Chapter 4: The Chase

Tehila's POV

The SUV flipped. My world turned upside down, metal screaming against asphalt. My head cracked against the window and the taste of blood filled my mouth.

We landed upright, somehow. My vision swam, but I saw them – wolves, surrounding us. Pack wolves.

"Stay in the car," Zane commanded, already unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Those are my—" I stopped. They weren't my pack anymore.

Zane stepped out, and I'd never seen someone shift so fast. One moment he was human, the next a massive black wolf stood there. Bigger than any wolf I'd ever seen.

The pack of wolves attacked simultaneously. It should have been a massacre – twelve against one.

It was a massacre. Just not the way they'd planned.

Zane moved like a liquid shadow, teeth and claws finding their marks with surgical precision. He didn't kill them – he could have – but by the time he was done, all twelve were on the ground, whimpering.

He shifted back, not even breathing hard. "Anyone else?"

More wolves emerged from the trees. Twenty. Thirty. Too many.

Alpha Thorne stepped forward in human form. "You're not taking her."

"That's not your decision."

"She's pack."

"Was pack." Zane's voice carried a warning. "She made her choice."

"Under duress. You manipulated her."

"Like you manipulated her into silence about her mate bond?"

Alpha Thorne's jaw clenched. "That's pack business."

"Not anymore."

I climbed out of the SUV, my legs shaky. "Stop this."

Every eye turned to me.

"Tehila," Alpha Thorne used his Alpha voice. "Get away from him and come here. Now."

The command washed over me, but something strange happened. It didn't work. I felt it, but I didn't feel compelled to obey.

His eyes widened. "That's not possible."

"What's not possible?" I asked.

"You're resisting an Alpha command."

"Because she's not your pack anymore," Zane said. "The moment she chose to leave with me, the bonds started breaking."

"But that takes time—"

"Unless she never truly belonged to you in the first place."

What did that mean? But before I could ask, Dalton pushed through the crowd, still in human form.

"Tehila, please," he begged. "This is insane. You don't know him."

"I don't know you either, apparently."

"I made a mistake—"

"You made a choice."

"I love you!"

The words hung in the air. Even Jade, standing at the edge of the crowd, looked shocked.

"No," I said quietly. "You loved the idea of having a mate who would never challenge you. Never threaten your position. Never be anything more than what you wanted her to be."

"That's not true—"

"Then why her?" I pointed at Jade. "Why my sister?"

"Because she was there!" he exploded. "Because she was easy and available and didn't make me feel like I was constantly failing!"

The brutal honesty stunned everyone, including Jade.

"What?" she shrieked.

"I didn't mean—" Dalton started.

"You said you loved me!" Jade pushed forward. "You said I was everything she wasn't!"

"You are," he said desperately. "You're strong and ambitious and—"

"Available?" she finished. "Easy?"

"That's not what I meant—"

"Yes, it is." I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You couldn't handle having a mate who might actually be your equal. So you chose someone you thought you could control."

"Like you can control Jade?" Zane added with dark amusement. "Good luck with that."

Jade's face twisted with rage. "Shut up! This is your fault!" She pointed at me. "Everything was perfect until you had to make a scene!"

"Perfect?" I stepped forward, and several wolves growled. "You were living a lie."

"A beautiful lie! Better than your ugly truth!"

"Is that what you tell yourself?"

She lunged at me. I didn't think, just reacted. My fist connected with her jaw, sending her sprawling.

Everyone froze. I'd never fought back before. Never raised a hand to anyone in the pack.

Jade touched her bleeding lip, eyes wide with shock. "You hit me."

"You've been hitting me for years. Just with words instead of fists."

"I'm your sister!"

"No. You're not."

Alpha Thorne stepped forward. "Enough. Tehila, you've made your point. But you can't leave. I won't allow it."

"You can't stop me."

"I can and I will." He nodded to his wolves. "Take her."

They moved forward, but Zane stepped in front of me. "Try it."

"You can't fight us all, Darius."

"Want to bet?"

A howl echoed through the forest. Then another. And another.

Rogues emerged from the shadows. Dozens of them, surrounding the pack wolves.

"You brought an army?" Alpha Thorne snarled.

"I brought family." Zane smiled, all teeth. "The rogues you've been hunting? They're mine. Every last one."

"This is war."

"No. This is a rescue mission." His voice dropped. "But if you want war, I'll give you one."

The tension stretched taut, ready to snap. Then a small voice broke through.

"Let her go."

Everyone turned. A young wolf, barely sixteen, stepped forward. I recognized him – Jamie, one of the omegas.

"What did you say?" Alpha Thorne growled.

"Let her go," Jamie repeated, louder. "She saved my little brother once. When the bigger wolves were beating him, she stopped them and got punished for it too."

"That has nothing to do with—"

"She's saved half of us," another omega called out. "Always stepping in, taking the punishment meant for us."

"While the rest of you did nothing," a third added, glaring at the ranked wolves.

More voices joined in. The forgotten members of the pack. The ones I'd quietly protected over the years.

"She deserves better than this."

"Better than all of you."

"Let her choose."

Alpha Thorne looked around, realizing he was losing control. "Silence!"

But they kept talking, kept stepping forward. A quiet rebellion I'd never expected.

"You see?" Zane said softly. "She was never really yours. She belonged to them – the ones you ignored. The ones she protected while you played your power games."

"Tehila," my mother pushed through the crowd, tears streaming. "Please. We can fix this. We can make it right."

"How? By pretending it never happened? By going back to the way things were?"

"By being a family again."

"We were never a family. We were just people who shared blood and lies."

A sound escaped her – part sob, part scream. My father caught her as she collapsed.

"You're destroying her," he said.

"No. You did that when you chose Jade's happiness over my truth."

"Go." The word came from an unexpected source – Dalton. He looked broken, defeated. "Just go."

"Dalton!" Jade grabbed his arm.

He shook her off. "Let her go. We've done enough damage."

"But—"

"Look around, Jade. Look what we've become. What we've done." His voice cracked. "She's right. We're all liars and thieves."

For once, Jade had nothing to say.

Alpha Thorne looked at his fractured pack, the rogues ready to fight, the omegas in quiet revolt. "Fine. Go. But know this – you're banished. Forever. If you ever set foot in this territory again—"

"I won't." I walked back to Zane's SUV. "There's nothing here worth coming back for."

As Zane started the engine, Dalton called out one last time. "Tehila!"

I looked back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "For everything."

"I know." And I did. But it didn't change anything.

We drove away, the rogues melting back into the forest. In the rearview mirror, I watched my old life disappear.

"You okay?" Zane asked.

"I don't know."

"That's honest, at least."

"What happens now?"

"Now?" He glanced at me. "Now you learn what real freedom feels like."

"And if I don't like it?"

"Then you leave. I'm not your Alpha, Tehila. I'm not going to force you to stay."

"Then what are you?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Maybe a friend. If you'll let me."

A friend. After everything that just happened, it seemed like an impossible concept.

"I don't trust easily anymore."

"Good. Trust should be earned, not given."

We drove in silence after that, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was... peaceful. Like the quiet after a storm.

Then I smelled it – smoke. Thick and acrid.

"Do you smell—"

"Get down!" Zane yanked me sideways as the windshield exploded.