Chapter 5
I heard the pack house erupt behind me.
Even through the storm, even with the distance I'd put between myself and Blood Claw territory, the sound carried. Shouts. Running footsteps. The organized chaos of warriors mobilizing.
They'd found the empty room.
My legs screamed at me to keep moving, but my lungs were burning, my bare feet torn and bleeding. The neutral woods were darker than Blood Claw territory, the trees closer together, the underbrush thicker. I'd been running blind for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.
Fifteen minutes. Eddie had given me fifteen minutes.
I'd used them all.
A new sound cut through the rain. Not a shout. A howl.
Bruno's wolf.
The sound went through me like a blade, hitting that place in my chest where the mate bond still pulsed, weak and damaged but not quite dead. My body wanted to respond. Wanted to call back. Wanted to run toward that sound instead of away from it.
I stumbled, catching myself against a tree trunk. The bark bit into my injured palm. Fresh blood mixed with rain, dripping onto the muddy ground.
Another howl. Closer.
He was coming. Of course he was coming. Not because he loved me. Not because he'd realized what he'd done. But because I was his possession, his status symbol, his tame Luna who wasn't supposed to have the spine to leave.
I pushed off the tree and kept moving, but slower now. My body was giving out. No wolf to draw strength from. No enhanced healing to fix the damage. Just fragile human flesh, breaking down under the strain.
The trees opened into a clearing. Mud sucked at my feet. Rain pounded down harder here, no canopy to break its fall. Lightning split the sky, illuminating the space in harsh white light.
I stopped in the center of the clearing.
Behind me, I heard it. The sound of something massive crashing through the forest. Breaking branches. Tearing through underbrush. Moving with the supernatural speed of an Alpha wolf.
I could keep running. Stumble forward into the dark, let him chase me until my body gave out completely and he dragged me back like prey.
Or I could stop running.
I turned to face the tree line. Planted my feet in the mud. Lifted my chin.
If Bruno wanted his Luna back, he could look her in the eyes while he took her.
The crashing stopped. For one long moment, there was only the rain and my ragged breathing.
Then he emerged from the trees.
Bruno's wolf was massive. Black as midnight, easily two meters at the shoulder, with eyes that glowed amber in the darkness. He was built for violence, all muscle and fang and barely contained rage.
He'd always been beautiful in this form. Terrifying and beautiful.
He stopped at the edge of the clearing, those amber eyes locked on me. His lips pulled back, showing teeth. Not a snarl of aggression. Something else. Something desperate.
We stared at each other across the muddy ground.
I waited for him to charge. To use his Alpha power to force my submission. To drag me back to that locked room and that life of being slowly erased.
But he didn't move.
Lightning flashed again. In that brief illumination, I saw something in his wolf's eyes that I hadn't expected.
Fear.
Not fear of losing his possession. Fear of what I'd become. Of the Luna standing in the rain with blood on her hands and defiance in her spine. The ghost he'd been trying to resurrect had finally died, and he was looking at what had risen from the ashes.
Someone he didn't recognize.
Someone he couldn't control.
"I'm not going back," I said. My voice was steady despite the cold, despite the exhaustion, despite everything. "You can drag my body back to Blood Claw territory, but that's all you'll get. A body. Because the part of me that loved you, that believed in us, that sacrificed everything to be your Luna—that's already dead."
His wolf whined. Actually whined, like I'd struck him.
Good.
Let him feel a fraction of the pain I'd carried for months. Let him understand what it was like to lose something precious while it was still standing right in front of you.
"You wanted the innocent Omega you saved," I continued. "The fragile girl who needed you. But she grew up, Bruno. She became someone stronger. And you couldn't love that. You couldn't love me."
The wolf took a step forward. Then another.
I didn't move. Didn't run. Just stood there in the rain, waiting.
He stopped three feet away. Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his massive body. Close enough to see my reflection in those amber eyes.
I looked like a drowned ghost. Hair plastered to my face. Dress in tatters. Blood and mud mixing on my skin.
I looked destroyed.
But I was still standing.
Bruno's wolf lowered his head. His nose almost touched my injured hand.
And then, from the trees behind him, I heard it.
Voices. Multiple wolves. The search party had caught up.
"Alpha! We have her scent!"
Gamma Ryan's voice, eager and sharp. Kayleigh's father, who'd probably been thrilled to report that the unstable Luna had finally snapped completely.
Bruno's head snapped up. His body shifted, positioning himself between me and the approaching wolves.
Protecting me.
Too late. Months too late.
I stepped back. Put distance between us.
"Choose," I said quietly. "Them or me. Your pack's opinion or your mate's freedom. The lie you've been living or the truth standing in front of you."
The search party burst into the clearing. Five wolves, all in shifted form, all stopping short when they saw their Alpha.
Ryan shifted back to human form, shameless in his nudity. "Alpha Bruno! Thank the Goddess we found her before she—"
Bruno's snarl cut him off. A sound of pure Alpha dominance that made every wolf in the clearing drop their heads in submission.
Except me.
I just stood there, waiting for his choice.
Waiting to see who he really was.
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