Chapter 5

The final day.

Tonight was my eighteenth birthday, and the seventh night after the Dark Moon. The pack elders said the veil between worlds was thinnest on this night.

I woke up early and spent the entire afternoon cooking in the kitchen.

I roasted Ryker's favorite tomahawk steak, baked Declan's favorite pizza, and made the roast beef Julian had asked for.

The feast covered the large marble kitchen island.

I packed up everything in my room that actually belonged to me.

In truth, there wasn't much.

Other than an old photograph of my adoptive parents, the rest were mostly cheap trinkets the boys had casually handed me over the years.

A cracked music box, a few old sketchbooks Julian gave me, and a bracelet.

I packed these odds and ends into a cardboard box and left it in the living room.

The clock struck nine. The front door unlocked.

The four of them walked in, laughing. Chloe was in front, carrying several shopping bags.

"Wow, smells amazing! Someone made dinner!"

Chloe took a deep breath and ran to the island.

Ryker took off his jacket. Seeing the lavish dinner, surprise flashed across his face.

"What made you think of cooking today?"

He looked at me. His tone was tough, but slightly softer than before.

"Glad you finally realized you were wrong. Go grab plates. Chloe is hungry."

Declan tossed the bags onto the couch and loosened his collar.

Then, he saw the cardboard box.

"What is this junk doing in the living room?"

He walked over and kicked the box. It tipped over, spilling the bracelet onto the floor.

Four years ago, when the Dark Goddess of Death visited me as I lay dying, she gifted me that Nether Stone to conceal my aura.

I told them it was just an ordinary stone for protection. Declan had hired a top-tier craftsman to set it into this custom bracelet.

When he gave it to me, he'd said, "Wear this, and I'll always be able to track your scent."

"Oh my god, this bracelet is so unique!"

Chloe bent down and picked it up.

The Nether Stone gave off a soft glow in her palm.

"Declan, did you buy this? I love this stone."

Declan looked at the bracelet he had once traveled across the state to have made for me. Guilt and annoyance flashed across his face.

He glanced at me, then at Chloe, and shrugged.

"It's just an old bracelet. Keep it if you want. It's wasted on some people anyway."

I stood by the island, my voice perfectly steady.

I walked over and held my hand out to Chloe.

"Give it back."

Chloe shrank back, looking up at Declan.

"Amara, don't be stingy. Declan said I could have it. Can't he just buy you another one?"

"I said, give it back."

My voice dropped cold and hard.

It was a token from the Dark Goddess of Death. It couldn't stay in the hands of the living.

"Amara, are you done throwing a fit?!"

Ryker crossed the room and shoved my shoulder hard.

Caught off guard, my side crashed against the sharp edge of the marble island.

"It's a bracelet. If Chloe likes it, let her have it. Do you have to turn the whole house upside down over nothing?"

Julian leaned against the couch and laughed.

"Yeah. Aren't you supposed to be a servant of Death? Does a Reaper's servant still care about mortal trinkets?"

I looked at the three of them standing like a solid wall, shielding Chloe behind them.

Through the mate bond, I felt Declan's absolute disgust. Yet, an absurd calm washed over me.

This was the pack I had desperately loved for ten years.

This was the "family" and the mate I gave my everything for—even foolishly wishing to reject the Reaper's grace for them.

Four years ago, Ryker held me and swore, "As long as I'm here, no Rogue will ever touch you."

And now, the hand that shoved me used more force than a Rogue ever could.

Nobody remembered my birthday. Nobody remembered I used to be their world.

"Okay." I nodded numbly.

"You're right. I shouldn't care. I'm giving it all back to you. My sixth wish is complete."

I looked at the clock. Eleven fifty-five.

Five minutes until the Dark Goddess of Death descended.

I walked back to the island and picked up the plate with Ryker's tomahawk steak.

As they watched in shock, I let go.

The plate shattered, hot gravy splattering across the floor.

"Amara, what are you doing?!" Ryker roared.

I ignored him. I picked up the pizza, then the roast beef...

One plate after another, I smashed them onto the floor.

Oil, meat, and broken porcelain mixed into a ruin on the floor.

"Since I gave back everything you gave me, you don't get to eat this last meal, either."

I wiped my hands, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, and pushed the glass doors open.

A blood-red moon hung in the sky, spilling crimson light over the balcony.

"Amara! If you walk out that door tonight, don't ever come back!"

Declan bellowed, his chest heaving with rage.

"Declan, don't be mad. She's just in a bad mood." Chloe played the sweet innocent.

The second hand ticked toward twelve.

Midnight.

Suddenly, a profound, ghostly light descended from the night sky. A bone-chilling aura of death blanketed the house.

From within the light, a majestic voice spoke.

"Amara, your time in the werewolf realm is over. It's time to come home."

I closed my eyes, stepping into the light. "My seventh wish is that we never see each other again."

My body grew incredibly light. Every ounce of pain and cold drained away.

In the final second before the light fully swallowed me, I felt the sickening snap of the mate bond. Then came the frantic footsteps of Declan rushing toward me from behind.

"Amara!"