The forest blurred around Ashina as she ran.
Her wolf surged forward, demanding she shift, but she fought it back. If she shifted, she'd be fasterbut she'd also lose the ability to scream, to call for help, to speak. And right now, her human voice was the only weapon she had.
Run. Just run. Get to the houses. Get to people.
Her lungs burned. Branches tore at her clothes, her skin. The moon cast silver shadows that twisted into shapes that looked like him, making her flinch and stumble.
Behind her, she heard nothing. No footsteps. No breathing. No pursuit. But she knew he was there.
The bond pulled at her chest like a fishhook lodged in her ribs, growing tighter with every step she took away from him. It sang with his presence, close and getting closer, a predator tracking prey that could never truly escape.
"Help!" The word ripped from her throat, desperate and thin. "Someone help me!" But she had wandered too far. The residential area was at least a mile away, and sound didn't carry well through dense forest. Her pack members couldn't hear her. Couldn't save her. She was alone.
Ashina's foot caught on a root and she went down hard. Pain exploded through her knee, her palms. She scrambled to get up, to keep running, but he was there.
Kendrick stood ten feet ahead of her, blocking her path as if he'd simply materialized from the shadows. He wasn't even breathing hard. Hadn't broken a sweat. While she was gasping and bleeding and terrified, he looked calm. Controlled. Inevitable. Like he'd known all along she couldn't escape.
"No." Ashina crawled backward, her hands scraping against dirt and leaves. "Stay away from me."
"I can't do that." His voice was low, rough with an emotion she couldn't name. "You know I can't."
"Please." Tears streamed down her face. "Please don't do this."
He took a step forward. She scrambled back.
"I gave you a choice," Kendrick said, and there was something almost gentle in his tone which made it worse somehow, made it more terrifying. "I gave you twenty-four hours. Time to come to me willingly. Time to accept what we both know is inevitable."
"It's only been a few hours"
"I know." Another step. "I tried to wait. I swear to you, I tried. But I felt you through the bond your pain, your confusion, your heartbreak over him. Felt you tearing yourself apart." His jaw clenched. "I can't watch it anymore. I won't."
"That's not your choice to make!" She found her feet, stood on shaking legs. "You don't get to decide what's good for me. You don't get to" She ran. Bolted to the left, using every ounce of speed she possessed. Maybe if she could just reach the stream, cross into the neutral territory beyond, find somewhere to hide. Kendrick caught her before she'd gone three steps. His arm wrapped around her waist from behind, lifting her off her feet as easily as if she weighed nothing. Ashina screamed a raw, primal sound of terror and rage and fought like a wild thing. Her elbow connected with his ribs. Her nails raked his forearm, drawing blood. Her legs kicked backward, trying to reach anything vulnerable.
"Let me go! Let me GO!"
"I can't." His voice was strained now, tight with control that was rapidly fraying. "Ashina, please stop fighting. You're going to hurt yourself."
"I don't care!" She twisted violently, and they both stumbled. Her teeth snapped toward his arm, trying to bite, to cause pain, to make him release her. "I hate you! I'll always hate you!"
Something in his chest rumbled a sound too low to be human, his wolf rising to the surface. His grip tightened, and suddenly she was pressed back against a tree trunk, his body pinning hers, his hands capturing her wrists and holding them above her head with one large hand.
She was trapped. Completely, utterly trapped.
"Stop," Kendrick commanded, and his voice carried Alpha power that made her wolf whimper in submission even as Ashina herself continued to struggle. "Stop fighting me. You're only making this harder."
"Good!" She spat the word at him. "I want it to be hard. I want you to remember that I fought. That I said no. That I never wanted this!"
Pain flashed across his face real, visceral pain but his resolve didn't waver. "I know. And you have every right to hate me for what I'm about to do. But I'm doing it anyway."
"Why?" The question came out as a broken sob. "Why can't you just let me go?"
"Because I love you." The words hung in the air between them, shocking in their simplicity. Their honesty.
Ashina stared at him and for the first time, she really looked at him. Saw past the Alpha, past the predator, to the man beneath. His ice-blue eyes were anguished. His jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle jumping. His hands trembled where they held her, trembled with restraint, with the effort of not just taking what he wanted.
"You don't even know me," she whispered.
"I know enough." His free hand came up to cup her face, and the gentleness of it was devastating. "I know you're brave. I know you're loyal. I know you'd rather destroy yourself than give up on something you believe in. I know you deserve better than a man who walks away when things get difficult."
