Jayme POV:

The night air bit, but the fire in my chest burned hotter.

"Jayme!"

Autry grabbed my arm, spinning me. His composure was cracking. "You don't walk away when I'm speaking."

I looked at his hand.

"I am not your pack," I said, dangerously calm. "Your commands are void."

He flinched. "I'm protecting you. That scandal... it will ruin you if I don't manage it."

"Manage it?" I laughed dryly. "Like you managed our bond? Like you replaced me before my scent left your sheets?"

I unclasped the silver star necklace—his gift from when we were sixteen. It felt like holding a lie.

"Take it," I shoved it into his chest.

"Jayme, don't. That was a promise."

"A promise you broke."

I walked to the old Moon Temple ruins at the edge of the property. I fell to my knees, digging with bare hands until I found the red prayer knot I’d buried three years ago.

"Look at the stray dog digging for bones."

Cassie.

She leaned against a pillar. "Pathetic. He chose me. He chose a Beta with connections over a bloodless Omega."

She kicked dirt in my face.

Something snapped. Not anger. Something older.

I stood up.

"You think you won?" My voice vibrated.

"I have the Alpha," she reached to shove me.

I moved faster than thought.

Crack.

My palm connected with her cheek. The force lifted her off her feet. She crashed into the stone pillar.

I stared at my hand. Omegas don't do that.

Cassie slumped, bleeding, terrified. "You..."

Autry burst into the clearing. He saw Cassie, then me. He opened his mouth to roar, then met my eyes.

He froze. He didn't see a weak girl. He saw an apex predator he didn't recognize.

I pulled the muddy red cord from the hole.

"This is what our bond is worth," I said.

I ripped it.

Snap.

At the same moment, a loud POP echoed. The wooden prayer beads on Autry’s wrist exploded, scattering like hail.

He gasped, clutching his wrist in horror.

"Goodbye, Autry."

I dropped the torn cord and walked past him. The air around me was too heavy, too charged. He didn't dare stop me.

Jayme POV:

The adrenaline crash left me shaking.

I sat in a taxi, deleting every social media account. Erasing Jayme Barnes.

"Blue Note Jazz Bar," I told the driver.

Neutral ground. Run by humans, frequented by the supernatural underground.

Chloe, a witch posing as a bartender, vaulted over the bar when she saw me.

"Honey," she breathed. "You look like you've been through a war."

"I need to disappear," I said. "He's coming. His wolf... I saw it. He won't let go."

Chloe dragged me to the back. "The bond snapped violently. An Alpha's wolf takes that as a challenge to hunt."

A low growl vibrated through the floorboards.

"He's here," I whispered.

The scent of Hunt —musk and aggression—seeped under the door.

"Go," Chloe pushed me toward the alley. "I'll cloak your scent."

I ran into the rain.

A shadow detached itself from the darkness at the end of the alley.

Autry. Eyes glowing gold, canines extended. Feral.

"Mine," he growled. Not a word, a vibration.

He lunged.

He moved faster than human sight. He was going to drag me back to his den.

I backed against the brick wall. "No!"

As he reached for me, my chest exploded with light. A rejection of his very existence.

BOOM.

A shockwave of pure white energy blasted outward.

Autry was thrown backward like a ragdoll. He slammed into a dumpster, stunned, the gold fading from his eyes.

I stared at my glowing hands.

I didn't wait.

I ran. Chloe's magic must have held, or the blast confused him. I made it to the airport.

One ticket. Marseille.

As the plane lifted off, I looked down at the shrinking city lights.

Jayme Barnes died in that alley.

Whoever landed in France would be someone else.