#4 Gone

Kade Bloodhowl POV

She shifted. She has fucking white fur!? She stood there glowing like something sacred. And I...I fucking rejected her. I didn't know. I didn't fucking know.

And now she’s gone. "You’re a fool," Garian snarls in my head, his growl low and guttural. "You just rejected the most powerful alpha female alive. The last of the Seralyn line. The Moon’s chosen. And now, you’ll never have her."

My chest burns. The loss of the mate bond is a pain unlike anything I have ever felt. Then the rage....and guilt. A sick, sour ache that coils through my stomach like venom.

"They said she was a mutt," I growl back. "A worthless omega. A servant."

"They lied." And that’s when it hits me. My parents fucking lied. The music is still paused. The pack is still staring at the spot where Daeira vanished into the trees like a wildfire.

And I lose it. I stalk across the courtyard, the crowd parting like smoke. My heart is pounding. My claws are starting to push through my skin. I don’t care. I find them, my parents, standing near the high table, both trying to play it off like they aren’t about to be exposed for the frauds they are.

I shove past Joelle as she pouts and reaches for my arm.

“Kade, baby, don’t be mad,”

“Get the fuck away from me.” I snarl viciously.

Her face falls, and she stumbles back. Good. I’m not playing this game anymore. I stare at my father, Marik Bloodhowl, Alpha of the Bloodhowl Pack, and my mother, Danika, who looks like her entire makeup routine is seconds from melting off her face.

“You told me she was an omega,” I snarl, loud enough for every guest to hear. “You told me she was nothing.”

Danika blinks. Marik frowns. “She was,” Danika says quickly. “She is. She had no wolf.”

“No,” I roar. “She had a wolf. She’s Moon blessed. She’s the fucking Seralyn heir. And you let me humiliate her. Reject her. Because you fucking LIED TO ME.”

Gasps ripple through the crowd. I don’t care.

“I just lost the most powerful female wolf alive. Because of you.” My voice cracks. The rage spills over into something raw and broken. I don’t even know what I’m feeling anymore, just that it’s too much.

"She was your mate," Garian whispers. "And you spat in the goddess’s face. Do you think she’ll give you another? You don’t deserve it. Not now."

"Shut up."

"You rejected our other half," he growls. "We need to leave this place. This family. It’s poisoning us."

"I’m not abandoning my father."

"He already abandoned you." I clutch my chest, feeling like I can’t breathe. Daeira’s scent is still in the air, wildflowers and forest and smoke, and it makes my skin itch. My hands shake. Danika steps forward, reaching for me.

“Kade..”

“Don’t touch me,” I hiss. She pulls back like I burned her. The crowd is watching. Whispering. Judging. And for once, I don’t have the strength to pretend it doesn’t matter.

I turn and stalk off through the crowd, ignoring everyone. My mind is a blur, Garian screaming in my head. My entire life just shattered, and the only thing I can think about is her face when she said: “I accept your rejection.”

So calm. So cold. So free. I slam into the Alpha’s lounge, grab the nearest bottle of whiskey, and pour until my vision blurs. I down one glass. Then another. And another.

The fire crackles beside me, but I feel nothing. Not the heat.

Not the ache. Not the hollow space where a bond used to be. Just the echo of a white wolf’s howl, still burning through the forest I once thought I ruled.

Luna Danika POV

I stare into the fire like it owes me answers. That little bitch.

That servant. That omega. That white wolf. She was right under my fucking nose for years, scrubbing our floors, serving our drinks, sleeping in a hole like the trash she was supposed to be.

And the whole time? She was watching. Learning. Remembering. Marik paces behind me like a caged animal, growling low under his breath. Good. Let him be angry. Let him feel the fire licking at the edges of our empire. Because this? This is a fucking disaster.

“I told you,” I say through clenched teeth. “I told you we should’ve put her down when she hit puberty. Something was off about her.”

“She was just a kid,” he snaps. “We ran the tests. No wolf. Nothing. How the fuck were we supposed to know she was a Seralyn?”

I shoot him a look. “Because she was standing in the courtyard tonight, glowing like a goddamn celestial nuke, and you still didn’t see it coming.”

He grunts, rubs his hands through his hair, mutters something about the prophecy. I tune him out. I’m already making a list in my head. A list of what she knows.

Routes. Buyers. Contacts. Warehouse codes. Who we sell. Who we buy. She’s been our inside rat for years and we hand fed her every scrap of information thinking she was too beaten, too broken to ever use it.

But that smile? That cold, serene little smile when she accepted Kade’s rejection? That wasn’t an omega smile. That was an Alpha’s warning. And now she’s out there.

With power. With her wolf. With motivation. She will burn us to the ground. I rise from my chair, every inch of me shaking with rage but masked in silk and control. I straighten my dress and call Marik to attention. “We eliminate her. Tonight.”

He stops pacing. “She’s not going to be easy to find.”

“Then we don’t send just anyone.” I walk to the phone on the far wall and punch in a coded number. “We send him.”

Marik stiffens. “You’re calling?”

“Yes,” I snap. “If Daeira Seralyn isn’t dead by the end of this moon cycle, every deal we’ve made in the last ten years will fall apart. The packs will turn on us. The Council will start sniffing around.”

He says nothing. Because he knows I’m right. The line clicks once. Then again. “He’ll make it look like an accident,” I say, more to myself than him. “An animal attack. Rogue wolves. Anything.”

The line picks up. A deep voice on the other end speaks only one word: “Who.”

“Her name is Daeira,” I purr, letting my rage bleed through every syllable. “White wolf. Last of the Seralyn line. She’s a problem. Find her. Eliminate her.”

“Consider it done.” I hang up the phone and smile, it's slow and cruel.

“Let the Moon give her power,” I whisper. “It won’t save her.”

Because no matter how bright she burns, we always snuff out the light.