Chapter 7: Choosing to Leave

I couldn't stand any longer. The hall had dissolved into chaos around us, and Julian pulled me fully into his arms, my legs no longer willing to hold me.

My mother's voice cut through the noise, dripping with poison. “Raven is our daughter. You have no right to take her.” Her eyes found Damon, cold and certain. “What could she possibly offer you? A broken wolf who couldn't even hold her own mate's attention? You'll get nothing but dead weight for your trouble.”

Each word found an old scar and pressed. She wasn't entirely wrong, and that was the worst part of it — I didn't know what I had to offer anyone, not anymore.

Damon's power rose again, sharper this time, pressing down on the room. My brothers moved to flank my mother, and Jared stepped forward, chin lifted.

“Alpha Damon, with all due respect — and I'm no longer sure how much that is — this doesn't concern you.” Jared's voice had lost whatever restraint it had before. “Whatever sob story she's fed you, she's always been a liar. Ask anyone in this pack. You're embarrassing yourself defending her.”

Damon didn't say a word. He didn't need to. His fist connected with Jared's jaw before the echo of the sentence had even finished, and Jared stumbled back, too stunned to recover fast enough to respond.

Julian stepped between them before it could go further, still holding me steady in his arms, his power pressing down on both men at once. “Enough,” he said, and the word alone was enough to still the room.

I reached out and caught Damon's arm. “Uncle Damon.” My voice came out smaller than I meant it to. “Let's go. Let's not waste any more time here.”

“You're not going anywhere.” My father's voice, flat and absolute. “You belong to Whitefang. You cannot leave.”

“I don't belong here anymore.” The words tasted like ash on the way out. This had been my pack. My family. The only home I'd ever known, and I was the one choosing to burn it down behind me. “Even if I have to become a rogue, I will not stay somewhere I'm not welcome.”

Alpha Nero stepped forward, his voice carrying the full weight of his Alpha aura. “I forbid you to leave this pack, Raven Callahan. You are part of Whitefang, and that won't change, no matter what.”

Luna Amanda moved to stand beside him. “Raven, don't be difficult,” she said, ever the diplomat. “We can work through this misunderstanding. Your family needs you. This pack needs you.”

The irony of it nearly made me laugh. “Luna Amanda, don't play with me. They'd rather I were dead.” I straightened as best I could in Julian's arms. “I'm not asking permission. I won't involve anyone else in this.” I looked at Damon. “Uncle Damon, thank you — but you don't deserve to be dragged down into this. Like I said before, even if I have to become a rogue, I'm leaving this pack today.”

Damon stepped forward again, closing whatever distance remained between us and the doors. “Alpha Nero. Raven is coming with us. Let's see who tries to stop us from taking her today.”

The room went silent.

Whitefang was a powerful pack, but measured against the Ashcroft pack, they didn't stand a chance if it came down to a fight — and that was before accounting for Julian, whose identity remained a mystery to everyone in that hall, but who was plainly not a man anyone wanted to test. Faced with that math, Alpha Nero and my father had no real choice left.

They let me leave.

Julian and Uncle Damon accompanied me to my room while I packed. They helped me gather what little I had — a few changes of clothes, a handful of books. That was what my life had been reduced to. I took one last look around the tiny room I used to live in and let myself breathe, once, before I closed the door behind me for the last time.

We made our way down from the Beta house, and I understood almost immediately that my family hadn't gathered by accident. They'd positioned themselves along the path to the door — a gauntlet I'd have to walk through, each of them waiting for one last cut.

“Don't come crawling back when you realize what you've thrown away,” my mother said as I passed her.

My father didn't even look at me directly. “You were always the weakest of my children. I should have known you'd run.”

Jared, jaw already swelling, managed only one word. “Traitor.”

I kept my head up and kept walking, Julian's arm steady around me, until Emilia's sobs cut through the rest of it.

“Raven, please!” Her voice broke on a sob timed a little too perfectly. “I know you hate me. I know you've always been jealous. But Michael is my fated mate. The Moon Goddess herself chose us. How could you expect me to just give him up? How could you be so cruel?”

She was magnificent, honestly. If I hadn't known better, I might have believed her myself — the trembling lip, the glistening eyes, all of it rehearsed to a shine.

Michael's hand found mine before I could get past them. I flinched and tried to pull free, but he held on, and for once he didn't look away.

“Raven, wait. You have to understand — what was I supposed to do? She's my fated mate. You know what the bond is like, you know I couldn't fight it. And you were always so difficult, so angry all the time. Emilia is gentle. She doesn't—”

“Doesn't what, Michael?” My voice came out like ice. “Doesn't stand up for herself? Doesn't ask you to be honest? Doesn't expect you to have a spine?”

“That's not fair. I tried to make it work with you, but you—”

“You tried nothing.” I pulled my hand free at last. “The moment something easier came along, you took it. Don't rewrite this to make yourself the victim.”

“I'm not the victim here! You're the one who—” He caught himself half a second too late.

“Who what? Finish it, Michael. Say what you actually think of me, in front of everyone, since you've never managed to say it to my face.”

His silence was the only answer he had left.

“The right thing for who, Michael?” I said, quieter now. “For you? For her? I don't care anymore. I would rather die than be mated to a coward who can't even own his choices.”

And with that, we got into the car and drove away.