Chapter 5
They didn't call it exile.
That would've sounded too dramatic. Too honest.
They called it "temporary displacement."
Which meant they took my cloak. Stripped the pack mark from my wrist. Confiscated my rations. Then walked me to the edge of the territory like I was a sick animal that might bite if left too close to the den.
No guards. No escort back.
Just a line in the dirt and a warning not to cross it again.
I stood there for a long moment after they left, staring at the trees beyond the boundary. They looked the same as always. Tall. Quiet. Indifferent.
That hurt more than the shouting had.
"So this is it," I muttered.
My breath fogged in the cold air. Night was already sinking in, fast and sharp. Hunger twisted low in my gut, the kind that wasn't just physical.
My wolf paced inside me, restless and annoyed.
Still breathing, she said.
I huffed out a bitter laugh. "Barely."
The bond tugged.
Soft and Persistent, like a pulse under skin.
I pressed a hand to my chest, teeth gritting. "Stop."
It didn't.
Kael's presence hovered at the edge of my awareness. Not his thoughts. Not his voice. Just the sense of him existing somewhere too close for comfort.
Watching.
That realization snapped something ugly and hot inside me.
"Don't you dare," I whispered into the dark. "You don't get to reject me and then keep checking if I survived it."
The bond pulsed again.
Almost… apologetic.
I hated it.
I turned away from the pack lands and walked.
The forest swallowed me fast. Branches snagged my dress. Cold seeped through the thin fabric until my fingers went numb. I didn't slow. If I stopped, I might turn back. Or worse, fall apart.
After a while, the sounds of the pack faded. No patrol footsteps. No distant howls. Just wind and my own uneven breathing.
I found a shallow hollow between two trees and sank down hard, back against the bark. My legs shook with delayed reaction. Shock. Exhaustion. Rage.
I dragged my knees to my chest and pressed my forehead against them.
This wasn't how rejection stories were supposed to go.
In every tale I'd ever heard, the rejected mate either died quietly or left dramatically. There was always a clean break. A before and after.
This felt like neither.
This felt like being erased slowly while still alive.
My wolf growled low in my chest.
They think you'll shrink.
I swallowed. "They're probably right."
She slammed against that thought so hard my breath hitched.
No.
The word carried weight. Certainty.
I laughed again, sharp and humorless. "You're awfully confident for someone who just got us kicked out."
She bared phantom teeth. We're still here.
I leaned my head back against the tree and closed my eyes.
Sleep came wrong.
Not drifting. Dropping.
Fire exploded behind my eyelids. Stone under my knees. The smell of blood so thick it coated my tongue. Voices chanting in a language I didn't know but somehow understood.
Traitor.
Abomination.
Unbound.
I gasped awake with a sharp cry, heart slamming against my ribs.
Moonlight filtered through the branches, pale and watchful. My skin prickled like it was being observed too closely.
My hands shook.
"That wasn't a dream," I whispered.
My wolf was silent now. Not gone. Just… listening.
I pushed myself to my feet, suddenly needing to move. To do something. Anything that wasn't sitting in the dark with memories that didn't belong to me clawing at my skull.
The bond tugged again. Stronger this time.
Pain lanced through my chest, sudden and fierce. I doubled over with a gasp, fingers digging into my sternum.
"No," I hissed. "No, no, no."
The sensation wasn't longing. Or sadness.
It was alarm.
I saw it then. Just a flash. Kael on one knee in the clearing. Blood on his hands. His jaw clenched like he was biting back a scream.
The image vanished as quickly as it came.
I staggered back, breath ragged. "What was that?"
The forest didn't answer.
I wasn't supposed to be able to feel him like that. Rejection was meant to sever the bond clean. That was pack law. Pack certainty.
But nothing about this felt clean.
I laughed weakly. "Of course it doesn't."
I forced myself upright and kept walking, deeper into the trees this time. I found a stream eventually cold and fast-moving. I knelt and drank greedily, not caring when icy water spilled down my chin.
When I looked up, my reflection stared back at me from the surface.
I barely recognized her.
Eyes too bright. Skin faintly glowing under the moonlight, like something silver was moving just beneath it. A faint mark lingered on my collarbone. Not a scar nor a wound but it was a symbol.
My stomach dropped.
"That wasn't there before," I whispered.
The mark pulsed softly, almost in response.
I yanked my hand back like it had burned me.
"No," I said again, louder now. "You don't get to brand me after throwing me away."
The bond tugged. The mark flared.
Anger roared up, fast and reckless. I slammed my palm against the tree beside me without thinking.
The trunk split.
Not cracked.
Split.
Wood groaned and tore apart under my hand like it was rotted from the inside.
I froze.
Slowly, I lifted my trembling fingers and stared at them.
"That's not possible," I breathed.
My wolf stirred, satisfied.
Told you.
Fear crawled up my spine. "I didn't do that."
She didn't deny it.
Footsteps crunched behind me.
I spun, heart leaping into my throat.
Darian stepped into the moonlight, hands raised slightly. His expression was tight. Careful.
"I was hoping I'd find you before you wandered too far," he said quietly.
Relief and suspicion tangled hard in my chest. "You're not supposed to be here."
He gave a humorless smile. "Neither are you."
I didn't lower my guard. "Did they send you?"
"No," he said. "They don't know I'm here."
That answer felt… real.
"Why?" I asked.
He hesitated, then sighed. "Because this isn't right."
A bitter laugh slipped out. "That's a little late."
"I know," he said. "But I couldn't watch them do that to you and pretend it was law."
My throat tightened despite myself. I hated that kindness still affected me.
"You shouldn't be seen with me," I said. "It'll cost you."
His jaw clenched. "Some things should."
He glanced at the split tree behind me. His eyes widened slightly before he masked it.
"You did that," he said.
It wasn't a question.
I swallowed. "I didn't mean to."
He nodded slowly. "That's what scares me."
Before I could snap back, a sharp pulse hit my chest. Stronger than before. I gasped, knees buckling.
Darian cursed and caught my arm. "What is it?"
"He's hurt," I said without thinking.
Darian stiffened. "The Alpha?"
I nodded, breath shallow. "Bad."
Silence stretched between us.
"That shouldn't be possible," he said quietly.
"I know."
We stood there, both of us staring at the truth neither wanted to say out loud.
The rejection hadn't ended anything.
It had just pushed it somewhere darker.
Darian released me slowly. "You need to leave the territory tonight. Farther than this."
"And you?" I asked.
He met my gaze. "I'll buy you time."
I studied his face, searching for deceit but found none. Just conflict and guilt.
"Thank you," I said softly.
He hesitated, then leaned in and lowered his voice. "Elowen… whatever you think you are. Whatever they told you."
He paused.
"You're not weak."
Before I could respond, a howl cut through the night. Sharp. Commanding.
Kael.
The sound hit my chest like a fist.
Darian swore under his breath. "Go. Now."
I stepped back into the shadows, heart pounding. As I turned away, the bond flared violently, dragging my attention back toward the pack lands.
Toward him.
Toward something unfinished.
I ran.
And behind me, the Alpha's howl echoed again, carrying fear this time.
Real fear.
And for the first time since the rejection, I wondered if I wasn't the one being hunted after all.