Eliana POV:

I needed to breathe. The air near the bonfire had been thick with Jax's dominance, and it left a metallic taste in my mouth.

I ducked into the pack house, seeking the sanctuary of the guest bathroom. I just needed cold water on my face before I drove home.

As I passed the library, I heard voices.

"You were brutal out there, man."

It was Mason, Jax's Beta and best friend.

"She needed to learn her place," Jax's voice replied. He sounded bored. "She's been clinging to me since we were kids. It's suffocating."

I froze. I knew I should keep walking, but my feet were rooted to the spot.

"But Catalina?" Mason asked. "Really? I thought you said she was annoying."

"She is," Jax laughed, the sound tight. "But look at her, Mason. She's the captain of the swim team. She's got curves in the right places. She fits the image. Eliana... Eliana is just baggage."

I pressed my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp.

"So, you're not actually rejecting Ellie?" Mason pressed.

"I don't need to," Jax scoffed. "Let her stew. She's too proud, but she's weak. Give it two weeks. Once she realizes she's nothing without the pack protection, she'll come crawling back. I can't make her Luna if she can't shift, but I'm not letting her go. She's mine to keep."

A chill went down my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.

He wasn't just choosing someone else. He was hoarding me. He wanted the shiny new toy *and* the old comfort blanket.

"I intercepted her mail, by the way," Jax added casually. "That acceptance letter from NYU? I have it in my desk. She's not going anywhere."

Rage.

For the first time in my life, I didn't feel sadness or fear when it came to Jax. I felt pure, white-hot rage.

I didn't think. I kicked the door open.

Jax and Mason jumped. Jax was sitting on the edge of the mahogany desk, holding a crumpled envelope. *My* envelope.

"Eliana," Jax said, recovering quickly. He smirked. "Eavesdropping? That's rude."

"Give it to me," I said. My voice was low, vibrating with a growl I didn't know I possessed.

Jax dangled the letter between two fingers. "This? You don't need this. You belong here. With the pack. With me."

"I am not a toy, Jax. And I am certainly not yours."

I walked forward. Mason stepped aside, looking uncomfortable. He knew this was wrong.

Jax's eyes flashed. "I am your future Alpha. You do what I say."

"Give. Me. The. Letter."

"Sit down, Eliana!"

He used the Alpha Command again. It slammed into the room, rattling the windowpanes. Mason instantly dropped into a chair, his head bowed, forced to obey.

I felt the command hit me. It was like a physical wave. But this time... it felt different.

It felt like a suggestion, not an order.

I didn't sit.

I took another step.

Jax's smug expression faltered. He looked at Mason, who was incapacitated, then back at me, standing upright.

"How..." he whispered. "Why aren't you sitting?"

I didn't know. Maybe my wolf was finally waking up. Maybe I was just too angry to care about biology.

I snatched the letter from his hand. He was too stunned to stop me.

"You think you can break me?" I hissed, leaning into his face. "You just set me free."

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed from outside.

"Rogue! Rogue at the perimeter!"

It was Catalina's voice.

Jax's head snapped toward the window. The instinct to protect the pack—and his precious fake girlfriend—overrode his confusion about me.

"Stay here," he ordered, though his voice lacked the command power this time.

He bolted out of the room, Mason scrambling to follow him.

I stood alone in the library, clutching my crumpled acceptance letter.

I looked out the window. There was no rogue. I could see Catalina near the tree line, checking her nails, waiting for her hero to arrive. Another lie. Another game.

I smoothed out the letter.

*New York University. Fall Semester.*

"Two weeks," he had said. He thought I'd be crawling back in two weeks.

I wouldn't be here in two days.

*

Eliana POV:

My room looked like a skeleton. The furniture was still there, but the soul of the room was gone. Boxes were taped shut, stacked by the door.

I had confirmed my enrollment online an hour ago. My parents, bless them, hadn't asked questions. When I told them I needed to leave immediately, Dad simply called the movers and Mom started looking for apartments in Manhattan. They were resigning from their positions in the pack council tomorrow morning.

We were becoming Rogues. Well, civilized Rogues. City wolves.

I stood in the center of the room with a bundle of sage and dried wolfsbane—just a tiny amount, enough to irritate the nose but not harm.

I lit it. The smoke curled up, acrid and bitter.

I walked around the room, wafting the smoke into every corner, over every piece of furniture I was leaving behind. It was an old ritual, usually used to cleanse a house of bad spirits.

I was using it to scrub my scent.

I didn't want Jax to walk in here and smell vanilla or lavender or whatever I smelled like to him. I wanted him to smell nothing. I wanted him to smell the void.

My phone buzzed on the floor. I picked it up.

It was a notification from Pack Net, our private social media app.

Jax Little posted a photo.

I shouldn't have looked. I really shouldn't have. But my thumb hovered, and I tapped it.

It was a selfie. Jax and Catalina. She was wearing a diamond necklace—a heavy, gaudy thing with the North Gate crest in the center.

The caption read: *My Queen. #FutureLuna #PowerCouple*

I touched my own neck. It was bare. Jax had never given me jewelry. He said it was dangerous for training, that it would get caught on things. He gave me practical gifts. Running shoes. Water bottles.

But for her? Diamonds.

