---- Chapter 17 Elara POV: The portal closed behind me, and the chaotic noise of the outside world faded into a profound, peaceful silence. | took a deep, shuddering breath, and the air that filled my lungs was different. It was pure, sweet, and thrummed with a gentle power that felt like a balm to my wounded soul. "You're home, my sweet girl." | looked up and saw my mother, Luna Seraphina, standing a few feet away. Her silver hair was woven with moonpetal flowers, and her eyes, the same deep violet as my own, were filled with a mixture of pain and relief. | didn't say a word. | just ran to her, collapsing into her arms as a sob | hadn't realized | was holding back finally broke free. Her arms wrapped around me, strong and safe, and for the first time in months, | felt like | could breathe. "It's alright," she murmured, stroking my hair. "You're safe now. We're all here." She held me until my trembling subsided, her familiar scent of night-blooming jasmine and maternal love chasing away the last lingering traces of Damien's smoky pine and betrayal. ---- She gently pulled back, her hands cupping my face. "You look pale," she said, her thumb brushing away a tear. "But your wolf... I've never felt her so strong." It was true. The White Wolf within me, so long suppressed by the moonstone, was awake. It wasn't roaring or angry; it was a calm, steady presence, a core of ancient power that the Rejection, for all its agony, had not been able to break. It had been refined by the pain. "Come," my mother said, leading me towards a magnificent carriage that seemed to be carved from solidified moonlight. It was drawn by two large, silent creatures with coats of pure white and antlers that glowed with a soft, silver light. Moon- beasts. The guardians of our sacred island. As the carriage began to move, gliding silently through forests of silver-barked trees and fields of glowing flowers, my mother spoke again. "That boy, Damien. He is in the past now. The Silver Moon Pack is your shield, and the child you carry..." She placed a gentle hand on my belly. "This child is our future. You were born to be a queen, Elara, not to suffer for the foolishness of a lesser Alpha." | looked out at the ethereal landscape of the Moon Goddess Island, our pack's most sacred sanctuary. It was a world away from the harsh, modern architecture of the Bloodstone Pack. Here, everything was ancient, beautiful, and alive with the magic of our ancestors. | had hidden this part of myself for so long, tried to shrink ---- myself down to fit into Damien's world, afraid my heritage would intimidate him. | had made myself small for a man who. was never worthy of my truth. A quiet resolve settled in my heart. No more. | would not be the rejected, heartbroken Omega. | was Elara Silvermoon, daughter of the Alpha and Luna, princess of the Silver Moon Pack. And it was time | started acting like it.