Chapter 23 Elara
ELARA
Elara didn’t plan a speech. She grabbed her coat, stuffed Freya’s tea into her pocket, and drove when the sky went pink behind the trees. By the time she turned onto the narrow track to Alaric’s cabin, the cold had a clean bite and the world felt small enough to hold still.
His truck sat under a frosted pine. Light spilled thinly through the window. She killed the engine, sat with her hands on the wheel, then snorted at herself and got out.
She knocked. No answer. She knocked again, louder.
The door opened a crack. Alaric’s eyes were night-quiet and tired. “You shouldn’t be on this road after dark.”
“Good evening to you too.” She shouldered past him. “I brought sarcasm and questions.”
He shut the door and turned. “Elara.”
“Alaric.”
They looked at each other. The fire ticked. He scrubbed a hand over his jaw.
“You’re mad,” he said.
“Working on it,” she said. “Do we need a refresh of last night’s greatest hits, or can we skip to the part where you explain why you turned into a glacier mid-kiss and disappeared into a storm?”
His mouth twitched and failed to be a smile. “I handled it badly.”
“Understatement,” she said. “New topic. Today. You went quiet. Then one of Twyla’s regulars said they saw you stalking the north ridge like a ghost with a grudge. So I drove here. Because I refuse to keep having conversations with my ceiling.”
He glanced at the window. “You shouldn’t have driven.”
“You said that already,” she said. “Twice.”
He lifted a hand, then dropped it. “Fine. You’re here.”
“Shocking,” she said. She drew a breath, kept her voice even. “I’m going to ask something straight. I’d like a straight answer.”
“Ask.”
“Are you going to tell me what you are,” she said, “or am I supposed to keep guessing between lumberjack, security, and myth?”
He went very still. “You don’t want the first version of that answer.”
“Try me.”
“Tomorrow,” he said.
“No,” she said. “Now.”
He flexed his jaw. “Elara—”
A phone buzzed on the table. He looked at the screen, hesitated, and tapped accept.
“Emmett,” he said.
Elara folded her arms.
Emmett’s voice carried just enough to make the hairs on her neck lift. “Status.”
“Four at the lake. One loose. They’ll try the road bend,” Alaric said. “I took the bolts.”
“Bram’s directive stands,” Emmett said. “It needs to happen tonight.”
Elara’s breath sharpened. She looked from the phone to Alaric’s face. “What directive?”
Alaric’s glance flicked to her and away. “I heard him.”
“Confirm,” Emmett said.
Silence stretched. The fire popped.
“Confirm,” Emmett repeated.
Alaric’s jaw worked. “I copy.”
Elara stepped closer. “Copy what, exactly?”
Emmett’s tone shifted. “She’s with you.”
“Yeah,” Alaric said.
“Then do it clean,” Emmett said. “I don’t want a scene on Main. Escort her out. Make sure she doesn’t come back. We’ll salt the crossing.”
Elara’s stomach dropped. “Excuse me?”
Alaric’s head came up. “We are not discussing operational specifics on an open line.”
“Then close it,” Emmett said. “And handle it.”
The call clicked dead.
Elara stared at Alaric. “Escort me out?”
He didn’t answer.
“Make sure I don’t come back?” Her voice rose. “What is this, witness protection for people who ask too many questions?”
He put the phone down like it weighed something. “Elara.”
“No,” she said. “I think it’s my turn.” She pointed at his chest. “You pulled me out of a storm. Wrapped me in a blanket. Fed me fire and silence and a look that made me believe there was more to you than orders. And now I show up and your boss gives you a deadline to get rid of me? Tonight?”
“I told him the timing is bad,” Alaric said.
“The timing is bad.” She laughed once, sharp. “That’s your defense.”
He stepped toward her. “Listen to me.”
“I’ve been listening,” she said. “To half-answers and protective grunts and your cabin door closing in my face. I am done listening unless you’re going to say the thing.”
He held her gaze. “Hunters are on the ridge. They’re organized.
They followed your writing. They intend to use you as leverage.
If they grab you, they’ll force you to point at places you don’t even know you saw.
They’ll hurt people to make you talk. People here.
So yes, I have orders to get you outside the line. ”
“You mean outside your line,” she said. “The line you draw with your boots and your attitude.”
He didn’t react. “This isn’t about my attitude.”
“It’s about control,” she snapped. “You control where I sleep, what I know, whether I breathe your air. You control the narrative because you think you’re better at it.”
“I think I’m better at keeping you alive,” he said.
She blinked hard. “By lying?”
He flinched. “I didn’t lie.”
“You didn’t tell me,” she said. “You knew you had orders to escort me out. You knew last night. Today. You let me walk in here and ask questions like an idiot while you had a plan to make me disappear.”
He ran a hand down his face. “Disappear is Bram’s word. Mine is leave.”
“Oh, great,” she said. “Synonyms.”
“Elara.”
