Celeb's Mercy

Chapter 11

Caleb’s Mercy

POV: Adelina McKenna

There’s a kind of pain that burns too deep for tears.

The kind that hollows you out, silences your scream, and leaves you standing in a body that doesn’t feel like yours anymore.

That’s where I was.

Three hours after Daxon Reyes severed our bond in front of the entire Silver Fang Pack.

Three hours after I watched the man fate tied me to turn his back and walk away like I’d never mattered.

Like I’d never even existed.

The pain was still there, radiating from my chest like a wound that wouldn’t clot. My wolf was silent, withdrawn, coiled deep inside me. I couldn’t feel her the way I had before. Not fully.

The bond wasn’t just broken.

It was torn out.

And the hole it left behind wasn’t just emotional. It was spiritual.

I couldn’t shift. Could barely breathe.

But I could hear.

And what I heard now just outside my door changed everything.

“…she’s still in her room?”

A gruff male voice. I didn’t recognize it.

“Yes,” a second voice said. Maren. Cold, measured. “The Alpha has issued no further instructions.”

“That’s a problem,” the first one growled. “You heard the council. Now that the bond’s null, she’s a threat.”

A pause.

“She’s not one of us,” he added. “And she carries a bloodline the Elders fear.”

Another pause. A low growl. “Better to clean this up before it spreads.”

I froze.

Not out of fear.

Out of clarity.

I wasn’t just rejected.

I was marked.

And they weren’t going to let me walk out of this territory alive.

I moved fast.

Threw the few things I hadn’t unpacked back into my duffel my sketchpad, the Moon Matron parchment, the pendant from my father. I yanked open the wardrobe, grabbed the warmest coat I could find, and shoved on my boots with shaking hands.

Then I slid open the balcony door and looked down.

Two stories.

Snow-dusted earth. A narrow ridge leading into the treeline. No guards.

Yet.

I took a breath, backed up… and jumped.

The fall knocked the wind from my lungs. My ankle rolled hard when I landed, but I kept moving.

No pain. No hesitation.

Just instinct.

Survival.

My wolf still refused to speak. But I knew she was with me. Watching. Waiting.

And when the time came, she would rise again.

I didn’t make it more than three hundred yards before the first howl cut through the trees.

It was close.

Followed by a second.

Then a third.

They were tracking me already.

Silver Fang wolves don’t give warnings. They give chases. They hunt.

And now… I was prey.

I forced my legs to move faster, charging through brush, dodging low-hanging branches, my breath visible in ragged bursts as the cold tore at my face.

No idea where I was going.

Just away.

Away from betrayal. From judgment. From the Circle.

From him.

And then just as I stumbled over a fallen log I saw him.

Caleb.

Standing by a black snow-dusted motorcycle, engine rumbling, helmet under one arm.

He met my eyes without flinching.

“Get on.”

I didn’t ask questions.

I climbed on the bike behind him, wrapped my arms around his torso, and pressed my cheek to his shoulder.

He didn’t ask if I was okay.

He knew the answer.

Instead, he twisted the throttle and we roared into the trees, snow kicking up behind us like ash.

We didn’t stop until the sun began to rise.

Miles away. Higher elevation. A clearing nestled deep in the woods, hidden beneath old pines and rock shelves. An abandoned hunting cabin stood just ahead, half-swallowed by the wilderness.

Caleb killed the engine and exhaled hard.

“You’re safe here,” he said. “For now.”

I climbed off the bike slowly, legs sore, lungs burning.

“Why are you helping me?”

He turned, meeting my gaze.

“Because I was there when you stepped into the Circle. I saw the bond form. I felt it. Every wolf in that place did. And I watched them rip it apart anyway.”

I swallowed hard.

“You knew they’d try to kill me.”

He nodded. “The moment the Council labeled you a ‘threat to order,’ they gave every enforcer the greenlight. Dax didn’t object.”

“Of course he didn’t,” I said bitterly. “He played his part perfectly.”

Caleb’s jaw tensed.

“He didn’t want this,” he said. “But he let it happen.”

I dropped onto a rotted log, elbows on my knees, trying not to shake.

“Then he’s no better than the rest.”

Silence stretched between us.

Only the wind moved.

Then Caleb sat beside me.

“Do you know why they’re really afraid of you?” he asked.

I looked at him. “Because of my bloodline?”

He shook his head. “Because you didn’t break.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You stood in front of the Council, alone. You faced a crowd that wanted to see you humiliated. And even after they rejected you… you didn’t run.”

“I ran tonight.”

He shook his head. “Not because you were weak. Because you were hunted.”

His eyes burned gold.

“They fear wolves who survive rejection. They fear wolves who rise after it.”

His words sank deep, echoing in the hollow places inside me.

We stayed there through the morning.

He built a fire. Shared a protein bar. Found a blanket in the cabin and tossed it my way.

It wasn’t comfort.

But it was something close.

When the sun rose fully, I finally asked the question I’d been holding in.

“What now?”

Caleb didn’t hesitate.

“Now you disappear.”

My stomach turned.

“I have nowhere to go.”

“You have blood,” he said. “You have the Matron line. Find the old packs. The ones the Council tried to erase. They’ll remember you.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

He stood, pulling a small leather pouch from his coat and tossing it into my lap.

Inside: a folded map, an unregistered phone, and a silver dagger.

“Start in the Appalachians,” he said. “Some of the Hollow Moon survivors fled there decades ago. The Seers. The rogue elders.”

I stared at him.

“You planned this.”

He nodded once. “I planned for the worst. Hoped for the best.”

His expression darkened.

“But you never had a chance, Adelina. The second they saw what you are, they decided you didn’t belong.”

He took a step back, jaw clenched.

“But you do. And you’re going to make them remember.”

He turned to leave.

I stood quickly.

“Caleb ”

He paused.

“Thank you,” I said, voice breaking.

He looked over his shoulder.

“You don’t owe them your pain,” he said. “But one day, you’ll make them feel it.”

Then he vanished into the trees.

Alone again.

But not powerless.

For the first time since the bond was broken, I felt something stir inside me.

Not rage. Not grief.

Purpose.

A pulse of something deep and ancient curled through my spine.

The Matron blood.

I wasn’t done.

Not even close.

I would find the Seers.

I would find the truth.

And when I came back…

They’d regret ever thinking rejection was the end of my story.