"You don't understand what you have done," Luca said hoarsely, ignoring him. His eyes were on Elara again, desperate now. "I didn't want this. I didn't ask for the bond either. But it's real, Elara. I feel it every night. I can't sleep. I can't breathe. That means something."
"It means you're cursed," she whispered. "Not fated." The room was dead silent.
The elders stared at Elara intently for a few minutes. Even when they have a chosen mate, they feel attracted to their fated mates until they reject them and break the bond.
They could see the struggle on Luca's face but Elara had none. She looked completely immune to it and comfortable with Callen.
"Luca.." the man hesitated. "She had already made a choice. If you think you can not let go, she can reject you so that you could choose a mate too."
Elara nodded at once, ready to do it anytime they asked.
But Luca felt like a sharp dagger had been pierced into his soul as he heard it. His head snapped to the elder with his eyes growing dangerously.
"You would die if you do that, Elara. Our bond is not so simple." he whispered and for the first time they noticed humanity in his wolf. He was known for his beastly and cruel nature. When did life matter to him?
Elara hesitated for a second as she clutched Callen's shirt.
"Then what do you choose? I will not come with you and there will be no war!" she stared at him defiantly. "If you chose to start a war, i will kill myself first so that you could never have me." Callen's head snapped to her with horror.
But her eyes told them she was not lying. Even Garron shifted at his place.
"Would you go to such lengths to be with him?" Luca's voice was dangerously low and his whole body was shivering. It looked like he wanted to kill every single person in the room and they could feel it.
Goosebumps formed on their skin. Even the elders could not meet his eyes when he was angry. That was his curse. The curse of power!
But Elara did not flinch. She met his eyes and nodded without hesitation.
"Yes! I will willingly burn myself if that can stop you from waging a war." the elders coughed when Luca took a step back as if he was wounded fatally.
"Luca, the elders had…"
"I do not need your decision anymore. I will let her go." he turned and left. Shifting into his wolf form, he ran away at the speed of lightning.
His beta and omega stood there frozen for three seconds and then growled at Elara. They ran behind their alpha.
The elders were the next to come out of their stupor.
"Cough! Since Luca had given up her stake on the matebond. The panel will accept Callen's and Elara bond. They could live together and there would be no war." Tamara ran and hugged Elara glaring at Callen.
"You did not even ask for her hand or have a proper ceremony. How could I give my daughter to you." daughter, the word melted Elara in Tamara's arms.
For a second, she was sure she had lost all of this. But she was relieved that everything was over.
Callen laughed softly, looking embarrassed.
"I will hold a ceremony of course, I will build a house for her too. She deserves every bit of happiness." Many whispers followed his words and Elara could still feel their gazes on her.
"We should leave first." Garron returned with a file in his hands. His face finally at ease after days of worry and tension.
Tamara let go of Elara and stood straighter in the presence of their alpha.
They all turned to leave. But as Elara was walking, she felt someone was following her. She did not think much at first, but then she felt callen stopping in his tracks, before she could ask him what happened, she noticed everyone stopped. Not just stopped, they were frozen.
They had stilled in strange positions as if time had stopped for them. Garron was midstep while Tamara's hand was in the air. Callen's grin was frozen.
But not only them, everyone is like that.
"You are testing your fate, Elara." someone whispered in her ears. She turned hastily as if she was burnt by those words.
She looked around but everyone was frozen. A cold breeze left her skin pricking.
"Luca wanted to save you. You must go to him before the blood spills." the words echoed in her ears again leaving her shivering.
Her eyes widened with horror when she felt a hand on her shoulders.
She flinched and jumped only to see Callen looking at him with worry.
"Are you okay?" her eyes looked frantically around to see they all were looking at her.
The elders had left the room. Only a few alphas who supported Garron had stopped and talked to him.
Even they turned to look at him as if she had lost her senses. Callen wrapped his arm around her waist.
"You seem tired. We should return." Elara looked around for something, for anything. But the room was as normal as it could be.
She did not sense any other witch in the room or any power that held her captive. Could it be her illusion? She had been on pins and needles these days.
But.. no! It was not a dream. Someone was warning her.
"Ellara!" even Tamara looked at her with worry this time. Eleara shook her head and followed them out of the council.
Their car was waiting for them already.
"Alpha.. Can we have a feast tonight?" asked Callen in a sweet tone she remembered. Her body was still cold from the experience earlier. "I want to hold a ceremony. But before that, I want her to gain recognition for the pack. They must know that she had stopped this war through her blood."