Chapter 9SHE’S NOT COMING HOME NOW?

David’s face turned hard, his tone laced with cold authority. “Assistant Rae, I suggest you adjust your attitude. This isn’t your Pack’s territory anymore.”

I picked up my bag with steady hands, refusing to flinch. “If you’ve got a problem with me, you’re welcome to fire me. Formally.”

“You—”

Lucy, my wolf, gave a low, irritated huff in my mind, her tail flicking in annoyance. I swallowed the sting of his words, shoved my emotions down, and walked out without another glance.

David’s face turned an angry shade of green. He stormed off, muttering under his breath just as Logan appeared from the side corridor.

“What happened?” Logan asked, giving him a curious look.

David gestured wildly. “Rae. She left early. Didn’t even finish her work.”

Logan frowned. “That doesn’t sound like her.”

David scoffed. “Stop defending her. She still thinks she’s untouchable—like she’s Luna or something.”

My chest tightened at his words. Lucy bristled in the back of my mind.

Then Darius appeared.

“What’s going on?” he asked flatly.

David turned, quick to seize the moment. “Alpha, Assistant Rae left early. Abandoned her post, didn’t complete her assignments.”

Darius didn’t even blink. “Then follow protocol,” he said, his voice empty, his eyes colder than winter ash.

He didn’t even ask why.

He didn’t even realize I’d already submitted my resignation three days ago.

Lucy growled softly, her claw scraping across the walls of my consciousness. “He doesn’t even know. How pathetic is that?”

---

By the time I reached my grandmother’s house, the sky had already gone dark. The familiar warmth of the old place wrapped around me like a memory I didn’t deserve.

Darius’s grandmother was sitting in the living room. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me. “You’ve lost weight again, child.”

I offered her a small smile. “The research center’s been keeping me busy.”

She pulled me into a hug, soft and comforting. “You were born from Luna bloodlines. You shouldn’t have to wear yourself down like this.”

Lucy sighed in my head, her tail curling low. “You smell like exhaustion. Like a wolf too tired to shed her skin.”

She wasn’t wrong. Ever since the bone regeneration experiment went wrong, my spiritual energy has been in a steady decline. Even shifting had become a struggle. I was running on fumes, something no wolf should ever have admitted.

She sat me down and served a hot bowl of soup. I leaned my head gently on her shoulder. For once, Lucy curled up quietly inside me, like a wolf resting by a fire, finally calm.

But when I asked about my aunt and uncle, Lucy’s voice returned, low and firm. “They were never the point, Rae. We don’t belong in glass labs and boardrooms. We belong in the wild. On the battlefield.”

I didn’t answer her. I just sipped the soup like it was the only thing keeping my body upright.

---

Later at dinner, Uncle William arrived. The moment he saw me, his brows furrowed. “Why are you so thinned again?”

I tried to smile. It came out cracked.

At the table, I barely touched my food. Lucy murmured again, “You are a Luna. Not some discarded lab rat who’s forgotten what it means to lead.”

But I ignored her, focusing instead on the real reason I was here.

I slid a black card across the table to my uncle. “This is all I can offer right now.”

He looked at it, startled. “Rae, no. You’ve already given so much—”

“I’m not using it. And you need it more than I do,” I said, gently but firmly.

The card held twenty million.

I still had money coming in—patents from old AI developments, tech company dividends, investments I’d made back before my marriage. If I wanted to, I could live in luxury and never lift a finger again.

But what good was money when I couldn’t even shift without pain?

Uncle looked ashamed. “The company is still struggling. We just can’t find our footing.”

“Transformation takes time,” I cut in. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

I thought of Joe, how he’d looked at me the last time we spoke.

"If you hadn’t left the company to marry that Alpha, we’d be running a billion-dollar empire by now—one that could’ve saved countless wolves. There’s still time, Rae. AI in healthcare is the future. Come back to us before it’s too late."

Maybe he was right.

If I could recover even a fraction of the brilliance I once had, I could rebuild everything—from the tech company… to my shattered identity.

---

Later that night, I sat alone in the garden. The air was thick with the scent of pine and memory. The wind rustled through the trees like whispered regrets.

Lucy was silent now, buried deep in my consciousness.

Far away, back in Moon Claw Ridge, Darius returned home.

Luca, our son, peeked out from the top of the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Daddy? You’re back?” His voice was soft. Hopeful.

He stared behind Darius, eyes scanning the hallway. His little brows furrowed.

“…Mommy didn’t come back with you?”

Darius hesitated. “Go to bed, Luca.”

He walked past him, took a sip of water in the dark kitchen, and slowly climbed the stairs.

He pushed open the bedroom door.

The lights were off. The bed was untouched.

The room was cold.

She wasn’t home.

And she wasn’t coming back.