THE FALL

I have a plan. It is a desperate, terrifying plan, but it is the only one I have.

​I wait until Kael leaves for the Alpha office. I wait until Elena’s high pitched laughter fades down the hallway as she heads to the spa.

​Then, I move.

​I pull a duffel bag from the back of my closet, an old gym bag that does not scream Luna. I pack quickly, hands shaking. I do not take the silk dresses or designer heels Kael bought. I take warm sweaters, leggings, and thick socks. Practical survival things.

​I go to the wall safe behind the painting in the guest room. I take the cash. Five thousand dollars in emergency funds is not much for a Luna, but it is enough for a bus ticket and a cheap motel in a human town where the pack cannot find me.

​I cannot use my credit cards or the pack cars. Kael tracks them. I have to walk. A storm is coming tonight. A blizzard is dangerous, but it is perfect cover. The snow will hide my scent and the wind will cover my tracks.

​"Just hold on," I whisper to the tiny lives inside me, my hand resting protectively over my stomach. "We just have to make it to the border."

​I zip the bag shut. I open the door and scream.

​Elena is standing right there.

​She is not smiling. She leans against the doorframe with her arms crossed, her eyes hard as flint. She looks at the duffel bag, then at my face.

​"Going somewhere?" she asks.

​Panic floods my veins. "Get out of my way, Elena."

​"You are running away," a slow smirk spreads across her lips. "How pathetic. I thought you would put up more of a fight."

​"I am not fighting you for him," I spit out, gripping the bag tighter. "You can have him. You deserve each other."

​I try to push past her, but she blocks the hallway. She is taller than me, and she has not been starved of affection and strength for three years.

​"Oh, I know I can have him," she steps closer. "I already do. But that is not enough. As long as you are alive, you are a loose end. Kael feels guilty about casting you aside."

​She pokes me hard in the chest. "I need him to hate you," she whispers. "I need him to despise you so much that he never looks for you again."

​"He already hates me!" I cry. "Just let me leave!"

​"Not yet."

​Elena grabs my arm with surprising strength. She drags me toward the grand marble staircase that spirals down to the foyer.

​"Let go of me!" I struggle, dropping the duffel bag. I claw at her hand, but she digs her nails into my skin.

​We reach the top. The drop is steep. Hard marble edges, a long way down. My blood runs cold. I wrap both arms around my stomach instinctively.

​"Elena, do not," I plead, my voice cracking. "Please. I am pregnant."

​In the face of her violence, I just want to protect them.

​Elena freezes. Her eyes widen, dropping to my flat stomach. For a second, I think she might let me go.

​Then, her expression twists into something demonic.

​"Pregnant?" she hisses. "You are carrying his spawn?"

​The jealousy on her face is pure, unadulterated acid.

​"That changes everything," she says softly. "I cannot let you leave now. If he finds out you are pregnant, he will never let me be Luna. He will be tied to you forever."

​We both hear it at the same time. The heavy oak door opening. Kael entering the foyer below.

​"Kael is home," Elena whispers. Her eyes go dead. "Goodbye, Evelyn."

​She does not push me. Instead, she screams.

​It is a bloodcurdling, horrifying scream.

​"No! Evelyn, please! Do not!" she shrieks.

​And then, she throws herself backward.

​I watch in horror as she hurls her own body down the stairs. She tumbles, her limbs flailing, hitting the marble steps with sickening thuds. She rolls and lands in a crumpled heap at the bottom. She lies still.

​"ELENA!"

​The roar shakes the foundations of the house.

​Kael is there in a second. He drops his files, papers scattering everywhere, and rushes to her side. He falls to his knees, scooping her up. Elena is bleeding from a cut on her forehead. She opens her eyes weakly, tears streaming down her face. She lifts a trembling hand to point up at the top of the stairs. At me.

​"She pushed me," Elena sobs, her voice weak and pitiable. "I told her I was pregnant with your baby and she pushed me."

​The lie is so audacious that my breath leaves my lungs.

​Kael freezes. He looks at the blood on her face. Then, slowly, terrifyingly, he looks up at me.

​I have never seen hatred like this. His eyes glow a bright, violent amber. His lips pull back in a snarl that reveals his canines. The air around him crackles with Alpha power, so dense it feels like the room is on fire.

​"Kael, no!" I scream, backing away from the ledge. "She jumped! I swear, she jumped!"

​He does not listen. He gently lays Elena down and stands up. He moves faster than humanly possible, appearing right in front of me.

​He grabs me by the throat.

​He slams me against the wall. His hand tightens around my windpipe, lifting my feet off the ground.

​"You tried to kill her," he growls, his voice a distorted, monstrous sound. "You jealous, vindictive bitch. You tried to kill my mate and my unborn child."

​I claw at his hand, gasping for air. Black spots dance in my vision.

​"I didn't," I choke out. "She lied."

​"SILENCE!" he roars.

​He squeezes harder. I feel the darkness encroaching, the life draining out of me.

​My babies, I think, my hands falling from his wrist to clutch my stomach. I am sorry.

​Just as I think he is going to snap my neck, he releases me.

​He throws me to the ground like a ragdoll. I slide across the floor, hitting my head against the banister. Pain explodes in my skull. I curl into a ball, gasping for oxygen.

​Kael stands over me, his chest heaving. He looks at me like I am a cockroach he just stepped on.

​"I should kill you," his voice is eerily calm now. "By pack law, attempted murder of a Luna is punishable by death."

​He looks down the stairs where Elena is moaning in pain. "But death is too easy for you."

​He grabs my arm, hauling me to my feet. He drags me toward the door, ignoring my stumbling, shoeless feet.

​"Kael, please," I sob. "Listen to me. Check the cameras!"

​"The cameras were down for maintenance," he snaps. "Elena told me this morning."

​Of course she did.

​He drags me out the front door into the biting wind. The blizzard has started. Snow swirls violently, the temperature well below freezing. He drags me to the edge of the porch and throws me into the snow. The cold bites into my skin immediately.

​"Kael!" I scream, trying to stand up.

​"I, Alpha Kael of the Obsidian Pack," he booms, his voice carrying over the wind, alerting every guard and wolf on the perimeter.

​My heart stops. No. Anything but this.

​"I reject you, Evelyn," he says, looking down at me with cold, dead eyes. "I reject you as my mate. I strip you of your title. I strip you of your name."

​The pain hits me instantly. It is not physical. It is spiritual. It feels like someone has reached into my chest and severed a vital artery. The fragile thread connecting us snaps.

​I scream in agony, clutching my chest, curling into the snow.

​"You are Rogue," he pronounces. "If you are found on my lands by sunrise, you will be hunted down and killed."

​He turns his back on me. He walks back inside toward the warmth, toward the liar who destroyed my life.

​The heavy oak door slams shut. The lock clicks.

​I am alone in the blizzard. I am broken. I am rejected.

​And I am freezing to death.