Chapter 3
1050 Words
What They Took
The hallway felt longer on the way out.
Or maybe it just felt different.
People moved out of my way.
Not out of respect.
Not anymore.
Out of discomfort.
No one stopped me.
No one spoke.
A few looked like they wanted to.
Most didn’t look at me at all.
I walked past them anyway.
Same pace. Same posture.
Like nothing had changed.
It had.
The doors behind me were still closed.
I could feel it—like pressure at my back.
The council room.
The place where everything I built had just been… erased.
I didn’t turn around.
Outside, the air hit colder than it should have.
The sky was grey, low, heavy with rain that hadn’t started yet.
The kind that hangs there, waiting.
I stepped off the stone path and onto the gravel, the sound of it sharp under my boots.
Familiar.
Everything here was familiar.
That was the problem.
“Kaia.”
I stopped.
Not because of the voice.
Because of who it belonged to.
I turned.
Raymond stood a few steps behind me, hands at his sides like he didn’t know what to do with them.
Gamma.
Second in command.
One of the few people who used to speak to me without hesitation.
Used to.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said.
Not harsh. Just… factual.
His jaw tightened.
“I needed to talk to you.”
“Then you should’ve done it in there.”
That hit.
I saw it.
The flinch. Small, but real.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said.
I looked at him.
Really looked this time.
At the man who had followed my orders without question.
Who had trusted my judgment more than his own.
“You always have a choice,” I said.
Silence.
He ran a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping again.
“This isn’t how it looks,” he said.
I almost smiled.
Almost.
“Then tell me how it looks,” I replied.
Another pause.
Longer this time.
“They’re scared,” he said finally. “The elders—the council—they think—”
“I know what they think.”
I didn’t need him to explain it.
I had been in that room.
I had seen it in their faces.
“No,” he said, stepping closer. “You don’t.
They think if something happens to Rowan—”
I laughed.
Not loud.
Not amused.
Just… once.
“If something happens to Rowan,” I said, “this pack survives.”
That wasn’t arrogance.
It was fact.
He didn’t argue.
“They think you’d take over,” he said.
“They think a lot of things.”
“And Rowan—”
I cut him off.
“No.”
My voice was sharper now.
“We’re not doing that.”
His expression shifted.
Confused.
Frustrated.
“You’re not even going to ask?” he said.
“Ask what?”
“Why he did it.”
That question sat between us.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
For a second—
just a second—
I felt it.
The pull.
The instinct to understand.
To find the reason.
To make it make sense.
I shut it down.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said.
His eyes narrowed.
“It matters.”
“Not anymore.”
Because the truth was—
whatever his reason was…
he had already chosen it over me.
That was enough.
Raymond exhaled slowly, like he was trying to hold onto something slipping through his hands.
“They’re going to make you leave,” he said.
“I know.”
“They’re drafting the order now.”
Of course they were.
I nodded once.
“Good.”
That caught him off guard.
“You’re not even going to fight this?”
“No.”
“Kaia—”
“I said no.”
The word didn’t rise.
Didn’t break.
It just… ended the conversation.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then he stepped closer.
Lowered his voice.
“Then at least let me help you,” he said.
“You can’t just walk out of here alone.”
I met his eyes.
“I won’t be alone,” I said.
He frowned.
“What does that mean?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t need to.
Because for the first time since I walked out of that room—
I felt it.
Not the pack.
Not the bond that tied me to this place.
Something else.
Quieter.
Sharper.
Mine.
“I’ll be gone before they come looking,” I said.
“That’s not safe.”
“Neither is staying.”
That shut him up.
For a second, I thought he might push again.
Argue.
Try to convince me.
He didn’t.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
A small key.
I looked at it.
Then at him.
“There’s a vehicle at the east gate,” he said. “No one uses it. No one will stop you there.”
I didn’t take it.
“Why?” I asked.
He held my gaze.
“Because you don’t deserve this.”
That was the closest anyone had come to saying it out loud.
It didn’t fix anything.
But it mattered.
I took the key.
“Don’t follow me,” I said.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
A beat.
Then—
“Kaia.”
I paused.
“They’re wrong,” he said quietly.
I didn’t answer.
Because whether they were wrong or not…
didn’t change what they’d done.
I turned and kept walking.
Didn’t look back.
Didn’t slow down.
By the time I reached the east gate, the sky had finally broken.
Rain came down hard.
Fast.
Cold.
It soaked through my clothes in seconds.
Plastered my hair to my skin.
Blurred everything into grey.
I didn’t stop.
The gate stood open.
Just like he said.
No guards.
No witnesses.
Just the road.
I stepped through it.
And for the first time since I walked into that council room—
I felt it.
Not loss.
Not anger.
Freedom.
It settled in slowly.
Quiet.
Dangerous.
Because now—
there was nothing tying me to them.
No title.
No position.
No obligation.
Not even him.
I tightened my grip on the key.
And kept walking.
- Writer
