The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

*Vera, are you up?* I hear in my head.

*Yup.*

*

*Good! Could you come up here real quick?*

*I'll be right there.*

Just as I had predicted. I didn't get any sleep last night. I simply stared at the ceiling until the sun rose at 5:30 A.M.

It took me some time to calm down after that vision. Thinking of Ellie Goldmoon and that sorry excuse of a man just made me so angry; at one point, I even felt my wolf come up to the surface, ready to fight whomever the heck he was. I had to try and think of anything else to keep my temper down,

It makes me so wildly angry that she had to go through that; it makes me even angrier that I couldn't do anything about it. If this is the Ellie Goldmoon I'm thinking of, and there is no other one to my knowledge, this is Noah's mother. She seemed so sweet, so fragile and charming. The idea of this man hurting her like that, repeatedly, is once again making my blood boil.

I get up quickly before my temper rises again, quickly splashing water on my face to help me calm down.

I put on some pants and a t-shirt, which is designated to be my travel outfit for the day and head out to Sofia's room. Once there, I knock on the door gently, careful not to wake the twins if they're asleep. *Come in,* I hear.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Slowly creaking the door open as to not make any noise, I step inside. Looking over to the side

of the room where the nursery is, the twins are in fact still sleeping soundly in their cribs.

"I didn't want to wake them," Sofia says, popping her head from her walk in closet.

I go to her, curious as to what she's doing.

This place is a mess. She's tossed almost every dress she owns into a pile in the middle of the closet.

"What are you doing?" I frown.

"You know the Goldmoons go all out, I have to dress to impress."

I raise an eyebrow.

"And this has nothing to do with a handsome yet toxic man by the name of Elliot?"

"No," she rolls her eyes, "of course not."

"Aha," I say, not believing her one bit.

Many years ago, when Sofia and I were teenagers, we visited the Goldmoons on official business with her father, who was then the Alpha of this clan. She developed a major crush on Elliot, the Goldmoons oldest son, and she swore he was her mate. Of course, by then she didn't have her wolf so there was no way to know if Elliot really was her mate, nonetheless she was obsessed with him and they dated for a few years.

Of course, the two clans were elated. They thought Sofia and Elliot would marry and the two packs could merge into one massive, powerful clan. It was a dream come true. That is until Sofia's wolf came and laid eyes on Alex. It was all down-hill from there. It's one of the reasons why Sofia's parents never truly accepted Alex as her mate; they had other plans.

"Okay, maybe. But is that weird? Like I'm married and I have two wonderful kids with the love of my life! But I just... I just *need* to make his jaw like... drop when he sees me, like, this is what you missed."

"Sof, *you* rejected "him, remember?"

"Yeah, and he was apparently so heart-broken he never took in a mate."

"You're kidding..."

"I'm sure not," she says, trying on dresses in front of her tall mirror, "what about this one?"

"That's the dress you wore to your Alpha ceremony, it's a little much," I say.

"Ugh, you're right," she tosses the dress to a side, bending down and digging through the pile of dresses in the middle of the room in case she missed one.

In the rack of dresses, one catches my eye.

I pull out a beautiful, satin black dress with thin straps and a v-neck. Simple, elegant, and incredibly flattering.

"Try this one on," I say.

She turns to me, contemplating the dress.

"You know what? I like it. I'm also still lactating so I gotta put these to work," she says, motioning to her breasts.

I chuckle.

I really did miss her.

"Did you know I never even actually rejected him? My dad had to call his dad to tell him that their little plan was off because I had found a mate. To this day. I can't forgive myself for being so rude, the man at least deserved a phone call." "I'm sure he understood. Sof. Especially considering that you found your mate. He had not chance."

"Yeah, but still. Despite the fact that I found Alex later on, I still feel like the connection I had with Elliot was real, at the time. Then, of course, nothing trumps what a mate makes you feel."

I smile, suddenly feeling sad as my mind wanders to Noah. After that vision I had last night, I feel the overwhelming need to be close to him.

Caught up in my own thoughts, I hadn't noticed Sofia coming closer to me, her gaze on my neck.

"I was going to offer to cut your hair before we go, it's grown rather long, but maybe we can do it after we return," she says.

I frown at her.

She takes me in front of a mirror and place my hair back, revealing Noah's mark on my neck. She also bears her mark in front of the mirror.

"A wolf's mark and a lycan's mark are quite different. I wouldn't want curious eyes noting just how different yours is and why. The Goldmoons hate lycans with passion."

I nod and she lets go of my hair. Because it's longer than I would normally wear it, it covers a great portion of my mark, which goes down into part of my shoulder and back.

"Oh, also, you're coming to that dinner with me, I packed a dress for you," she says, taking the black dress to her bed where she's packing her bags.

"We're only going to be there for a few days at most, is all of this necessary?" I ask, sitting on the bed beside her bags.

"Obviously," she says, then she pauses. "I know I don't have to tell you this, but you have to be very careful, V."

I nod, understanding why she's saying that. If my connection to lycans were to be discovered, it would be a huge problem. Not only for me, but for Sofia and the entire pack as well.

"I'll finish packing." I say, standing up. "I'll see you in a bit for breakfast."

"Sure."

She smiles at me and continues packing as I exit her room.

I make my way back my room, but really there isn't anything for me to pack. Instead, I take a quick shower, noting that the clock reads 6:00 A.M. When I'm done, I settle for organizing my duffel bag again, just to make sure I'm not missing anything. When I lift it off the floor where it had been placed yesterday, I hear a small 'clack' as something hits the wooden floor.

It's the small wooden box Elden gave me before leaving the Castle.

I pick it up, hearing something clonking around inside.

When I open it, I frown, baffled by the object.

How odd. Why would Elden give me this?