The morning sun feels like an insult.
I wake up on the floor of my bedroom, curled into a ball. The silk dress I wore last night—the dress that was supposed to mark my ascension—is crumpled in the corner like a dead thing. My chest aches. It is a physical, throbbing pain, right behind my sternum. It feels as if someone reached inside, wrapped their fingers around my heart, and squeezed until it bruised.
The bond. Or rather, the absence of it.
I close my eyes and try to breathe, but the air in the Silverclaw pack house feels heavy. Stale. It smells of him. Cedar and rain. The scent that should have been my sanctuary is now choking me.
A crash from downstairs shatters the silence.
"I will kill him! I swear to the Goddess, I will rip his throat out!"
Jax.
Panic spikes in my veins. I scramble up, stumbling as my legs tangle in the sheets. I ignore the dizziness. I ignore the way my human body feels fragile and slow. I rip the door open and sprint down the hallway.
My mother is standing at the top of the stairs. She is clutching the railing, her knuckles white. She is weeping, silent, shaking sobs that wrack her small frame.
"Mom!" I gasp. "What is it?"
"Don't go down there, Elara," she whispers. Her voice is thick with fear. "Please. The Alpha... he is letting them settle it."
"Settle what?"
Another crash. The sound of wood splintering. A sickening thud of meat hitting meat.
I don't wait for an answer. I fly down the stairs, nearly tripping over my own feet.
The living room is destroyed. The heavy oak coffee table is split in two. The expensive leather sofas are overturned. And in the center of the debris, my brother is dying.
Jax is a strong wolf. He is the Beta heir. He is fast, brutal, and skilled. But Kael... Kael is a monster.
Kael stands over Jax, who is on his hands and knees, spitting blood onto the hardwood floor. Kael doesn't even look winded. His shirt is unwrinkled. His hair is perfect. He looks at my brother with the detached curiosity of a scientist observing a lab rat.
"Stay down, Jax," Kael says. His voice is calm. It is terrifying. "You are embarrassing yourself. And you are bleeding on the rug."
"You... you bastard," Jax wheezes. He tries to push himself up. His left eye is swollen shut. His lip is split. "She is my sister. She is your mate."
"She is a defect," Kael corrects him. He kicks Jax in the ribs. It isn't a hard kick, just a nudge, but it sends Jax sprawling back into the debris. "And I corrected the mistake. You should be thanking me. I saved our bloodline from pollution."
"Stop it!"
The scream tears from my throat before I can stop it. I hurl myself into the room. I slide on the polished floor and drop to my knees beside Jax. I grab his arm, trying to pull him up, but he is dead weight.
"Elara," Jax groans. "Get out of here."
"No," I say. I look up at Kael. Tears blur my vision, but I blink them away. I will not cry in front of him. "Leave him alone, Kael. You made your point. You broke me. Isn't that enough?"
Kael looks down at me. His amber eyes roam over my face. For a second, I see a flicker of something—recognition? Regret? But it is gone instantly, replaced by a wall of ice.
"It is not about breaking you, Elara," Kael says smoothly. "It is about order. Your brother challenged my decision. He challenged my authority. That cannot stand."
"He is defending his family!" I shout.
"He is defending a liability," Kael snaps. The air pressure in the room drops. The Alpha aura flares around him, heavy and suffocating. "The Games are coming. Silverclaw must be perfect. We cannot have weak links. And we certainly cannot have the Beta heir throwing tantrums over a rejected Omega."
"Omega?"
The word hangs in the air.
My father walks in then, followed by Alpha Marcus. My father looks aged, ten years older than he was yesterday. He won't meet my eyes.
"You heard me," Kael says. He looks at his father, then back to me. "I have discussed it with Alpha Marcus. You are Wolfless. You cannot hunt. You cannot fight. You cannot breed warriors. You serve no purpose in the hierarchy."
"Kael," Alpha Marcus warns, his voice a low rumble. "Gently."
"No," Kael says. "She needs to understand. There is no place for her at the table anymore. If she stays, she stays as an Omega. She earns her keep. She cooks. She cleans. She stays out of sight when important guests arrive."
I feel the blood drain from my face. "You want to make me a servant? In my own house?"
"It is the only way you can stay," Kael says. He shrugs. "Unless you want to run into the woods and let the rogues have their way with you. Without a wolf, you wouldn't last a night."
"I would rather die than serve you," Jax spits. He tries to stand again, shaking with rage.
"Then you will die," Kael says simply. "And your sister will still be scrubbing my floors."
"That is enough," Alpha Marcus steps forward. His voice carries the weight of absolute command. "The decision is made. Elara Vance is demoted to Omega status effective immediately. Jax, if you raise a hand against my son again, I will strip you of your rank and exile you. Do you understand?"
Jax trembles. He fights the command, his muscles locking up, but the Alpha power is too strong. He slumps, defeated.
"I understand," Jax whispers. The shame in his voice breaks my heart.
"Good," Kael says. "Now, clean this up, Elara. I have training in an hour."
