Rising from the Ashes
Chapter 25

Elenora had once again thrown herself into the hard work Cadence offered almost eagerly. The first time had been to avoid her thoughts on the bond. This time is to avoid her thoughts of herself and who she really is. Of course nothing ever goes as she wishes it might.

Nakoa had come to visit her at work. She had been grateful for the break in a way. Cadence had left shortly after screaming her head off about Elenora dropping a very rare ingredient. The glass vile had shattered and then dissolved. She would not tell Elenora what it was, only that it was rare and practically priceless.

"I have news." He started with. He kept his distance and that is the thing that struck her as odd the most. The distance between them.

"Bad I take it."

"Not to me." He sits down looking almost defeated and that is when she knew what the news was. There is one person that means the world to Nakoa. It is the one person Elenora finds herself hating. It is also the one person Elenora has been trying to forget this week. She had also done everything to avoid such joking around with Mia who has not let the topic go. What had started as a joke had left them both wondering. Mia had taken to research and one night this week she had stayed up quite late to talk to Elenora.

The conversation was quite unwanted. Did you know the King had a daughter? Another that is? Did you know she was kidnapped not long before you were born? Mia is full of questions and theories and things she wants to share with Elenora who had always been one for honesty yet she craves for Mia to tell her a lie. She wishes Mia would tell her that they do not look alike and no it is impossible and these things are just coincidence at best. "The King is coming." Elenora sighs, defeated almost.

"I can tell him not to." Elenora wants to beg him to do exactly that. Turn that man -that beast away. She has no desire to see him for multiple different reasons. The main reason is because in facing him she might have to face a truth she does not want to see. If he is who she suspects he is, her wolf would recognize him instantly. Her wolf would know.

"He means something to you." Elenora whispers in the darkness of the white room. She sees him nod, hears him swallow. "Then I will face him." She turns away from him to focus on her work. For a moment it is silent except the scraping of her pen across the sheet of paper. Notes. She must have an entire book of them by now. Cadence has guided her some. She has marked down the brews that she found an improvement for and told her that improvement so she could write that down. Today she had given Elenora a recipe for muscle pain. She wants Elenora to study the original before trying to make a better version of it. That is what she will be doing the next week.

Elenora did not complain and she did not question Cadence when she told her to do this. Even if it is something so small as a pain reliever. At least she will be doing something more.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Nakoa breaks the silence just as Elenora starts to pack up.

Elenora looks to face him and his sad dark eyes. She imagines it is quite hard to realize his mate will never truly get along with somebody that has become almost a second father to him. Guilt swarms through her heart for a moment. She wishes she could pretend to like the king though she suspects no matter what she does, he will not believe it. "He has forgotten his duty." Elenora tells him before sighing and sitting back down. She does not look at him as she tries to collect her thoughts on the matter. Maybe she does not hate the man. Maybe she couldn't possibly understand his position or what runs through his mind on the daily. Anthony would tell her to look past her anger and see that he has been great, he has done so much for the werewolf Kingdom.

Except the problem with looking past her anger is all that will be left is the pain from his actions. The disappointment. The fear. Elenora would much rather stick to her anger "The king has shown a never ending supply of compassion to the people of packs. He has been understanding and he has been just but he has also looked past the fact that rogues are his people too. He doesn't get to decide who to rule over, who to like. I cannot help but wonder where his kindness went when it came to rogues? Where was he while the people of packs were hunting us down for a game? Where was he when rogues were getting hunted and raped in caves? Where was he when we were getting slaughtered-?"

Nakao tries to say something -to answer but Elenora speaks up first. Provides him with the answer she knows to be true "That is right. The King who abandoned a forth of his people was making speeches on how to fix the rogue problem. He was passing laws to make it easier to wipe out all rogues. He was not trying to figure out what he might do to help the rogues. He was not thinking about those who became rogues because they ran from an abusive home or they were raped by-" She stops when Nakoa pulls her into his arms and for a moment all she does is stare over his shoulder before relaxing. Maybe she does still hate the man a little bit. Mostly she is bitter. Mostly she is terrified.

"Were you ever...?" Nakoa does not finish

"I was never raped Nakoa." Elenora had not realized how tense he had gotten at the thought of Vermont taking that from her as well before he relaxed and held her closer "Vermont never fancied little girls. He was waiting for me to get older and Vermont was never the type of man to like sharing." This does not seem to reassure him.

"When I find that slimy bastard I will kill him myself." He growls in her ear. Elenora does not tell him that she wants that justice to come from her own hands, not his. It is her that deserves it the most and Vermont cannot -will not hide forever. He will come out and she will kill him with her bare hands. She will make it slow and painful and she will make him beg the way he had made her beg. They pull away from each other and Elenora offers him a kiss to the cheek. He is a very welcome distraction from who she might be.

