Gone

## Third person POV

Mate!

Their heads whipped sideways in unison and there she was looking like a flower in the midst of wolves.

So delicate and beautiful.

Kaden immediately started walking towards her, Kael followed leaving their father and the visiting alpha stunned.

They made out of the door walking briskly and broke into a run.

They caught up with her in front of the pack house

“Aurora please wait” Kael called

“I reject you both”

The pain shot through them like silver bullets

Strong enough to make them both whimper and bend clutching their chests.

“Please…” Kaden’s voice cracked as he stepped forward.

He grabbed her hand and instantly felt the electric flow.

“We’re sorry,” he whispered. “We’ve changed. We’ll prove it to you. Just give us a chance.”

“Yeah,” she said, pulling her hand away, “well, I’ve changed too.”

And she disappeared into the night.

Neither of them could follow her even if they wanted to.

The pain was unbearable

How was she able to still run?

The mate bond, still new, still fragile, had been violently severed before it even had the chance to form completely.

And it was their fault.

Their fault.

The rejection wasn’t just emotional, it was spiritual. It was physical. The mate bond, especially between Alphas, future leaders, wasn’t just a pull.

It was a tether.

And she’d cut it like a blade through silk.

How had they not known?

How could they have been so blind?

She’d grown up right beside them. They shared classes, meals, training grounds. She cleaned their home. She stood silently in the background of their lives for years—and they never saw her.

Not truly.

Not until it was too late.

And they knew the truth.

It was because they hadn’t wanted to see it

They’d let themselves believe what the others said about her. Let themselves treat her like she didn’t matter. Because it was easier. Because it kept them on the perfect track towards Alpha glory.

And now the Moon Goddess herself had slapped them in the face with the truth.

She was theirs. Their mate.

And they’d failed her.

They returned to the pack house in silence.

Kael didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. The guilt on his face mirrored Kaden’s. Their father had been busy entertaining the visiting Alpha and hadn’t even noticed their absence.

Kaden pushed past the ballroom, ignoring the questions, the well-wishers, the girls who still giggled when he walked by. None of them mattered anymore.

He felt the need to be near her scent to keep from going crazy.

He started going up the stairs with Kael following behind. Like a zombie he headed straight to the attic.

He let himself fall and sit leg stretched on her bed with his head against the wall, eyes closed and just inhaling her scent deep into himself.

Tears ran down his cheeks and started sobbing.

Kael came to sit down next to him.

“We were so stupid, man…” Kaden whispered, opening his eyes to look at his brother.

“How could we have done that to her?”

He was crying uncontrollably now

Kael embraced him.

“We have to find her Kael.. Pls I can’t live without her”

Kael had always been the stronger of the two

He rubbed his brothers back gently soothing him even though he was hurting just as much.

“We will find her. I promise” He closed his eyes holding his brother tight.

Even if it meant searching every forest, every town, every rogue path from here to the edge of the kingdom, Kael swore to himself in that moment he would bring her back.

Not because she was their mate.

But because she deserved more than what they gave her.

She deserved the world.

And because his brother was hurting so much and he hated to see that.

## Aurora

The wind whipped through my hair as I ran, branches snagging at my dress, tears blurring my vision.

But I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

If I slowed down , if I even paused, I’d feel it again. The bond unraveling. The searing pain in my chest where something once whole was now shattered.

I rejected them.

I said the words.

And the bond, Moon help me, the bond broke.

Not completely. Not yet. But enough to wound us all.

Limeria whimpered inside me, confused, grieving. She had scented them, recognized them, wanted them. But I couldn’t, I wouldn’t let them near me. Not after everything. Not after the years of torment, of being nothing in their eyes.

Not after they let me suffer.

Not after they watched me rot in silence while they shined.

The moon was high above the trees as I reached the hidden spot in the woods where I’d stashed my bag. A small canvas duffel, worn and light, containing the bare minimum: clothes, water, some saved cash from buying groceries , and a worn photo of my mother.

I dropped to my knees, clutching the bag like a lifeline. My chest heaved, sobs rising and catching in my throat like fire. The adrenaline began to fade, and pain took its place. Real pain.

Not just from the broken bond. From the years.

Years of being unwanted. Unseen. Unloved.

I tilted my face to the sky, letting the moonlight wash over me as I whispered, “Why them? Why would you make them my mates?”

There was no answer.

Just the rustling of leaves, the hoot of an owl somewhere in the distance, and the faint echo of celebration still drifting from the pack house.

They would be looking for me.

I didn’t care.

I zipped the bag and forced my aching legs to move. No more crying. No more waiting. I had a world to escape.

I was leaving the Red Moon Pack. And I wasn’t coming back.

I didn’t shift that night. I walked. For hours. Through the forest, across the ridge line, past the training grounds, and far beyond the pack borders. My legs ached. My feet bled. But I kept going.

By dawn, I found myself stumbling into the edge of neutral territory. A small river cut through the land, and beyond it lay freedom, true freedom. No pack ties. No Alpha commands. No Kaden. No Kael.

I dropped to the riverbank and drank until my throat stopped burning. Then I sat. Just for a moment. Just to catch my breath.

My body trembled, both from exhaustion and from the growing ache in my chest. Limeria still whimpered quietly, like she was mourning something I hadn’t given her time to process.

“I know,” I whispered. “I know it hurts. But they don’t deserve us.”

She didn’t argue.

But she didn’t agree either.

That scared me.

Because no matter how much I hated them, part of me deep, buried had always wondered what it would feel like to be chosen. To be wanted. To be protected.

And now that I was, even by the wrong people, it was already gone.

No.

I clenched my fists. No pity. No weakness. Not anymore.

I would build a new life.

Somewhere far away.

Somewhere I could finally breathe.

I kept going, stopping only for a few minutes to catch my breath or drink from my bottle being careful not to drink all.

I walked for two days, sleeping for short one to two hours at night under trees then I had to keep moving.

By the third day, I was barely standing.

I hadn’t seen anyone. I hadn’t shifted. My body was exhausted, my soul even more so. But I kept moving. I didn’t want to risk stopping too close to the border. If they were tracking me, I needed to be far enough they couldn’t drag me back.

I found a tiny abandoned cabin nestled in the woods, more of a hunting shack, really but it had four walls and a roof. That was more than I was used to.

I curled up on the floor that night, my wolf stirring uneasily in my chest.

She was restless.

And I was scared.

Not of being alone.

But of what came next.

I had no pack.

No family.

No protection.

I’d been born into power and prestige and stripped of it all before I could even understand what it meant. Now I was nothing but a rogue in the wild. Just like they always said I would be.

But I wasn’t weak.

Not anymore.

I’d survived worse.

And I’d survive this.