Chapter 4

Elara POV:

I left the diamond necklace on the nightstand. It hit the wood with a hollow thud.

Then, the ring. Platinum, embedded with a tracking spell. Dante called it protection. I called it a leash.

I slid it off. My finger felt naked. It felt wonderful.

Next to the jewelry, I left my sketchbook. Open to a specific page. A charcoal sketch of a wolf on a cliff, howling at a moon that had turned away. No note. Dante wouldn't read it anyway. But he couldn't ignore a picture.

*Goodbye, Dante.*

Now, the hard part.

I closed my eyes, finding the golden cord in my mind-the Mate Bond.

I couldn't cut it. Only death does that. But I could bury it.

I visualized a brick wall. Stone by stone, I paved over the corridor to his mind. It hurt-like sewing my own mouth shut. With the last brick, the hum of his presence-his arrogance, his coldness-vanished.

Silence. Beautiful, terrifying silence.

I grabbed my bag and ran.

*

Tarmac. The commercial jet taxied out.

I looked out the window. There, on the private strip, was the black Sovrano jet. Tail number 001.

It was taking off. Dante and Isabella, heading to the Northern Territories.

Our planes passed each other. For a split second, we were parallel. He was a hundred yards away, probably sipping scotch, completely unaware his life had just imploded.

My plane roared, lifting off.

Then the pain hit.

It wasn't poetic. It felt like a fishhook ripping through my heart. I doubled over, gasping. The Rejection Sickness. The physical toll of distance tearing the bond.

"Miss? You okay?" a flight attendant asked.

I couldn't speak. But then, a warmth bloomed in my gut.

Soft. White. Protective. It spread from my womb, wrapping around my heart, dulling the agony.

*The baby.* Or maybe... me?

My veins hummed with something ancient. Not Omega submission. Something sharper.

The pain receded to a dull ache.

I looked down at Chicago shrinking into a grid of lights. My cage.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"You won the territory, Dante," I whispered to the glass. "But you lost the war."

*