“Say the rest,” she said. “Say the quiet part. ‘If she resists, do what you’ve always done.’ Was that the line? Because I heard it in the other man’s voice.”
He looked at the floor. “Bram overreaches.”
“Bram has a name,” she said. “And authority. And apparently my evening schedule.”
“I’m not letting him touch you,” Alaric said, low.
She barked a laugh. “You don’t get to say that. You already accepted the assignment.”
“I didn’t accept,” he said. “I refused to answer.”
“That’s not the same thing,” she said.
He met her eyes. “It is for me.”
“Good for you,” she said. “Gold star.”
He took a step closer. She stepped back.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t come near me and try to be gentle while you plan my exit.”
“I’m trying to give you an option,” he said.
“You drive out with me now. We take the long road. You get a hotel two towns over. You lay low for a week. You post something boring about misidentifying a town. You stop feeding the forums. The men on the ridge get bored and go home before they decide to play heroes with the wrong people.”
“And I do all of this because… you say so?” she asked.
“Because it keeps people from getting hurt,” he said. “Including you.”
She stared. “Say the other reason.”
He went quiet.
“Say it,” she insisted. “Say why you don’t want me here.”
“I want you here,” he said immediately, and then cursed under his breath.
She threw up her hands. “Then what is this? Keep me. Toss me. Send me away and pine. Do you hear yourself?”
“You asked for straight,” he said, voice tight.
“Here. Straight. Hunters are here because you are. Bram wants you gone because he sees a threat. Emmett wants it quiet because he wants the town safe. I want both. You out of the line of sight. Them out of our trees. The town steady. Me—” He stopped, jaw flexing.
“You,” she said. “Finish it.”
He shook his head once. “Irrelevant.”
“To you,” she said. “Not to me.”
He blew out a breath. “Last night I almost crossed a line I can’t uncross. Today I tracked men who would use you as bait. Tonight Bram told me to make a decision I won’t make on his terms. That’s the truth. Pick it apart if you want, but don’t say I didn’t give it.”
She stood very still. “You should have let me know long before Emmett did.”
“I know,” he said.
“Should have told me before I knocked.”
“I know.”
“You should have let me know before you put a blanket on me and made me think I mattered more than your orders.”
He looked like she’d hit him. “You do.”
She swallowed. “Then you should have trusted me.”
“I am trusting you,” he said. “I’m telling you the whole thing now and not dragging you out without a word.”
“After you took the call in front of me,” she said. “Not exactly a grand gesture.”
His voice went rough. “I can’t fix the timing.”
“You could have tried honesty sooner,” she said.
He didn’t argue.
The cabin felt small. The fire crackled like it was trying to fill the silence and failing.
Elara grabbed her bag. “I’m done for tonight.”
He straightened. “Elara—”
“I’m done,” she repeated. “You can patrol and plan and play chess with men in trees. You can debate words with your council. I’m going back to the inn to think without your voice in my ear.”
“I’ll follow you,” he said.
“No,” she said, sharper than she meant. “Don’t.”
“It’s not safe.”
“It’s not safe,” she echoed. “Right. Guess what? It hasn’t felt safe since I drove through your town line and people started speaking in warnings. I’ll take my chances with a well-lit street and a front desk.”
He moved toward the door. “At least let me check the road.”
“I can see frozen water with my eyes,” she said. “I can use a brake pedal. I can also choose who gets to control my evening. Spoiler: not you.”
He flinched at control. “That’s not what I’m trying to—”
“Stop managing me,” she said. “Just for an hour. Let me be angry without you standing in it.”
His hand closed around the back of a chair instead of reaching for her. “I’ll keep a distance,” he said quietly. “From the trees.”
“Don’t,” she said again, softer. “If you want one thing tonight that is mine, give me the space to leave without a shadow.”
He stared at the floor, then nodded once. “All right.”
She swallowed. “Thank you.”
She stepped to the door and paused. “One more straight question.”
He braced. “Ask.”
“Did you ever plan to tell me,” she said, “or were you going to carry me to a car and hope I didn’t scream?”
“I was going to tell you,” he said. “I just… waited too long.”
She nodded once, eyes hot for reasons she refused to entertain. “Yeah.”
She opened the door. Cold rushed in. He didn’t move closer. He didn’t ask her to stay. He didn’t reach.
“Drive slow,” he said.
“Don’t tell me how to drive,” she said, but it came out thin.
“I’ll—” He shut his mouth and shook his head. “Goodnight, Elara.”
“Goodnight,” she said, and walked out.
The snow squeaked under her boots. The sky had gone ink-blue. She climbed into the car, shut the door, and put her forehead to the steering wheel for one steady breath.
“Silence me,” she said to the dashboard. “Right.”
She started the engine. It turned over like it had been waiting to cooperate. She backed out, checked the mirror once.
He stood in the doorway, arms crossed, face unreadable. No following truck. No boots in the snow behind her.
“Fine,” she said, and pulled onto the track, furious enough to keep warm all the way to the inn.