Elena POV
I was running out of time. The contractions weren't just a tide anymore; they were a vice, crushing my spine and threatening to drag me under.
I had made it to the edge of the Blackwood territory, hidden within the dense, frozen treeline near the highway. My hands shook violently as I opened the encrypted Mind-Link one last time.
*Father. I have rejected him. I am at the southern mile marker. I cannot walk anymore.*
The silence lasted only a second, but it felt like a lifetime.
Then, a new voice entered my mind. It was female, calm, and radiated a power that felt like warm sunlight breaking through a storm.
*Elena. This is Sarah, Beta of the Sterling Pack. We are three minutes away. Hold on. We are coming for you.*
Tears froze on my cheeks. *Thank you.*
*Do not thank us,* Sarah replied, her mental voice fierce and unyielding. *You are pack. You are family. We do not leave our own behind.*
I leaned against a massive oak tree, sliding down until I sat in the snow. The cold seeped into my jeans, but it was a welcome numbness against the fire in my belly.
"I am not useless," I whispered, repeating the mantra until the words lost their shape. "My value is not defined by him."
The full moon hung heavy in the sky. The Rejection I had spoken lingered in the air, a guillotine blade suspended by a thread, waiting to drop.
Headlights cut through the darkness, blinding and brilliant. A black SUV, sleek and armored, screeched to a halt on the shoulder of the road, kicking up a spray of gravel and ice.
The door flew open. A tall woman with silver-streaked hair jumped out. Sarah.
She didn't ask questions. She didn't judge the blood on my clothes or the wretched state of my hair. She simply scooped me up in her arms. She lifted me as if I weighed nothing, her Beta strength undeniable.
"I've got you," she said, her voice a solid anchor. "You're safe."
She placed me in the back seat. It was warm. There were blankets, water, and the soothing scent of lavender.
"Drive," Sarah ordered the driver.
As the car pulled away, accelerating onto the highway, another vehicle approached from the opposite direction.
It was a sports car, speeding toward the Blackwood pack like a silver bullet.
The world seemed to sharpen into high definition.
Through the tinted window, I saw him. Damien was driving. His face was illuminated by the dashboard lights—pale, hollow, and haunting. He looked frantic, his mouth moving in a shout I couldn't hear.
Beside him sat Victoria. She was leaning close to him, her hand on his shoulder, whispering something poisonous.
Our cars passed each other.
For a split second, we occupied the same slice of space and time.
Damien’s head snapped to the left. He looked right at my window.
He couldn't see me through the tint, but he *felt* it. The severed bond snapped like a whip. I saw his hand fly to his chest, clutching his heart as if he’d been shot. The car swerved slightly.
Then Victoria lunged. She threw herself across the console, grabbing the steering wheel, forcefully pulling his attention back to her. She blocked his view. She blocked his instinct.
The moment broke.
We sped past. The distance between us grew—ten meters, a hundred meters, a mile.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, my lungs burning.
"He felt you," Sarah said softly from the front seat, watching me in the rearview mirror.
"It doesn't matter," I said, my voice hoarse. "It's just a ghost pain."
Sarah turned around. "We have the best Healers on standby. Your father is pacing a hole in the floor. We have a nursery set up. You will be an Alpha, Elena. Not a Luna who sits and waits. You will lead."
*Alpha.* The word tasted strange, but good. Like iron and promise.
I reached up to my neck. The skin there felt raw.
"Stop the car," I said suddenly.
"Elena?"
"Just for a second."
The driver slowed. I rolled down the window. The cold air rushed in, biting my face.
I had one last thing. A small silver bracelet, a gift from his mother. It was the last physical tie.
I threw it out the window. It disappeared into the dark, snowy ditch without a sound.
Sarah watched me, her eyes wide. "You really are done."
"I am," I said, rolling the window up. "Drive."
I looked back one last time. The Blackwood territory was just a glow on the horizon now. A smudge of light in the darkness.
"Goodbye, Luna Elena," I whispered.
Then I closed my eyes and put my hands on my belly, feeling the life beneath my palms.
"Hello, Alpha Elena."
The engine roared, carrying me away from the hell I had known, toward a future I would build with my own blood and claws.