"You're not better," she choked out. "You're worse. You're taking away my choice."
"I know." His thumb brushed away a tear. "And I'll carry that guilt for the rest of my life. But I'll carry it gladly if it means keeping you safe. If it means you don't waste years on a man who will never love you the way you deserve."
"You don't get to decide that!"
"You're right. I don't." He leaned down, and his forehead pressed against hers. Through the bond, she felt what he was feeling, desperation so profound it made her chest ache, regret that tasted like ash, a fierce protectiveness that bordered on obsession, and underneath it all, a longing so deep it felt like drowning. "But I'm deciding anyway. Forgive me."
"Don't"
His head dipped to her neck.
"NO!" Ashina thrashed violently, panic exploding through every nerve. "No, no, please don't Kendrick, PLEASE"
"I'm sorry," he whispered against her skin, and she felt his breath hot against the junction of her neck and shoulder. "I'm so sorry." His teeth pierced her skin. The pain was immediate and blinding. Ashina screamed, the sound tearing from her throat raw and agonized. It felt like his teeth were made of molten metal, burning through skin and muscle and bone. She could feel the bond activating, snapping into place with a force that stole her breath. And then the pain transformed. The burning spread from the bite outward, through her veins, through every cell of her body. But it wasn't pain anymore or not only pain. It was sensation. Connection. Completion. Like something inside her that had been broken was suddenly, violently whole. The bond opened. Kendrick's emotions crashed into her like a tidal wave. Desperation. He was desperate had been for months, for years, for his entire life. Waiting for her. Searching for her. Going slowly insane with the need to find his mate, to have someone who was his, who belonged to him, who would never leave. Regret. God, the regret was crushing. He hated what he was doing. Hated that she was afraid, that she was crying, that he was the cause of her pain. It tore at him like claws, shredding him from the inside.
Protectiveness. Fierce and absolute and utterly uncompromising. He would kill anyone who threatened her. Would burn the world down if it kept her safe. Would die before he let harm come to her. And underneath it all desire. Not just physical, though that was there too, hot and insistent. But a desire for her. For her smile, her laugh, her strength. A desire to know every thought in her head, every dream in her heart. A desire to be worthy of her, even though he knew what he was doing in this moment made him unworthy.
He loved her.Completely. Absolutely. With a devotion that was almost terrifying in its intensity. And she could feel it. Could feel him. Not just his emotions, but his presence like he'd carved out a space inside her soul and made it his.
Kendrick's teeth released her skin, and he pulled back slowly, carefully. His tongue swept over the wound, and Ashina felt the sting of it, felt the mark sealing, felt her skin knitting back together under his ministration. Leaving behind a permanent scar.
His mark. His claim.
She was shaking. Her entire body trembled like she'd been electrocuted. The bond thrummed between them, golden and inevitable, and she could feel him through it now, his location, his emotions, his everything. He was everywhere. Inside her mind. Inside her heart. Inside her very soul. She'd never be free of him. Never be able to escape. The bond had made sure of that.
Kendrick stepped back, and the loss of his body heat made her sag against the tree. Her legs wouldn't hold her. Her hands touched her neck, feeling the raised edges of the bite mark, still warm, still tender. His mark. Permanent. Unchangeable.
"I'm sorry," Kendrick said again, and his voice was wrecked. Through the bond, she felt his self-loathing, his guilt, his desperate hope that someday somehow she might forgive him. "I know you'll never forgive me for this. I know you'll hate me. And that's okay. I can live with your hatred as long as you're safe."
Ashina couldn't speak. Couldn't think past the bond screaming in her head, past the mark burning on her neck, past the overwhelming sensation of being claimed.
"You're mine now," Kendrick continued, and there was finality in his words. "The bond is complete. You'll come to Moonlit Pack willingly, or the bond will drag you there. Your choice."
He paused, and she felt his longing, his desire to reach for her, to comfort her, to pull her into his arms and soothe the pain he'd caused. But he didn't. Instead, he took another step back. And another.
"I'll give you tonight," he said quietly. "Tonight to say goodbye to your family. To pack your things. To process." His jaw clenched. "But tomorrow, you come to me. Tomorrow, you take your place as Luna of Moonlit Pack."
"I'll never" Her voice broke. "I'll never forgive you for this."
"I know." His eyes met hers, and the sorrow there was genuine, devastating. "I'm counting on it. Your hatred will keep you sharp. Keep you strong. Keep you safe from manipulative bastards like Darren who prey on women who trust too easily."
