Severing the Alpha's Bond

Chapter 3

I knew the escape routes out of Ash Pine territory by heart.

The healing wing always needed Blue Mist grass, which only grew past the northern tree line. I knew exactly when the patrol guards switched shifts. I knew which mud pits would mask my scent.

But my body was wrecked from the rejection.

With every step, a sharp pain spiked through my chest. The phantom scent of Victor’s pine rolled over me, making me nauseous.

I didn't look back once.

Right before dawn, I scrambled over the border stones. And then, metal snapped shut around my ankle.

A hunter’s trap.

Silver spikes bit deep into my flesh.

White-hot agony drove me face-first into the muddy water. My inner wolf whined in misery, completely powerless to help me shift or break free.

A howl echoed from the distance. A patrol wolf.

They realized I was gone.

I bit down on my own sleeve and jammed the bone needle into the trap’s release mechanism.

The moment the silver rubbed against my blood, gray smoke hissed from my skin. The burn was blinding.

Footsteps crashed through the brush. Fast.

An arrow slammed into the dirt an inch from my face.

"Cecilia! Victor ordered you to return!"

It was Raymond. Victor’s right-hand man.

I lifted my head, rain washing the mud and tears from my eyes.

"I am no longer his fated mate. He doesn't get to order me around."

Raymond’s jaw tightened.

"You are still a member of the Ash Pine Pack."

A bitter laugh tore from my throat.

"Then I quit."

His face drained of color.

To leave a pack meant abandoning all protection. Without the pack's scent, rogues would hunt me. Hunters would kill me. Other packs could claim me as a slave.

I’d rather be hunted than stay.

Raymond lowered his bow.

"Don't make me knock you out and drag you back."

"Try it."

I wrenched the bone needle hard into the mechanism.

The metal jaws sprang open. Blood poured from my ankle, the fractured bone screaming in protest.

I swayed on my feet.

Raymond lunged for my shoulder.

Before his fingers could even brush my skin, a massive gray-white wolf exploded from the tree line and tackled him to the dirt.

It didn't rip out his throat. It just planted a massive paw on his chest and let out a bone-rattling snarl.

A woman stepped out from the morning mist.

She had striking silver hair, a faded scar across her face, and a heavy wooden medical kit slung over her shoulder.

"Ash Pine wolves. You're trespassing."

Raymond coughed, spitting blood.

"She’s our Beta!"

The woman ignored him. She crouched beside me and inspected my mangled ankle.

"She doesn't carry your pack’s protective scent. She reeks of a broken mate bond and silver poisoning. You chased a wounded girl to the border and you still claim she belongs to you?"

Raymond had no answer.

I stared at the crest carved into her wooden kit. A crescent moon cradling deer antlers.

"Are you... a healer from Moon Deer Valley?"

She looked up, her eyes softening.

"Isabelle. Your mother saved my life once."

Hearing my mother’s mention broke the last string holding me together. I slumped forward.

Isabelle caught me, her fingers pressing against my wrist.

A second later, her expression hardened.

"Your blood is healing the silver burns on its own."

I stayed quiet.

Raymond heard it too. His eyes widened, the realization dawning on his face.

Isabelle immediately shifted her body to block his view.

"Go back and tell Victor that the moment Cecilia crossed the boundary line, she fell under the protection of Moon Deer Valley. If Ash Pine tries to take her, I will bring a Blood Oath grievance to the Tri-Pack Council."

Raymond shoved the gray wolf off and staggered to his feet, clutching his ribs.

He glared at me one last time.

"Victor won't let this go."

I leaned against Isabelle’s shoulder. The metallic taste of blood still coated my tongue.

"Then tell him to come find me."

After Raymond left, Isabelle carried me to the Moon Deer healing camp.

There were no grand altars here. Just a row of simple wooden cabins with dried herbs hanging from the eaves. Wounded warriors rested by the hearths, children ground herbs with mortars, and the air smelled purely of bitter roots and pine sap.

Isabelle pulled the last silver splinter from my leg.

She watched my flesh slowly knit itself back together beneath her herbal wash. Her hands went still.

"Cecilia. Your mother didn't tell you everything."

I gripped the edge of the cot.

"She only told me my blood couldn't be spilled for just anyone."

Isabelle dropped the bloodied silver shard into a glass jar.

"You carry the bloodline of the White Deer Healers. Technically, you aren't a regular Beta at all. Your wolf was bound with a seal, which is why the Ash Pine wolves couldn't scent your true nature."

My inner wolf instantly perked up at the words White Deer.

A seal. My mother. The silver powder.

A dozen scattered memories violently crashed together in my head.

Isabelle continued wrapping my ankle.

"The rejection backlash tore the seal open. Victor personally breaking you actually forced half of your true power to awaken."

I didn't smile.

"And the other half?"

She looked out the window at the distant mountains.

"You have to take it back yourself. Your blood can neutralize silver poison, and it can instantly revive a dying wolf. But every time you use it, it burns your own life force. If Ash Pine knew what you were, they would have locked you in a cage and bled you dry like a potion ingredient."

The memory of Victor throwing the silver-laced vial at my feet flashed in my mind.

"They already did."

That night, a brutal fever took over my body.

My wolf cried in my dreams. She asked me if I still missed Victor.

I didn't answer her.

In the dream, a teenage Victor carried me through the forest on his back, promising me that even a Beta could be invincible.

Then the dream violently shifted. A grown Victor stood on the altar, his eyes cold as ice, publicly throwing me away.

I woke up gasping. The pillowcase was soaked in blood from my nose.

Isabelle sat calmly by the bed. She handed me a mug of steaming black liquid.

"There’s no shame in crying."

I took the mug. My hand didn't shake at all.

"I’m not crying."

She looked at my dry eyes and didn't push.

A long, haunting howl drifted through the window.

It came from the direction of Ash Pine.

A vicious cramp seized my chest. The jagged, broken end of the mate bond was reacting to the distant Alpha’s aura.

Victor was in pain. Worse than yesterday.

I downed the medicine in one go.

The bitter taste washed away the copper in my throat.

"Isabelle. Teach me how to be a healer."

She slid her heavy wooden kit across the table toward me.

"We’ll start with stitching a torn claw."