Chapter 3 Crushed

They didn't even give me time to mourn.

The morning sun bled through the curtains of the Omega quarters, casting a pale gold light on my tear-streaked face. I hadn't slept. I couldn't. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his - cold, silver, and full of rejection.

Alpha Darius had chosen pride over fate.

The whispers started even before the moon had dipped below the horizon. The rejected mate. The cursed girl. The unwanted one. Again.

But I did not expect what came next.

A knock on the door. Not soft. It was sharp, commanding, and final. I already knew.

Two guards stood on either side of the entrance, their black leather vests emblazoned with the silver wolf emblem of the pack over their hearts. One of them - a warrior by the name of Chief Holt - wouldn't even glance at me. The other, a new and nervous ranked guard, shifted.

"Liana Rivers," Holt snarled, "by order of Alpha Darius, you are hereby exiled from the territories of the Darkpine Pack."

The words stole the breath from my lungs. "Banished?"

"Yes." His face was unyielding. "As of today. You have until sunset to be off pack lands. If you're still on pack territory after that, you'll be treated as a rogue."

A rogue.

The term slashed through me.

I wasn't just being rejected. I was being deleted.

My heart raced in my chest. "Why?" My voice was frail, shattered.

Holt looked me up and down - from my bare feet to my trembling hands. "Because your presence is a distraction to the Alpha. You've stirred unrest. The pack thinks it's best you're gone."

Gone.

Like I never meant anything at all. Like the Moon Goddess's bond was nothing.

The young guard shifted uncomfortably again. "Sir, maybe we could give her time to-"

"She's had enough time," Holt interrupted. "By sunset, girl."

And then they were gone.

The door closed with a snap. And I... fell to pieces.

I crumpled to my knees, shaking.

I was packless. Homeless. Banished like a traitor.

My wolf whimpered inside me, wounded and weak, curling up on herself. There was no home here for her now. No Alpha to obey. No safety in the land of our birth.

But strangely, beneath the pain - there was clarity.

I was already gone the instant he spurned me. This was just the last nail in the coffin.

I stood on shaking legs and collected what little I had - a small bag, a worn book, and the locket my mother left me. The rest could burn for all I cared.

Old Nara was waiting for me at the edge of the forest.

Her wise, weathered eyes glinted with rage and sorrow. "I knew the boy would be a fool," she said, thrusting a soft cloak into my arms. "But I never thought he'd be this cruel."

I struggled not to cry. "He didn't even speak to me afterward."

"He's weak," she spat. "And the weak fear what they don't understand."

I hugged her tightly. "Thank you. For everything."

"You listen to me, child." She cupped my face in her lined palms. "The world will try to break you since you shine differently. But don't let them. You're meant for more. And one day, this pack will regret they ever let you go."

I nodded, my voice trapped in my throat.

I stepped beyond the boundary stones - those timeless guardians that marked Darkpine from the wilds beyond.

And that's how...

I turned rogue.

The forest beyond the pack was darker, wilder. The trees were thicker here, older - as if they were keeping secrets. I walked until my feet bled, the sky above growing gray with imminent dusk.

I had no concept of where I was going. I just knew I had to keep moving. My belly ached with hunger, and my arms and legs burned with exhaustion, and still I walked.

For there was no going back.

When the sun dipped low among the mountains behind me, I collapsed into a clearing and dropped down beside a river, the soft melody of water coaxing my mind into a restful daze.

This was it.

Alone.

Abandoned.

Banished.

The tears fell freely now, streaming into the earth. My hands ripped into the dirt as though I might find answers there. As though the Goddess would whisper why.

"Why me?" I sobbed. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

The wind didn't answer.

But then - something shifted.

A ripple in the air. A scent odd and yet alluring. Clean, earthy, and threaded with authority.

My wolf stirred.

I looked up, heart racing, as a shape emerged from the trees. Black-dressed, tall and foreboding. Not one of my pack wolves - I would've known. This one was... different.

Firelight eyes met mine.

And just before the world blacked out, I heard a voice - low, calm, commanding:

"She's the one. Take her to the palace."