A cold sweat broke out across my forehead, the ringing inside my deaf right ear suddenly screaming with a violent intensity.
I couldn’t escape.
Turns out, I couldn’t escape this pack and everyone in it, even if I flew across the world.
The monster from my childhood, the girl who had spent years tormenting my mind, insulting my dead parents, and making sure I knew I was nothing but a cursed freak, was getting into the exact same transport network as me.
She was coming to my new home.
This was supposed to be my new beginning.
This was supposed to be the moment I finally walked out of the dark and found a place where I could breathe without fear.
Couldn’t I have just one single thing to myself?
Why was life always this completely, brutally unfair to me?
“Ella?” Hazel’s voice sounded distant, like she was shouting through a thick wall of water as the panic began to tunnel my vision.
She reached out, her warm hands closing tightly around my shaking shoulders to steady my balance.
“Ella, look at me.
Breathe.
Don’t look at the boxes.
She can’t touch you anymore.
I swear to you, if she even looks at you wrong, Alex will deal with her himself.
You are safe.”
I couldn’t answer her.
I just stared at the bright pink suitcases sitting in the gray dirt, realizing that my nightmare hadn’t ended at all, it was just changing locations.
The front porch doors of the packhouse swung open.
I watched as Celia finally stepped out onto the wooden veranda.
She didn’t look like the proud Alpha’s daughter anymore.
Her face was completely pale, her eyes hollowed out by a deep, frantic stress that she was trying desperately to hide behind a cold, blank mask.
She didn’t say a single word to anyone.
She didn’t look in my direction, and she didn’t cast a mean glare or throw a single insulting word into the air.
Behind her, a couple of other pack members were heavily laden with the rest of her belongings, including another ridiculous mountain of bright neon pink travel boxes.
They loaded them into the trunks of the cars with loud, metallic thuds.
Celia silently slid into the passenger seat of what I think was the Beta Mikko’s designated car, pulling the door shut behind her with a sharp click.
Mikko climbed into the front seat right beside her, and their car immediately pulled into the middle of the convoy line.
I watched the tinted windows reflect the morning light, a massive wave of profound relief washing through my chest when I realized I wouldn’t have to share a breathing space with my greatest tormentor and bully for the long journey ahead.
“Alright, Ella, let’s get you settled inside,” Hazel said gently, walking up beside me and guiding me toward an SUV.
The remaining bags were quickly packed into the rear compartments, and I climbed into the spacious backseat.
Alpha Alexander and Felix took their spots in the front seats, their large frames instantly making the front cabin feel incredibly small, while Hazel and I sat comfortably together in the wide back row.
The engines rumbled to life all at once, a deep, collective vibration that shook the gravel beneath the tires.
The convoy finally began to move, spraying sharp stones against the side panels as we drove out past the ruined gates of the Silver Ridge Pack.
I sat right next to the window, my good left ear turned toward Hazel while my permanently deaf right ear faced the thick glass.
Through the dark tint, I watched the familiar pine trees, the weathered boundary stones, and the jagged mountain ridges of my nine-year prison slowly blur and disappear into the morning mist.
For the very first time since I was eight years old, I was actually crossing the pack border line and I don’t intend on ever going back there.
“You’re doing okay back there, Ella?” Felix asked, turning his head slightly from the passenger seat to look at me, a friendly grin on his face.
“Yes,” I whispered, my fingers loosely wrapping around my bag.
“I am fine.”
“The road stays smooth once we hit the main interstate,” Alpha Alexander spoke from the driver’s seat, his voice completely filling the car.
He kept his eyes locked on the asphalt ahead, his large hands gripping the steering wheel with effortless control.
“We have a long drive ahead of us before we reach the northern passes.
Hazel, make sure she drinks water.”
“I am on it, Alpha,” Hazel replied, already reaching into a small cooler between our seats to pull out a fresh bottle.
She handed it to me with her catchy smile.
“Drink up, Ella.
Shifter territories get incredibly dry the further north you go, and your body is still healing from those fractures.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking a small sip.
The water was crisp and cold.
“So, Felix,” Hazel leaned forward, resting her arms against the back of the front seats.
