Chapter 3 : The Exile

Irene.

I woke to silence.

Not the comfortable silence of sleep, but the empty silence of something vital missing. I reached for my wolf, the way I had done every morning since I was twelve, and found nothing. Just a vast, aching void where she used to be.

A sob tore from my throat before I could stop it.

The room was bare. Four walls, a narrow bed, and one window with iron bars. They had put me in the omega quarters. I pushed myself up, my body screaming in protest. Every muscle felt like it had been shredded and poorly stitched back together.

My hand went to my neck. The mark was still there, raised and hot against my skin. The bond pulsed weakly, a distant drum I could barely hear. The stripping ritual had torn away my hybrid wolf, but not the mate bond.

I was still tied to a stranger I would never see again.

The door opened without warning. My father stood in the doorway, and for a moment, hope flickered in my chest. Maybe he had changed his mind.

But his face was saying something else.

"You leave at dawn," he said, dropping a worn canvas bag on the floor. "I have put money inside. Enough to start somewhere else."

"Father…"

"Do not call me that." His voice was flat. "You are no longer my daughter. The moment you leave pack lands, you are nothing to me."

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"I don’t care." He turned to leave, then paused. "Your mother would be ashamed of what you have become."

That hurt. That finally broke through the numbness and stabbed straight into my heart.

"My mother would have believed me," I whispered.

He did not respond. The door closed behind him with finality.

I pulled the bag toward me, inside was human currency, clothes that were not mine, a canteen of water, then…nothing else. No proof I had ever belonged to the Cardona family.

I had until dawn.

The hours crawled by. I sat by the window and watched the sky slowly lighten from black to deep blue to pale gray.

When the first rays of the sun touched the horizon, I shouldered the bag and walked out.

No one came to say goodbye.

The pack house was quiet as I passed through it one last time. I trailed my fingers along the banister where I used to slide down as a child. Every corner held a memory, and each one twisted like a knife.

Outside, pack members were beginning to stir. A few glanced at me, then quickly looked away. I saw Omega Claire hanging laundry. We had been friends once. She met my eyes for a brief second, and I saw pity there. But she did not speak.

The walk to the border felt endless and too short all at once.

At the edge of pack territory, I turned back. The houses looked smaller from here.

A figure emerged from the tree line. Lyra.

She was dressed impeccably as always. She smiled at me, and it was the most genuine expression I had seen from her in years.

"I wanted to make sure you actually left," she said pleasantly.

"Why?" The word came out hoarse. "Why did you do this to me?"

"Do what? I only told the truth about what I saw."

"You lied. You know you lied."

"Do I?" She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Let me tell you what I know. The new Alpha arrived the night of the Moon Ceremony. The most powerful wolf to set foot in our territory in a century. Young, handsome, and looking for his Luna."

My blood turned to ice. The new Alpha. The stranger who marked me was the Alpha.

"I also know," Lyra continued, "that he marked someone that night. He has been very distressed about it. Searching everywhere for the she-wolf who disappeared. So tragic."

"You knew," I breathed. "You knew it was him."

"I suspected. The timing was too perfect. And when I saw you come running out of those woods with his mark, I could not let you ruin everything."

"He is my mate."

"Was. Past tense." She gestured to my chest. "You are not a wolf anymore, Irene. You are nothing. And he will never know the pathetic wolfless girl he is searching for is you." She leaned in close. "I am going to be his Luna. I have already positioned myself perfectly. He feels something when I am near, something he thinks might be the bond trying to manifest."

"That is not how mate bonds work," I said weakly.

"It is how they work when the real mate is too broken to claim him." She stepped back, satisfied. "Goodbye, Irene. Do not come back."

She walked away, humming.

I stood at the border, my hand pressed against the mark that still burned on my neck. I could reveal the truth. I could turn around and tell the Alpha exactly who I was.

But who would believe me? The disgraced daughter stripped of her wolf, claiming to be the Alpha's fated mate? They would laugh. Or worse, they would think I was trying to trap him.

I had no proof. No wolf, no power, and no family.

I crossed the border into human territory.

The bond stretched, thinned, but did not break. Each step away from the pack felt like I was walking through molasses. But I forced myself forward.

Hours later, I stumbled into a small human town. Cars rushed past and humans walked by without acknowledging each other. The lack of a pack connection made me feel untethered.

Near the town center, I saw a hospital.

As I approached, a small bird lay on the ground near the entrance, its wing bent at an unnatural angle. Without thinking, I knelt and touched it gently.

Warmth flooded from my palm. The healing gift surged forward, stronger than it had ever been. The bird's wing straightened and mended. It chirped once and flew away.

I stared at my hand in shock. The stripping had taken my hybrid wolf, but not this. This power must have been separate.

The hospital doors slid open. A doctor emerged, nearly tripping over me.

"Are you alright?" She helped me up. "You look terrible."

I touched the mark on my neck, hidden beneath my collar. The bond to a mate who would never find me. The wolf I had lost. The family that had thrown me away.

"I need to learn how to break a fated bond," I heard myself say. "Can you teach me medicine?"

The doctor's eyebrows rose. "That is an odd question but you look like you have been through hell." She studied me. "We have a residency program. Hard work and long hours. But if you are serious about learning, we can always use dedicated people."

"I am serious."

She nodded. "Alright then. Let us get you cleaned up first. I am Dr. Anna Matthew."

"Irene," I said softly. "Just Irene."

Not Irene Cardona. Not anymore.

Dr. Matthew led me inside, and I did not look back.

One year, I told myself. One year to learn everything I could. One year to become strong enough to break this bond and free myself.

One year to become someone new.