The Broken Bond

Jakel's POV

The drive back to Rhinewood was quiet.

Kaylee slept in the passenger seat, her head against the window, a small smile on her lips. She looked peaceful. Content.

I should have felt the same.

I didn't.

Something was gnawing at me. Something I couldn't name. The memory of Eliana's face as she sank into that pool—the betrayal in her eyes, the way she stopped struggling—it kept replaying in my mind.

She can't swim.

I knew that.

I had known that when I pushed her.

So why did I do it?

"You're thinking too loud," Kaylee murmured, her eyes still closed. "Stop it."

I didn't answer.

She sat up, stretching like a cat. "Jakel. Whatever it is, let it go. She'll come crawling back like she always does."

I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"Will she?"

Kaylee laughed. "Of course she will. Where else would she go? She has nothing without you. No family. No pack. Nothing."

I wanted to argue.

But she was right.

Eliana had no one. She had given everything to me—her money, her time, her body, her soul. She had no home to return to, no allies to call.

She would come back.

She always did.

---

We arrived at Rhinewood just after noon.

The pack house was quiet. Too quiet.

Usually, there was noise—wolves training, children playing, the smell of food drifting from the kitchens.

Today, there was nothing.

I stepped out of the car and scanned the grounds. A few wolves lingered near the training fields, but they avoided my gaze.

"Where is everyone?" Kaylee asked, her brow furrowing.

I didn't answer. I walked toward the main house, my instincts prickling.

Something was wrong.

---

Our chambers were empty.

Not just empty.

Empty.

Eliana's clothes were gone from the closet. Her books were missing from the shelf. The little trinkets she had collected over the years—the seashells from our first trip to the coast, the dried flowers from our bonding ceremony, the photograph of her parents—all of it was gone.

The mating portrait still hung on the wall.

But she had drawn a single line through my face with a black marker.

My blood ran cold.

"Jakel?" Kaylee appeared in the doorway. "What's going on?"

I didn't answer. I walked to the bed and picked up the note lying on the pillow.

Two words.

I'm done.

---

I searched the pack house.

I questioned every wolf I could find.

No one had seen her leave.

No one knew where she went.

"She left this morning," Lila said quietly, her eyes downcast. "I saw her walking toward the border. She looked... different."

"Different how?"

Lila hesitated. "Like she wasn't sad anymore. Like she had finally made a decision."

My chest tightened.

"Why didn't you stop her?"

Lila looked at me—really looked at me—and for the first time, I saw something other than fear in her eyes.

"Why would I?"

She turned and walked away.

---

The next few days were chaos.

The pack was restless. Whispers followed me everywhere. Some wolves looked at me with confusion. Others with anger.

"She's really gone?" Alex asked, disbelief in his voice. "She just... left?"

"She'll be back," I said.

"You sure about that?"

I wasn't.

Kaylee tried to comfort me. She moved into my chambers, rearranged the furniture, filled the space with her scent. She cooked my favorite meals, poured my favorite wine, whispered sweet things in my ear.

"She was never right for you," she said, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. "You know that."

I knew.

But knowing didn't stop the ache.

---

A week passed.

Then two.

No word from Eliana.

No letter. No message. No sign that she was alive.

I sent scouts to search for her. They returned empty-handed.

"She's gone, Alpha," they said. "We can't find her."

Gone.

The word hit me harder than I expected.

---

I started to notice things.

Small things.

The way the pack members looked at Kaylee with barely concealed disdain. The way they avoided me in the hallways. The way the house felt colder without Eliana's presence.

She had been the heart of this pack.

She had organized the festivals, mediated disputes, comforted the grieving. She had stayed up nights nursing wounded wolves, had negotiated with angry elders, had held this place together.

I had never noticed.

I had never thanked her.

I had only ever compared her to Kaylee—and found her lacking.

---

The realization hit me one night as I lay in bed.

The bed I had shared with Eliana for four years.

The bed where she had cried herself to sleep while I snored beside her.

The bed where she had finally given up.

