Chapter Six- Ghosts of the Packless
1030 Words
The snow fell harder the next morning.
Kaelin stood in the courtyard, her breath clouding in the freezing air as the bell tolled six times—signaling the second trial.
This one was not about strength.
It was about memory.
“Trial of the Mind,” Selene had whispered to her before leaving her alone with the Summoners. “They’ll drag your past to the surface and make you relive it.”
Kaelin scoffed. “I live with it every day.”
But she hadn’t been prepared for this.
Not for him.
---
They’d taken her to the Hollow Grove, a sacred forest deep within the king’s territory. The trees were pale as bone, their branches twisted like claws. At the grove’s center stood a ring of obsidian stones carved with ancient runes, still glowing faintly from rituals performed long ago.
The Summoner Elder stood before her, robed in gray wolf pelts. He motioned for her to kneel.
Kaelin obeyed—only because she had to.
“You seek to claim a place in this court,” the Elder said. “But your heart still holds shadows.”
“I’ve earned my scars.”
“And yet they still bleed.”
The Elder touched her forehead.
And the world vanished.
---
She awoke in the ruins of her childhood.
Her old pack house stood before her—burned, broken, forgotten. The smell of ash still lingered in the air, even though it had been years since the fire. Snow blanketed the collapsed roof. The front door creaked in the wind.
Kaelin’s wolf whimpered.
She hadn’t seen this place since they’d cast her out.
A voice behind her nearly shattered her.
“You shouldn’t have come back.”
Kaelin turned.
And froze.
Darian.
The male who had rejected her.
The one who’d sworn she was his mate—only to cast her aside the moment the bond sparked, calling her “too weak” and “not worthy of an alpha’s side.”
He looked the same—tall, sharp-jawed, eyes like molten silver. A lie in the shape of a man.
“This isn’t real,” she said quietly.
“No,” he said, stepping closer. “But the pain is.”
Her fists clenched. “I’ve moved on.”
“You buried it. That’s not the same.” He circled her like a predator. “Do you remember the day I left you bleeding in the snow? When you begged me to stay?”
“I didn’t beg,” she spat.
“Oh, Kaelin,” he whispered. “You sobbed. You were so sure we were fated. So desperate for love.”
Her hands trembled—but she didn’t look away. “I survived. You don’t haunt me anymore.”
He leaned in, voice dripping with cruelty. “Then why is your greatest fear still being unwanted?”
---
The ground cracked beneath her feet.
The pack house fell away.
She was standing in the center of the Court again—but now, hundreds of eyes stared at her in disgust. Nobles, warriors, Theron himself. They wore expressions of pity. Of contempt.
“She’s just an omega,” someone whispered. “Why pretend she matters?”
“She was claimed out of pity,” another voice said. “Theron wanted a pet, not a queen.”
Kaelin shook her head. “This isn’t real. This is the trial.”
But their voices were thunder now.
“She’s not a Luna. She’s a fraud.”
“She’s nothing.”
“She’s alone.”
Her wolf howled inside her. Not in fear—but in defiance.
Fight back, it growled.
Kaelin dropped to one knee and pressed her hand to the cold stone floor.
This isn’t truth.
It was fear, dressed in memory.
And she was done letting it rule her.
“I am not that girl anymore,” she whispered.
The illusions flickered.
“I am not a rejected mate.”
The courtroom shimmered, like glass under pressure.
“I am a warrior. And I choose myself.”
Light exploded around her—shattering the vision.
---
She gasped awake, snow on her lashes, the grove spinning around her.
The Summoner Elder stepped back in awe.
“Most weep or break under the visions,” he said. “You destroyed yours.”
Kaelin stood, her voice rough. “Was that a pass?”
“That was something else entirely.”
---
By the time she returned to the palace, word had already spread: The omega who conquered her own mind.
Servants stared.
Guards bowed.
And when she passed through the Grand Hall, nobles lowered their eyes.
But not Theron.
He stood at the top of the marble staircase, watching her like she was a riddle he could never solve.
When she reached him, she said, “If you’re going to speak in riddles, I’m not in the mood.”
“I’m not,” he said, voice unreadable. “I’m just watching history walk up my stairs.”
Kaelin snorted. “I’m walking back to my room. That’s not history.”
“It will be,” he said. “One day.”
She brushed past him, but he caught her wrist—gently. “What did you see in the grove?”
She stared at him.
And for the first time, she told the truth.
“My old mate,” she whispered. “He told me no one would ever want me.”
Theron’s expression darkened, the full force of his alpha fury burning behind his golden eyes.
“I do,” he said, voice low. “I do, Kaelin. Even when you hate me for it.”
Her heart stuttered in her chest.
She yanked her hand free. “Wanting me and owning me are not the same thing.”
He smiled, razor-sharp and quiet. “Then earn your crown, and come take me.”
---
Later that night, as she stripped out of her armor and stared at her bruised reflection in the mirror, Kaelin realized something terrifying:
She was no longer afraid of rejection.
She was afraid of wanting more.
And the worst part?
She already did.
---
- Writer
