Chapter 5 - The Secret Elena Buried

The crimson eyes vanished.

Dark clouds swallowed the northern mountain once more, leaving only silence behind. No one moved.

Jason stood rooted to the ground.

His pulse hammered against his ribs.

The command still echoed inside his mind.

Bring him to me.

The voice had sounded stronger than before. Closer.

As though whatever slept beneath the mountain was becoming impatient.

The lead Council Enforcer recovered first.

His hand immediately dropped to the hilt of the curved blade hanging at his waist.

The movement was subtle, Instinctive.

Like a warrior reacting to danger.Jason noticed it.So did his mother.Elena stepped forward.

Only half a step.

Yet the three enforcers instantly became alert.

The reaction surprised Jason.

These were elite warriors feared throughout the region.

Yet they seemed far more concerned about his mother than they were about him.

The realization settled heavily in his chest.

How much didn't he know about the woman who raised him?

The lead enforcer's eyes narrowed."You heard it too."It wasn't a question.Elena gave a slow nod.

For several moments nobody spoke.

The night air felt colder.

The forest remained unnaturally quiet.

Even the wolves throughout the village had stopped howling.

The lead enforcer finally exhaled.

Then he looked directly at Jason."Change of orders."Jason frowned."What?"

"You are no longer being summoned."

A pause.

"You are being taken into protective custody."

Protective custody.

The phrase sounded harmless.Nobody believed it not Elena, not Jason,Not even the other enforcers.

Jason had spent his entire life being treated as worthless.

Now the Council suddenly wanted to protect him?

The lie was insulting.Elena folded her arms.

"You mean imprisonment."

The lead enforcer didn't deny it.His silence answered for him.Jason felt frustration rising.

For eighteen years nobody cared whether he lived or died.

Now everyone wanted something from him.

Unfortunately, nobody seemed interested in explaining what that something was.

His gaze shifted toward his mother."Enough."

The word escaped before he could stop it.

Everyone looked at him.Jason clenched his jaw.

"I'm tired of being treated like a child."

His eyes settled on Elena.Who are they?"

Silence."What is the mountain?"More silence.

"Why did that thing know my name?"

The questions hung heavily in the air.

Elena looked away first.

That hurt more than any answer could have.

For years she had protected him.

Loved him.Sacrificed everything for him.

But tonight he realized she had also been hiding things.Important things.Dangerous things.

The lead enforcer spoke quietly.

"He deserves the truth."Elena laughed bitterly.

"The truth?"Her eyes flashed.

"You people buried the truth long before he was born."The enforcers remained silent.

Jason stared between them.

Every answer seemed connected to some event that happened years before his birth.

A secret, a cover up a lie shared by powerful people.

And somehow he was standing at the center of it.

Elena looked toward the cottage.

Toward the warm light glowing through the windows.Jason followed her gaze.

For a moment she looked exhausted.

Not physically.Emotionally.

Like someone carrying a burden for too many years.

When she finally spoke, her voice was softer.

"Come inside."The lead enforcer frowned.

"We don't have time.You'll wait."

The authority in her tone surprised everyone.

Including Jason.

For several tense seconds nobody moved.

Then, unexpectedly, the lead enforcer stepped back. Five minutes."elena nodded.

She turned and walked toward the cottage.

Jason followed.

The moment the door closed behind them, the warmth of the room rushed over him.

The familiar scent of herbs filled the air.

Normally it would have comforted him.

Tonight it only made him uneasy.

Elena remained standing beside the fireplace.

The flames painted shadows across her face.

Jason waited.

Eventually she looked at him.Her eyes glistened.

Not with fear.With regret.

"I always knew this day would come."

Jason remained silent.She drew a shaky breath.

"When you were born, there were people who wanted you dead."

The words struck him like a physical blow.

His stomach tightened."What?"

"You were only a baby. Her gaze drifted toward the fire.

"Some believed your existence would bring disaster."

Jason struggled to process what he was hearing.

"Why?"

Elena closed her eyes.Because of your father.

The room fell silent.Jason barely remembered him.only fragments remained.

A deep voice. Strong arms lifting him into the air.

A laugh that made the entire cottage feel brighter.His father had died when he was very young.That was all he knew."What about him?"

Elena hesitated.

For the first time in his life, she looked afraid to answer.

"Your father wasn't who everyone believed he was."jason's pulse quickened.

Outside, wind rattled the windows.The fire crackled, Elena lowered herself into a chair.

Slowly.Carefully.

As if the memories physically hurt.

"Before the Council united the packs, there was another bloodline.Jason listened.

Every instinct told him his life was about to change."They were stronger than Alphas."

His breath caught.

"They ruled long before modern packs existed."

A pause.

"The Ravencrest Bloodline."The room seemed to tilt.Jason stared at her.Unable to speak.Unable to think,his surname , His family name.

The name he had carried his entire life.

Elena nodded.

As though confirming his realization.

"Your father was their last descendant."

The words crashed into him.

Nothing made sense anymore.Not the altar.

Not the voice.Not the mountain.Not even himself.

If his father belonged to some ancient bloodline, why had nobody ever mentioned it?

Why were they living in poverty?

Why were they treated like nobodies?

As if reading his thoughts, Elena whispered the answer.

"Because the Ravencrests were slaughtered."

Jason froze.The fire popped loudly.

Outside, thunder rolled across the distant mountains.Elena's face hardened."Every man."

"Every woman."Every child."

The hatred in her voice felt ancient.

Buried.Yet still alive.

"Someone wanted them erased from history."

Jason's blood ran cold.

His thoughts immediately jumped to the Council waiting outside.To Alpha Magnus.To the shattered altar.

To everything that had happened since sunrise.

One terrible possibility began forming inside his mind.

Before he could speak, a deafening crash exploded outside.The entire cottage shook.

Wood splintered.Glass shattered.

A scream echoed from the village.

Then another.

The lead enforcer's voice thundered from outside.

"Elena! Get him out of there!"Jason's heart stopped.

A second impact hit the ground.Much closer.

The cottage trembled violently.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

Then came a sound unlike anything Jason had ever heard A roar, Ancient, monstrous.

Filled with enough rage to make the earth itself shudder.

Elena's face turned white, For the first time that night She looked terrified, "No She whispered.

"They found him."

Another roar split the darkness.

This time it came from directly outside the cottage.

And something enormous slammed against the front door.