"Are you coming home with me?" Elenora cannot keep away the want from her voice. It is easier to sleep with him there. His arms wrapped around her waist, his lips kissing her shoulder. She craves him in ways she had never thought possible for her.

His kiss is her answer and so they leave the tiny shop together. Fergus is still upstairs, crouched over his desk. He has been more than busy as of late "You kids be good and please no pups running around until after the mating ceremony." Fergus utters without looking up. She can practically see the smirk he must have and her face flames up.

"Fergus!" Elenora snaps but the elder merely chuckles and focuses back on his work.

"There are other things we can do." Nakoa reminds and to her great embarrassment her face only grows hotter at the look in his eyes. Nakoa chuckles and pulls her close for another kiss, this one hard and needy in a way.

It was the noise that woke her. Elenora hears somebody in the kitchen moving about. Mia probably. Charlotte sleeps through the nights but Mia always seems to need to get up whether it from a nightmare or for a snack. Elenora slowly moves Nakoa's arm from her waist, her face going red at the thought of what he had done a few hours ago. Up until now they had done the bare minimum at most but tonight he had showed her what it is like to soar. He had made her want, gasp, and scream her pleasure and she just about had a heart attack when he looked like he wanted to go down on her again. She had been exhausted. The crash has her moving quicker and she pauses at the door, grabbing her knife. Anthony's knife. "Elenora?" Nakoa mutters, sitting up slightly.

"It is just Mia." His eyes find the knife she clenches and he goes to stand. Elenora shakes her head slowly. He needs to get up early and really she is just paranoid. The warriors are standing guard outside of the cabin. She hears their soft breathing, slow and steady. "I just like to be sure. I won't be able to go back to bed if I am not certain it is Mia." He looks like he wants to come with but Elenora waves her hand, a burst of fire leaving her fingertips. It reassures him that even if there is a threat, she can handle it. He believes her and lies back down slowly. Something tells her that he will not go back to bed until she is there with him, safe and in his arms. He will be prepared to jump out of that bed and find her if she takes too long so with a silent promise to herself to hurry, she opens the door.

Elenora sighs her relief when she sees Mia digging in the fridge. "Could you be any louder?" Elenora teases though she is partly serious. Mia usually knows how to go unheard, it is vital when you are a rogue. To be unheard, unseen.

"Needed a snack." She offers and turns around with a smile.

Something is not right. Something is so terribly wrong Elenora finds her heart speeding up just as fast as it had slowed when it caught the blonde curls. She does not feel like Mia. Her aura doesn't even look like Mia's. Her smile is too wide, to reassuring. Maybe she is being paranoid or maybe she isn't. "Is the knife really necessary?" The Mia lookalike ask and Elenora starts to feel real sick. Her ears strain to Charlotte's room. She doesn't hear anything in it. Not even breathing.

"Not really." Elenora smiles, staring into the lifeless jade eyes that are not her friends. What is it? Magic? Who is this person before her? "Habits of a rogue." Elenora shrugs as if to say you should know this.

The Mia lookalike waves the kitchen knife in her hand about "Think the habits will ever leave us?"

"No." Elenora mutters "Do try to be quieter Mia. I would like to get some sleep." With that she swings around and heads towards the hallway. She wants to turn around and stab her knife into the Mia lookalike but first, first comes Charlotte." Elenora swings the door open and with it all the noises hit her. The screams for help. The crashing as Charlotte fights a Nakoa lookalike. She tries to stab him except he laughs and suddenly they are gone before her eyes. Charlotte is gone before her eyes and then Nakoa, real Nakao is standing at her side as she stares at the spot Charlotte was just standing in, fighting. "She was here." Elenora whispers and the lack of noise behind her tells her the other one is gone as well. The warriors steps sound like thunder as the three show up behind them.

They look at the mess that is Charlotte's room The broken lamp. The knocked over dresses. The knife with black blood on it. There is more blood, her daughters blood staining the brand new white carpets. "She was just here. Where did she go?" And though Elenora knows that thing took her daughter away somewhere -somehow, she searches the room. Everywhere. Under the bed. In the closet. Behind the turned over dressers. Nakoa tries to grab her but she is already outside of the room and searching the cabin, then the forest around her house but there isn't so much as a scent of her daughter. Mia's scent is gone as well. Mia was never here. Only an imposter. Then, Elenora stops at the edge of the forest and she screams, loud and uncontained and fire burst from her veins, her fingertips, her throat. She breathes it. It spreads wide, burning everything near to ash. The trees. The flowers. The warriors until they jump in the river.

Charlotte is gone.

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