Chapter 10 - Elle
“Feet shoulder-width apart,” Rael instructed patiently. “Weight distributed evenly. Keep your knees bent a little in order to move at a high speed in any direction.
Elle was in the training yard at the back of the house, and she was watching Rael go through the defensive stance for the third time.
She tried to imitate his position but felt clumsy and out of place. Two days ago, she had requested this training, following her encounter with those girls.
She had to learn to protect herself in case she was trapped amongst people who could murder her without even lifting their eyebrows.
Although her odds of actually winning a battle against a shifter were virtually zero.
“Better,” Rael said, going round her. “Now, when somebody catches you from behind—” He quickly threw an arm round her shoulders, in a loose grip. Elle's heartbeat increased, but she had to concentrate on what he had taught her.
Stomp on his foot, drop your weight, twist out of the hold.
Elle executed the moves, and Rael released her immediately.
“Good,” his voice was warm with approval. “You're a fast learner.”
“I'm motivated,” Elle muttered in response.
Three days went by. They continued to train for two hours a day.
Rael was tolerant, easy-going, not intrusive in any way, and he always clarified the rationale behind each approach.
He reminded Elle of August with his quiet intensity and the ability to make her feel safe even as he taught her how to literally hurt someone.
She turned around as the sound of footsteps drew nearer. Javi came closer with two water bottles. He threw one of them to Rael and one to Elle.
“Thanks,” Elle accepted it, surprised.
Since the interrogation, Javi had been standoffish, obviously not comfortable with what he had done to push her that day. However, he had shown up to assist with her training the day before, showing Elle how to watch a shifter when they were about to strike by watching their body language.
“You are doing well,” Javi said grudgingly. “For a human.”
Elle raised an eyebrow. “Was that almost a compliment?”
“Don't let it go to your head.”
Despite herself, Elle smiled. Javi reminded her of the sharpness she had grown to develop. The sharp edges and defensive walls, but underneath was something softer.
“I would like to go over the escape methods once again,” Rael broke the silence.
The following hour was spent working through a number of scenarios. Breaking various types of holds. Identification of exits and escape routes in unknown spaces.
Elle's muscles burned, and sweat ran down her back, but she pushed through it. This was important. This is one of the things that she could take control of.
Rael finally announced a break, and Elle fell on the ground, puffing.
“You okay?”
Elle opened her eyes and saw her brother standing above her, looking worried. He had been watching from the porch.
“I'm fine,” she said, accepting his hand. August pulled her to her feet effortlessly. “Just tired.”
“You're pushing yourself hard.”
“I need to.”
August studied her face. “Can we talk?”
Elle tensed. Since he had arrived, they had been playing around, having a real conversation, and keeping it very shallow and harmless. However, she was aware that at some point, they would have to deal with the eight-year gap between them.
“Okay.”
They went to the outskirts of the training yard, where they could have some privacy. August leaned against the fence, while Elle stood next to him, looking at the forest that was outside Starville territory.
“I should have fought,” August sighed. “When the banishment was announced, I should have fought against the Alpha.”
Elle's throat tightened. “You tried.”
“Not hard enough. I let him send you away. I left you on your own in the human world when you did not even know how to live in it.” He shook his head, kicking a random stone on the ground. “I was a coward.”
“August, you were young,” Elle said softly. “What were you supposed to do? Defy the Alpha? Get yourself exiled, too?”
“Maybe. Then at least you would not have been alone.”
They stood in silence. Elle could feel all the things they had never said, all the years they had spent apart coming down on her.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“I missed you too. Every single day.” August turned to face her. “I'm sorry I didn't reach out. I do regret just watching you and not existing in your life. I believed I was protecting you, but I was only saving myself the trouble of facing the consequences of our own actions against you.”
“We?” Elle shook her head in confusion. “August, you didn't banish me.”
“I didn't stop it either. Neither did Silas.” August's voice hardened. “We all failed you.”
Elle was not sure how to react to that. Part of her agreed. They had all failed her. Yet, some other part understood that they were young, torn between loyalty to their Alpha and loyalty to her.
“I do not blame you. I never did.”
August pulled her in for a hug, and Elle allowed herself to melt in his arms. He smelled like home. Like her brother, who had shown her how to ride a bike, scared away the monsters under her bed, and promised to watch over her.
When they broke apart, they both had tears in their eyes.
“I want to be in your life again,” August said. “If you'll let me.”
“I want that too,” Elle admitted. “But it's going to take time. It is all... complicated.”
“I know. I will wait as long as you want.”
Elle nodded tightly. She had yet to forgive August fully, and the relationship between them was still on shaky ground. But they were trying. That must have some weight.
Movement caught her eye. Silas came out of the house and was striding into the yard towards the training grounds. He talked in a low voice to Rael and Javi, and his posture exuded power and self-confidence.
Rael showed him something on a tablet, which was most likely associated with the investigation. Javi was making a lot of hand signals, evidently in a dispute. And Silas heard them out, nodding.
He did things differently compared to his father. Elle thought of the former Alpha—mean, domineering, and obsessed with strict observance of tradition. People cowered at his words, and no one dared challenge his orders.
