The rain had washed away my tears, leaving only numbness as dawn broke over the Pack House. My knees ached from kneeling all night, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest. I rose slowly, my body stiff from the cold, and made my way back to the hospital.
Dr. Sage met me at the entrance, her eyes red-rimmed from her own night of vigil.
"I'm so sorry, Malia," she whispered, embracing me gently. "I tried to save her."
"I know," I replied, my voice hollow. "Thank you for trying."
She handed me a small wooden box. "Her ashes. The pack rules require... disposal within twenty-four hours."
I clutched the box to my chest, the last physical remains of my mother—the woman who had loved me unconditionally in a world that saw me as nothing but a shield.
"I'll take her home," I said. "To our cabin."
---
The eastern woods were quiet as I approached our small cabin, the morning sun filtering through the trees. I cradled the box of ashes against my heart, whispering the ancient words my mother had taught me—a blessing for safe passage to the Moon Goddess.
"I'll find a beautiful spot for you," I promised her. "Somewhere peaceful, away from all this."
As I rounded the corner to our clearing, I froze. Two pack warriors stood outside our cabin, their postures casual and indifferent. Between them lay a small mound of gray ash—my mother's remains—carelessly dumped on the damp earth.
"What are you doing?" My voice cracked as I rushed forward.
One warrior shrugged. "Alpha's orders. Ashes must be disposed of immediately."
"You're just going to leave her here?" I fell to my knees beside the scattered remains, my fingers trembling as I tried to gather them back into the box.
"It's just an Omega," the other warrior muttered. "Not like it matters."
Something snapped inside me. Twenty years of submission, of taking blows meant for others, of being invisible—it all crystallized into a single moment of clarity.
"It matters to me," I whispered, my wolf stirring within me.
I gathered what I could of my mother's ashes, tears blurring my vision. As I stood, I made a decision that would change everything.
---
"I'm leaving," I announced to Dr. Sage as I entered her quarters later that day.
She looked up from her microscope, startled. "Leaving? Where would you go?"
"Away from here. Away from them." I placed a small vial on her desk—a mixture of herbs and chemicals I'd created using my mother's recipes. "This will mask my scent completely."
Sage's eyes widened. "Malia, you can't just run. You're an Omega without a pack—you'll be classified as a Rogue."
"Better a Rogue than a shield," I replied, applying the mixture to my skin. It smelled of bitter almonds and earth, effectively neutralizing my natural scent. "Better free than forgotten."
"But the mate bond—"
"Is broken," I finished for her. "He made his choice when he left me kneeling in the rain while my mother died."
I shouldered a small bag containing only essentials—a change of clothes, my mother's journal, a water bottle. Everything else I would leave behind.
"Dominic will come after you," Sage warned.
"Let him try." I touched the scar on my wrist—the first injury I'd taken for Averie. "I've been hiding in plain sight for twenty years. I can do it again."
As I slipped out the back entrance of the pack hospital, I felt something inside me shift—the mate bond stretching painfully as I put distance between us. But with each step away from the Pack House, my resolve strengthened.
I was no longer Malia Warren, the Omega decoy.
I was simply Malia now. And I was done being invisible.
---
The forest blurred past as I ran, my wolf lending me strength I hadn't known I possessed. Hours passed, the sun climbing higher in the sky as I pushed deeper into the territory that belonged to no pack—the Rogue lands.
I was free.
But behind me, something was changing.
In the Dark Moon Pack House, Dominic Reed slammed his fist into the wall, his eyes blazing gold and silver as Gabriel entered his office.
"Alpha," Gabriel said cautiously, "there's something wrong with the pack bonds. I can't sense—"
"Not now," Dominic growled, his voice distorted by the partial shift that had overtaken him without conscious thought.
Gabriel stepped closer, his own wolf rising in response to the threat in the room. "Dominic, what's happening to you?"
Dominic's nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, searching for a scent that was no longer there. "She's gone," he whispered, his voice breaking. "My mate is gone."
The realization hit him like a physical blow. He doubled over, a howl building in his throat—primal, desperate, and utterly mad.
"Find her," he snarled at Gabriel, his claws extending involuntarily. "Bring her back to me."
As Gabriel backed away from his Alpha's increasingly feral state, Dominic's eyes flashed between human consciousness and wolf instinct.
"She can't leave me," he growled, his voice no longer his own. "I won't allow it."
The mate bond that had been denied now screamed for completion, driving him toward the edge of sanity—and beyond.
