Chapter 5

Sarah POV:

The morning of the Marking Ceremony dawned gray and cold.

I stood outside the pack house, a small suitcase at my feet. The wind bit through my thin coat.

"You're actually leaving?"

I turned. Marcus's mother, the former Luna, stood on the porch. She held a cup of steaming coffee, looking warm and comfortable.

"I thought this is what you wanted," I said. "I'm going to the secluded cabin in the North Woods to 'recover.' Isn't that the story?"

"It's for the best," she sniffed, looking at me with disdain. "You can't expect Marcus to be tied to a barren mule. We need strong bloodlines. Oliver is a prodigy. You... you are a tragedy."

"A tragedy you helped create," I said quietly.

She narrowed her eyes. "Watch your tone, Omega. Be grateful we aren't exiling you completely."

A black SUV pulled up. It wasn't a pack car. It was a rental I had booked under a fake name.

Marcus came out of the house. He was on the phone, looking stressed.

"Yes, I'm signing the territory transfer now... It's Rachel's dowry, effectively... Yes, the Council approved it."

He hung up and looked at me. For a second, just a second, his expression wavered. He looked at my suitcase, then at my face.

"The cabin is stocked," he said stiffly. "I'll come visit... after the ceremony. Once things settle down."

"Don't bother," I said.

"Sarah, don't be difficult. This is hard for everyone."

"Hard?" I laughed, a dry, brittle sound. "You're marrying your mistress and legitimizing your son. I'm being shipped off to the woods like a sick dog. Yes, Marcus, it's very hard for you."

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "It's our mating ceremony, Sarah. In a way. I'm doing this to protect the pack. To protect *us*. You'll always be my first choice."

"Your first choice," I repeated. "Right."

I opened the car door.

"Say goodbye to Oliver for me," I said.

"He's with the nanny," Marcus said dismissively.

I got in. The driver, a man in a cap and sunglasses, nodded at me in the rearview mirror. It was a Winterbane warrior in disguise.

As the car pulled away, I watched Marcus in the side mirror. He stood there, growing smaller and smaller, surrounded by his parents and his lies.

We drove for an hour in silence. We crossed the pack boundary line.

As soon as we crossed that invisible barrier, something happened.

Deep in my chest, in the hollow space where my wolf used to be, I felt a flutter.

It was faint. Like the heartbeat of a bird. But it was there.

My hand flew to my chest.

"Everything okay, Ma'am?" the driver asked.

"I... I think so," I whispered.

The silver suppresses the wolf. It kills the connection. But my wolf... she was a fighter. She hadn't died. She had gone into a deep coma to survive the pain.

And now that I was away from the Alpha who had tried to kill her, away from the toxicity of the Darkmoon Pack, she was stirring.

I looked out the window at the passing trees.

Marcus thought he had destroyed me. He thought I was gone.

But as the car sped toward the freedom of the North, I knew one thing for certain.

The Luna he broke was about to become his worst nightmare.

"Drive faster," I told the warrior.

"Yes, Luna," he replied.

I smiled. It was the first real smile I had worn in years.