I sat up, my heart pounding.

What have I done?

I reached for my phone, intending to call her, to apologize, to beg—

And then I remembered.

I had left my phone at Silver Lake.

No.

I had left it in my jacket.

The jacket I had worn the night I pushed her into the pool.

The jacket I had wrapped around Kaylee.

The jacket Eliana had taken with her.

---

I searched the entire pack house.

I questioned every wolf.

I called Silver Lake, hoping someone had found it.

Nothing.

My phone was gone.

And with it, every message. Every secret. Every confession.

---

I stood in the empty chambers, staring at the mating portrait with the line through my face.

She knew.

She had seen the messages.

She had seen the group chat.

She had seen everything.

And she had left.

---

"Jakel?" Kaylee appeared in the doorway, her expression wary. "What's wrong?"

I turned to face her.

"Where's my phone?"

She blinked. "What?"

"My phone. I left it in my jacket. The one I gave you at the pool. Where is it?"

Kaylee's face went pale.

"I... I don't know. I gave it back to you, remember?"

"No. You didn't."

"I did. I—"

"Kaylee." My voice was low. Dangerous. "Where is my phone?"

She took a step back. "I don't know! Maybe Eliana took it!"

The words hung in the air.

Eliana.

She had taken it.

She had seen everything.

And she had used it to destroy me.

---

The first blow came a week later.

An investor pulled out of a deal—a deal Eliana had personally secured years ago. Then another. Then another.

Within a month, half of Rhinewood's financial backers had withdrawn their support.

"Alpha," Alex said, his face grim. "We have a problem."

I knew.

I just didn't know how bad it would get.

---

The alliances crumbled next.

Blackclaw Pack, our closest ally, severed ties. Whitmoon followed. Then Silverfang. Then the smaller packs that had once looked to us for protection.

"Why?" I demanded. "Why are they doing this?"

Alex hesitated. "There are rumors, Alpha. Rumors that you... mistreated your Luna. That you chose another over her."

"Rumors? From who?"

"From everyone."

---

I stood on the balcony of the pack house, staring at the empty training grounds.

The pack was falling apart.

And I had no one to blame but myself.

---

Kaylee approached me that night.

She was dressed in a silk nightgown, her hair loose around her shoulders, her lips painted red.

"Come to bed," she whispered, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Forget about her. You have me now."

I looked at her—really looked at her—for the first time in years.

She was beautiful.

She was familiar.

She was everything I thought I wanted.

But she wasn't Eliana.

---

"I need to find her," I said.

Kaylee's arms dropped.

"What?"

"I need to find Eliana. I need to apologize. I need to—"

"You need to what?" Kaylee's voice sharpened. "Win her back? After everything she's done?"

"She hasn't done anything. I did this. I pushed her away. I chose you over her."

"You chose me because you love me!"

"I chose you because you were easy!" The words exploded out of me. "Because you never asked anything of me! Because you never made me feel guilty for being selfish!"

Kaylee's face twisted.

"Get out," I said.

"What?"

"Get out of my chambers. Get out of my sight. I don't want to see you right now."

She stared at me, her eyes filling with tears.

"You'll regret this," she whispered.

Then she was gone.

---

I sat alone in the dark, staring at the mating portrait.

The line through my face.

The empty space where Eliana used to be.

And for the first time in four years, I let myself cry.

---

The next morning, I made a decision.

I would find her.

I would apologize.

I would do whatever it took to bring her home.

But as I walked toward the border, a messenger stopped me.

"Alpha Jakel," the wolf said, bowing low. "I bring news."

"What news?"

"The Council of Alphas has called a summit. All Alphas are required to attend."

"When?"

"Three weeks."

I nodded. "Fine. I'll be there."

The messenger hesitated.

"There's more, Alpha."

"What?"

"The Council has also extended an invitation to... a new Alpha."

I frowned. "Who?"

The messenger met my eyes.

"Alpha Eliana of the Crescent Line."

END OF CHAPTER FOUR