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.

*

Eliana POV:

I didn't die.

An Omega named Ben, who cleaned the park grounds, found me. He dragged me out and pumped the water from my lungs. He smelled like compost and kindness.

I spent the night shivering in my bed, coughing up pond water. My parents wanted to burn the Alpha house down. I told them no.

"We leave with dignity," I croaked. "We leave tonight."

But there was one final obligation. The Alpha's Farewell Banquet for the graduates. My parents, as high-ranking council members, had to officially resign in person. I had to go to show I wasn't broken.

I wore a dress the color of steel. I covered the bruises with concealer. I walked into the banquet hall like a ghost.

The hall was opulent. Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, shimmering with a thousand lights.

Jax sat at the head table. Catalina was next to him, wearing a white dress that looked like a wedding gown. She saw me and paled. She thought I was dead.

I didn't look at them. I stood by the exit, waiting for my parents to hand over their resignation papers to Alpha Marcus, Jax's father.

Alpha Marcus looked grim. Losing my father, his best financial strategist, was a blow. Losing my mother, the pack's head archivist, was a tragedy.

"Is this because of the boy?" Alpha Marcus asked quietly.

"It is because this pack has lost its way," my father said stiffly.

Suddenly, a groan of metal echoed from above.

I looked up. The massive central chandelier, directly above the head table, was swaying. The chain was snapping.

"Jax!" Luna Maria screamed.

Time seemed to slow down.

The chain gave way. Two tons of crystal and silver-plated metal plummeted.

Silver.

To humans, silver is jewelry. To wolves, it is acid. It burns on contact, preventing healing, searing the flesh deep to the bone.

Jax looked up. He had a split second. He could have rolled away. He could have saved himself.

Instead, he threw his body over Catalina.

*CRASH.*

The sound was deafening. Shards of crystal exploded like shrapnel. Dust billowed up.

Screams erupted. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air instantly.

"My son!" Alpha Marcus roared, shifting into his massive grey wolf mid-leap.

Warriors rushed forward, heaving the twisted metal off the Alpha Heir.

Jax lay on the floor. His back was a ruin. The silver plating of the chandelier had seared into his skin, smoke rising from the blackened wounds. He was unconscious, his face twisted in agony.

Beneath him, Catalina crawled out. She was untouched. Not a scratch.

She looked at Jax's broken body, and for a second, I saw annoyance in her eyes. Her shield was damaged.

The pack medics swarmed them.

I stood perfectly still.

A week ago, I would have been the first one running to him. I would have offered my own blood to help him heal. I would have taken his pain into myself through the bond.

Now?

I felt... nothing.

It was a terrifying, beautiful emptiness.

I watched them load him onto a stretcher. I watched his mother weeping.

I turned to my parents.

"Are we done?" I asked.

My dad looked at me, then at the chaos. He nodded.

"We're done."

I walked out of the banquet hall. I didn't look back at the boy who had just sacrificed his body for a lie.

The cool night air hit my face.

I got into the car.

"Goodbye, Jax," I whispered.

And I drove away.

*