still be dreaming–everything felt too vivid, too sharp. The feel of his hands, the weight of his gaze. The ache he left behind.
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I flung the covers off and padded barefoot across the cool floor. Sleep was gone. I wouldn’t be able to chase it down again. I stepped onto the balcony, wrapping my arms around myself against the bite of the early morning air.
The Moonbinding Festival had finally wound down. Below, the grounds were hushed, painted in pale lavender by the dying night. Most of the food stalls had been packed away, and the once–bustling lawns were empty save for a few lone wolves wandering the perimeter or napping near tents.
The Bondfire had burned low, little more than glowing embers now. But someone stood in front of it.
The Priestess.
She wore silver robes that shimmered in the last remnants of moonlight, and for a moment I thought she might vanish if I blinked. Her posture was statuesque, still and composed as if she belonged to another world entirely. Then, slowly, she turned her head–toward me.
Her eyes met mine across the distance. I didn’t know how I knew, but I felt it. A jolt of awareness, like a string pulling taut between us. My breath caught. The night didn’t shift. The wind didn’t stir. But something changed.
Inside me.
“She ties the thread to the soul,” Nox whispered.
I stumbled back from the railing, my pulse hammering. “What does that mean?” I whispered to my wolf, but she was quiet now, receding into the shadowed corners of my mind.
I didn’t want to go back to bed. I wouldn’t sleep. My body was still hot with leftover need, my mind restless with questions I couldn’t name.
So I went downstairs, barefoot and quiet, heading toward the kitchen like a ghost. The old mansion creaked around me–floorboards groaning, walls settling, doors sighing against their hinges. Everything felt ancient, like I was walking through memory.
I pushed the kitchen door open and blinked in surprise.
Dawn and Erin were sitting at the long butcher block table, mugs of something steaming between them. Dawn wore a robe, her newly wedded glow dimmed only slightly by exhaustion. Erin had a soft, secretive smile on her face, het ring catching the low light.
“Well, look who couldn’t sleep,” Dawn said, tilting her head at me.
Chapter 175.
“Dream?” Erin asked gently.
Inodded and moved to the counter to start the coffee, “Couldn’t stay asleep. Needed something”
I moved to the coffee making, grabbed a mug.
Dawn gave me a long look. “You look like someone who needs more than coffee.”
I didn’t answer. Just busied myself with pouring the water and trying not to look too transparent.
“I didn’t think a still be up,” I said Instead, changing the subject.
“We never went to bed,” Erin admitted with a shrug. “Too much to talk about.”
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“Weddings will do that to you,” Dawn added. “We were just debating whether to go big or keep it to close friends.”
“Big.” I said, a little too quickly. Then added, “You deserve to be celebrated.”
Dawn raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of celebrations…”
I froze, coffee mug halfway to my lips.
“You’ve got that post–sin glow, Elena, “.she teased.
Erin grinned. “You didn’t come back until way after the Moonlit Shift. And I saw your hair. All tousled and wild. Like you’d been, I don’t know… rolling around somewhere
I flushed. “You two are ridiculous.”
“Not denying it though,” Dawn said, eyes twinkling.
I hesitated. I could lie. I could deflect. But their faces were so open, so safe. And my chest still felt too tight from everything I hadn’t said.
“I slept with him,” I said softly. “Derek.”
Neither of them gasped. They just waited.
I set the mug down. “It happened in the grotto. After the ceremony. It was… it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was magic. It was the Moon Goddess. It was
“Real?” Erin offered.
I nodded, staring down at my hands. “But then I panicked. I remembered everything he did to me. Everything he said. The way he treated me in Silverclaw. I couldn’t stay. I can.”
Silence.
Then Dawn pushed her mug aside and leaned in. “Elena… that man loves you. Even when he doesn’t know how to show it. We’ve all seen the way he looks at you. But more than that–we’ve seen how he looks at Alden.”
Erin nodded. “He’s trying so hard. He’s learning how to be a father on the fly, and doing it with more grace than I’ve seen from men who had years to prepare.
I didn’t want to cry, but my throat burned. “I know. I’ve seen it, too. He’s different now. With me, with Aiden. He treats me like I’m something sacred. Like he’s afraid I’ll vanish if he touches me too hard.”
“Does he still treat you the way he did before?” Dawn asked gently.
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Chapter 175,
“No,” I said immediately. “No. He’s… reverent. Gentle. Sometimes so careful it hurts.”
Frin watched me carefully. “Then what are you afraid of?”
I swallowed. “That it’s just the physical pull. The bond. The maybe I’m only seeing what I want to see.”
“Do you still have feelings for him?” Dawn asked. “Or is it st lust?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
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The truth of it burned inside me. I didn’t know where the past ended and the present began. I didn’t know if i loved him or if I was just still tethered to the memory of who I thought he could be.
Erin stood and walked over to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “If you don’t know… then maybe you need to find out.”
“Don’t let the past rob yon of the future,” Dawn said. “Especially if the man in front of you isn’t the one who hurt you.”
But he was. He was the same man who had hurt me. But he was different now, he had changed.
And he was trying. Lcould tell he was trying.
I nodded, silent. But inside, something shifted.
Something that scared me.
Myself.
Because I was suddenly thinking: maybe he deserves another chance.
I had gotten my second chance. When I woke up in the hospital surrounded by a loving family, I got a chance to start over. And maybe. Just maybe, Derek deserved one too,
Chapter 178
