2

# Chapter 2: The Secret Beneath

The rain was torrential. It masked the sound of my footsteps as I sprinted into the treeline.

Sharp and relentless pain tore through my chest. The severance of a mate bond was not just emotional. It was physical. It felt as if someone had reached inside my ribcage to sever an artery. My body wanted to curl into a ball and keen for the Alpha who had just discarded me.

*No,* I commanded myself. I forced my legs to move. *He is not worth the ache. He is not worth the dirt on my shoes.*

I did not run blindly. That would be a rookie mistake. I ran with purpose.

A waterproof duffel bag lay buried beneath the roots of an ancient oak tree three miles east of the Pack House. I had hidden it two years ago because I always knew this day might come. Being an orphan in a pack that viewed you as a burden meant you always needed an exit strategy.

I reached the oak tree. My fingernails dug into the mud until I felt the canvas strap. I yanked the bag free. Inside I found two thousand dollars in cash, a burner phone, and a change of clothes. I had skimmed the money from my own tips rather than pack funds.

I stripped off the soaked uniform. I shivered from adrenaline rather than the cold. I pulled on a hoodie and jeans.

"Okay," I whispered. My voice sounded rough. "Phase one complete. Phase two is to disappear."

A wave of dizziness suddenly hit me. The world tilted on its axis. I stumbled and gripped the rough bark of the tree to stay upright.

It was not just the rejection pain. It was something else.

A burning heat started in the marrow of my bones. It was not the fever of a broken bond. It was familiar. It was the sensation I had spent five years suppressing with dangerous herbal concoctions and sheer willpower.

My status as a wolfless female was the greatest lie I had ever told.

I was not wolfless. I was something else entirely. I was something that the Blackwood Pack would have either weaponized or killed.

My eyes burned. I knew that my eyes would not be human brown if I looked in a mirror. They would be glowing a violent and electric violet.

*Not yet,* I hissed through gritted teeth as I clutched my stomach. *Stay down. We are not safe yet.*

I fought the shift. It felt like holding back a tidal wave behind a glass door. I could not shift here. If I released my scent now, Kael's trackers would find me in ten minutes. It was the scent of a Royal White Lycan. Once they realized what I was, they would never let me leave. I would be nothing more than a breeding mare for the pack's power.

I retched and dry heaved into the leaves. The nausea was overwhelming.

Wait.

I paused with my hand hovering over my abdomen.

I considered the nausea. I thought about the fatigue I had blamed on overworking for the last two weeks. I remembered the way my scent had been slightly off. I had attributed all of it to stress.

My heat cycle had been six weeks ago. It was a dry heat with no shifting, but the biology was the same.

There had been that one night six weeks ago. It was the night of the masquerade festival. I had been masked. Kael had been drunk on Alpha wine. He had not known it was me under the silk mask. We had not completed the act, but we had been reckless and close.

I pressed my palm flat against my lower stomach.

A tiny and faint spark pulsed against my hand. It was weak but undeniable. It was a second heartbeat.

The world stopped. The rain and the wind faded into white noise.

"No," I breathed.

I was pregnant.

I carried the heir of the Alpha who had just humiliated me in front of the entire region.

A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat. The irony was cruel. Kael wanted a strong heir. He wanted a powerful bloodline. He had just rejected a Lycan who was carrying his pup.

If he knew, he would not let me go. He would drag me back to the Pack House and lock me in the tower. He would wait until I delivered his son. Then he would take the child and raise him with Siena. I would be nothing but the wet nurse.

A cold and steely resolve settled over me. It hardened my heart and sealed the cracks Kael had made.

"You will never know him," I vowed into the darkness. My hand remained protective over my stomach. "You rejected me, Kael Blackwood. That means you rejected us."

I grabbed the burner phone from the bag. My hands were steady now. I had a mission. I was not just saving myself anymore. I was saving my child.

I dialed the one number I had memorized. My mother had whispered it to me on her deathbed.

It rang twice.

"This line is restricted," a deep and distorted voice answered.

"Code Violet," I said clearly. "Identification is Elara Vance. Daughter of the suspended line."

There was a pause. A heavy silence hung on the other end.

"We thought you were dead, child."

"I was in hiding," I said. "But my cover is blown. I need extraction immediately."

"Location?"

"Blackwood Territory. North border. I have nothing but the clothes on my back."

"You have your bloodline," the voice corrected. "That is all the currency you need. A transport will be at the highway junction in twenty minutes. Do not be late."

"I will not be late."

I hung up and snapped the phone in half. I buried the pieces in the mud.

I hoisted the bag onto my shoulder. I looked back one last time toward the distant lights of the Pack House. I could imagine Kael there. He was likely dancing with Siena and toasting to his bright future. He thought he had trimmed the dead weight from his pack.

"Enjoy your party, Alpha," I whispered as I turned toward the highway. "Because the next time you see me, I will own everything you are standing on."

I began to run again. This time I was not running away. I was running toward my empire.