Chapter Four:

The first sensation was the grit of the pavement against my cheek. Then, the cacophony. A chorus of harsh voices, laced with disgust and something akin to morbid entertainment, washed over me. My head throbbed, a dull ache behind my eyes mirroring the dull ache in my soul. I pushed myself up, wincing as my palms scraped against the rough asphalt, and blinked, trying to make sense of the blurry scene.

"Look at her, the poor thing,” a woman’s voice, sharp as shattered glass, cut through the clamor. “She's got a belly like that, you'd think she'd have more sense than to wander around like a lost pup."

"Pregnant omegas," a man grumbled, his words thick with prejudice, “they're a menace. Always causing trouble."

Trouble? I blinked again, trying to piece together the fragmented memories. A car, headlights blinding, a screech of tires, the sickening lurch of my stomach, the taste of bile rising in my throat. I'd almost been hit. My fingers instinctively went to my stomach, tracing the gentle curve that was growing more prominent with each passing day.

A cruel chuckle rippled through the crowd. “Maybe she’s a rogue, who knows who got her pregnant. Probably doesn’t even know herself.”

The words were like tiny barbs, sinking into my already wounded heart, and each one echoed a fear I had never dared voice. I wasn’t a rogue, I was mated, I was someone. Or, at least, I thought I was.

A wave of nausea washed over me, a combination of the jarring memories and the acrid scent of exhaust fumes clinging to the air. I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the dizzying sway in my vision, and walked away from them as quickly as I could, each step a painful reminder of how lost and alone I felt. My mind flashed back to the image of my husband, his body entwined with hers, a grotesque replay that tore at my insides.

Earlier today, I had been so happy. So hopeful. The ultrasound appointment had confirmed it - twin heirs. A boy of little boys to fill the empty spaces of our too-large, too-cold house. I had envisioned Damon’s face when I told him, the flicker of joy I was so desperate to see in his eyes. Instead, I had seen… disgust. Betrayal. And now, here I was, adrift in the shadows, the promise of a happy family a cruel joke played on my heart.

The road I stumbled along gave way to a narrow alleyway, the stench of stale garbage and something metallic clinging to the air. It was dark, the only light a sliver of moon peeking between the towering buildings. I should probably go back home, but the thought sent a ripple of revulsion through me. Home. That word felt like a cruel mockery of everything I had ever longed for.

A growl, low and guttural, broke through the silence. Another, a snarl of challenge. Fear, sharp and cold, pierced my earlier despair. My hand went to my throat, touching the small, barely there scar where my power used to pulse. I hadn't let it out in so long, not since they said it was too "dangerous", not since I willingly gave it up for him.

I peered into the gloom and saw them, three shadows circling an alpha who lay crumpled on the ground. Rogues. They moved like predators, their eyes glinting in the dim light, and the alpha on the ground… He was in terrible shape. This wasn't going to be a quick mugging. They wanted to kill him.

The world seemed to narrow, my heightened omega senses overwhelmed with the pungent scent of blood and the raw stench of malice. My heart hammered against my ribs, each beat a frantic drum against the silence of the alley. A low, guttural sound escaped me, a sound I had not heard in years, a purr of untapped power, ancient and wild, echoing in the darkness.

Without thought, without hesitation, I moved. It was like watching myself from afar, a ghost controlling my limbs. The long dormant power within me stirred like a restless beast, clawing its way to the surface, hungry and raw. My vision pulsed, the darkness around me becoming a tapestry of swirling colors, energy coursing through my body, through my veins.

A hand, no longer soft and compliant but hard and sharp, shot out, a surge of uncontrolled energy blasting the rogue closest to me into the wall. He didn't even see it coming. The other rogues paused in their attack, their eyes widened in shock and a strange form of recognition that I did not understand.

The alpha on the ground shifted, his eyes locking with mine, a flicker of surprise, of something else - something akin to gratitude, perhaps, before they slid shut again. The other rogues turned their attention towards me, baring their teeth and growling, but now their prey was forgotten.

They were mine now.

I reached deep into the well of power that I thought had been extinguished, my lips pulling back in a silent snarl as my own fangs finally resurfaced. The alley was no longer dark, but now filled with the raw, pulsing energy that was me.

I was no longer just Elara, the meek omega.

I was something else.

And the rogues had no idea what they were in for.