Chapter 2
Elowen's POV
They dragged me through the outer gates like I weighed nothing.
Iron fingers. Rough hands. Gravel biting into my bare feet as I stumbled. The pack didn't follow.Their eyes did enough damage on their own.
I didn't scream.
That surprised me.
I thought I would. I thought humiliation would crack me open and pour sound out of me until there was nothing left. But my throat locked up. My chest burned. And my wolf… my wolf was very, very quiet.
Too quiet.
"Keep moving," one of the guards snapped, shoving my shoulder.
I caught myself before I fell. My palms scraped stone anyway. The pain grounded me, better than the buzzing in my head.
"You don't have to do this," I said. My voice sounded wrong. Steadier than I felt. "The law says exiled wolves are given supplies."
"Law also says rejected mates don't get mercy," the other guard replied without looking at me. "You're lucky we're walking you out at all."
Lucky.
I almost laughed.
The gates creaked open, heavy wood groaning like it resented me too. Cold air hit my face. Night pressed in, thick with pine and damp earth. The pack territory stretched behind me, warm and lit and full of people who had watched me get erased.
The gates slammed shut.
The sound echoed.
For a long second, no one spoke.
Then one guard cleared his throat. "You know the boundary lines. Cross back and it's execution."
Execution.
The word slid under my skin and stayed there.
"I know," I said.
They waited. Maybe for me to beg. Maybe for me to cry. When I didn't, one of them shifted awkwardly.
"Go," he muttered.
So I did.
I walked until the path thinned and the trees swallowed me whole.
Only then did my legs give out.
I dropped hard, knees hitting dirt, breath tearing out of me like something had punched my lungs from the inside. My hands curled into fists, nails biting skin. The pain inside me surged again, bright and furious.
"Stop," I whispered. "Please… just stop."
It didn't.
The bond flared like it was alive and not broken,not fading. But stretching and pulling. I could feel Kael like a phantom limb, distant but constant. A pressure behind my ribs. A presence that refused to leave.
"I thought rejection was supposed to kill this," I muttered.
My wolf stirred.
"She didn't let go," my wolf said slowly.
I froze.
"She?" I whispered.
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was listening.
"What do you mean, she didn't let go?" I asked.
My wolf shifted uneasily. "The moon," she said. "Or something wearing her voice."
That sent a shiver down my spine.
I pressed my forehead to the dirt, breathing in damp earth, grounding myself. "You're confused," I said softly. "We both are. Trauma does that."
My wolf didn't answer.
The pain spiked suddenly, sharp enough to make me gasp. I cried out, fingers clawing at my chest as heat flooded my veins. The mark burned again, hotter this time, like it was being carved deeper.
"No," I hissed. "No no no."
Power surged.
I felt it before I saw it. A pressure behind my eyes. A hum in my bones. The air around me thickened, vibrating like a plucked string.
The trees rustled violently.
Leaves tore free, spiraling around me in a tight, furious circle. The ground beneath my knees cracked, thin lines spreading outward like veins.
I stared, heart hammering.
"I didn't do this," I whispered.
But my wolf laughed.
Not cruel. Not kind.
Alive.
"You didn't stop it either," she said.
The leaves dropped all at once.
The forest went silent.
I sagged forward, shaking.
That was when I smelled blood.
Not mine.
I snapped my head up.
Someone stood between the trees.
Darian Blackroot.
The Beta didn't step closer. He didn't bow. He just watched me with that sharp, calculating gaze that had always made me uneasy.
"I wondered how far you'd make it," he said.
I pushed myself to my feet, swaying. "Come to finish the job?"
"If I wanted you dead, you'd already be bleeding," he replied calmly.
That didn't make me feel better.
"What do you want?" I asked.
He glanced at the cracked earth beneath me. At the scorched leaves. At the faint glow still pulsing under my skin.
"To see if the rumors were true," he said.
"What rumors?"
"That your wolf never learned how to submit."
I let out a humorless laugh. "She didn't get the lesson."
His lips twitched. "Clearly."
We stood there, tension thick and coiled. He was armed. I wasn't. At least, not visibly.
"You shouldn't have reacted like that in the circle," he said finally.
I stared at him. "I was being rejected."
"You were being tested," he corrected. "And you failed."
Something cold slid down my spine. "Tested by who?"
He didn't answer.
"Kael didn't want this," Darian said instead. "You should know that."
I scoffed. "He said the words."
"Yes," Darian agreed. "He did."
"And let me be dragged out like trash," I added.
Darian's jaw tightened. "You're alive."
"Barely," I snapped. "And exiled."
"For now."
That made me pause. "For now?"
He met my eyes. "Things aren't finished."
"Funny," I said. "It felt pretty final."
He exhaled slowly. "The bond didn't break."
I stiffened.
"You felt it too," he continued. "The pull. The backlash. The moon reacting."
"You shouldn't admit that," I said.
"No," he agreed. "I shouldn't."
Silence stretched again.
"Why tell me this?" I asked.
"Because if the elders realize what you are," he said quietly, "they won't exile you next time."
My pulse spiked. "What I am?"
He hesitated.
That scared me more than any threat.
"You should leave the borders," he said finally. "Put distance between you and the pack."
"I thought distance weakened bonds," I said.
"Usually," he replied. "This one doesn't behave."
Neither do I, I almost said.
Instead I asked, "Why help me?"
Darian looked away. Toward the trees. Toward the sky where the moon hid behind thin cloud.
"Because last time," he said, "we obeyed."
My stomach twisted. "Last time?"
He shook his head sharply. "Forget I said that."
"I won't," I said.
"I know."
He stepped back, retreating into the shadows. "Run, Elowen," he added. "Before someone braver comes looking."
"Like Kael?" I asked.
Darian didn't answer.
He vanished.
The forest swallowed him like it had been waiting.
I stood there long after he left, heart racing, thoughts colliding.
My head hurt.
I stumbled deeper into the woods, moving on instinct. The bond tugged again, a low ache pulling me in the opposite direction of my feet. I ignored it.
"I don't belong there," I whispered.
My wolf didn't argue.
That worried me.
Hours passed. Maybe. Time felt slippery. I found a shallow cave near a stream and collapsed inside it, exhaustion finally winning. My body shook as the adrenaline drained away.
Sleep took me fast.
Too fast.
Fire filled my dreams.
Stone beneath my knees. Hands gripping my arms. A crowd watching. Not silent this time, but chanting, angry and afraid.
"Enough," a voice thundered.
I looked up.
The moon hung low and red.
"You will be remembered as a mistake," someone said.
"No," I replied in the dream, calm and furious. "I will be remembered as a warning."
Pain exploded.
I woke up screaming.
The mark on my chest burned white-hot, light spilling between my fingers as I clutched it. The cave walls trembled. Pebbles fell from the ceiling.
And outside, just beyond the mouth of the cave, someone whispered my name.
"Elowen."
This time, it wasn't ancient.
It was familiar.
Kael stood in the shadows, eyes glowing, fear written openly across his face.