The patrol guards shoved me forward with the butt of a rifle, my bare feet stumbling over frozen roots and jagged stones. The thin fabric of my navy dress—the same one I'd worn to what I thought would be my fairy tale announcement—offered no protection against the brutal wind that cut through me like glass shards.
"Keep moving, rogue!" one of them barked, his breath forming white clouds in the frigid air. "You've got until sunrise to clear our territory."
Sunrise. I glanced at my phone's cracked screen—1:17 AM. Less than five hours to find shelter, food, warmth. Less than five hours before they'd hunt me down like the animal they believed me to be.
The forest loomed ahead, its twisted branches reaching toward the star-choked sky like skeletal fingers. Everyone called it the Death Forest—a place where banished wolves went to die, where rogues disappeared without a trace. The irony wasn't lost on me that this was where Greyson had chosen to dispose of his inconvenient mistake.
Another shove sent me sprawling into the snow, my palms scraping against hidden rocks. The cold bit through my skin instantly, numbing my fingers as I struggled to push myself upright. Behind me, I heard the guards' muffled laughter.
"Look at her," one sneered. "Can't even stand up properly. How's she supposed to survive out here?"
"That's the point," another replied. "Alpha Greyson's cleaning house. No loose ends."
Loose ends. That's what I was now—not Maya, not the woman who'd loved him with everything she had, not the mother carrying his child. Just a loose end to be severed and forgotten.
The patrol's footsteps retreated, leaving me alone with the howling wind and the crushing weight of my new reality. I wrapped my arms around my torso, trying to preserve what little body heat remained. My teeth chattered so violently I bit my tongue, tasting copper.
The snow fell heavier now, thick flakes that clung to my hair and dress, melting against my feverish skin before freezing again. Each step forward felt like walking through quicksand, my muscles seizing with cold, my vision blurring at the edges.
I pressed one hand against my stomach, where our child—Greyson's child—grew in secret. "I'm sorry," I whispered to the tiny life inside me. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."
The wind swallowed my words, carrying them away into the darkness. My legs gave out again, and this time I didn't have the strength to stand. The snow beneath me felt almost warm now, a dangerous sign I recognized from survival training. Hypothermia was setting in.
Images flashed through my mind—Greyson's hands tangled in my hair, his whispered promises of forever, the way he'd held me after making love like I was something precious. All lies. All calculated manipulation to keep his convenient plaything satisfied while he planned his real future with Sarah.
"Pathetic omega," I echoed his words, my voice barely audible over the storm. "Wolfless freak."
Maybe he was right. Maybe I was deluding myself, thinking I deserved more than scraps and shadows. Maybe dying here in the snow was exactly what someone like me deserved.
The cold was winning now, creeping through my veins like liquid nitrogen. My heartbeat slowed, my breathing becoming shallow. I could feel consciousness slipping away, the pain in my extremities fading to blessed numbness.
Just as my eyes began to close, twin beams of light cut through the swirling snow like searchlights. The rumble of a powerful engine grew louder, closer, until it stopped somewhere near my collapsed form.
A car door slammed, the sound sharp and decisive in the muffled quiet of the storm. Heavy footsteps crunched through the snow, each one deliberate and measured. Through my fading vision, I saw the outline of expensive leather boots, their surface unmarked by the harsh conditions.
The boots stopped inches from my face, and I caught a glimpse of perfectly pressed dress pants, the kind that cost more than most people's monthly salary. Whoever this was, they didn't belong in a place like the Death Forest at 1 AM during a blizzard.
"Well, well," a deep voice murmured above me, rich with an accent I couldn't place through my delirium. "What do we have here?"
I tried to lift my head, to see the face that belonged to the voice, but my muscles wouldn't obey. The cold had stolen too much from me already. All I could manage was a weak whimper, my breath forming tiny crystals in the air.
The stranger crouched down, bringing himself closer to my level. Even through my hypothermic haze, I could sense something different about him—a presence that made the air itself seem to vibrate with barely contained power. Not like Greyson's aggressive Alpha dominance, but something older, deeper, more refined.
"Interesting," he continued, and I felt rather than saw him studying me with clinical precision. "A banished wolf, pregnant, left to die in designer evening wear. Someone wanted to make a statement."
How could he know about the pregnancy? I'd barely known myself until a few hours ago. But the question dissolved as another wave of cold crashed over me, stealing what little warmth remained in my core.
"Please," I managed to whisper, the word barely forming on my frozen lips. "My baby."
Silence stretched between us, filled only by the wind's relentless howling. I prepared myself for rejection, for this stranger to walk away and leave me to my fate. After all, why would anyone risk themselves for a worthless omega cast out by her own pack?
Instead, strong arms slid beneath me, lifting me from the snow with surprising gentleness. The warmth of another body pressed against mine, and I couldn't help the sob of relief that escaped my throat.
"Don't worry, little wolf," the voice murmured as he carried me toward the waiting vehicle. "You're safe now."
The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was the gleam of a royal crest embossed on the side of the black SUV, its gold surface catching the vehicle's headlights like a promise of salvation.
