Ember POV:

I didn't take the shuttle. I refused to sit in anything owned by the Copelands.

I walked.

Five miles to the territory edge. My suitcase wheels clattered loudly on the asphalt.

Snap.

Two figures emerged from the tree line. Eyes glowing with shifted vision.

I recognized them. Low-level enforcers. Thugs Estelle had been whispering to.

"Going somewhere, Scarface?" the bald one sneered.

"Let me pass," I said. "I'm leaving the Pack."

"Oh, we know," the second one circled behind me. "But the future Luna is... anxious. She wants a message delivered."

"A message?"

"That broken things should stay broken."

He lunged.

I dropped the suitcase and rolled. I wasn't a warrior, but pain teaches you to be quick.

I reached into my pocket. Not for a weapon, but for my voice recorder. I clicked the button.

"Estelle sent you?" I shouted. "To attack a defenseless Pack member?"

"Estelle pays better than the Alpha," the thug laughed. "And she promised us rank upgrades."

Got you.

The second wolf tackled me. Gravel tore into my shoulder. He raised a boot to stomp on my hand.

"Get off her!"

Headlights blinded us. Julian's SUV screeched to a halt.

The thugs froze. The scent of angry Alpha hit us like a wave.

"Alpha!" They scrambled back, exposing their necks.

Julian stormed out. He looked at me on the ground, bleeding. For a second, I saw horror in his eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"She... she attacked us!" the bald thug lied. "We thought she was a spy!"

I pulled myself up, spitting blood. "Liar!"

I held up the recorder.

"I have it here, Julian. They admitted it. Estelle sent them. She paid them to hurt me."

Julian stared at the device. He looked at the sweating thugs. Then at me.

"Give it to me," he said quietly.

I handed it to him. Finally. Finally, he will see.

Julian looked at the device. "Voice AI is getting very advanced these days, Ember. You think I'm stupid?"

Crunch.

He crushed the recorder in his fist. Plastic shattered.

I stared at the debris. "What? No. That was real!"

"Estelle is fragile right now," Julian said, voice devoid of emotion. "If she hears you're fabricating evidence to frame her, it could hurt the bond. It could hurt the Pack's stability."

"She hired hitmen!" I screamed. "You just destroyed the proof!"

"I will deal with these two for brawling," Julian dismissed the thugs with a wave. They scrambled away.

He turned back to me. "And you... you are causing chaos just by existing. Jeanette is already being sent to the border farms. Do you need to drag Estelle down too?"

"I didn't drag-"

"Stop." He held up a hand. "Just... go. If you are leaving, leave. I will not have my Pack's name dragged through the mud because of your jealousy."

My phone buzzed. A Mind-Link message from Estelle to Julian. I caught the bleed-over.

Julian, baby? I'm scared. The wind is howling... I need you.

Julian's face softened instantly. The hard Alpha vanished.

"I have to go."

He turned his back on me.

"Julian!" I called out. "If you drive away now... there is no coming back."

He paused at the car door.

"You're being dramatic, Ember. Go fix yourself up."

He slammed the door. Taillights faded into the dark.

I touched the scars on my back.

My inner wolf stood up, shook her fur, and turned her back on the direction he went.

Let him rot, she growled.

I picked up my suitcase. I didn't look back.

Ember POV:

I didn't leave that night. My shoulder was dislocated. I had popped it back in-a sickening clunk that nearly made me pass out-but I needed supplies.

I dragged myself to the Alpha's city penthouse. I had a key. I figured he would be at the Pack House.

I was wrong.

The elevator opened. Estelle was there.

She was lounging on the leather sofa in one of Julian's silk robes, drinking wine. The room reeked of her-artificial roses and vanilla masking something sour underneath.

But underneath that... Julian.

"You have some nerve," Estelle didn't look up from her phone.

"I need my medical bag," I rasped. "Then I'm gone."

"Good." She stood up. "This place is getting crowded."

Julian walked in from the bedroom. Shirtless, towel around his waist. Domestic. Belonging to her.

He stopped.

"I thought I told you to leave," he said wearily.

"I need my things."

I walked to the utility room.

"Wait," Julian said.

He opened the hall closet. He pulled out a white garment bag.

My heart stopped. The mating dress. The white silk gown I had bought four years ago.

"Take this trash with you," Julian said. He tossed the bag at my feet. "Estelle found it. She was upset that you kept old clothes in her closet."

I looked at the bag. Then at the kitchen trash can.

I picked up the bag. Walked to the bin. Unzipped it, pulled out the shimmering silk, and shoved it down on top of coffee grounds and eggshells.

"There," I said. "Problem solved."

