Chapter 3: The Last Hour

Tehila's POV

My hands shook as I threw clothes into a duffel bag. One hour. I had one hour to pack up twenty-two years of life and leave everything I'd ever known.

The bedroom door burst open. I didn't need to look to know who it was – Jade's vanilla perfume filled the room.

"You're actually doing this?" She sat on my bed like she owned it, watching me pack. "Running away with the Rogue King?"

"I'm not running away." I grabbed my photo album, then hesitated. Did I want reminders of this life?

"Then what would you call it?"

"Starting over." I put the album back.

Jade laughed, the sound tinkling like broken glass. "With him? Do you know what they say about him? He's killed more wolves than any other rogue in history."

"And our pack killed his wolves. Guess that makes us even."

"You're so naive, Tehila. You always have been."

I spun to face her. "Is that why you took Dalton? Because I'm naive?"

Something shifted in her expression. For a moment, the mask slipped completely.

"I didn't take him," she said slowly. "He came willingly."

"After you pursued him."

"After I showed him what he could have." She stood, moving closer. "Power. Status. A mate who could actually help him rise in the pack. Not a weak little omega who saves rogues."

"I'm not an omega."

"You might as well be." She picked up my favorite necklace, the one our grandmother gave me. "Always so emotional. So soft. Dalton needs someone strong."

"Like you?"

"Exactly like me." She pocketed the necklace.

"That's mine."

"Was yours." Her smile was cold. "Just like Dalton was yours. But you couldn't hold onto either, could you?"

My wolf snarled inside me, begging to be let out. But I controlled her. I'd learned long ago that losing control meant losing everything.

"Keep them both," I said. "They're perfect for each other – a liar and a thief."

Her hand cracked across my face before I saw it coming. The sting brought tears to my eyes.

"You always thought you were better than me," she hissed. "Perfect Tehila, whom everyone loved. Well, guess what? They chose me. Mom, Dad, the pack, Dalton – they all chose me."

"Because you manipulated them."

"Because I'm stronger." She grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at her. "And when the Rogue King gets bored with his new pet, don't come crawling back. You're dead to this pack the moment you leave."

"Good."

She released me, surprise flickering across her face.

"You really have changed," she said.

"No. I finally stopped pretending we were sisters."

For once, Jade had no response. She turned to leave, then paused at the door.

"He'll destroy you," she said. "The Rogue King. He destroys everything he touches."

"Maybe. But at least he's honest about being a monster."

She left without another word. I touched my stinging cheek, then continued packing.

A soft knock interrupted me. My mother stood in the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

"Please don't do this," she whispered.

"Did you know?" I asked. "About Dalton and Jade?"

She looked away. Answer enough.

"How long?"

"Six months."

Six months. They'd all known for six months while I planned a future with my mate.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Jade begged us not to, she said she'd handle it. That she'd make Dalton reject you properly." My mother wrung her hands. "We thought it would be easier—"

"For who? For Jade? For you?" I laughed bitterly. "Certainly not for me."

"You're my daughter—"

"So is Jade. And you chose her."

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it?" I zipped my bag. "When did you ever choose me, Mom? When did you ever put me first?"

She was crying harder now, but I felt nothing. That scared me more than anything.

"The Rogue King is dangerous," she said. "Everyone knows what he's capable of."

"Everyone knows what this pack is capable of too. We just hide it better."

"Tehila—"

"I have to go."

I pushed past her, but she grabbed my arm.

"I love you," she said desperately.

"You love the idea of me. The quiet, obedient daughter who never caused problems." I pulled free. "But that girl died the moment I found out you all betrayed me."

I left her sobbing in my room.

Downstairs, my father waited by the door. Unlike my mother, his eyes were dry.

"This is a mistake," he said simply.

"Maybe."

"The Rogue King will use you."

"Like Dalton did?"

He flinched. "That's different."

"How?"

"Dalton loved you, in his way. The Rogue King isn't capable of love."

"Good. Love seems overrated anyway."

I tried to pass, but he blocked me.

"If you leave, you can never come back."

"I know."

"The Alpha will declare you rogue. Every pack in the territory will be your enemy."

"They already are."

He studied my face for a long moment. "You're stronger than I thought."

"I had to be."

He stepped aside. As I passed, he said quietly, "Your grandmother would be proud."

I paused. Our grandmother had been the only one who'd ever truly seen me.

"She'd be disappointed in all of you," I said.

Outside, Zane leaned against his SUV, checking his watch. "Three minutes to spare."

I threw my bag in the back. "I'm ready."

"Are you?" He studied me with those dark eyes. "Once we leave, there's no going back."

"There's nothing to go back to."

A crowd had gathered. Pack members whispered and stared. I saw Dalton pushing through them, Jade right behind him.

"Tehila!" he called. "Don't do this!"

I climbed into the passenger seat without responding.

Zane got in and started the engine. "Last chance."

"Drive."

As we pulled away, I looked back once. Dalton stood in the middle of the street, looking lost. Jade had her arms around him, but he wasn't looking at her.

He was watching me leave.

"Regrets already?" Zane asked.

"No. Just wondering why it took me so long to see the truth."

"The heart sees what it wants to see."

"Speaking from experience?"

His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "Something like that."

We drove in silence for a while. The pack territory flew by outside the window – places I'd known my whole life, now foreign to me.

"Why did you really come for me?" I asked.

"I told you. You saved my brother."

"That's not all of it."

He glanced at me. "What makes you say that?"

"The Rogue King doesn't personally collect debts, you could have sent anyone."

"Maybe I was curious."

"About what?"

"About the pack wolf who chose mercy over duty."

"It nearly got me killed tonight."

"But it didn't." He took a sharp turn onto a hidden road. "And now you're under my protection."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"It means anyone who tries to hurt you deals with me."

"And what do you get out of it?"

He was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn't answer.

"Maybe I'm tired of being surrounded by people who only know how to take," he finally said.

Before I could respond, something slammed into the side of the SUV.