Bound to the Triplet Alphas-Chapter 133: Elira’s Redemption

ELIRA POV

The possessed pack member lunged at me with claws extended, moving faster than any normal werewolf should.

I rolled sideways, barely dodging the attack. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst. Three hours ago, I’d been hiding in the forest, furious and angry about losing my chance to be Luna. Now I was fighting for my life against people I’d grown up with.

"Mrs. Henderson?" I gasped, recognizing the woman trying to kill me. She’d taught me how to braid my hair when I was little.

But Mrs. Henderson’s eyes were shining that sick green color, and when she smiled, her teeth looked like they’d been sharpened into points.

"Little Elira," she said in a voice that wasn’t hers. "Still playing dress-up, I see. Still pretending to be important."

The words hit harder than her claws would have. Even occupied by Shadow Lords, she was saying the same things everyone always said about me. That I was fake. That I was trying to be something I wasn’t.

Maybe they were right. Maybe I really was just a spoiled Beta’s daughter who thought she deserved more than she’d earned.

Mrs. Henderson lunged again, and this time I wasn’t fast enough. Her claws raked across my arm, and pain shot through me like fire.

But something strange happened when my blood hit the ground.

The earth started glowing.

Not the sick green glow of Shadow Lord power. This was different. Golden and warm, like sunshine trapped underground.

Mrs. Henderson stopped striking and stared at the glowing ground. "Impossible," she whispered.

"What’s happening?" I asked, backing away from her.

But she wasn’t looking at me like prey anymore. She was looking at me like I was something scary.

"You’re not supposed to exist," she said. "The bloodline was destroyed centuries ago."

"What bloodline?" I asked.

Instead of answering, she threw back her head and howled. It wasn’t a normal werewolf cry. It was a signal, asking for help. Within seconds, I could hear footsteps running toward us from all sides.

I had to get out of there.

I turned to run, but my feet got caught in some roots, and I fell hard. More of my blood soaked into the ground, and the golden glow got brighter.

That’s when I heard the voice.

It came from deep beneath, like someone speaking from the bottom of a well. But somehow, I understood every word.

"Daughter of the Ancient Line," the voice said. "Why do you run from what you are?"

"I don’t know what I am," I whispered back.

"Look deeper," the voice pushed. "Remember what your grandmother told you before she died."

My mom. I hadn’t thought about her in years. She’d been strange, always talking about old magic and lost bloodlines. My father had said she was just getting forgetful.

But now I remembered something she’d whispered to me right before she passed away.

"The earth remembers everything, Elira. And someday, it will remember you too."

The possessed pack members were getting closer. I could hear them crashing through the trees, all going straight for me.

"I don’t understand," I said to the voice underground.

"Your blood calls to the ancient spirits," the voice stated. "You are not just Beta genes. You are Earth Guardian family. The first werewolves were made to protect the natural world, and your family carried that original magic."

Earth Guardian bloodline? I’d never heard of such a thing.

"That’s impossible," I said. "If that were true, why didn’t anyone ever tell me?"

"Because your family hid the truth to keep you safe," the voice said sadly. "The Shadow Lords have been hunting Earth Guardians for thousands of years. They killed almost all of them."

Almost all of them. But not all.

"How many are left?" I asked.

"In this realm? Just you."

The weight of that hit me like a physical blow. Just me. The last of an entire bloodline of magical defenders. And I’d spent my whole life being jealous of Aria instead of finding who I really was.

The footsteps were getting closer. I could see bright green eyes through the trees.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked desperately.

"What Earth Guardians have always done," the voice said. "Protect the innocent. Fight the darkness. And remember that the earth itself will always answer your call."

As if reacting to the voice’s words, I felt power flowing up through the ground and into my body. It was different from monster strength. This felt older, deeper, like I was linked to every tree and rock and stream for miles around.

I stood up just as the first possessed pack member broke through the trees. It was Jake, one of the younger troops. His green eyes locked onto mine, and he snarled.

"Come quietly, Earth Guardian," he said. "Our masters want to meet you."

"Tell your masters," I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded, "that they can meet me in battle."