"You're no better than him."
The words were meant to wound, and through the bond, she felt them land. Felt his flinch, his pain.
"You're right," Kendrick said after a moment. "I'm worse. Because I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I did it anyway." He turned, melting into the shadows. His voice drifted back to her, soft and broken. "But you're alive. You're safe and you're mine. I'll live with being the villain if it means I don't have to live without you." Then he was gone. Simply gone Disappeared into the forest as if he'd never been there.
But Ashina could still feel him. Through the bond, she could sense his location moving away, heading north toward Moonlit territory. Could feel his emotions, guilt and relief and fierce possession all tangled together. Could feel the phantom touch of his hands on her skin, his teeth in her neck, his mark burning like a brand.
She sank to the ground, legs finally giving out. Her hand pressed against the mark, and even that gentle touch sent shockwaves through her system. The bond pulsed, satisfied now, complete.
She was marked. Claimed. His.
A sob tore from her throat, then another, until she was crying so hard she couldn't breathe. Everything hurt her neck, her heart, her soul. The bond was a living thing inside her connecting her irrevocably to a man she'd rejected, a man who'd just violated her choice in the most fundamental way possible and the worst part? The absolute worst part? Through the bond, she could feel that he really did love her. That he really did think he was protecting her. That he really would carry the guilt of this moment for the rest of his life.It didn't make it right. Nothing could make it right. But it made it complicated.
Made her hatred feel less clean, less simple. Because how do you hate someone whose devotion you can feel like a living thing? How do you despise someone whose self-loathing matches your own rage?
How do you fight a bond that's already claiming your heart, even as your mind screams rejection? Ashina didn't know.
All she knew was that tomorrow, she would have to go to Moonlit Pack. Tomorrow, she would have to face Kendrick Ridge again. Tomorrow, she would have to figure out how to live with this bond, this mark, this connection she never wanted but could never escape.
Tomorrow, her life as she knew it would end. But tonight she would cry. Tonight she would mourn. Tonight she would touch the mark on her neck and feel the bond settling into her bones like chains. Moonlit chains that bound her to an Alpha she'd rejected. Chains she could never, ever break.
Through the bond, she felt Kendrick stop moving. Felt him turn, as if he could sense her despair. Felt his desperate wish that he could come back, could hold her, could make this better somehow. But he didn't come back and she was glad because if he came back now, she didn't know whether she'd try to kill him or collapse into his arms.
The bond made everything confused. Made her feelings twisted and wrong. Made her hate him and need him in the same breath. Made her wonder if maybe just maybe he'd been right that she was destroying herself over Darren. That the mate bond knew something she didn't. That fate had chosen correctly, even if the path there had been violation and force.
No, she told herself fiercely. No. What he did was wrong. The bond doesn't make it right but the bond whispered back. He's yours. You're his. This is how it was always meant to be.And Ashina didn't know which voice to believe anymore.
So she sat in the forest, alone and marked and bound, and felt Kendrick's presence in her mind like a second heartbeat. Felt him everywhere.Always. Forever. And knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE AFTERMATH
One moment she was collapsed in the forest, the mark on her neck still burning, Kendrick's presence thrumming through the bond like a second pulse. The next, she was stumbling up her front porch steps, her hand pressed against her neck, trying to cover the mark even though she knew it was impossible to hide.
The mate mark wasn't just a scar. It radiated power, Alpha power announcing to every wolf who saw it exactly who had claimed her.
The front door was unlocked. It always was. Silverpaw Pack was small, tight-knit, safe or at least, it had been until an Alpha from another territory had stalked onto their lands and marked one of their own without permission.
"Ashina?" Her mother's voice came from the kitchen, warm and concerned. "Sweetheart, is that you? You were gone longer than...." Elena appeared in the hallway and froze. Her eyes locked onto Ashina's neck, onto the mark that was impossible to miss even in the dim light. Her face went white. The dish towel in her hands dropped to the floor.
"Oh, baby." The words came out as a broken whisper. "Oh no. No, no, no."
Ashina tried to speak, but nothing came out except a strangled sob. Her legs gave out.
Elena caught her before she hit the ground.
"Marcus!" Her mother's scream was raw with panic and fury. "MARCUS, GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
Ashina collapsed into her mother's arms, and suddenly she was five years old again, crying over a scraped knee while her mother kissed it better. Except her mother couldn't kiss this better. No one could. The mark was permanent. The bond was complete.
