By the time I reached the front doors, I thought we were safe.
"Miss!"
The shout snapped my spine straight. My body froze, breath caught halfway in my throat. My first instinct was to bolt, but that would draw even more attention. Running now would scream guilt.
"Miss, wait one second!"
I forced myself to turn, my movements slow and deliberate. A young doctor was striding toward me with long, confident steps, his face serious. He had a phone pressed to his chest, his other hand clenched over the receiver.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Had he already called Cameron? Was I too late?
"Miss!"
I braced for the confrontation—
—only for him to breeze right past me.
I blinked, turning my head to watch as he jogged toward a young girl heading for the door.
"Miss, I have your mother on the line," he said breathlessly, catching her by the arm. "She wants you to stay for the scan after all. She's on her way to—"
The words faded into background noise. My knees nearly buckled with relief.
I swallowed hard, forcing my pulse to calm, and walked past them with my chin high, as if I'd never been rattled at all. When the rotating doors spilled me out into sunlight, a smile—sharp and victorious—spread across my face.
I was almost free.
The tree line wasn't far. I made my way toward it slowly, careful not to draw eyes by moving too fast. No one looked twice. I was heading away from the packhouse and the training grounds—just another injured warrior going home.
Once the trees swallowed me, I stripped off the gauze and bandages.
"You're up," I told Cortina.
She whimpered, but she came forward, shifting us into her true form. I bit back a scream, my jaw clenched hard as bones cracked and realigned for the first time in a year. The pain was sharp, brutal—but nothing compared to what she was about to do.
"I'm scared," she whispered, her voice trembling in my mind.
"If you can't do it, don't. We can outrun him.
We're fast."
"But he'll track our scent. If I don't do this, he'll find you." Her tone hardened. "This is the only way to hide us."
She was right. Without Rome's bond tethering us to Cameron, I'd smell like just another wolf. Once we were beyond Fire Moon territory, I could find the witches' apothecary and get a scent blocker. It might cost me blood, but that was a small price for freedom.
"We can go straight to them," I tried to reason, though I felt her resolve like iron.
"That will only lead him to them," Cortina said. "I… I can do this. I have to."
I felt her sadness like a physical weight in my chest. She wasn't just cutting Cameron out of our lives. She was cutting Rome out of hers.
At the edge of the forest, she stopped in the shadow of the trees, facing the distant silhouette of the packhouse. She reached for Rome's tether, pushing Cameron's presence aside as if it had never been there.
And then I felt him.
Rome.
A tidal wave of sorrow and guilt slammed into me. He knew. He was waiting for this.
"It's okay, love," he said, his voice rough and deep, vibrating through our bones. "I will always love you. But this needs to be done. I won't let him hurt you any longer."
"I love you too," Cortina whispered, tears filling our eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"I'm sorry it had to be this way. Do it, Cortina. Do it—and don't you dare look back. Live. Be free. That's all I want."
"I…" Cortina's breath shuddered. "I, Cortina, wolf and counterpart to Chloe Mills, fated Luna of Fire Moon Pack, hereby reject you…" Her voice broke, pain choking her, "…Rome, wolf and counterpart to Cameron Haine, future Alpha of Fire Moon Pack."
The moment the words left her, the bond snapped like a cord under too much strain.
Agony ripped through us. Rome's howling grief bled into my chest like fire. Cortina collapsed, writhing, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The pain was unbearable—tearing, searing, crushing.
And then, after long, suffocating moments, it dulled. Not gone. Never gone. But dulled enough to let her breathe.
"Go," Rome rasped. His voice was raw but steady. "Go before he notices."
"But you have to accept it. If you don't—"
"I want it to hurt," he interrupted. "I want him to feel every shred of it. You'll be safe now. That's what matters."
Cortina whimpered. "Rome…"
"Go," he said again, softer this time. "Go and make him pay. For all of it."
Rome sealed himself away. The sudden absence of him gutted Cortina, but it also set her free.
She ran.
She ran like her life depended on it, paws pounding against earth, lungs burning, every muscle straining. She sensed the guards before they scented her and darted into a stream, letting the cold water swallow her scent as she wove between boulders. She waited, silent and hidden, until their footsteps faded.
Then she tore through the last stretch of territory, the forest blurring around us.
By the time we crossed Fire Moon's borders, there was nothing left but the wind in our fur and the sound of our pounding heart.
We were free.