Chapter 5

NATALIA

The closet was half-empty. My dresses still hung in a neat row, untouched. Most were formal—Luna attire. Silks and muted colors meant to convey grace and restraint. Now, they looked like costumes from a role I no longer played.

I folded the last of my sweaters and zipped the suitcase shut. There wasn’t much else I wanted to take. A few books. Some photos. Letters from some of the other wolves who grew up alongside me in the orphanage.

Everything else could stay. Let Lilith wear my title. My dresses. Let her step into my shoes and realize how quickly they blister.

A knock at the door startled me.

When I opened it, Mila stood there—my Delta. Her eyes were red-rimmed, jaw tight. She looked like she hadn’t slept.

"You’re really leaving," she said quietly.

I nodded. "It’s better this way."

Mila stepped inside, looking around like she might find a reason to make me stay. "He won’t be the same without you. None of us will."

"He’ll be fine," I said. "He has Lilith."

She snorted. Walked around the room, picking up knickknacks I’d chosen to leave behind. "Lilith mistreated the ranks when she was here. You know that. She never looked twice at the Deltas, the omegas, anyone below Beta. You? You listened. You cared."

I looked down, my chest aching. "That’s not enough to stay."

She stepped closer. "I think he loves you, Natalia. He just doesn’t know how to show it."

That hurt. I had loved him from the start but knew enough to keep some of myself back—it was a marriage of convenience, a marriage forced from a bond. He’d offered me a contractual marriage—not one of lovers—though sometimes we were that—but of business partners. He’d needed a Luna, found his fated mate, and I fit the bill. Nothing more.

I shook my head. "If he did, he would’ve asked me to stay. He let me go."

Mila didn’t argue. She hugged me instead, fiercely and fast, like she couldn’t trust herself not to cry. I held her back.

"Be safe," she whispered. "Please."

***

The road was long and empty, winding through cliffs and forest. We were far from the fighting here, far from the war. I felt comfortable enough to drive without protection.

I rolled the window down, letting the cold air sting my face. I didn’t know where I was going—just away. Far from the compound. Far from the memories. Far from Andrei.

The waves crashed far below, hidden by mist. For the first time in years, I was alone.

I expected it to be freeing, but it wasn’t. It just felt like I was back in the orphanage of my youth—a young wolf with no family, no home, no pack.

Beneath my skin, my wolf yearned to howl, but I resisted the impulse.

And then I felt it.

A presence. A ripple in the air. Another wolf.

I checked the rearview mirror. A black SUV. Unfamiliar. Close.

Too close.

I pressed the gas.

The SUV followed.

I slowed down. If they were in such a hurry, let them pass me.

But they slowed as well.

My heartbeat spiked. The road ahead narrowed, curving sharply along the cliffside. Guardrails lined the edge, but they were old, rusted by salt and wind. Nothing that would stop a real impact.

The SUV accelerated even more, coming up on my bumper so closely that I could no longer see the headlights. All I could see was a stylized wolf airbrushed onto the front license plate.

I swerved, trying to shake it. Tires screeched. My hands gripped the wheel hard enough to cramp.

Then it rammed me.

Not enough to send me off, but enough to rattle my bones.

Another hit.

And I lost control.

The world spun as the car lurched sideways. Metal shrieked. The guardrail gave way like paper.

Then everything dropped.

Cold.

Weightless.

Then with a slam I hit the water.

And the sea swallowed me whole.

Darkness wrapped around the car, swallowing sound and light. Water rushed in through the cracks, freezing and merciless. I gasped, choking on salt and panic. My hand fumbled for the seatbelt, but the mechanism jammed. The cabin was filling quickly. My ears popped from the pressure.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus. Think. Survive. The wolf in me surged forward, wild with fear and instinct. I shifted partially, clawing at the belt, the door—anything.

The last thing I saw was a sliver of light through the windshield, distorted by water and blood.

ANDREI

The silence after Natalia left was strange. Unnatural.

For hours, I sat in my office, papers spread out in front of me. Reports. Requests. Schedules. She used to organize all of it. Now, I couldn’t even find the latest supply requisition.

"Alpha, we need signatures on the new patrol rotations," said Carlos, my beta.

I stared at the document. Had we already updated the west perimeter? Was this the old version? Natalia would have known.

It was like a thousand invisible threads had been cut.

She’d never made a fuss. Never demanded recognition. But without her, the seams were unraveling.

I leaned back, rubbing my temples. The contract. I had forgotten about it. Years ago, I agreed to marry her out of duty. The pack needed a Luna. Someone stable. Noble.

Natalia had fit the role perfectly. And over time, she had become something more. Someone I came home to. Someone I trusted.

A real partner.

I had kept my distance often, I admit that. Pulled away by war and responsibilities. And because I’d known she’d entered into the contract out of necessity—she was a no one when I found her.

But we had built something. We had. Hadn’t we?

I should’ve said something. Should’ve asked her to stay. But when she presented the contract, I saw it in her eyes.

She’d been waiting for that day. Not with malice, but with quiet resignation. Like she’d known all along that this would end.

And maybe I made it easier for her. By letting Lilith back in. By standing there in that damn hospital room while she begged me with her silence not to walk away.

Lilith appeared that afternoon, smiling like the sun. "It’s just us now," she said, curling her arms around my neck. "Like it was meant to be."

I gave her a smile. Empty. Dutiful. Like muscle memory.

Maybe it would work. Maybe I could forget Natalia. Return everything to its proper place.

Maybe.

***

The call came that evening. The evening of our engagement ceremony.

Carlos burst into the office, pale and breathless. "Rogue activity near the cliffs. There was an accident. One vehicle. Surveillance footage shows it was Natalia."

My blood turned to ice.

"What?"

"She was being followed. The other vehicle didn’t go over—disappeared into the woods. But Natalia’s car went off the road. Into the sea."

I was already moving.

Before I reached the command center, Mila came sprinting down the corridor, eyes wide with panic. In her hand was a small white stick.

She held it up with trembling fingers.

"You need to see this."

I took it.

A pregnancy test.

Positive.

Everything stopped.

My vision narrowed.

"She’s pregnant?" I whispered.

Mila nodded, voice shaking. "She didn’t tell anyone. But she left this behind."

I turned to my Beta.

"Cancel everything. The engagement. The ceremony. I want search parties on every road, every cliff, every inch of that sea."

My voice dropped to a growl.

"Find her. Now."

He didn’t hesitate.

Neither did I.