Chapter Two: Shattered

Emma's hands wouldn't stop shaking. Three attempts to pack a simple suitcase, and she'd managed nothing but a mess of scattered clothes and broken sobs. The rejection bond throbbed like an open wound in her chest, each pulse a reminder of Steve's cold eyes. She stumbled to her bathroom, gripping the counter as another wave of pain ripped through her body. Her wolf clawed at her insides, desperate to run back to the pack house, to beg for what they'd lost.

"A healer apprentice? The Sterling Creek Pack needs someone of proper breeding..."

His words echoed in her mind, each syllable a fresh cut. The mirror caught her reflection—mascara-stained cheeks, silver dress now wrinkled and stained with tears. Her green eyes, usually bright with determination, looked hollow, haunted. Emma ripped the dress off with trembling fingers, the silk tearing with a satisfying screech. She couldn't bear its touch against her skin a moment longer. It represented everything she'd lost tonight, everything she'd been foolish enough to believe in.

The torn dress pooled at her feet like spilled moonlight. Emma kicked it aside, her bare feet cold against the tile floor. The physical pain of the rejection bond was bad enough, but the shame... the shame burned hotter than any wound she'd ever treated.

Her mother's letter sat on the nightstand, unopened. She'd received it last week, her mother's familiar handwriting promising wisdom Emma hadn't wanted to hear. Now, with trembling fingers, she broke the seal, the paper crinkling beneath her touch:

*My dearest Emma,

By the time you read this, I'll be settled in my new pack in Europe. I know you're angry that I left, that I chose to start over after your father rejected our mate bond. But there's something I need you to understand about fate, my love.

The Moon Goddess gives us mate bonds, yes. But she also gives us choice. Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is walk away from a destiny that wounds us.

I've left some money in your emergency account. Just in case you ever need to make your own choice.

All my love,

Mom*

A harsh laugh bubbled up in Emma's throat, tasting of bile and bitter tears. Her mother had known—had tried to warn her. And now here she was, following the same painful path, destiny's cruel joke repeated in the next generation.

The emergency account information was right where her mother had always kept it, tucked inside her old copy of "Gray's Anatomy." Emma's hand brushed the medical textbook's worn spine, memories flooding back of nights spent studying human medicine alongside wolf healing arts. Her fingers traced the familiar diagrams, and suddenly she knew where she needed to go.

Seattle. The one place she'd always dreamed of doing her medical residency, before pack obligations had held her back. Her healing magic might be weakened by the broken bond, but human medicine... that was something no one could take from her. She'd worked too hard, spent too many nights memorizing human anatomy and drug interactions, to let it all go to waste.

Her phone buzzed incessantly with messages from pack members—fake sympathy, barely concealed gossip, questions about whether she'd continue her healer duties. The screen lit up with Lily's name, but Emma turned it off without responding. Even her best friend's comfort felt like pity now. They didn't deserve her answers, her tears, or her explanations.

The sun was rising by the time she finished packing, its pale light creeping through her window like an unwanted witness. Her small apartment above the pack clinic had never felt less like home. Five years of healing apprenticeship, of building a life here, reduced to two suitcases and a broken heart. The walls seemed to close in, every corner holding memories she couldn't bear to face.

Emma changed into jeans and a sweater, deliberately choosing the most human-looking clothes she owned. Her wolf whimpered at the thought of leaving pack territory, their bond with the land itself straining with each step toward the door. She silenced it ruthlessly. Her wolf's judgment had led her to Steve. Now it was time to listen to her human side, the part of her that had always yearned for more than pack politics and ancient traditions.

The clinic keys felt heavy in her hand, weighted with responsibility and broken dreams. She should leave a resignation letter, something formal to explain her departure. Instead, Emma placed the keys on her desk alongside her pack healer badge. Let them wonder. Let them search for answers she wouldn't give.

The morning shift nurses wouldn't arrive for another hour. Emma slipped out the back door, her footsteps eerily loud in the empty clinic. Each step sent daggers of pain through her chest where the bond had been severed, but she forced herself to keep moving. The familiar scents of herbs and healing magic followed her out, a final reminder of everything she was leaving behind.

Her old Honda was packed within minutes, the engine's quiet purr a promise of escape. As she pulled onto the highway, the "Welcome to Moonlight Valley" sign gleamed in her rearview mirror. Emma's hands clenched the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, her wolf howling in protest at crossing the territory boundary.

"I choose me," she whispered, her voice rough from crying. The words held power, ancient as the moon itself. "Do you hear that, Moon Goddess? I choose me."

The sign disappeared around a bend, and with it, the last threads of Emma's old life. Seattle was a six-hour drive away. Six hours to figure out how to live with this void in her chest. Six hours to become someone new, someone stronger than the girl who'd believed in fairy tales and mate bonds.

A road sign flashed past: SEATTLE 347 MILES.

Emma pressed the accelerator, her broken mate bond aching with every mile marker. The sunrise painted the sky in shades of pink and gold, but she felt only darkness inside. She wouldn't look back. She couldn't. The only way was forward, even if she had to drag herself there one shattered piece at a time.

Behind her, the moon finally set, taking with it all her girlish dreams of destiny. Ahead lay uncertainty, pain, and possibility. Emma Adams, the rejected mate, was gone. Who she would become remained to be seen, but one thing was certain—she would never let fate dictate her worth again.