Chapter 4

Austin finished setting up the tent and brought out food and water to me.

He flopped down on the mat beside me,sprawled out on his back,staring up at a sky just beginning to fill with stars.

"Hey,you should try this.Looking at stars like this hits different."

At the Aldric Pack,everything came with rules.Everything had to befit a Luna's status.The phrase I'd heard most often was:"Luna Daisy,you can't do that."

Lying on my back to stargaze?I'd never even considered it.

Not that Austin gave me time to think.He grabbed my arm and pulled me right off the stool onto the mat.

"Lie down!"

I let go of the pretense and did as he said.

Lying down,the sky felt close enough to touch.

We lay there like that,side by side,gazing at a canopy of stars,talking about everything and nothing.

And quietly,I made a decision.

I was going to start over.For real this time.

Running away was just that—running.I needed to meet new people,see the world beyond these borders,until the day Andrew could stand right in front of me and it wouldn't matter at all.

I fell into a deep sleep in the second half of the night.Despite the bare-bones tent,I felt more at peace than I had in years.

When I stumbled out the next morning,still half-asleep,Austin already had his easel set up.His expression had gone focused,serious.

The sun rose slowly,its warmth brushing across every inch of skin.

I stood facing the east,watching the sunrise.My new beginning.

"Hold still!"Austin's voice cut through,suddenly charged with excitement.I froze in place,barely daring to move,watching him from the corner of my eye.

He was painting me.

When he finally finished,I rubbed my stiff neck.

"Let me get that for you.Least I can do—thanks for being my model."

Austin's hands found my shoulders.His grip was firm.

I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy it.

On the way down the mountain,he talked nonstop about the inspiration he'd just caught.I'd seen the painting—it was beautiful,even if I couldn't articulate what made it so.

The moment we got back,Austin disappeared into his cottage.

I turned on the old TV and nearly jumped back when Andrew's face filled the screen.

I almost changed the channel,then stopped myself.

This was part of it—the decision I'd made last night on the mountain.Andrew appeared on TV and in the news constantly.I couldn't keep running from it.

The interview showed the same old Andrew—unchanged.

When they asked about the recent rumors of marital trouble,he barely reacted.

"Luna threw a tantrum.She'll play around for a while and come back."

Every wolf out there envied me—a rogue with no family,no pack,taken in by the old Aldric Alpha,then married off to Andrew.They said I must have been born under a lucky star.

Only I knew the truth.Ignored by everyone,resented by Andrew,holding the title of Luna while drifting through the Aldric Pack like a rootless weed.

On screen,he still looked down on everything from that insufferable height,as if my leaving was nothing more than a child's tantrum—as if I'd come running back any moment now.

Every year when the yellow roses bloomed,Andrew had the servants cut them and fill every corner of the pack.The swing in the glass conservatory was polished daily.

Rachel was dead,but Andrew kept reminding me of her everywhere.

The interviewer pressed on—was he worried about my safety out there?

He scoffed,contempt barely contained behind the screen."She's been pampered in the North her whole life.She can't survive on her own out there.Give it time—she'll come crying back."

His fingers drummed the desk—that restless habit of his whenever he was annoyed.

"There are rumors the fight with Luna was over the assistant you've been keeping at your side?"

Andrew frowned,irritated,and instinctively reached for the ring on his finger.

But there was nothing there.

Then he remembered—Daisy had actually done it this time.Threw his ring back and had the nerve to run.

He remembered the call from Joey,the Omega,panicked,saying Luna was gone.

He'd come home to find her half of the closet emptied out.Only his suits hung there,swaying in the vacant space.

She was using the runaway act to pressure him into sending away the she-wolf who looked like Rachel.That was all this was.

He knew what Daisy cared about most—anything connected to Rachel.Especially a she-wolf who could have been Rachel's twin.

But so what.

The old Aldric Alpha was gone.Daisy had no family.He was all she had.

When Daisy was little and felt wronged,she'd hide somewhere alone.

Back when the old Aldric Alpha was alive,the old man had indulged her.He’d always come looking for her.

Andrew didn't have that kind of patience.

He thought once Daisy had suffered enough out there,she’d come running back to appreciate what the Aldric Pack had given her.It was only a matter of time.

So he told Joey:"She's a rogue.Without the Aldric Pack,where would she even go?"

"No one is allowed to go looking for her.When she comes back,let me know."