The Shadowvale lakeside retreat was a long-standing pack tradition. For three days, the ranked wolves and their families gathered at the massive wooden lodge near the eastern border. This year, Elliot made his priorities clear the moment we arrived. He assigned me a small, drafty room at the very end of the east wing. He and Isabel took the master suite in the center of the lodge.
I didn't argue. I just unpacked my small bag and stayed out of sight. I spent the evening in my room, listening to the muffled sounds of laughter and clinking glasses from the main hall. Elliot was openly at Isabel's side. I could smell them from down the hall—his dark cedar mixing with her sickeningly sweet vanilla.
I went to sleep early. But a few hours past midnight, I woke up choking.
Thick, black smoke filled my room. The air was scorching hot, burning my throat with every breath. I rolled out of bed, hitting the floor hard. The smoke alarm in the hallway was blaring, a high-pitched shriek that pierced my eardrums. But underneath the smell of burning pine, I caught a faint, unmistakable scent. Vanilla.
Isabel.
I crawled toward the door, keeping my head low. I reached up and grabbed the brass handle. It seared my palm, but I yanked it anyway. It didn't turn. I pushed with all my weight. Nothing. The door was wedged tight from the outside. Locked.
"Help!"
Isabel's voice echoed from the central corridor. It wasn't a scream of pure terror. It was loud, dramatic, and perfectly timed. "Elliot, the fire! Help me!"
Almost instantly, the heavy sound of bones snapping and shifting echoed through the lodge. Elliot didn't even yell back. He just shifted. I heard the massive thud of his wolf paws hitting the wooden floorboards, sprinting toward the master suite.
He was so close. He had to smell the smoke pouring from my wing. He had to know I was trapped at the end of the hall.
But the heavy paw steps didn't turn toward me. They moved away, rushing toward the front doors. He had her. He was carrying her out in his jaws. He left me behind.
I sat back on my heels. The flames licked under the door frame, catching the edge of the rug. In the past, my inner wolf would have panicked. She would have clawed at my mind, howling for our mate, begging him through the mind-link to come back.
Tonight, there was nothing. My wolf was completely silent. She was dead to the world, buried so deep inside me I couldn't even feel her heartbeat. I was entirely on my own. Without her, I couldn't shift. I couldn't heal fast. I was just a woman in a burning room.
Above me, the ceiling groaned loudly. A massive wooden beam gave way, crashing down into the far wall of my room. The impact shattered the drywall, exposing the wooden frame and the dark night outside.
The gap was small and lined with jagged, burning splinters. I didn't hesitate. I crawled over the debris and shoved my hands into the burning gap.
The heat blistered my skin instantly. I ignored the pain. I grabbed the broken edges of the wall and pulled, tearing the wood apart with my bare hands. Splinters drove deep into my palms. My nightgown caught on a nail and ripped, exposing my shoulder to the searing heat.
With one final, desperate push, I squeezed through the collapsed wall and tumbled out into the cold night air.
I hit the damp earth hard, rolling away from the lodge. I lay in the wet grass for a second, gasping for clean oxygen. My skin was singed, my hands bleeding and covered in ash.
I pushed myself up and looked toward the front of the lodge. The building was a towering inferno, flames shooting into the night sky. Near the edge of the tree line, Elliot stood in his massive, dark wolf form. He gently set Isabel down on the grass. She clung to his thick fur, coughing delicately.
He didn't look toward the east wing. He didn't search the flames for me.
I didn't open the mind-link. I didn't call out for help. I just turned my back on them and walked into the dark woods.
The shadows of the trees swallowed me. I walked steadily toward the overflow dirt parking lot where I had left my car. With every step I took away from Elliot, the mate mark on my neck began to burn.
It wasn't the heat of the fire. It was a deep, agonizing sear right into my flesh. The bond was dying. The Moon Goddess's tie between us was rotting away, snapping thread by thread. I gritted my teeth and kept walking. Let it burn.
I reached my car, an old sedan I had bought with my own money years ago. I unlocked it, slid into the cold leather seat, and started the engine. I didn't turn on the headlights until I was a mile down the dirt road. I drove straight past the Shadowvale border signs. I didn't look in the rearview mirror.
I drove through the night. The road was empty, illuminated only by the pale moonlight. The silence in the car was heavy, but it felt like freedom.
After two hours, I pulled over onto the gravel shoulder. My hands were shaking slightly, the burns stinging against the steering wheel. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
I opened the voice memo app and hit record.
I stared out at the dark highway. My voice was raspy from the smoke, but it didn't shake. It was cold, steady, and absolutely final.
"I, Paige Mitchell, reject you, Alpha Elliot of the Shadowvale Pack, as my mate and my Alpha."
I stopped the recording. The words hung in the quiet car. A sharp, violent pain ripped through my chest, stealing my breath for a second. The bond severed completely. It was done.
I opened my contacts and dialed a number. It rang three times before a groggy voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Toby," I said. Toby was a low-ranked packrunner. He was an Omega who Elliot frequently mocked and overworked. He had no loyalty to our Alpha.
"Luna Paige?" Toby mumbled, sounding confused. "It's three in the morning. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Toby. But I need you to do a job for me. I'm sending you an audio file right now."
I tapped the screen, sending the recording.
"I need you to connect this file to the pack house PA system," I instructed. "During the Blood Moon Banquet in three days. Right when Elliot stands up to give his Alpha toast. You play it at max volume. Then you get out the back door."
Toby was silent for a long moment. I could hear his steady breathing over the line. He wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what I was asking him to do.
"I'll wire five thousand dollars to your account tomorrow morning," I added quietly. "Enough to get you out of Shadowvale if you want to leave too."
"I'll do it," Toby said, his voice suddenly wide awake and sharp. "Consider it done, Paige."
I hung up the phone. I put the car in drive and pulled back onto the highway.
I drove until the sun started to peek over the horizon, casting a pale gray light over the trees. I crossed into neutral territory and spotted a cheap roadside motel with a flickering neon sign.
I pulled into the empty lot. I paid for a room in cash, ignoring the wide-eyed stare of the night clerk who took in my soot-stained face and torn clothes.
I walked into the small, dingy room and locked the door behind me. I went straight to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. I looked in the mirror. My skin was pale, my eyes hollow, but the mate mark on my neck was an angry, blistering red. It was no longer a symbol of fate. It was just a scar.
I walked over to the stiff mattress and lay down. My burns ached. My inner wolf was still dead quiet. But as I pulled the thin blanket over my shoulders, my muscles finally uncoiled.
For the first time in nine years, I closed my eyes and actually slept.
