Chapter 2

Ava Miller POV

The SUV's taillights burned in the distance, twin embers fading into the night, mocking me.

*Ethan!* I screamed into the Mind-Link.

The connection didn't just close; it slammed shut. He felt me. He heard me. He simply didn't care.

I stood frozen on the gravel shoulder, sharp stones digging through the thin soles of my shoes. My chest heaved, gasping for air that felt too thin. The betrayal wasn't just an emotion; it was a physical weight, crushing my lungs.

Then, the sound tore through the silence.

A high-pitched screech of rubber fighting asphalt. The sickening, bone-jarring crunch of metal meeting concrete.

A few hundred yards down the highway, the SUV swerved violently to avoid a deer. It lost traction, spinning out of control before slamming broadside into the divider. The car flipped, airborne for a terrifying heartbeat, before rolling twice and landing upside down in the drainage ditch.

"Ethan!"

I didn't think. I didn't hesitate. My legs moved on instinct.

I sprinted down the darkened road, the cold air burning my throat. The bond-that cursed, one-sided tether-was screaming. I could feel his pain. I could taste his fear.

I scrambled down the steep embankment, sliding on loose dirt. Smoke poured from the crushed hood, a dark gray plume against the night sky. The acrid stench of gasoline and burnt rubber choked me.

"Ethan!" I cried, dropping to my knees by the driver's side.

The window was shattered. Ethan groaned, a stream of blood mapping a dark path down his forehead. He blinked, his eyes unfocused and dazed.

"Ava?" he rasped.

"I'm here," I sobbed, tearing at the jammed door handle. "I'm going to get you out."

Using strength I didn't know I possessed-a hysterical power fueled by the wolf inside me-I wrenched the crumpled metal door open.

"Help... Chloe," he gasped.

My heart stuttered. Even now. Even bleeding out, his first thought was her.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and grabbed his arm, hauling him out of the wreckage. He stumbled, coughing, clutching his bruised ribs.

"Chloe!" he shouted, shoving me away the moment he found his footing.

He scrambled to the passenger side. Chloe was screaming, her legs pinned by the crushed dashboard.

I moved to help, but the car groaned ominously. Bright sparks showered down, dangerously close to the ruptured fuel tank.

"Ethan, it's going to blow!" I yelled, lunging for his arm again.

He spun around, his eyes flashing with a terrifying, molten gold light.

"Save her!" he roared.

The Alpha's Command.

My body locked up instantly. It wasn't a choice; it was a seizure of my will. Invisible chains wrapped around my muscles, overriding my survival instinct. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't run. My own body became a puppet to his authority.

Against every screaming nerve, I was forced to dive back into the wreckage, past the jagged metal, to reach Chloe. I cut my arms on the shattered glass, ignoring the sting. I grabbed her wrist and pulled.

"Get off me!" Chloe shrieked, kicking at me in blind panic. "Let go!"

Ethan reached in past me, dragging her free. I tried to follow, but my leg caught on a twisted piece of the frame.

*Snap.*

The sound was louder than the fire.

Pain exploded in my shin, hot and blinding. I screamed as I fell onto the dirt, blood pouring from a deep gash where the bone had splintered.

BOOM.

The car exploded.

The blast wave threw me backward like a ragdoll. I hit the hard ground, my head striking a rock with a sickening thud. The world spun into a blur of gray and black.

Through the high-pitched ringing in my ears, I saw them.

Ethan was cradling Chloe on the grass. She had a few scratches, nothing more. He was checking her over with frantic, desperate hands, his face etched with a worry he had never shown me.

"Ethan..." I whispered. I tried to move, but my broken leg screamed in protest, pinning me to the earth.

He looked up.

His eyes were cold. There was no gratitude. No love. Just irritation.

Pack warriors and healers were arriving now, their sirens wailing in the distance, cutting through the ringing in my head.

"Alpha!" a healer shouted, rushing toward us with a medical kit.

Ethan stood up, lifting Chloe into his arms as if she were porcelain.

"Tend to my future Luna," Ethan ordered, nodding at Chloe. "Do not touch the Omega until Chloe is treated."

The Command hit the healers like a physical blow. They froze mid-step, looking at me with helpless pity, but their bodies turned away. They had to obey.

I lay in the dirt, my blood soaking into the cold earth. I was dying. I could feel the chill creeping into my fingertips, numbing the pain.

Chloe smirked over Ethan's shoulder, wiping soot from her cheek. "Looks like fate made its choice, Ava."

Ethan looked down at me one last time.

"You are weak, Ava," he said, his voice void of emotion. "I need a Luna who can lead. Not a servant."

Something inside me snapped.

It wasn't my heart this time. It was the chain.

The blind devotion, the foolish hope, the fairy tale-it all shattered into dust.

My wolf stopped whining. She stood up inside my mind, shaking off her submission. She bared her teeth. She was angry. A pure, white-hot rage burned through the agony, clearer than anything I had ever felt.

I propped myself up on my elbows, trembling. I coughed, tasting the metallic tang of blood.

"I..." My voice was weak, but steady.

Ethan paused, half-turned away.

"I, Ava Miller," I rasped, forcing the words out through the suffocating pain. "I reject you, Ethan Reed, as my mate."

Silence fell over the crash site. The warriors stopped. The healers gasped, hands covering their mouths.

Ethan's eyes widened. For a second, he looked shocked-affronted that the servant dared to speak. Then, he sneered.

"I, Ethan Reed, accept your rejection."

The pain hit me like a physical blow, a sledgehammer to the chest. It felt like my soul was being ripped in half. I screamed, arching my back as the bond was severed. It was agony worse than the fire, worse than the broken bone.

But as the darkness closed in, I felt something else rising to fill the void.

A surge of power. Ancient. Wild. Untamed.

My vision went white.

I heard a howl that didn't sound like a normal wolf. It vibrated through the ground, deep and resonant, sounding like a god waking from a long slumber.

Then, nothing.