He turns and walks away. He doesn't look back.
The next twelve hours are a blur of humiliation.
I spend the day doing things I have never done before. I scrub the blood—my brother's blood—out of the rug. I wash the dishes that pile up in the sink. I sweep the hallways.
The pack members I grew up with watch me. Some with pity. Most with relief that it isn't them.
In the afternoon, I am in the library, dusting the shelves. The door opens.
Kael walks in.
I freeze. I grip the duster like a weapon.
"You missed the top shelf," he says. He leans against the doorframe, watching me.
"I can't reach it," I say. "I don't have enhanced height."
"Pity," he says. He walks over. He reaches up and swipes a finger across the dusty wood. He looks at the grey smudge on his skin. "You aren't very good at this either."
"Why are you doing this?" I ask. My voice shakes. "You rejected me, Kael. The bond is gone. Why do you have to be cruel?"
He steps closer. He crowds my space. I can smell him again—that addictive, wonderful scent. My body betrays me; my heart speeds up.
"Because you are a temptation, Elara," he murmurs. His voice is low, dangerous. "Even now. I look at you and my wolf whines. He wants you. It is pathetic."
He looks disgusted with himself. "I have to remind myself what you are. Weak. Human. Useless. If I am cruel, it is to keep myself from making a mistake. I cannot have a Wolfless mate. I need a queen."
"I could have been a queen," I whisper. "I have a brain, Kael. I have a heart."
"Hearts don't win wars," he says. "Claws do."
He leans in, his lips inches from my ear. "Do not think you can win me back. Stay in the shadows, Omega. It is where you belong."
He pulls away and leaves me trembling in the silence.
That night, I sit on my bed. My hands are raw from the cleaning chemicals. My back aches.
The door creaks open. Jax slips inside.
He looks terrible. His face is purple and blue. His ribs are taped up. But his eyes are clear.
"Pack a bag," he says.
"What?"
"We are leaving," Jax whispers. He comes over and sits on the edge of my bed. "I talked to Sarah. She understands. She is coming with us."
"Jax, stop," I say. I grab his hands. "You can't ask Sarah to do that. She is a Delta. Her family is here. This is her home."
"She is my mate," Jax says stubbornly. "She goes where I go. And I am not staying here. I won't watch you be a slave, El. I won't do it."
"Where will we go?" I ask.
"North," he says. "We will be rogues for a while. It will be hard. We will have to hunt for food. We will have to sleep in shifts. But we will be free."
I look at him. My big brother. My hero.
He is willing to throw away his birthright, his comfort, his safety, and his mate's happiness. Just for me.
And I know, with absolute certainty, that it will destroy him.
Kael will hunt him down. Or the cold will get us. Or a rival pack. Jax is strong, but he isn't invincible. He will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, miserable and poor, all because I was born wrong.
"Okay," I say. I force a smile. "Okay, Jax. Let's do it."
He sighs, the tension leaving his shoulders. "Good. I knew you were brave. I need to go get Sarah. I will meet you at the back gate in an hour. Pack light."
"I will," I say. "I love you, Jax."
He kisses my forehead. "I love you too, kid. We are going to be okay."
He leaves.
I wait until his footsteps fade down the hall.
Then I move.
I grab my backpack. I shove in a change of clothes, a flashlight, and a hunting knife I stole from the kitchen. I put on my sturdy boots.
I go to my desk. I take a piece of paper.
My hands are shaking so hard I can barely write.
*Jax,*
*If you leave, Kael wins. He proves that I am the weakness that destroyed the Silverclaw Beta line.*
*I cannot let you ruin your life for me. Sarah deserves a home. You deserve your rank.*
*Don't come looking for me. The bond between us is strong, but if you follow me, I will just run further. Let me go. Let me find my own way.*
*Maybe one day, when I am not a burden, I will come back. But not today.*
*Be a good Beta. Be a good mate.*
*Goodbye.*
I leave the note on my pillow. It looks white and stark against the dark sheets.
I open the window.
The drop is fifteen feet. Easy for a wolf. Dangerous for a human.
I climb out onto the trellis. The vines scratch my hands. I slide down, my boots scuffing against the stone. I hit the ground hard and roll, stifling a grunt of pain.
I stand up and look at the house.
It is a fortress. It is magnificent. It is filled with people who supposedly loved me, sleeping soundly while my life falls apart.
I see the light in Jax's room. He is probably packing right now. Smiling. Thinking he is saving me.
"I am saving you, Jax," I whisper.
I turn toward the forest. The trees loom like giant skeletons against the moonlit sky.
It is suicide. I know it. A human girl, alone in werewolf territory? I am prey.
But I would rather be prey than a pet.
I pull my hood up. I tighten the straps of my backpack.
"You called me a defect, Kael," I murmur to the wind. "You called me nothing."
I take the first step into the darkness.
"Watch me become something else."
I start to run. I run away from the safety. I run away from the love. I run into the cold, unforgiving night, and I don't look back.
