"Father."
I turned to Alpha Cassian, my voice breaking.
"Not here, Aurelia." His words were clipped, dismissive. "We'll discuss this in private."
Discuss what?
I wanted to scream.
Discuss how your heir is worthless? How I've shamed our family? How I'm not even worthy of being called a wolf?
The crowd was already dispersing, their whispers following them like a toxic cloud.
I caught fragments as they passed:
"always knew she was strange."
"waste of good bloodlines."
"Darian made the right choice."
"should send her away before she embarrasses them further."
My mother swept past without a word, her disappointment radiating off her in waves.
Mira followed, pausing just long enough to whisper: "Guess you're not so special after all, sister."
Within minutes, the ceremonial grounds had emptied.
Even my father had left, his broad back disappearing into the manor house without a backward glance.
Only I remained, standing alone in the circle of ancient stones, wearing a ceremonial dress for a transformation that never came.
The moon's light felt like mockery now.
I don't know how long I stood there.
Long enough for the cold to seep into my bones.
Long enough for the reality to truly sink in.
I was defective. Broken. Worthless.
No wolf. No mate. No future in the pack that had been my entire world.
When I finally moved, my legs nearly gave out.
I caught myself against one of the standing stones, its surface rough, cold under my palm.
Carved into the ancient rock were the words that had been my family's motto for generations:
"Strength Through Unity. Unity Through Blood."
I traced the letters with trembling fingers.
I had the blood.
Without the wolf, I had no strength.
Without strength, I had no place in this unity.
A sound escaped my throat. half laugh, half sob.
Hysterical and broken, echoing off the stones.
No.
I wouldn't cry. I wouldn't give them that satisfaction.
I pushed away from the stone and walked, slow and steady, despite the way my whole body wanted to collapse, across the grounds and toward the manor.
Not to the main entrance where I might run into someone.
I took the servant's door, slipping through the shadows like the ghost I'd apparently become.
My room was in the east wing, far from the family quarters.
"To give you space to study," they'd always said.
Now I realized the truth.
They'd been distancing themselves from me for years, preparing for this moment.
Preparing to cast me aside.
I locked my door and leaned against it, finally allowing myself to shake.
The ceremonial dress suddenly felt suffocating.
I tore it off, letting the expensive silk pool on the floor like shed skin.
In the mirror, I looked at myself. Really looked.
Green eyes, bright and clear, not the golden amber of a true wolf.
Dark auburn hair that fell in waves to my waist.
Pale skin unmarked by any sign of the beast that should live beneath it.
I was attractive enough by human standards.
Among wolves, I was nothing.
A defect.
I grabbed the first clothes I could find. jeans, a sweater, boots and began to pack.
One bag. Just the essentials.
I didn't have much that was truly mine anyway.
As I moved through the room, collecting the few possessions I cared about, a strange calm settled over me.
They wanted me gone?
Fine.
I'd leave.
I wouldn't slink away in shame. I wouldn't let their rejection define me.
Somehow, some way, I would find out why my wolf wouldn't emerge.
I would discover what was wrong with me and I would fix it.
Then?
I would make every single person who laughed at me tonight regret it.
The thought should have frightened me.
Sweet, obedient Aurelia Veythorne, plotting revenge?
As I zipped my bag closed and took one last look at the room I'd grown up in, I felt something kindle in my chest.
Not a wolf. Not yet.
Something darker. Hungrier.
They want to see weakness? I thought, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I'll show them what weakness can become.
I left through my window, climbing down the trellis like I'd done a hundred times as a child when I wanted to explore the woods.
This time, I wasn't coming back.
As I hit the ground and started toward the tree line, I heard a voice behind me.
"Running away, Lia?"
I turned.
Darian stood in the shadow of the manor, still in his formal blacks.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
"What do you want?" I asked flatly.
He shifted uncomfortably. "I... I wanted to explain."
"Explain what? That you're an ambitious coward who'd rather break a promise than risk his precious reputation?"
The words came out cold and sharp. I barely recognized my own voice.
"You made yourself very clear, Alpha."
"It's not personal," he said, actually had the audacity to sound like he believed it. "You understand the position I'm in. I need a strong Luna."
"I'm not strong."
"Yes, I heard you. The whole pack heard you."
I turned away. "Goodbye, Darian."
"Where will you go?"
I looked back over my shoulder, meeting his eyes one last time.
In the moonlight, I could see the conflict there, guilt warring with relief.
He was glad to be rid of me, even if his conscience bothered him.
"Somewhere I can become what you said I'd never be," I said quietly. "Strong."
I walked into the darkness of the Forbidden Woods, leaving behind everything I'd ever known.
Behind me, the Veythorne Manor blazed with lights and laughter as the pack continued their celebrations.
They'd probably already forgotten about me.
Good.
Let them forget Aurelia Veythorne, the defective heir.
Because when I came back.
I would come back.
They wouldn't recognize what I'd become.
The woods swallowed me whole.
For the first time in my life, I felt something that wasn't quite hope, close enough.
Freedom.
The trees closed in around me, their branches forming a canopy that blocked out even the mocking moon.
My feet found the old hunting trails by instinct, paths I'd walked a thousand times before.
Tonight, every shadow felt different.
Every sound sharper.
I was no longer the Alpha's daughter on a supervised walk.
I was prey.
Or perhaps something more dangerous.
Something with nothing left to lose.