She was claimed.
"What happened?" Elena held her tight, one hand cradling Ashina's head against her shoulder, carefully avoiding the mark. "Tell me what happened."
"He" Ashina's voice broke. "He marked me. I said no, I fought him, but he...."
"Who?" But Elena's eyes were already traveling to the mark, reading the signature of power in it. Her face hardened. "Kendrick Ridge." It wasn't a question.
Footsteps thundered down the stairs. Marcus appeared, hair disheveled from sleep, wearing only pajama pants. "What's wrong? I heard...." He saw Ashina's neck.
His expression shifted from concern to shock to absolute rage in the span of a heartbeat. His eyes flooded gold his wolf surging forward. A growl rumbled from his chest, so deep and primal it made the windows rattle.
"That son of a bitch." Each word was bitten off, barely controlled. "That fucking son of a bitch MARKED her?"
"Marcus" Elena warned.
"Without permission? Without courtship? He just..." Marcus's hands clenched into fists, his whole body vibrating with barely leashed violence. "I'll kill him. I'll challenge him and I'll rip his throat out with my bare hands."
"Dad, don't" Ashina's voice was thin, weak. Through the bond, she felt Kendrick react to her distress, felt him start moving, heading back toward Silverpaw territory. "He'll kill you. You can't"
"I don't care!" Marcus roared. "He violated you! He forced a claim on my daughter! There are LAWS"
"Laws he used." Ashina pulled away from her mother, wrapping her arms around herself. She felt so cold, so empty except for the mark burning on her neck and the bond thrumming in her chest. "Ancient pack laws. The ones that allow an Alpha to claim his mate if she's in danger."
"You weren't in danger," Marcus snarled.
"He thinks I was." The words tasted bitter. "Because of Darren."
More footsteps on the stairs, lighter and faster. Torin burst into the hallway, seventeen and all fury and protective instinct. His eyes went straight to his sister's neck, and his face contorted with rage that mirrored their father's.
"I'll kill him." Torin's voice was shaking. "Ashina, I'll fucking kill him for touching you."
"Torin, language" Elena started automatically, then seemed to realize how absurd that was given the circumstances.
"He's an Alpha," Ashina said numbly. "You can't beat him. None of you can. He's..." Through the bond, she felt him getting closer. Felt his concern, his need to check on her. "He's coming."
Marcus's head snapped up. "What?"
"I can feel him. Through the bond. He's heading this way." Panic rose in Ashina's chest. She couldn't see him. Not yet. Not with his mark still burning on her neck and her family's rage filling the air. "Dad, please. Don't confront him. Not tonight."
"Like hell I won't"
"Marcus." Elena's voice cut through his anger like a blade. She stood, putting herself between her mate and the door. "Look at her. Really look at her."
Ashina knew what her mother was seeing. Tear-stained face. Trembling hands. Eyes wild with shock and fear and something else, something complicated that she didn't want to name. The mate bond was already working on her, already making her feel things she didn't want to feel.
"She needs us calm," Elena continued firmly. "She needs us here, supporting her. Not rushing off to get ourselves killed in a pointless challenge."
"Pointless?" Marcus's voice rose. "He assaulted our daughter"
"And the mark is permanent!" Elena's voice broke on the word. "It's done, Marcus. It's done. Fighting him won't undo it. It'll just leave Ashina orphaned or fatherless and she needs her family now more than ever." The words hung in the air, heavy and terrible because they were true.
Torin made a sound like a wounded animal. "There has to be something we can do. We can't just let him get away with this."
"We won't," Elena said quietly. "But tonight, we take care of Ashina. Tomorrow, we figure out the rest."
Through the bond, Ashina felt Kendrick stop moving. Felt him standing at the edge of Silverpaw territory, waiting. Not coming closer, but not leaving either. Just waiting. Making sure she was okay.
The realization made her stomach twist with confusion. How dare he care if she was okay after what he'd done? How dare he hover protectively after violating her in the most fundamental way possible?
But through the bond, she felt his genuine concern. His need to ensure her safety. His desperate wish that he could go to her, comfort her, take away her pain. It made everything so much worse.
"Come on, baby." Elena guided Ashina toward the living room couch. "Sit down. Marcus, get her some water. Torin, warm compress for her neck it'll help with the pain."
They moved mechanically, her family members falling into caretaker roles because they didn't know what else to do. Marcus returned with water in a shaking glass. Torin brought a warm washcloth, his jaw clenched so tight Ashina worried he'd crack a tooth.
