If my heart broke further, I didn't let it show. I stayed on the dirt, watching as the man I had loved for eight years walked away from me again. He lifted Casey in a bridal carry. Over his shoulder, I saw the smug, viper-like look she gave me as they disappeared toward the carriage, Marc following close behind.

I was left in a pool of my own blood, shot by the very hand I had guided in the hunt. Fate was a cruel goddess.

I struggled to find my footing when a shadow fell over me.

“You wretched girl! Why are you still on our lands? Did you not howl to the whole city that you were leaving?”

I knew that bitter scent. It was Hestia, Malachi’s mother. She had never seen me as anything more than a stain on her family’s name. I managed to stand, facing her with a trembling jaw. She gasped, but not with pity—only with disgust at the blood on my clothes.

“Do you wish to bring shame to my son? Why must you choose to die here? Go and breathe your last outside our borders!” she hissed.

“I was leaving... but your grandson shot me,” I whispered.

She scoffed, her eyes cold as Moonstone. “You probably hurt yourself just to look pitiful. You want Malachi to take pity on you and beg you to stay. You know you have no rank here the moment you turned your back on the Pack.”

“I want nothing from your bloodline, Hestia! It was the boy who did this!” I snapped, the pain making my wolf growl.

“Then you should have no trouble leaving,” she sneered. Before I could move, she grabbed my travel boxes and tossed them out past the iron gates into the dirt.

“Get out!” she snarled, shoving me toward the boundary line. “Go and die in the wild. Leave my son in peace!”

I staggered and fell, my hand clutching my shredded shoulder. The iron gates slammed shut behind me.

“You will all regret this!” I swore into the wind, my heart burning with a new, dark rage.

I managed to drag my boxes to the road just as the carriage I had summoned arrived. The driver, a beta from a neutral territory, hopped out. “Apologies for the delay, Lady.”

“It is fine,” I muttered, pulling myself into the seat.

He stared at the blood soaking my dress. “Are you still heading for the Great Border?”

I shook my head, feeling lightheaded. “Take me to a healer first.”

I leaned my head against the glass, and the world went black.

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