v

on until the words blurr

Luna,

it dissolved. The floor felt

the long-distance link, frantic and sharp. _I saw the

al voice shaking but resolute.

d, do

couldn't bear her

e Hayes Pack. It was deep blue silk, the color of true royalty. It hid my smal

the cage of my ribs, a low growl vibrating in

into the

lebration of my erasure. But the moment I stepped

rincess of the Hayes Pack. I w

room, on the Alpha's

inder of the man I thought I knew. And next to him, c

olor of a bride. The color o

held a toddler. A boy

mixed with Michael's forest scent. It was suffocating. But the child... th

econd, his eyes widened

masking it all behind a wall o

rowd parted for me like

t tha

t she was

ss n

My heart felt like it was being s

toddler to a nanny and stepped forward,

fake sweetness. "You actually came. I t

I asked, ignoring her entire

ust stood there, cold and d

"Your place? Oh, honey. You don't have

ght in front of me. She leaned in, her voi

e used your father's name. And now that he

with suppressed violence. "I smell the chemicals on

s eyes

ma

hrough the silent

ing on my cheek was hot and sharp.

rowd

he had slapped me. In front of

chael. "You le

mber liquid in his glass. "You are m

inside m

l. The illusion I had built for years shattered in

er Wolf

sound of pure, unadulterated

like lava. The fatigue of the pregna

nded different. Deeper. Re

inty flickering in his g

aid

e air around me began

hael. I built this pack for

otective hand

e and let this... _

pretty mask slipping

ed her h

me, I caugh

st catch it

eked. "Mich

ha gold. "Liv! Release her

ain falling on my shoulders, trying to force m

wolf was laughin

t,_ she

in the eye. And I

ra

shoved her away, and she fell to the flo

authority crumbling. "How...

It was the bond. The connection I had to

ceremony. I didn

bbed the mental thread that

na

someone had ripped out a lung with

ared in pain. The severance of a bond is agony for both side

asped, looking at me wi

said. My voice

on him. On the lu

ping into his tone. "If you walk out tha

dn't

ld high. Blood trickled from my mouth, but

and pushed them open. The nigh

est. Then, the adrenaline faded, and the pai

kness of the forest loomed ahead, p

ching the dirt as cram

me, a white lig