"Tell us what happened," Elena said gently, sitting beside Ashina and taking her hand. "From the beginning."
So Ashina did. She told them about the walk in the forest, about Kendrick appearing from the shadows, about trying to run. About the ultimatum he'd given her, come willingly or be claimed by force. About her desperate attempt to escape.
"I fought him," she said, and her voice shook with the memory. "I fought so hard. But he's so much stronger, and he just pinned me and he...." She couldn't finish. Couldn't say the words. Her hand went to the mark, pressing against it, and even that gentle pressure sent sensation shooting through her nervous system. Not pain. Something else. Something the bond interpreted as connection and rightness that made her want to scream.
"That bastard," Marcus breathed. "That absolute bastard."
"What did he say?" Elena asked. "When he marked you?"
"That he loved me." The words came out bitter, angry. "That he was protecting me. That he'd rather I hate him forever than watch me destroy myself over Darren." Ashina laughed, but it sounded broken. "As if forcing me gives him some moral high ground."
"The mate bond wouldn't choose wrong, sweetheart." Elena's voice was soft, careful.
"Mom, don't"
"I'm not saying what he did was right. It wasn't. What he did was a violation, plain and simple." Elena squeezed her hand. "But the mate bond chose him for you for a reason. The Moon doesn't make mistakes."
"Then the Moon is wrong!" Ashina pulled her hand away, standing abruptly. The movement made her dizzy, and she felt Kendrick's concern pulse through the bond. She shoved it down, refusing to acknowledge it. "I don't want him. I didn't choose him. The bond means nothing if I have no choice in accepting it!"
"You're right," Marcus said firmly. "He had no right. Alpha or not, ancient laws or not, what he did was wrong."
"But the mark is permanent," Torin said quietly. His young face looked older suddenly, harder. "Isn't it?"
Silence fell over the room.
"Yes," Elena finally answered. "The mark is permanent. It can't be removed or reversed. The bond is complete."
"So what are our options?" Marcus demanded. "Challenge? Petition the Council of Alphas? Go to war with Moonlit Pack?"
"We can't go to war," Elena said practically. "Moonlit Pack is three times our size and has one of the most powerful Alphas in the region. It would be a massacre."
"So we just accept it?" Torin's voice rose with frustration. "We just let him take her?"
"We don't have a choice," Ashina whispered. The words hurt to say, but they were true. "The bond it's already pulling at me. Making me feel sick the longer I'm away from him. Tomorrow, I have to go to Moonlit Pack. If I don't go willingly, the bond will drag me there anyway."
She sank back onto the couch, feeling defeated and exhausted and so, so confused.
Through the bond, she felt Kendrick's location. Still at the edge of the territory. Still waiting. And underneath his concern, she felt his guilt massive and crushing, eating at him from the inside. He hated what he'd done. Hated that she was in pain. Hated himself for being the cause. But he didn't regret marking her. She could feel that too. He'd make the same choice again if given the chance.
"There's one more thing we could try," Marcus said slowly. "If Darren came forward. If he publicly claimed you..."
"Dad, no." Ashina's laugh was hollow. "Darren doesn't want me. He made that clear. He's not coming to my rescue."
Even as she said it, part of her hoped she was wrong. Hoped that maybe Darren would hear what happened and come rushing to Silverpaw territory, ready to fight for her, to challenge Kendrick, to prove his love was real.
She pulled out her phone with shaking hands and typed out a message: Kendrick marked me. He forced a claim. I need you. Please.
The message showed as delivered. Then read. But no response came.
One minute passed. Then five. Then ten. Nothing.
Darren had read her message, read that she'd been forcibly marked, that she needed him—and said nothing.
The silence was answer enough.
"Sweetheart" Elena's voice was full of pity.
"Don't." Ashina's throat was tight. "Please don't say it."
"Say what?" Torin asked, looking between them.
"That Kendrick was right," Ashina said bitterly. "That Darren was using me. That the mate bond knew what it was doing when it chose Kendrick over him."
"I was going to say," Elena corrected gently, "that you deserve so much better than a man who doesn't show up when you need him most."
The words broke something in Ashina. The last fragile hope that maybe Darren really did care, really was just scared, really would come through when it mattered.But he hadn't. He had read that she was in crisis and chosen silence.
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "What do I do?"
"You survive," Marcus said firmly, and when Ashina looked at him, she saw tears in his own eyes. "You go to Moonlit Pack because you have to. You become their Luna because the bond demands it. But you don't have to forgive him, Ashina. You don't have to love him. You don't have to make this easy."
