Chapter 41
I once thought the worst kind of pain was watching someone you love walk away.
But no–true pain is knowing they let you die, even when they knew you were carrying their child.
It’s been ten days since I woke up in the Moonscar Tribe’s healing tent.
This place was far from the northern capitals, a neutral sanctuary under the Elder Council’s quiet protection–built to shelter Omegas and Alphas suffering from pheromonal instability or violent awakenings.
I had no title. No resources. No family.
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Worst of all, my name had been deleted from the Greaves family registry.
In wolf society, that meant I was no longer a recognized citizen.
I had become a ghost.
“You must learn to control your spiritual pheromones, Sadie.”
Rima Solas, Omega, chief tribal healer, stood by my side. Her scent was clean–grasses, herbs, and quiet steadiness.
I bit down hard, trying not to cry out.
Since my rescue, my spiritual energy had gone feral.
With my pregnancy and partial awakening, every night brought pain and hallucinations.
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I saw Noah’s face. Heard him say, “Get rid of
it.”
Heard Aria’s voice over the phone, whispering, “You really are that stupid, Sadie.”
I wanted to scream–but all I could do was choke on silence.
“Your child is reversing the energy flow, protecting your core,” Rima said. “It’s causing an unnatural spike in spiritual bond fusion. Even your body can’t handle this.”
“So I’ll die?”
“No,” she replied quietly. “You’ll awaken. Or lose control completely.”
I leaned back against the cot and gave a
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I saw Noah’s face. Heard him say, “Get rid of
it.”
Heard Aria’s voice over the phone,
whispering, “You really are that stupid, Sadie.”
I wanted to scream–but all I could do was choke on silence.
“Your child is reversing the energy flow, protecting your core,” Rima said. “It’s causing an unnatural spike in spiritual bond fusion. Even your body can’t handle this.”
“So I’ll die?”
“No,” she replied quietly. “You’ll awaken. Or lose control completely.”
I leaned back against the cot and gave a
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bitter laugh. “Sounds lovely.”
“Unless,” she said, “you agree to undergo a guided lunar imprint ceremony.”
My eyes snapped to hers.
“The Moon Imprint?”
She nodded. “The Silvertail mark within you has already begun to surface. If you don’t let the Moon’s will guide you, your system will continue to break down.”
I was silent.
I was an Omega. I didn’t want to depend on any Alpha–not even the Moon goddess.
But I had a child now.
And I couldn’t afford to die.
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“I’ll do it,” I said.
Three days later, Alric Nyven returned.
He was a Delta–one of the Elder Council’s top arbiters. He possessed rare empathic pheromone powers, capable of calming near–feral Alphas with a word.
He was here today for me–an Omega branded unfit for recognition.
“Your registration has been terminated,” he said plainly. “By pack law, an unbonded Omega must undergo spiritual testing and, if passed, submit to re–bonding with a qualified Alpha.”
“I won’t bond with anyone,” I said coldly.
He looked at me for a long moment.
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“Then you must survive the Moon Imprint Trial.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Even though the survival rate is below twenty percent?”
I smiled, cold and sharp. “I’ve already died once. What more is there to lose?”
That night, beneath a violet moon, I stood on the mountaintop in ceremonial robes, holding a dagger of lunar silver.
The tribe circled around in solemn formation. Rima stood behind me, weaving energy runes into the ground. Alric carved ancient glyphs in the snow.
A projection of Lunara, the Moon Goddess,
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flickered into existence above the circle.
“Sadie Hale,” her voice echoed, “do you wish to sever your bond with your former Alpha, and walk freely as your own?”
“I do.”
I raised the dagger and slashed across the inner line of my wrist.
Pain.
Real, raw, soul–crushing pain.
The severing.
It wasn’t just physical. It was mental annihilation.
I heard the psychic bonds snap inside my brain, each one screaming as it unraveled.
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I saw Noah’s imprint–the signature of his pheromones–ignite like paper and vanish.
I collapsed, soaked in blood, but even then, I heard it.
A whisper.
“You did well, Sadie.”
Lunara’s voice. The voice of the moon.
“You are no longer his. You are your own.”
When I awoke, Rima was weeping softly.
“You’re the first to survive a bond severing during pregnancy. And the only one to awaken after.”
I looked down.
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The silvevererescent now pulsed on myny w a mark of caran Awakened.
Sadie Hale,lfofan the first time, belonged to one.e
A few days later,drslasaw Riven Cross.
Or Once a Beta, now wrandhonorary Alpha and c cccommander of the Beedwing Guard.
H&He stood tall, armorede isi silver and red, babattle–scarred and compuposed.
H&He had once been my uppererclassman- ththe boy who gave me orangege juice at the GrGreaves banquet, when I wasas too nervous spspeak.
“YoYou’re here, I rasped.d
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He smiled faintly. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m not the same person anymore.”
“You never should’ve been the person they forced you to be,” he said softly. “This you… is finally someone they can’t ignore.”
That night, beneath the moon, I pressed my palm against my belly.
The child within stirred gently.
“We’ll finish this,” I whispered. “Together.”
Not for revenge.
But because I would never bow again.
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