Chapter 3 3

The drive was quiet at first, the hum of the SUV's engine filling the tense silence. The forest seemed to stretch endlessly around them, the trees pressing close to the narrow road like silent sentinels. Elena sat stiffly in the passenger seat, her bag clutched in her lap, her thoughts a storm of disbelief and questions.

Damon's presence was overwhelming, even in the confines of the car. He drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the gearshift, his posture relaxed but alert. His gray eyes flicked to the rearview mirror every few seconds, scanning the dark road behind them.

Elena couldn't take it anymore. "Are you going to explain what's going on, or am I supposed to just sit here and wait for the next cryptic warning?"

Damon didn't look at her, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. "What do you want to know?"

"How about everything?" she snapped. "Who is Magnus? What does he want with me? And why the hell did you show up at my door like some kind of... werewolf guardian angel?"

His lips twitched, but there was no humor in his expression. "Magnus is the alpha of the Bloodstone Pack. He's powerful, ruthless, and he's been after my territory for years."

"And me?" she pressed.

Damon's hands tightened on the wheel. "Magnus has his reasons, but the simplest answer is that you're valuable to him."

"Valuable how?"

He hesitated, and Elena felt a flicker of anger rise.

"Stop holding back," she said sharply. "If I'm supposed to trust you, I need the truth."

Damon exhaled, his jaw tightening. "You're connected to the packs in ways you don't understand yet. Your bloodline... it makes you important."

Elena frowned. "My bloodline? What does that even mean?"

"You're not fully human," Damon said bluntly.

The words hit her like a punch, and she stared at him, her breath catching. "Excuse me?"

"You're a latent," he explained, his voice steady but firm. "A dormant werewolf. It's rare, but it happens. Usually, it takes a trigger-something emotional, physical, or... supernatural-to activate the change. Magnus knows what you are, and he wants to use you for his own gain."

Elena laughed, but the sound was brittle. "This is insane. I've lived my whole life as a human. There's no way-"

"Have you ever felt different?" Damon cut in. "Stronger than you should be? Faster? Healed faster than others?"

She opened her mouth to argue, but the memories surfaced unbidden. The time she'd fallen off her bike as a kid, scraping her knee, only for the wound to disappear within hours. The way she could outrun most people, even without trying. The sense that she was always holding something back.

Her silence was answer enough.

Damon glanced at her, his expression softening. "You've felt it, haven't you?"

"I don't-" She shook her head, her voice trembling. "I don't believe this."

"You don't have to," he said. "But it's the truth. And Magnus will do whatever it takes to use you against me and my pack."

The weight of his words pressed down on her, but she wasn't ready to accept it. "Why me? What do I have to do with your pack, or any of this?"

Damon hesitated again, his knuckles white on the wheel. "Your mother," he said finally.

Elena's heart skipped a beat. "What about her?"

"She wasn't just human," Damon said quietly. "She was part of the Shadowfang Pack. My pack."

The world tilted around her, and she gripped the edge of her seat. "That's not possible. She died when I was five. She was just... normal. She wasn't-"

"She left the pack," Damon interrupted, his voice low. "To protect you. She knew what you were and what would happen if the wrong people found out."

Elena shook her head, her mind spinning. "No. That doesn't make sense. Why would she leave? Why wouldn't she tell me?"

"To keep you safe," Damon said. "She gave up everything to make sure you had a chance at a normal life. But Magnus must have found out about you somehow, and now you're his target."

The weight of his words settled in her chest like a stone. Her mother. The woman she barely remembered. How much of what she thought she knew had been a lie?

"I need time to process this," she said finally, her voice shaking.

Damon nodded, his gaze returning to the road. "You'll have time. But not tonight. Tonight, we focus on keeping you alive."

She didn't respond, her thoughts too tangled to form words. The rest of the drive passed in silence, the forest around them growing darker, the road narrower. Finally, Damon turned onto a dirt path that wound deeper into the woods.

"Where are we going?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"My pack's territory," he said. "It's the only place Magnus won't dare to attack."

Elena stared out the window, the trees blurring past. She had no idea what she was walking into, but one thing was clear: her life would never be the same.