I pressed my palm against the closest tree, and power flowed through me like lightning. The tree’s roots emerged from the ground, wrapping around Jake’s legs and holding him in place.

"Impossible," he gasped, fighting against the roots.

But more possessed pack members were coming. Too many for me to fight alone, even with my new skills.

That’s when I heard another voice. This one coming from behind me.

"Need some help?"

I spun around and saw someone I never expected to see again. Someone who was thought to be dead.

"Grandmother?" I whispered.

But it wasn’t exactly my mom. She was translucent, like a ghost, and she was shining with the same golden light as the earth around my feet.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said with a smile that was exactly like I remembered. "Ready to learn what you really are?"

"You’re dead," I said, my voice breaking.

"Death is just another form of existence for Earth Guardians," she explained gently. "We become one with the land we protected in life. I’ve been waiting for you to awaken your powers so I could lead you."

The evil pack members were surrounding us now. At least twenty of them, all with those bright green eyes, all ready to attack.

"This is touching," Jake said with a laugh that wasn’t his own. "A family gathering. But it ends now."

They all lunged at once.

My grandma raised her ghostly hands, and suddenly every plant in the forest came alive. Vines emerged from the ground, wrapping around the possessed pack members. Tree trunks bent down to hold them in place. Even the grass grew tall enough to tangle their feet.

"The earth protects its guardians," my grandmother said proudly.

But I could see the strain on her face. Even as a spirit, using this much power was exhausting her.

"I can’t hold them for long," she revealed. "You need to learn to use your abilities quickly."

"How?" I asked.

"Feel the connection," she said. "Every living thing in this forest is part of you now. Command them as you would command your own body."

I closed my eyes and tried to feel what she was talking about. At first, there was nothing. But then, slowly, I started to feel the life around me. The trees moving. The grass growing. The earth itself, patient and strong and ageless.

And I learned something amazing.

I wasn’t alone. I had never been alone. The entire natural world was linked, and I was part of it.

I opened my eyes and looked at the possessed pack members fighting against the plants holding them.

"Let them go, Grandmother," I said quietly.

"Elira, no," she protested. "They’ll kill you."

"No," I said with new confidence. "They won’t."

My grandmother relaxed her hold on the vines and branches. The possessed pack members broke free and charged at me again.

But this time, I was ready.

I pressed both hands against the ground and called to every living thing within miles. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming.

The forest itself rose up to fight.

Trees bent their branches like guns. Roots erupted from the ground like serpents. Even the flowers began producing spores that made the possessed pack members stumble and fall.

In seconds, all twenty attackers were wrapped in so many plants and roots that they couldn’t move.

"Impressive," my grandma said with pride. "But this is just the beginning of what you can do."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Before she could answer, the ground beneath us started shaking. Not like an earthquake. Like something huge was moving underground.

"They’re coming," my grandmother said, her face going pale with fear.

"Who’s coming?"

"The Shadow Lords didn’t just send possessed pack members after you," she explained quickly. "They sent something much worse. Something that can kill Earth Guardians permanently."

The shaking was getting stronger. Trees were starting to fall over. And from deep underground, I could hear a sound like digging. Like something huge was tunneling its way up toward us.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"A Void Worm," my grandmother said grimly. "A thing that devours life itself. And it’s going straight for us."

The ground burst upward just fifty feet away from us. What emerged was the most frightening thing I’d ever seen.

It looked like a huge earthworm, but it was made of shadows and darkness instead of flesh. Where it touched the ground, plants withered and died quickly. Where it moved, it left trails of dead earth behind.

And it was looking right at me with eyes like black holes.

"Run," my grandmother said quickly. "Run now, while you still can."

But as I turned to flee, I noticed something that made my blood freeze.

The Void Worm wasn’t alone.

More explosions of earth exploded all around us. More shadow creatures rising from underground. And standing behind them, watching with pleasure, was a figure I recognized.

Alpha Darius.

But his eyes were sparkling green, and when he smiled, I could see that he wasn’t really Darius anymore.

"Hello, little Earth Guardian," he said in a voice like grinding stone. "We’ve been looking for you for a very long time."

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