Brooke POV:
The pack cells. Silver alloy bars.
The air smelled of ozone and despair. Every brush against the bars sizzled my skin.
Footsteps. Easton appeared.
"Have you learned your lesson?"
"Is that why I'm here? A lesson?"
"You stole a sacred artifact. The council wants to banish you. But I can stop them. Confess. Apologize to Kelly. I'll keep you in the servant quarters."
I looked up.
"Safe? You pushed me into a table. You let them feed me raw meat. I am not safe with you."
"I am trying to protect you!"
I stood up. My legs shook, but my soul was steel.
"I, Brooke Rollins, reject you, Easton Spencer, as my mate."
The words hung in the damp air.
Easton flinched violently, grabbing his chest. The snap of a spiritual cord.
"What... You can't... we aren't marked..."
"The Moon Goddess knows. And now, so do you."
He laughed, strained. "Fine. Play the martyr. You are just a delusional Omega."
"Mr. Spencer." The desk sergeant. "Her bail has been posted."
"By whom?"
"Her mother."
My heart clenched.
I walked out. My mother was in the lobby, pale but fierce.
"Let's go, baby."
Outside, I asked, "Mom, the money... how?"
"I sold it," she signed, eyes wet. "Your father's watch. The Patek. It was the last thing we had."
My chest hollowed out. That watch was supposed to be her retirement. Her safety net.
I removed my SIM card and snapped it, dropping it into the gutter.
"Goodbye, Easton," I said to the air.
Behind me, Easton stood in the doorway, clutching his chest, looking like a man who had lost a limb but hadn't realized it yet.
