Chapter 5

Elara Thorne POV:

Leaning heavily on the wall, I made my way through the suffocatingly long corridor. Each step was a monumental effort, a drain on a life force that was already stretched thin.

Through the tall, arched windows, I saw that the sky had turned a bruised, angry purple. A low rumble of thunder echoed in the distance, a perfect mirror of the storm raging inside me.

I didn't go back to my room. I couldn't bear the thought of that cold, empty space. Instead, I found myself turning toward the heavy oak doors that led to the back gardens. I needed air, even if it was choked with rain.

The moment I pushed the door open, a sheet of icy rain slapped against my face, shocking my senses and clearing my head for a brief, blessed second.

I stepped out into the deluge, letting the cold water plaster my hair to my skull and soak my thin dress. I wanted it to wash away the pain, the humiliation, the lingering scent of him.

The garden was a chaotic symphony of wind and water, the beautiful flowers battered and bowed by the storm's fury.

I stumbled toward a white stone bench in the center of the garden. It had been my mother's favorite spot in our own pack's garden, a small piece of home I'd found here. It was my only sanctuary.

I sank onto the wet stone, heedless of the cold that seeped through my clothes. My body was already so cold on the inside, the rain barely registered.

My hand came up, my fingers numbly tracing the ring on my fourth finger.

It was a moonstone, set in simple silver. Ryker had slid it onto my finger during the Mating ceremony, his touch reluctant, his eyes cold. A symbol of a bond he never wanted.

A bitter, broken laugh escaped my lips. What a joke.

I tried to pull it off, my fingers fumbling and stiff. But my hands were cold and swollen, and the ring was stuck fast.

The more I struggled, the more it dug into my skin, a perfect metaphor for the damned bond I couldn't escape. It was a part of me, a curse I was forced to wear.

Finally, I gave up, slumping back on the bench in defeat.

Through the sheets of rain, I saw movement near the edge of the garden. A she-wolf, holding a large umbrella, was calling out to a small boy who was gleefully splashing in the puddles.

The boy laughed, a sound of pure joy, before running and launching himself into his mother's arms. She hugged him tight, kissed his forehead, and then sheltered him under her umbrella as they walked back toward the warmth of the pack house.

The simple, beautiful scene was a dagger to my heart.

It made me think of my own mother. Of the children I would never have. Of the home I could never return to.

I was nothing. A rejected mate, a dying wolf, with no future and no one.

The weight of my solitude was crushing, a physical force that stole the air from my lungs.

I tried to stand, to escape back into the cold comfort of the pack house, but my foot slipped on the slick mud.

I went down hard, my hands instinctively flying out to break my fall. My right palm landed on a sharp, jagged rock hidden in the grass.

Pain flared, and I saw blood welling up, mixing with the rain and the mud.

And then I saw it. The fall, the sudden jarring impact, had done what my own frantic efforts could not.

The moonstone ring had slipped from my bloody finger. It lay half-submerged in a muddy puddle, its faint, milky glow almost completely obscured.

I stared at it. I should have felt something-relief, maybe. But I felt nothing.

I didn't pick it up.

That promise was already broken. That symbol was a lie. It belonged in the mud.

I pushed myself up, my whole body aching, and without a backward glance at the lost ring, I staggered back inside.