17

Aprils POV
We cross the pack border, and I feel all my connections with the pack dissolving. I look at Dylan, and if the look of pain in his eyes is anything to go by, I know that he feels it, too.
I look back one last time, and some part of me feels sad because I’ve left the only home I have ever known. Yet I feel excited because now I’m stepping into the unknown.
The forest air was thick with the scent of blood and betrayal as I surged forward, paws pounding into the cold earth, pushing me and Dylan farther from the place that had imprisoned me my entire life.
The howls of the pack reverberated in the distance, a chorus of anger, confusion, and loss that gnawed at my conscience. But Snow, my wolf, pressed on, her strength merging with my will in a singular focus-escape.
Beside me, Dylan’s breathing was heavy, tinged with grief. He kept pace, the silver streak of his coat glistening under the thin shafts of moonlight filtering through the trees. His eyes, usually bright with mischief or challenge, were now dimmed, shadows lurking in their depths. We knew it would come to this-it had been part of our plan-but reality cut more profound than we had imagined.
We ran until the burn in our muscles turned from pain to numbness, and the howls faded into the distance, swallowed by the dense forest. We finally stopped when we reached the shelter of a rocky outcrop near a shallow stream. Snow allowed me to shift back, and I collapsed onto the cold earth, gasping for breath. Dylan shifted, too, and the silence that followed was heavy, a suffocating reminder of what we’d left behind.
We were naked, but the shock of what had just happened didn’t even make us feel embarrassed or shy.
“They’ll come,” he said, breaking the quiet. His voice was raw, heavy with the realization of what had just happened-the bodies of warriors who were once his brothers-in-arms were now left in the blood-soaked clearing. His friends who had supported us did not make it, and I know he partly felt guilty for that.
“I know,” I whispered, eyes lifting to the moon above. Its cold light bathed us, indifferent and eternal. The memory of the battle replayed in my mind: Jake’s face twisted in disbelief as I turned on him, and the Alpha-his father-engulfed in the flames I set. I didn’t know if he had survived; I wish he hadn’t. The guilt that flickered in my chest was sharp, but so was the memory of their cruelty.
Dylan’s jaw tightened as he looked at me. “You hurt Jake.”
It wasn’t a question, but the weight of the statement hung between us. “He would have killed me by taking my wolf from me, Dylan. He’s also the reason my parents are gone. We both knew this would be the outcome.”
He nodded, but his expression was tight, haunted by the echoes of battle. “I just never thought it would feel like this.”
I reached out, fingers brushing his arm. “They were your people. I understand.”
When his eyes met mine, I saw the turmoil of loyalty, betrayal, love, and loss. I ached to reassure him, but the truth was, we were fugitives now, bound together by survival but haunted by the same ghosts.
Dylan nodded slowly, the grief in his eyes giving way to a steely understanding. “We’re alive, April. That’s what matters now.”
I turned away, my mind racing. Alive. But for what? My entire life had been defined by the cage they built around me, the hatred in their eyes, and the whispered curses that followed my every step. Only Snow, my wolf, had kept me sane-her spirit untamed and fierce. They’d tried to sever us and break the bond that tied us, but the Moon Goddess had intervened.
The Moon Goddess. She had saved me twice now-once when I survived that first night after my parents were killed and again tonight. The question gnawed at me: Why? What made me worthy of her mercy? Did she see something in me that I could not? I pushed the thought aside, unwilling to confront the hope that perhaps, just perhaps, I was destined for more than this.
Silence fell again, broken only by the distant sound of water trickling over the stone. Snow stirred within me, uneasy but resolute.
We were now rogues; there was a thrill in that because I had my freedom back, and I was not bound to any pack. I was free to live how I wanted when I wanted. I was no longer in the shadows of the pack. It felt really nice; I know Snow was having the time of her life when she was running after being in a cage for so long.
Never in my life did I picture it this way; who would have thought that on my birthday, my life could have changed so drastically?
I mean, who would’ve thought it would turn out this way?
From being rejected to running away from the only place you called home.
I mean, damn.
It felt nice getting Jake back and hurting him and his father. It made me feel so much better that, in a way, I had avenged my parents.
I have no one apart from Snow and Dylan, and yet the only thing fueling me is my thirst for the truth and finding my parents.
Where could they be? How do I even start searching?
Heck, where do I start?
All I know is that their names are Matthew and Eve Sinclair. I did not even know where they came from or what pack they were members of, but I was not going to stop until I found out.
Now that I had escaped from Jake, my mind shifted focus to my parents because I had a lot of questions that only they could answer.
“What happens now?” Dylan’s voice was a soft rasp, breaking my train of thought, his eyes searching mine.
The question twisted in my chest, dragging forth the truth I’d been avoiding. “I need to find out who I really am, Dylan. My parents-the ones who raised me-weren’t mine by blood. They loved me and died protecting me, but they told me the truth in the end. I was abandoned and left with them for reasons I don’t understand. I need to find out why.”
Dylan’s eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing. The weight of my words settled between us, unspoken questions swirling like a storm. I could see the determination in his expression, the silent vow that he would stay by my side. But my heart tightened with the knowledge that I couldn’t let him.
The thought of leaving him clawed at my insides. We had fought side by side and trusted each other beyond reason, and now I was thinking of walking a path he couldn’t follow. Snow bristled, torn between loyalty to the man who’d risked everything for me and the pull of the unknown.
“April.” Dylan’s voice was low, insistent. “We’ll do it together. Whatever comes next.”
I met his eyes, my throat constricting. The forest felt smaller, pressing in on us, the night heavy with unspoken truths. I wanted to believe we could face this together, but deep down, I knew the journey ahead was mine to make alone. Answers would come with a price; the Moon Goddess had pretty much said that the first time she appeared to me as my parents turned to ashes, and I couldn’t let him pay it for me because even I did not know what I was going to awaken in my search for the truth.
“I don’t know,” I said finally, my voice breaking. “I just don’t know.”
But as the silence settled between us once more, I felt the weight of what I would soon have to do-a choice that would test everything we’d fought for. And somewhere above, the Moon Goddess watched a silent witness to my fate.
Although one thing is for sure I need to do this alone, and that means leaving Dylan behind, and that really sucks, given he is literally the only person I trust right now.