“Are we stopping at the northern outpost for the border handovers, or are we driving straight through the night?”
“We have to stop briefly at the intersection outpost to sync our security codes with the regional Council patrol,” Felix answered, tapping a finger against the digital dashboard map.
“And honestly, we need to get gas and buy some actual food.
The warriors have been running on hot coffee since dawn.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Hazel let out a dramatic sigh, slumping back against the seat beside me.
“If I have to eat another dry protein bar from the bags, I am going to lose my mind.
What about you, Ella?
Are you hungry?”
“A little,” I admitted, my stomach giving a quiet, timely growl that made Hazel laugh out loud.
“See?
The kid is starving,” Hazel teased, poking my shoulder gently.
“Alpha, you hear that?
You have to feed us.”
“We will stop at the highway junction,” Alpha Alexander murmured, the corner of his lips twitching with a microscopic, hidden amusement as he glanced at the rearview mirror, his dark eyes locking onto my face for a split second through the glass.
“There is a secure neutral diner right off the main exit.”
Hours passed in a comfortable, relaxed silence as the SUV eat up the miles of open highway.
The toxic fear that had dominated every single day of my life at Silver Ridge seemed to evaporate with every mile marker we passed.
In the front, Alpha Alexander and Felix spent the time discussing border patrol rotations, Council drop-off coordinates for Alpha Richard’s upcoming trial, and high-level pack logistics in low, steady voices but I could still hear them from the back.
In the backseat, Hazel kept the atmosphere light, casually pointing out landmarks, explaining how the weather would change as we climbed higher, and promising me that the moment we arrived at the Blood Moon Pack, she would personally ensure I got the warmest, most comfortable room in the entire residential wing of the pack house except if I wanted my own house which would take time but I did have it by the end of the month.
By early afternoon, the convoy finally pulled off the interstate, rolling into a quiet roadside gas station surrounded by thick forests.
After the vehicles were refueled, Alpha Alexander led our small group inside a cozy, wooden highway diner that sat right on the edge of the road.
Inside, the air smelled of fried potatoes, fresh coffee, and maple syrup.
The hostess quickly guided our group toward a big round table in the very back corner of the room.
The moment we sat down, my entire body went rigid.
I took my seat next to Hazel, my muscles locking up as I realized Celia was sitting directly across from me on the other side of the curve.
I immediately felt my heart doing a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
I tried as much as humanly possible to look anywhere else but at her face.
I kept my eyes glued entirely to the laminated plastic menu in front of me, then to the metal salt shakers, and then to the small scratches on the wooden table surface, doing everything in my power to avoid making eye contact.
“Alright, everyone order whatever you want,” Felix said cheerfully, breaking the silence as he opened his menu.
“The Alpha is paying for the entire table today, so don’t be shy.”
“I want the grand breakfast platter,” Hazel chimed in immediately, tapping the laminated paper.
“With extra waffles and bacon.
Mikko, what are you getting?”
Beta Mikko sat right next to Celia, his face looking slightly stressed as he shifted his weight.
“Just the steak and eggs, Hazel.
And a large coffee.
Black.”
“Make that two,” Felix told the waitress who had just walked up to our table.
He looked over at Celia, his tone perfectly polite.
“What about you, Celia?
What can we get for you?”
Celia didn’t look up from her hands sitting on her lap.
“Just a green tea, please.
I am not very hungry.”
“You need to eat something, Celia,” Mikko murmured softly beside her, his voice holding a gentle but firm tone that I had never heard a warrior use with a she-wolf back home.
“It’s a five-hour drive to the pack from here.
You need your strength.”
“I said I am fine, Mikko,” Celia replied quietly, her voice entirely flat and devoid of its old, arrogant edge.
She didn’t snap at him; she just sounded exhausted, her shoulders hunched slightly as she looked down at the tabletop.
I risked a quick glance out of the corner of my eye, watching the two of them interact.
A hundred questions began to twist in my mind.
Did Mikko know?
Did he actually know every single horrible, cruel thing Celia had done to me back in the pack?
Didn’t he see what they all did to me?
How could he possibly want someone like her in his life?
To be his mate?
