"Take your crates and clear the buffer zone." The border guard shoved two wooden trunks under the corrugated tin rain canopy, sending a splash of muddy water over my bare ankles.
The silver glow fading from my scarred cheek barely registered before the guard unclasped his weapon belt. He tapped the iron buckle. "Move faster, exile. My shift ends in ten minutes, and I am not spending it watching you freeze."
"I just need to check my belongings," I said, keeping my voice steady.
"You don't have belongings anymore," the guard muttered. "You have whatever the Alpha decided to throw out."
I knelt on the wet concrete and popped the brass latch on the first trunk. My sweaters and denim pants sat folded inside, packed haphazardly by the estate staff. I dug my hands past the heavy wool, searching the corners. The small velvet pouch holding my mother's silver pendant was gone. I checked the side compartments, running my fingers along the rough lining. The tin of moonroot ointment I used to soothe my facial burns was missing, too.
Resting right on top of my clothes lay my leather Luna travel token. Someone had sheared it straight down the middle, leaving the embossed wolf crest split in two.
"Are you done digging?" a cold voice asked.
I looked up. Caleb stepped out from the inner gate. Ivy flanked him, wrapped tightly in the silver-blue Luna shawl that had rested on my shoulders just hours ago. Caleb extended his palm, demanding the woven cord around my right wrist—the final proof I belonged to Mooncrest.
"Hand over the perimeter band," Caleb ordered.
"Where is my mother's pendant?" I asked, ignoring his outstretched hand. I stood up to face him, ignoring the rain soaking through my thin dress.
"All items associated with the Luna suite require thorough verification," Caleb stated, his tone flat and uncompromising.
"It belonged to my mother long before I met you," I argued. "It has nothing to do with this Pack, and it has nothing to do with the Luna title."
Ivy stepped forward, resting her manicured hand lightly on Caleb's forearm. "I am already organizing the main house, Selene. The staff is working overtime to clear out the old items. Please don't make this exit uglier by fighting over old trinkets."
I stared at Ivy. Pinned perfectly into her dark hair was the moonstone veil clasp Caleb had ripped from me in the ballroom. He wasn't just taking my title. He was stripping my life bare and handing the pieces to her, one by one.
"You gave her my pin," I said, pointing at the glowing stone.
"It belongs to the Luna," Caleb replied, not a shred of guilt in his eyes. "Hand over the band, Selene. I won't ask again."
"Two years ago," I said, locking my gaze on Caleb's cold eyes, "Dark Energy poisoned your wolf."
Caleb's jaw tightened. "Stop talking."
"You were sweating black ichor," I pushed on, my voice rising over the drumming rain. "I laid next to you for three days. My scar burned against your skin until your wolf stabilized. I passed out from the agony, and when you woke up, you called it a mate bond miracle."
"I gave you a direct order to hand over the band."
"I just want my necklace," I demanded, stepping closer to him. "You owe me that much for saving your life."
Caleb sneered, his patience finally snapping. He stepped into my space, towering over me. "You are no longer a Pack member. You do not get to command an Alpha to hunt down your jewelry. You have no rights here."
His brutal refusal clicked a puzzle piece into place. If the mate bond didn't cure him two years ago, then my scar reacting to his Dark Energy meant something else entirely. The searing white light on my cheek tonight wasn't a phantom pain. It was a reaction. My wolf wasn't dead. She had been fighting the poison inside him all along.
I needed to reach the Moon Shrine. The neutral healers there could examine my dormant wolf and tell me the truth.
I unclasped the perimeter band and dropped it onto the wet pavement at his feet. I turned my back on them and marched toward the glowing blue arches of the neutral-road gate.
A heavy iron spear crossed my path. The toll guard blocked the entrance, his expression entirely blank.
"Move," I told him.
"Alpha revoked your neutral-road access," the guard replied, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead. "Exiles without Pack sponsorship must use Raven Pass."
Raven Pass. A lawless stretch of jagged mountains completely unmonitored by Mooncrest patrols. Rogues and scavengers controlled the lower valley, attacking anyone who crossed their territory.
I spun around and faced Caleb. "You're forcing me onto the unprotected route?"
"You wanted freedom." Caleb crossed his arms over his chest, utterly indifferent to the storm raging around us. "Don't ask Mooncrest to pay the price for it."
Ivy pressed closer to his side, her voice dipping into a soft, overly sweet register. "Maybe we could spare just one guard, Alpha? She won't survive the Pass alone. The rogues are merciless this time of year."
Her fake pity hardened his features instantly.
"Any warrior who steps foot beside her faces treason," Caleb announced, his voice booming with Alpha command, ensuring the border guards heard every syllable. "She walks alone."
He didn't just want me gone. He wanted me vulnerable, erased, and completely severed from any safety he could provide.
I stopped fighting. The argument drained out of me, leaving only a cold, sharp resolve. I walked back to my trunk, picked up the bisected leather travel token, and threw it directly at his chest. It bounced off his crisp dress shirt and landed in a muddy puddle.
"Keep it," I said.
I dug my birth identification card out of the trunk, the only document bearing the name Selene Hart. Leaving the heavy crates behind, I walked over to a border merchant packing up his supply cart under a nearby awning.
"I need a cloak," I told the merchant, pulling off my silk evening gloves. "Trade you these."
The merchant eyed the expensive fabric but shook his head, stepping away from the cart. "Alpha's orders. No trading with the exile."
"They are pure silk," I pressed, tossing them onto his cart. "You can sell them in the next town for a week's worth of rations. Give me the gray wool cloak."
The merchant glanced nervously at the guards. Seeing they were distracted by Caleb and Ivy, he quickly snatched the gloves and shoved a thick, coarse cloak into my arms.
As I fastened the rough fabric around my neck, Ivy's voice drifted through the rain.
"Should I have the staff redecorate the Luna suite tonight?" she asked, looking up at Caleb.
Caleb went completely silent. The rain hammered against the tin roof above them. That agonizing pause stretched, heavy and suffocating, before he finally answered.
"Whatever you prefer."
That brief hesitation sliced deeper than his anger. He wasn't just kicking me out; he was already erasing my ghost from his bedroom.
I pulled the hood over my head and walked toward the jagged iron spikes marking the entrance to Raven Pass. I crossed the threshold without looking back. The blue safety ward of the Mooncrest border extinguished behind me, plunging the mountain trail into absolute darkness.
A wooden signpost stood ten feet up the muddy path.
Nailed directly over the trail map was a fresh sheet of parchment, stamped heavily with Caleb's red wax Alpha seal.
The bold ink spelled out a clear mandate: Selene Hart, no Pack sponsorship, forbidden from entering any Mooncrest sanctuary.
