Chapter 7: Faraway from home

Tiara’s cloak was soaked. Mud clung to her legs. She had not eaten in two days.

The town ahead looked more like a sprawl of crumbling roofs than a haven, but it was the only place left before rogue lands began.

Flashback_____

"Why didn't you two wait for me?" an old woman asked the gossiping ladies.

"Forgive us, we totally forgot to branch by your house," one of the women apologized, biting her nails.

A wave of relieve washed down Tiara's body, happy she had not been discovered.

---------------

Back to the present,

When she arrived, she was met with narrowed eyes, muttered slurs—stray, packless, omega garbage.

A butcher refused to take her coins, a baker threw stale bread at her feet, the people in the new town where she had just arrived were as mean as hell.

She spent the first night huddled behind a stall, and the second day, she was all curled up near the market stables, surviving on remnants.

The pendant pulsed gently under her blouse—warm, as if it were trying to comfort her.

On the third night, she dared to offer help to a crying woman who had lost her child in the woods.

“I think I saw her,” Tiara said softly. She is safe. Near a red birch tree. East of town.”

The woman slapped her.

"Did I ask for your help or opinion? "Why are you meddling in my affairs?" She yelled at her.

"Who are you?? When did you wander into this town?" She kept bombarding her with questions, without giving her the time to answer.

“You people bring curses,” she hissed. “Keep your witch words to yourself.”

"I wonder how lawless and exposed we were to threats for you to have entered this town, this pack, trying to con people of their hard-earned money," 

"I...I...I.." Tiara stuttered, dumbstruck by the woman's action.

"I was only trying to help you. I did not mean to offend you or meddle in your business," she apologized.

"Get lost!" the woman yelled.

Embarrassed, Tiara dragged her feet away from the woman and the crowd that had gathered to watch the scene that had just unfolded.

"Hahahahaha, what a sight," a man mocked.

"What do we do with her?" he asked the others.

"I have better things to do than to worry about a stranger who is of no use to me," another man said.

"Ralph, you are always about yourself, always thinking of what would be of use to yourself alone," the first man commented, smiling.

"Sounds so rich coming from the same person who doesn't even care for his family, not to talk of the pack," Ralph shouted, making the other man a laughingstock.

But the next morning, the girl was found—just where Tiara had said, unknown to her.

------

The trees in the woods were decorated with silver and deep violet, colors of tradition and duty. Yet, to Edwin, it all looked like a funeral.

His very own funeral, right under a full moon.

He stood at the edge of a cliff that served as the altar were pack members, and the elders who had once pledged to follow his every word. Now they whispered doubts, repeated Vanessa’s lies, and demanded that he “preserve the integrity of the pack.”

Vanessa slowly approached, wrapped in silk, a practiced smile on her face. She radiated triumph.

Her dream had finally come true.

Garrett stood behind her like a shadow, together with his wife, arms folded, eyes daring Edwin to resist.

“You know what is at stake,” Elder Leonard had told Edwin the night before. The girl’s betrayal. The unrest. Your leadership.”

"You need to let go of whatever might be a threat to your rule as alpha and think of what would be in best interest to the pack." 

The girl, as if Tiara had meant nothing. If she meant nothing to others, she meant so much to him, he found it very hard to get her out of his mind or break their bond, but there was little he could do at that point.

Edwin’s fists tightened at his sides as Vanessa took her place beside him.

He searched the crowd one last time. She was not there.

Tiara was gone, far away from the pack, far away from him.

And with her went the part of him that felt alive.

The ceremony began. There was no turning back.