But as I watched the way Mikko’s hand instinctively drifted over the back of Celia’s chair a cold realization settled deep into my chest.
It didn’t matter what she had done.
The fated-mate bond was entirely too strong.
It was an ancient, supernatural force designed by the Moon Goddess herself, a pull so violent that it overrode logic, history, and mistakes.
Even if Mikko found out about her past cruelty, his inner wolf was never going to hate her for long.
The bond would eventually force him to forgive anything, locking them together forever, while I would always be the outsider looking in.
“Ella,” Alpha Alexander’s voice suddenly cut through my spinning thoughts, pulling me right back to the table.
I looked up quickly, my left ear twitching toward him.
He was staring directly at me from his seat, his expression completely serious.
“What are you having?”
“I…
I don’t know,” I whispered, my voice sounding small in the open space of the diner.
“Get the blueberry pancakes and the sausage,” Hazel suggested warmly, nudging my elbow with a bright smile.
“They are famous for them here.
Trust me, you’ll love it.”
“Okay,” I nodded weakly, looking at the waitress.
“I’ll have that, please.”
“And bring her a large glass of orange juice,” Alpha Alexander added to the order, his tone flat the waitress quickly scribbled down before scurrying away toward the kitchen.
The rest of the meal passed in a strange, divided atmosphere.
Hazel and Felix did most of the talking, casually debating pack house schedules and laughing about old training mishaps, while Alpha Alexander occasionally chimed in with low, steady directives.
Across the table, Mikko kept a quiet, watchful eye on Celia, who silently sipped her hot tea, her gaze fixed entirely on the dark liquid in her cup.
I kept my head down, focusing entirely on my plate of pancakes, cutting the food into tiny pieces and chewing slowly, desperately counting down the minutes until we could get back into the safety of the moving car.
Once the bill was settled, everyone stood up and made their way back out into the cool afternoon air.
Everybody stretched their limbs before everyone filed back into their designated vehicles.
As the doors of the SUV clicked shut, locking the outside world out once more, I let out a long, slow breath, leaning my head against the soft leather backrest.
The convoy pulled out of the diner lot, the tires singing against the smooth asphalt as we resumed the long drive further north into the steep, winding mountain passes.
The trees outside began to change, the green pines becoming thicker and dusted with light patches of white frost as the elevation climbed.
Looking out the window at the flashing scenery, the quiet interior of the car allowed my mind to suddenly drift back to the ballroom assembly from yesterday afternoon.
The image of Klaus’s face flashed behind my eyelids.
I remembered the exact expression he wore when the head Magistrate handed him the temporary Alpha title, that smooth, calculating mask, and the smug, satisfied glint in his dark eyes when he looked at my face through the crowd.
A freezing chill slowly crawled straight back down my spine.
Literally.
Klaus was now the Alpha and ruler of the Silver Ridge Pack.
He knew with certainty that someone inside his territory had snitched to the Council.
He knew a secret letter had been sent two years ago, and he had a whole pack of loyal, pack members under his command to help him find out who did it.
Klaus was going to tear that entire pack apart looking for the truth.
He was going to interrogate the omegas, search the files, and track every single scent line until he uncovered the person who wrote that note.
And the terrifying part was, the real savior, the person who had actually risked their life to send that letter to the Council to save me was going to bear the burnt of everything.
Klaus’s shadow was still lingering right behind our wheels, and his desperate hunt for vengeance would eventually put everyone in extreme danger.
But I wouldn’t let him hurt these people that saved me from them or the person that wrote the letter.
I just wished I knew the person so I could beg Alpha Alexander to protect he or she.
“We are entering the upper ridge pass now,” Alpha Alexander’s voice rumbled from the front seat, cutting through the dark cloud of my thoughts.
He adjusted the rearview mirror, his pitch-black eyes locking onto my reflection with a steady, unyielding intensity.
“The cell signals drop out completely past this point, Felix.
Secure the encrypted satellite lines.”
“On it, Alpha,” Felix replied, his fingers flying across the dashboard interface.I turned my left ear toward the front, letting the steady, rhythmic hum of the high-powered engine soothe the panic in my mind.
Enjoy my loves.