As the morning sun shines on her face, her wet eyelids flutter open. She stirs on her mattress while forcing her body to sit up. When she finally does, she stretches out her arms and yawns enormously.
The morning sun came out early and she discovered that the curtains have been drawn open already by the maids. Her stomach rumbles, and the sound of hunger comes in. She decides to take her bath first before checking out what breakfast is all about.
When the cold water hit her body, the memories of last night flooded into Emily’s mind. The event that she had looked forward to all her life, the announcement of another woman as his luna, Louis rejecting her without having second thoughts.
Emily feels like bursting into tears again. All her dreams and the life she had visualized ahead of her have been destroyed to shrinks. How was she going to view her life from now on?
Emily sighs, she knows that she has to move on someday. Louis is never coming back to her and that’s the reality that she has to face. His responsibilities have kicked in and the painful truth about it is that she is no longer a part of it.
She leaves the shower and hurriedly prepares herself for the day. She goes downstairs and is in a little shock to see that the dining hall is already occupied with the people she does not want to see.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Clayton has seen her approaching them.
“Emily, you’re just in time for breakfast. Come on and join us,” Mrs. Clayton invites.
Emily would have given an excuse to leave but she feels that they might take her for a big fool if she backed down easily.
“I would love to join,” Emily agrees.
She sits beside Kathrine, who has stolen her usual position which is always the right-hand side of Louis.
“Good morning, Emily.” Kathrine greets.
Emily simply nods, not in the mood for any kind of conversation.
“So, what are you planning to do today, Kathrine?” Mrs. Clayton asks.
“I want to know more about the pack today. So I’ll be going on a tour with the Beta, then later in the evening, I would like to go on shopping with you,” Kathrine replies.
“Shopping with me? That will be awesome!” Mrs. Clayton exclaims.
Emily could detect the fake tone in her voice, they were saying this on purpose to make her mad.
“What about you, Emily?”
“I – uhh – I…”
“You don’t have to bother to ask her, Mother. Surely, she wouldn’t have any other plans aside from suckling in her bedroom.” Kathrine sneers.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me quite right, Emily. It will even be about time that you begin to prepare for your leave.”
“Are you saying that I should leave the pack house?” Emily retorts.
“I’m not saying that you should leave. I’m merely suggesting such since it’s obvious that you’re services are no longer needed here.”
“My services?”
“Kathrine is right, Emily. You should be making your plans to leave soon,” Mrs. Clayton adds.
That’s enough for Emily! She drops her fork loudly on the plate and stands up abruptly, she needs to go for a run.
Going off into the woods, Emily tears off her clothes and shifts into her wolf. Ingrid giggles excitedly, she has been waiting for this opportunity to come.
The chill wind blows against her white fur as she leaps into the air. She increases her speed, ducking the stray leaves and jumping over the fallen branches.
She is beginning to feel herself a bit more, knowing that she is utterly alone in the world. A she-wolf without her fated mate, without her family, and a partner.
Maybe she should turn to a rogue and join their squad, or maybe she should commit suicide and end her life.
She might never find her fated mate again or someone to replace the deep hole in her heart, she might end up being alone.
Stopping at the cliff, Emily howls as loud as she can. Howling out the pains of rejection, the pains of having to relinquish and start over again.
After sitting for a while, she feels relaxed and decides to go back to the pack house with her mind already made up. She is not going to sit around and allow Kathrine to make fun of her.
She will not watch Louis break her heart more by moving on and not giving a damn about her in the world.
She is going to leave, that’s her new plan. She will begin a new life in a new pack, hoping for the best to come out of it. She will forget about Louis or the fact that he broke her heart.
She will survive this!
She follows the back door to enter the pack house since she is stark naked after shifting back to her human form. She had hoped that the back entrance would be empty but unfortunately, Louis is standing there.
“Where are you coming from?” he asks her.
“A run.”
Louis nods, “I hope you did not injure yourself?”
“It’s none of your business, Louis,” Emily replies coldly.
“Have you thought about what Kathrine said to you earlier?”
“Yes, and I’ve decided to leave… first thing tomorrow morning.”
Emily keeps her head high as she drops the news, her mind has been made up.
“Are you sure that it’s safe for you to leave this pack?” Louis asked.
“Yes.”
“Very well then.”
“Won’t you even bother to ask me where I’m going?” Emily asks him.
A part of her wanted him to stop her – to beg her not to leave. She wanted to hear those words from his mouth, but Louis returns her cold gaze instead.
“You better cover yourself up that is if you still have any more of your dignity left, you wouldn’t like the servants to see you like this,” Louis responds and walks out on her.
Emily’s eyes redden, her devastation is creeping in as she drags herself to her room. She picks up her phone and dials a number.
“Hello, Jax.”
“Emily?”
“Make some preparations for me, I’m coming to your pack first thing tomorrow morning…”
She hangs up after the call and hits the shower – it has become the only way to ease her mind from all the drama.
Tomorrow, she will be a free woman and have a new life to start. That is the only imagination that matters to her at the moment, a chance to move on and forget about her past.
Her freedom.