He wasn't protecting me. He just didn't think I was worth decorating.

I scrolled down to the comments.

*She's so much hotter than the other one.*

*Finally, an Alpha female.*

*Bye bye, Omega Ellie.*

I felt a tear slide down my cheek. Just one. It was hot and angry.

"Okay," I whispered to the empty room. "You want me gone? I'm gone."

I sat down on the bare mattress. I closed my eyes and went inward, searching for the bond. It was a thick, golden cord in my mind, stretching out into the darkness, pulsating with a dull ache.

I couldn't cut it. Only a rejected mate or death could sever it completely. But I could bury it.

I imagined building a fortress around that cord. Stone by stone. Iron by iron. I poured all my pain, my humiliation, and my rage into the mortar.

*I don't feel you,* I chanted in my head. *I don't need you. You are a stranger.*

The pulsing slowed. The ache dulled until it was just a background hum, like white noise.

I opened my eyes. I felt lighter. Hollow, but lighter.

The door opened. My dad stood there, holding two suitcases.

"Ready, kiddo?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, Dad," I said. "I'm ready."

I grabbed my backpack. I didn't look back at the room. I didn't look back at the house.

We got into the car. As we drove past the "Welcome to North Gate" sign, I rolled down the window.

I took a deep breath of the cool night air, letting the scent of pine and earth fill my lungs one last time.

Then I exhaled.

I was leaving the territory. I was leaving the hierarchy. I was leaving the girl who waited for a boy to love her.

New York was waiting. And whoever I was going to become, she wouldn't be an Omega.

*

Eliana POV:

I had one stop left before I left North Gate forever.

The Moon Tree stood on a hill overlooking the pack grounds. It was an ancient oak, its bark silver-grey under the moonlight, said to be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. Couples came here to carve their initials, a primitive promise of eternity before the official mating ceremony.

I parked my car at the base of the hill and climbed. My ribs ached, a reminder of the stairs, but I ignored it.

I reached the trunk. There it was, weathered by time but still visible: *J + E*.

We had carved it when we were twelve. Back when he protected me from bullies instead of encouraging them.

I pulled a small pocket knife from my jeans. My hand trembled.

I dug the blade into the wood. I needed to scrape it off. I needed to erase the lie.

"Vandalism now, Eliana?"

The voice made me jump. The knife slipped, slicing my thumb.

Jax stood at the edge of the clearing. Catalina was clinging to his arm, looking bored.

"I'm just cleaning up a mistake," I said, sucking on my bleeding thumb.

Jax walked over, his shadow falling over me. He looked at the carving, then at me. For a second, I saw a flicker of hesitation in his hazel eyes.

"It's just a tree," Catalina said, stepping between us. She ran a manicured nail over the bark. "It's superstitious nonsense. Only weak wolves believe in this fairy tale stuff."

"It's history," I said. "Something you wouldn't understand."

Catalina's eyes narrowed. She whispered something in Jax's ear.

Jax's jaw tightened. He took the knife from my hand.

"You're right," he said to Catalina. "It is time for an update."

He didn't scrape the letters off. He slashed through them.

*Slash.* Through the J.

*Slash.* Through the E.

My heart hammered against my ribs. To deface a Moon Tree was bad luck. To slash a mate's initials was a curse.

Then, he began to carve new letters above the ruin of our names.

*C. M.*

Catalina Manning.

"There," Jax said, driving the knife into the wood with a final, violent thud. "Now it's accurate."

I stared at the fresh, weeping sap of the tree. It felt like he had carved those letters into my skin.

"You have no idea what you just did," I whispered. "The Goddess watches."

"The Goddess doesn't care about a reject," Catalina sneered.

She snatched my car keys from my pocket before I could react.

"Hey!" I shouted.

"Oops," she giggled, winding her arm back. She threw the keys toward the pond at the bottom of the hill. "Fetch."

"That's enough, Cat," Jax said, but he didn't move to stop her.

I didn't think. I ran. That car was my only way out of here. My ticket to New York.

I scrambled down the bank toward the dark water. The keys had landed near the reeds. I waded in.

The water was freezing. I groped in the mud, my fingers brushing against slime.

"Found them!" I gasped, clutching the metal.

Then, my legs seized.

It wasn't a cramp. It was fire. A burning sensation erupted all over my skin, instantly paralyzing my muscles.

My throat closed up. My limbs went numb.

*Wolfsbane.*

Someone had planted Aconite in the reeds. It was the only plant that could paralyze a wolf's nervous system instantly. For a human, it was toxic. For us, it was agony.

"Help," I tried to scream, but only a gurgle came out.

I slipped under the surface. My eyes were open, stinging. Through the distorted water, I saw Jax standing on the bank.

He was looking at the ripples. He frowned, taking a step forward.

"Eliana?" he called out.

Suddenly, Catalina let out a shriek, clutching her chest. "Jax! My heart! I can't breathe!"

Jax froze. He looked at the water, then at Catalina collapsing onto the grass.

"Stop playing games, Eliana!" he shouted at the pond, his voice muffled by the water. "I'm leaving!"

He believed I was faking it. Again.

He turned his back.

I watched his blurry silhouette scoop up Catalina and walk away as the darkness took me.

*