Silas instilled respect, not through fear, but through authority. He was firm but not cruel. He also wanted to hear the views of his brothers, even when he did not agree. He justified his actions instead of expecting people to blindly follow and accept whatever he said.
Elle detested the fact that these things caught her eye. She despised the fact that she was beginning to see Silas as something more than the school bully who had harassed her.
He was still her enemy. He was still the one who had forced her into this relationship, bringing her to this nightmare.
She couldn't forget the past or allow herself to grow soft; he was only treating her with the bare minimum of decency.
“You ready for today?” August broke through her thoughts.
“As ready as I'll ever be.”
It was the day she had agreed to visit the auction site to help them look for clues. This idea made her stomach churn, but she promised to help, and she was not going to withdraw at this point.
Silas went across the yard toward them. “We should head out soon. Rael wished to arrive there when there was still good light.”
Elle nodded. “Let me change first.”
She entered the house and threw on a pair of dark jeans, a grey flannel shirt, and twisted her hair into a ponytail. By the time she returned, Silas, his brothers, and August were standing by two cars.
“You going with me in my truck?” Silas asked.
Elle would have liked to protest, to travel with somebody else, but the bond was already tugging at her within only a few minutes of not being together. She got into the front passenger seat and said nothing.
The drive took forty minutes. Any attempts by Silas to strike up a conversation didn't work. Eventually, Silas gave up trying and concentrated on the road.
When they finally reached the warehouse, Elle stopped breathing.
It had a different appearance in the daytime. Less ominous. Not a soul out on a deserted house in an industrial estate. But her hands were shaking when she stepped out of the truck.
“You don’t need to do this,” Silas glanced at her.
“I said I'd help.” Elle forced her legs to walk towards the building.
When they got inside, Rael made arrangements and searched with the equipment used to identify fingerprints or trace evidence. Javi was taking photographs of the layout. August was close to the entrance, keeping an eye on Elle.
Elle walked slowly, keeping her eyes along the route she had followed that night. The stage where she'd stood. The area where buyers had sat. The door she passed through when Silas purchased her.
“See anything useful?” Rael asked.
Elle shook her head. The room was cleared out, and all the chairs and equipment were cleared. Nothing obvious remained.
“Let's look in the back,” Javi suggested.
Elle went with them into the deeper part of the warehouse. Her heart was pounding as is brought up memories. The smell of fear and sweat. The sound of women crying. The sense of being a prisoner, being powerless, and waiting to be auctioned off.
“Elle?” Silas stood by her, his hand grazing her elbow. “You're pale. Do you need to step outside?”
“I'm fine,” Elle lied.
She walked further into the back section, trying to think about how to be productive rather than waste time panicking. The room was now vacant, though Elle could mentally see the holding area and the path that the handlers had taken to drag women on stage.
Suddenly, her foot caught on something, and Elle stumbled. She caught herself against the wall, her hand pressing against the cold concrete.
And then the world shifted.
Elle was no longer in the warehouse. She was watching a scene. It was like a movie was being played in her head.
A woman—the brunette at the auction, the one who struggled with her master was being pulled through this very passage, past where Elle stood. Toward the back exit.
Dressed in a costly suit, the buyer came in right behind, his eyes gleaming with viciousness.
They came to a little room near the back. The woman was pushed inside by the handler. She stumbled, and the buyer shut the door.
Then the woman screamed.
Elle pulled her hand off the wall, gasping. She was once more alone in the empty warehouse, her heart beating so hard it felt like it might explode right out of her chest.
“Elle!” Silas grabbed her shoulders. “What happened? What's wrong?”
Elle couldn't speak or breathe. She could still hear the woman's scream.
That had happened here. Right here. In this building.
Abused.
Violated.
And Elle had done nothing.
“I need air,” she choked out.
She walked past Silas and ran out, hardly reaching the parking lot when she fell to her knees and threw up, her entire body trembling.
Silas showed up next to her, drawing her hair back, whispering something Elle could not hear with all the roaring in her ears.
By the time the nausea eventually calmed, Elle sat back upon her heels with tears streaming down her face.
“What did you see?” Silas asked gently.
Elle shook her head. She couldn't tell him. She could not explain the vision without confessing the power. The same power which had never presented itself to any advantage until it was already too late to save anyone.
“Elle, talk to me. What happened in there?”
“Nothing,” Elle whispered. “I just... I remembered. That's all.”
It wasn't entirely a lie. She had recalled the women at the auction. She remembered their fear. But she had also witnessed what became of at least one of them afterward, and her conscience was crushing her.
If she had been willing to help sooner, would they have been able to get here in time?
If she had swallowed her pride a little sooner, her anger and her trauma, would she have prevented what she had just seen in her vision?
“When Javi first suggested this, I should have said yes on the spot.”
“No,” Silas said firmly. “Don't do that. Don't put this on yourself.”
“But if we'd gotten here sooner—”
“We still would have been too late. The auction had taken place days before. These people move fast.”
Elle knew that he was trying to console her, but it was in vain. She'd seen what happened. She had experienced the terror of that woman as if it were hers.
But she'd been too focused on her own pain to help sooner.
She had been willing to help, but that was not enough. Nothing that she did could ever be enough.