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Chapter 145 His Light
Chapter 145 His Light
ROWAN
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I grew up in a house where nothing was ever missing. At least, not the things most people thought mattered.
Money, influence, legacy… all of it was woven into the halls and chandeliers.
People assumed I was lucky and that I’d been given everything. And maybe they were right. But it was never the kind of “everything” I actually wanted.
Because no matter how much gold filled the rooms, no matter how many people bowed their heads in respect when I passed, something was always…. empty.
I walked through the hallway that morning, my hand brushing against the cold banister as I passed the old portraits. And then I saw them again–those photographs of my older brother, Elijah.
He was smiling in all of them. He was the best older brother I could have asked for. The kind of person who made the weight of the crown seem lighter, just by standing next to you.
The best son, too. The perfect heir to the South. Everyone knew it. Poised to take the throne as the next Royal Alpha, the one destined to uphold centuries of tradition.
He met his mate from the North at Elite–Honey Callahan. My parents weren’t thrilled. The South and North had always been careful with alliances, and pairing with her meant merging two royal bloodlines. But there were politics to consider, and the North was backing the match with all its power. My parents could only grit their teeth and accept it.
I remember Elijah telling me about her–how she made him laugh when he thought he’d forgotten how, how she could challenge him without ever disrespecting him. He pushed through every obstacle to keep her, and they made it work despite the tension.
They were happy. At least, they looked that way.
Then they went to Elite together, and only one of them came back.,
Honey was alive. Elijah… wasn’t.
No one gave me the full truth. Just whispers behind closed doors, and the sound of my mother’s muffled. crying when she thought I was asleep. The South lost its future that day. My parents lost their son. And me… I lost the one person who made this house feel like a home.
After that, everything changed. The dreams my parents had for him were suddenly pushed onto me.
Graduate from Elite. Become the Royal Alpha of the South. Carry the weight he’d been prepared for.
But I wasn’t Elijah.
I finally arrived at the breakfast table.
“Make sure to study well to get into Elite,” Karl Wrenmoor, my father, said without looking up from his plate.
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Chapter 145 His Light
“I still have three years,” I replied, trying to keep my voice even.
“Better to start preparing now.”
I didn’t argue. I just nodded, even though the tension in the room made it hard to breathe.
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My mother, Mila, sat at the far end of the long table, her eyes fixed on the rim of her teacup. She didn’t say a word. The silence was enough to tell me this was less of a conversation and more of an order.
When the plates were cleared, I left. I’d learned long ago that staying too long in that room meant drowning in expectations.
It had only been recently that I’d started feeling again. The grief had been a heavy, numbing thing for years. It dulled everything and made the days blend together.
However, someone came to change those days.
Ellana Claude.
She wasn’t from royalty. She was just… Ellana. A friend of Zaria, the future Beta, and somehow, despite all the walls I’d built, she got close enough to see the parts of me I didn’t show anyone.
When I was at my lowest, she was there.
We’d been dating for a year now. She had this way of grounding me. Sometimes, when I caught her laughing, I’d think–yeah, maybe love could be real after all. Maybe I could have something good without it being taken away.
We weren’t eighteen yet, but I already found myself imagining what it would be like when we turned. When the bond would either confirm what we had… or not. I didn’t like to think about the “or not.”
I wanted her to be my mate. I wanted it more than I’d wanted anything in a long time.
***
The cafeteria was already buzzing with noise by the time I stepped in. The scent of a dozen different wolves–all mixed together hit my senses. My eyes automatically scanned the crowd. It wasn’t hard to find her–Ellana’s bright hair practically caught the light and demanded my attention no matter where she was.
I walked toward her, but then I bumped into someone.
Something soft and small collided with me, barely reaching my chest. I stepped back instinctively, glancing down, and the first thing I noticed was her skin–warm, a deep fawn tone that looked like it had been kissed by the sun. Her hair was a cloud of dark curls framing her face, and her eyes–light, startling against the richness of her skin–lifted to mine.
She froze. I did too, just for a second.
There was something about her.. something that tugged at a thread in the back of my mind. She looked. like…
A bunny. Yeah, that’s the word that popped into my head. Soft. Small. Fragile in a way I wasn’t used to seeing in wolves.
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Chapter 145 His Light
I tilted my head at her, searching my memory. Why did she seem so familiar?
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Before I could piece it together, I heard Ellana’s laugh. With that, I shook my head, pushing the moment- aside, and continued toward Ellana’s table.
She was sitting with Zaria as usual. Ellana’s smile softened the moment she saw me, and I felt that familiar warmth spread through my chest.
Leaning down, I brushed a kiss against her cheek.
Zaria turned to me. “Did my sister tell you something?”
My brows furrowed. “Sister?”
She tilted her head, as if it should’ve been obvious.
And then it clicked. The small girl with the curls. The one who’d bumped into me. I’d seen her before- years ago, when we were both younger. Zaria had a little sister. What was her name again? Tess? Tessa? Something like that.
I’d honestly forgotten she even existed. She wasn’t exactly in the spotlight the way Zaria was.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Good,” Zaria replied almost immediately. “Don’t mind her. She’s not right in the brain.”
That made me pause. My brows lifted slightly, but I didn’t comment.
Whatever Zaria meant by that, it wasn’t my business.
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