Chapter 5

Eliana POV:

Dawn was breaking, painting the sky in bruises of purple and grey.

I had packed everything I owned into two suitcases. My car was waiting at the back gate.

But there was one last thing I had to do.

I walked to the edge of the forest, to the Sacred Oak. It was a massive tree, centuries old, where pack lovers carved their initials. It was a superstition: carve your names, and the Moon Goddess blesses the union.

Years ago, when I was sixteen and stupidly in love, I had carved J.L. + E.C. into the rough bark.

I stood before it now. The letters were weathered but deep.

I pulled a small knife from my pocket. The handle was leather, but the blade... the blade was pure silver.

Silver is poison to us. It burns the skin like acid. But it was the only thing that could kill the magic of the carving.

I gripped the knife. My hand sizzled where my skin brushed the metal guard. I hissed in pain but didn't let go.

I started to scrape.

Scrape.

Wood chips flew.

Scrape.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't turn. I knew the voice. Jax. And the giggle behind him-Catalina.

"Erasing a mistake," I said, gouging the wood. The 'J' was gone.

Jax grabbed my wrist. "Stop it! That's silver! You're hurting yourself!"

"Let go!" I screamed, slashing the knife through the air.

He recoiled, shocked by my aggression.

We were standing near the edge of the bog, a muddy patch of land that separated the sacred grounds from the wild forest.

Catalina stepped forward. "She's crazy, Jax. Look at her eyes."

I looked at them. Really looked at them. A boy who thought he was a god, and a girl who would sell her soul for a crown.

"I'm leaving," I said. "I removed you from my emergency contacts. I blocked your number. I am done."

"You can't leave," Jax said, his voice dropping to that dangerous Alpha pitch. "I forbid it."

"Try and stop me."

Catalina saw an opening. She didn't push me this time. She stomped on my bad foot, grinding her heel into my toes.

Reflexively, I jerked back. My bad knee buckled.

I fell backward, sliding down the embankment.

I landed with a wet, squelching thud in the bog. The mud was thick, smelling of rot and decay. It coated my hair, my face, my clothes. It was cold and filthy.

I looked up. They were standing on the high ground, looking down at me.

Jax looked at me covered in filth. He wrinkled his nose.

"Look at yourself, Eliana," he sneered. "You belong in the mud. Stay there and cool off. I don't want a dirty mate."

He turned around. He took Catalina's hand. And he walked away.

He left me in the swamp.

I lay there for a moment, letting the cold seep into my skin. The mud felt heavy, like a grave.

But then, I felt it.

A drumbeat in my chest.

Get up.

The voice in my head wasn't mine. It was ancient. It was regal.

Get. Up.

I dug my fingers into the mud. I pushed myself up. My knee screamed, but I ignored it. I crawled up the bank, clawing at the roots of the Sacred Oak.

I stood up, dripping with slime.

I looked at the tree. The initials were destroyed. Only a jagged scar remained on the bark.

I looked at my hand. The silver burn was blistering, red and angry.

"Good," I whispered.

I limped toward my car. I didn't look back at the Pack House. I didn't look back at the life I was leaving.

I started the engine. As I drove through the gates, leaving the Iron Claw territory, I felt a snap in my chest.

It wasn't painful.

It felt like a chain breaking.

Goodbye, Jax, I thought. Pray we never meet again. Because the next time you see me, I won't be the girl in the mud.

I hit the gas, speeding toward New York, toward the unknown, toward the wolf that was waiting to be born.