"Your father's right," Elena added. "The bond may tie you to him, but your heart is still yours. Don't give it away unless he earns it."
"How is he supposed to earn it after this?" Ashina touched the mark again, and through the bond, she felt Kendrick's response, a sharp intake of breath, a surge of awareness, a desperate longing. "How do I forgive someone for taking away my choice?"
"I don't know if you can," Elena said honestly. "But I do know this, the bond will make you feel things whether you want to or not. It'll confuse you. Make you question your own emotions. You need to stay grounded in what you know is true: what he did was wrong. Let that be your anchor."
Ashina nodded, even though she wasn't sure she could do it. The bond was already blurring the lines, making her feel his guilt and love and devotion alongside her own rage and betrayal.
"I should pack," she said dully. "He said I have until tomorrow."
"We'll help you." Torin stood quickly, looking grateful for something concrete to do.
They moved upstairs in a somber procession. Ashina's room looked the same as it had this morning before everything changed. Before a mark on her neck and a bond in her chest rewrote her entire future.
Her mother opened the closet. Her brother pulled her suitcase from under the bed. Her father stood in the doorway, looking like he wanted to put his fist through the wall.
"Take this," Elena said, pulling out a silver necklace, the one she'd given Ashina at her first shift. "For protection. For strength."
"Take these," Torin added, shoving several of his oversized hoodies at her. "So you have something that smells like home."
"Take this," Marcus said gruffly, pressing something into her hand. She looked down and saw his pocket knife, the one his father had given him passed down through three generations. "In case you need to defend yourself."
Against an Alpha? Ashina thought but didn't say. The knife would be useless against Kendrick's strength. But it wasn't about the weapon. It was about her family giving her pieces of themselves, arming her with love since they couldn't give her freedom.
They packed in silence, clothes, toiletries and small mementos of home with each item that went into the suitcase, Ashina felt the reality settling deeper. Tomorrow, she would leave this house. This room. This life. Tomorrow, she would go to Moonlit Pack as Kendrick's claimed mate. Tomorrow, she would become Luna to wolves she didn't know, in a territory that wasn't hers, bound to an Alpha she'd rejected.
Her phone buzzed. Hope flared painfully that maybe Darren had finally respondedbut it was just a spam text.
Through the bond, she felt Kendrick finally leave the edge of the territory, heading back to Moonlit Pack. She felt his relief that she was safe with her family. Felt his determination to make tomorrow as easy as possible for her. Felt his love like a constant hum beneath everything else and hated that she could feel it. Hated that the bond made his love undeniable, made his devotion tangible, made it impossible to see him as simply a monster when she could feel every layer of his complexity.
"It's not fair," she whispered, staring at her half-packed suitcase.
"No," Elena agreed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It's not."
"I didn't ask for this."
"I know."
"I don't want him."
"I know that too." Elena pressed a kiss to her temple, careful to avoid the mark. "But want and need aren't always the same thing. And whether you want to admit it or not, your wolf needs him. The bond needs him. That's not your fault, and it doesn't make what he did right. It just makes everything more complicated."
Ashina looked at her packed bags, her entire life condensed into two suitcases and a duffel bag. Tomorrow, she would carry them out the door and into a car that would take her to Moonlit Pack. Tomorrow, her old life would end. Tomorrow, she would begin a new life as the unwilling mate of an Alpha who loved her enough to violate her and she had no idea how to survive it.
"I'm scared," she admitted in a small voice.
"I know, baby." Elena held her tighter. "But you're strong. Stronger than you know. You'll survive this and we'll visit. Every week if you want. You're not losing us."
"Just my freedom."
"Just your choice," Elena corrected sadly. "And I'm so, so sorry."
They stood there in Ashina's childhood bedroom, surrounded by packed bags and the ghosts of who she used to be, and mourned the future she'd lost.
Downstairs, the front door opened and closed. Ashina's heart jumped but through the bond, she knew it wasn't Kendrick. He'd kept his word. He was giving her tonight.
Footsteps on the stairs. Her younger cousin, probably, coming to check on her. News traveled fast in pack territory but when the figure appeared in her doorway, it wasn't her cousin.
It was Darren.
He stood there, looking uncomfortable and guilty and like he'd rather be anywhere else. His eyes flickered to the mark on her neck and quickly away.
"Ashina," he said. "Can we talk?"