Julian flinched. A tiny twitch.

"You're heartless," he muttered.

"I learned from the best."

I grabbed my medical bag. Estelle stepped in my path.

"Julian," she whined. "She's looking at me with those creepy eyes. I don't feel safe."

Julian sighed. He wrapped his arms around her waist, glaring at me.

"Ember, get out. You are upsetting my Mate."

"She's not your Mate," I said quietly. "And one day, you'll realize you're holding a snake."

Julian growled. A low, warning rumble.

"Get. Out."

I walked to the elevator. As the doors closed, I saw him turn her around and kiss her.

I didn't cry. I was done crying.

I went to the lobby. It was pouring rain.

I checked my phone. Flight cancelled due to storm. Next one in two days.

My bank account declined. Julian had cut me off.

I walked out into the rain. The water stung my burns.

Two days. I just had to survive two days.

Ember POV:

Hunger is a strange thing. After 24 hours, the pain turns into a cold, hollow numbness.

I was in a 24-hour diner, nursing a coffee paid for with loose change.

My phone buzzed.

Julian: Where are you?

Julian: Mom wants us at the Manor for a 'reconciliation dinner'. She won't take no. Get here.

Martha Copeland. The only one who had ever been kind, though she was too weak to stand up to anyone.

I couldn't risk Julian sending enforcers. I needed to make my flight tomorrow.

Me: Fine.

The Manor dining room was a tomb.

Julian at the head. Estelle on his right. I was isolated in the middle.

"Ember, dear," Martha said softly. "You look... thin."

"Eat," Julian commanded. "Stop acting like a martyr."

The main course arrived. Steak with herbal sauce.

The smell hit me instantly. Acrid. Bitter.

Wolfsbane.

Deadly in large doses, paralyzing in small ones. And I was highly allergic.

I looked at Estelle. She was smiling, cutting her meat.

"I can't eat this," I said.

"Oh, for Goddess's sake," Julian slammed his fork down. "What now?"

"It has wolfsbane in it," I said loudly. "I smell it."

Silence.

"Don't be ridiculous," Julian's father, Carlo, grunted. "The chef has been here twenty years."

"You are just trying to ruin the night!" Estelle cried. "Trying to frame the staff now?"

To prove her point, Estelle shoved a piece of steak into her mouth. She chewed defiantly.

"See?" she swallowed. "Delicious. No poison."

Five seconds passed.

Estelle gasped. She grabbed her throat. Her face went beet red.

"Can't... breathe..." She slid off her chair.

"Estelle!" Julian roared, leaping over the table.

"It's the wolfsbane!" I shouted. "She needs Atropine!"

I reached for my medical bag.

"Get away from her!" Julian shoved me hard. I flew back, hitting the wall. My head cracked against the plaster.

"You did this!" Julian accused, cradling Estelle. "You poisoned her plate and she ate it by mistake!"

"I warned her not to eat it!" I screamed, dizzy.

"Call the hospital!" Julian yelled. He picked Estelle up. "Stay here, Ember. If she dies, I will kill you myself."

He ran out. Chaos erupted.

I stood up, swaying. My throat started to itch.

I looked down. I hadn't eaten, but the steam... the pollen...

My allergy.

My airway began to close. Like breathing through a straw.

I stumbled out to the garden. Collapsed on the grass.

EpiPen. In my bag. Inside.

I couldn't go back in.

Black spots danced in my eyes. Dying alone in the dirt.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over me.

A man. Tall. Radiating power like a deep ocean current.

He knelt. Piercing blue eyes.

"Wolfsbane allergy," he stated.

He pulled a silver syringe from his jacket.

He plunged it into my thigh.

Adrenaline hit me. My lungs expanded. I gasped, sucking in air greedily.

The stranger brushed hair from my forehead.

Static. Pure blue electricity shot through my skin.

My inner wolf sat up and howled.

Mate?

I pulled back, terrified. "Who are you?"

"Gael King," he said. Voice like dark velvet. "And it seems, little wolf, that you are in the wrong Pack."

Gael King. The Supreme Alpha.

Headlights swept the garden. Julian was back.

"They return," Gael said. "Survive, Ember. We will meet again."

He vanished into the shadows just as Julian sprinted in.

"Ember!" Julian shouted. "The doctors found traces of wolfsbane on Estelle's hands. She put it there herself?"

He looked confused.

"Are you okay?" He stepped toward me.

I focused on the lingering static on my skin.

"Don't touch me," I whispered.

"Ember, I-"

"I'm leaving, Julian."

I walked past him. I had a flight to catch.

Somewhere out there, a King was watching.