LOGINAlaric walked next to Hazel, one arm around her waist like if he let go she'd disappear. Aurella was asleep on Dominic's shoulder behind them. Ella's screams had faded. No one talked on the way back. The forest was quiet in that way forests get after a fight. Even wolves stayed away. The packhouse lights were on. All of them. Every window. Like whole pack was awake and waiting. They were. When Hazel stepped out of treeline, every door opened. Maids. Guards. Wolves who used to call her slave. Wolves who watched Miss Penelope hit her and did nothing. They stood in snow in bare feet and coats thrown on. They stared at her neck. At the mark. Fresh. Red. Alaric's. Then at Alaric. Shirtless in minus ten, covered in blood that wasn't all his, holding an omega like she was made of glass and knife at same time. Greta was the first to move. She walked to middle of courtyard and knelt. Again. In snow. "I bring Luna home," Greta said. Loud enough for packhouse to hear. No one knelt with
Alaric stood in front of her, body blocking wind, bare feet in snow like he couldn't feel cold.He didn't move. Blood dripped off his elbow onto snow.Then sounds of footsteps were heard. More than one.Dominic stepped out first. Arm bandaged badly. Blood seeping. Behind him, Greta, two council wolves, and Aurella wrapped in three blankets.And dragging behind them by the hair, Ella.Dominic threw her down. She landed hard next to the bridge.Alaric didn't look at Ella yet. He looked at Dominic."Vincent?""Dead," Dominic said, breathing hard. "Tried to stab you in your sleep in the packhouse. Said Hazel's mother tried to kill you as a kid, so Hazel would too. Same blood. Greta heard him."Greta stepped forward. Old. So old.She looked at Hazel's face. Then at the mark on Hazel's neck. Fresh, red, raised."Mara's girl," Greta whispered.Hazel flinched. "You knew my mother?""I delivered you," Greta said. "On the floor of the infirmary. Your mother was bleeding. She wouldn't let anyone
Hazel's lungs burned. The dagger was still in her hand. She couldn't remember if she wiped it.Behind her, the cabin was filled with fighting sounds . Wood breaking. Alaric roaring, and other roars answering him.Twelve. Ella had sent twelve.She pressed harder on the mark on her neck. It throbbed. Hot when the rest of her was freezing.The bond pulled like a string dragging her back.Don't. Keep running.The river was black. Not frozen all the way. She slipped. Both knees hit ice. Pain shot up. She stayed down for a second. Then a shadow moved ahead.Boots.Ella.Clean cloak. No snow on her. Knife catching moonlight. She smiled when she saw Hazel on the ground."There you are," Ella said. "Omegas always run."Hazel got up. Slowly. Knees bleeding."You sent twelve to kill him," she said. Hoarse."I sent twelve to finish a job," Ella said. "The council wants a clean pack."Hazel's hand tightened on the dagger. It stopped shaking.She remembered the pouch. Inside Alaric's cloak. Wolfs
Three wolves burst through in the space of one breath, black fur, yellow eyes, Silvermoon scouts. Ella’s men. They shifted mid-leap, landing on two legs with steel in their hands. Alaric moved before Hazel could blink. He was unarmed. Shirtless. Bare feet on frozen floor. Didn’t matter. He caught the first scout by the throat and slammed him into the wall. Wood cracked. The wolf choked, claws scraping uselessly at Alaric’s forearm. “You should’ve stayed in the packhouse,” Alaric growled. His voice wasn’t his own, low, layered with his wolf. “You should’ve remembered who I am.” The second scout lunged. Alaric twisted, using the first man as a shield. The blade meant for his ribs sank into his own scout’s shoulder instead. Blood sprayed across the hearth. Hazel didn’t think. She couldn’t. The dagger Alaric gave her was small, cold, but her hands knew what to do. Her mother had taught her which veins to cut to stop a bleed, and which to cut to end one. She darted forward as the
The cabin was small, half-collapsed, and buried under snow, but it had four walls and a fireplace. For now, it was enough.Alaric kicked the door open with his boot and carried Hazel inside. The air smelled of rot and old wood, but he didn’t set her down until he’d cleared the bench with his arm and wrapped her in every blanket he could find.“Stay awake,” he ordered, his voice rough as he knelt and shoved dry kindling into the hearth. “Hazel. Eyes on me.”She blinked slowly, her head heavy against his shoulder. “I’m awake,” she lied. Her voice was soft, threadbare. The claim had warmed her, but the cold was still in her bones.The first spark caught. Orange light flickered across Alaric’s face, carving shadows into his jaw. He hadn’t shifted back into clothes. He sat shirtless in the snow-melt, muscle coiled, every inch the Alpha who’d just committed treason for her.Hazel stared. Her bond with him pulsed, steady and warm, but underneath it she felt it. His rage. Not at her. At Ella.
Hazel stood at the edge of the packhouse gates. No pack. No cloak. No weapon. Just the thin clothes she’d worn yesterday and a small satchel with a waterskin and a piece of bread. The guards hadn’t stopped her. Orders were orders. Exile at dawn.The air bit her lungs. It was colder than it had been in weeks, and the wind cut through her like knives. She pulled the thin fabric of her shirt tighter around herself and stepped past the iron gates.Behind her, the packhouse doors stayed shut. Alaric hadn’t come. She hadn’t expected him to.He can’t, she told herself. If he follows me, he loses everything. But that didn’t make the ache in her chest any less sharp.The path down the mountain was steep and treacherous with ice. Hazel moved carefully, one foot in front of the other. The bond inside her screamed with every step that took her further from Alaric. It felt like her ribs were being pulled apart, like someone had hooked her heart and was dragging it backward.She didn’
Alaric’s POV I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t, with her scent still in my lungs. Jasmine. Herbs. Hazel had been in my room. In Aurella’s room. In my head since she walked into the throne room and looked Cleric in the eye without flinching. “No one touches what is mine.” The words tasted like a vow a
Alaric’s POV “Come with me,” I said, already walking ahead. Hazel followed quickly, keeping pace without a word. We walked through the hallways, the sound of our footsteps echoing. She stayed just behind me, quiet. “Why were you late?” I asked, my eyes forward, my tone even. “Um… I was tak
Alaric’s POVHazel had the longest, most luscious hair I’d ever seen. “I like it,” I mumbled before I even realized it.Her cheeks flushed lightly, and something inside me tightened. I leaned closer, drawn in. The urge to touch her and be near her was almost overwhelming.My mind was hazy, my thoug
Hazel's POVI froze, standing there like my feet had been rooted to the ground. The question caught me off guard, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t even form a single word.“You’re going to ask for gold, right?” Miss Penelope’s whisper came from behind me.I didn’t turn. Of course she would say tha







