Chapter 5: She is Gone

Rain lashed my face like a thousand frozen whips.

I ran.

I ran until my lungs screamed for air and my legs felt like they were tearing apart from the inside. The forest swallowed me whole—roots clawed at my feet, wet moss sent me skidding, branches tore across my skin like knives.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

My bare feet were shredded, blood blooming with every step. For a fleeting second, I wondered if they could track me by scent alone. Then the storm erased it.

---

Behind me, wolves howled. The sound sliced straight through my bones.

“She’s out! Find her!”

The command tore through the pack mind-link like thunder. Even with the mate bond severed, Kael’s Alpha roar carried overwhelming authority. It vibrated in the air, in my chest, in the fragile life curled inside me.

They were hunting me. And if they caught me, Serena would make sure my baby never drew a breath.

I clutched my stomach as I ran, shielding it instinctively. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed, stumbling hard over a fallen tree. “I’m so sorry, baby. Mommy wouldn’t run if there were any other way.”

---

The trees suddenly thinned. Wind slammed into me. I skidded to a halt.

The Black River.

Usually calm. Tonight, it was a monster. Floodwaters roared below, black and violent, smashing against jagged rocks.

Flashlights burst through the forest behind me. “There! I smell her!”

My throat closed. If I turned back, I was dead. If I jumped… I might die. But there was a third option. A lie so convincing it would end the hunt forever.

Hands shaking, I tore open the zipper of my ruined white dress. I yanked off the heels that had slowed me all night. A sharp rock lay near my feet.

Slash.

Pain exploded down my arm. Blood poured freely. I smeared the hot blood across the dress, soaked the shoes, splattered the rocks near the cliff’s edge.

“Goodbye,” I whispered into the storm. “Aria of the Moon Pack dies tonight.”

I stepped sideways onto a narrow, hidden ledge. I looked once more into the abyss. “Moon Goddess… if you have ever listened to me… protect my child.”

Then I let go.

The river slammed into me like stone. Cold. Crushing. Endless. Darkness swallowed everything.

---

The Next Morning

The storm was gone.

Sunlight poured through the windows of the Alpha’s office, bright and mocking. Kael Blackwood sat rigid behind his desk.

He should have felt relief. The liar was gone. The bond was severed. Serena was safe.

So why did his chest feel hollow?

“It’s just rejection backlash,” Kael muttered. He lifted his coffee. Metallic. Bitter. Wrong.

The office door burst open. Marcus. His Beta was drenched, face drained of all color.

“Alpha,” Marcus said hoarsely. He placed an evidence bag on the desk.

Thud.

Inside were white high heels. Mud-stained. Blood-soaked.

Kael’s breath hitched. He had mocked those shoes. Called her a beggar for wearing them.

“Where,” Kael asked slowly, “is she?”

“The scent ended at the Black River cliff,” Marcus reported. “The river flooded. The current was lethal.”

“She faked it!” Kael barked, standing abruptly. “It’s manipulation. She wants guilt—”

“Alpha,” Marcus interrupted gently. “We also found… biological matter below the cliff. The team confirmed it.”

The words landed like a hammer. Biological matter.

Kael staggered back, colliding with the bookshelf. “No,” he whispered.

“The report is final,” Marcus said. “Aria is dead.”

Kael returned to the desk on shaking legs. He opened the bag. His fingers brushed the cold, soaked shoe.

So small.

A memory slammed into him—Aria laughing softly in his bed. Aria screaming as he rejected her.

Kael lifted the shoe and inhaled. Vanilla. Jasmine. Fading.

“Get out,” Kael whispered.

“Alpha—”

“I SAID GET OUT!”

The door shut. Kael collapsed to the floor, clutching the shoe to his chest like a lifeline that no longer existed.

“You weren’t supposed to die,” he choked, voice breaking. “You were supposed to disappear. You liar… you were supposed to live.”

Outside, the Moon Pack bathed in sunlight. Inside the Alpha’s office—it was darker than a grave.