Chapter 5

(Dominic)

Pain ripped through my chest, sharp and hollow where the mate bond used to pulse. My wolf howled, clawing at the emptiness Penelope left behind. The severance burned like acid in my veins.

“Alpha?” James knocked tentatively. “The council requests—”

“Get out!”

“But sir, the border patrols reported—”

I hurled a glass at the door. It shattered, spraying whiskey and crystal. “I said get out!”

Footsteps retreated quickly. Smart man.

I paced my office, my steps sounding too loud in the silence. The bond’s absence felt wrong—like missing a limb. The mate bond was sacred, unbreakable. No mate should have the power to sever it.

“Sir.” A guard appeared in the doorway, pale-faced. “Penelope said she will leave the pack.”

His statement knocked me back.

Leaving? My heart stopped beating for a moment.

“What exactly did she say?”

“That she refuses to stay imprisoned any longer.” He shifted nervously. “That nothing could make her remain here, that she’d find a way.”

My claws extended, scoring deep grooves in the desk. “Triple the guards. Post men at every exit, every window. No one enters or leaves without my permission. Especially her.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“And if anyone helps her escape, their death will be slow. Make sure everyone understands.”

The guard swallowed hard. “Understood.”

“Get the enforcers. I want constant patrols. And see if she’s eaten.”

He practically ran from the room. Alone again, I dropped into my chair. The emptiness inside throbbed in time with my pulse. Without the bond, I couldn’t sense her emotions, couldn’t feel her presence..

A familiar scent drifted through the crack in the door—jasmine and vanilla. Isabella’s signature perfume.

No. Not Isabella.

Kelsey slipped inside, wearing a black silk robe that barely covered anything. I couldn’t help but stare at her curves as she sauntered closer, but I felt nothing.

“Poor Alpha,” she purred sweetly as she perched on my desk. The robe gaped wider. “All alone in your big office.”

I stared through her. “Leave me alone.”

“Don’t be like that.” She slid onto my lap, arms twining around my neck. “I know you’re hurting. Let me help you forget her.”

Her scent filled my nose—so close to Isabella’s, yet wrong. Everything about this felt wrong. The curve of her smile, the tone of her voice. A hollow imitation.

“You’re not her.” I shoved her off, harder than necessary. She stumbled, catching herself on the desk. “You’ll never be her.”

“Dominic, please—”

“You think wearing her perfume makes you her? Copying her laugh, her mannerisms?” I spat. “You’re nothing but a cheap imitation.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “That’s not fair. I love—”

“Love?” I laughed harshly. “You don’t know the meaning of the word. You’re just a pathetic girl playing dress-up in her dead sister’s life.”

“I could be better than her. Better than that murderer’s daughter—”

“Get out.” When she didn’t move, I slammed my hands on the desk. “GET OUT! I have no desire to see your face right now.”

She fled, sobbing. The door slammed behind her.

Good. One less distraction from the hollow ache in my chest.

“Alpha.” James returned. “You asked about Penelope’s meal.”

My fingers tightened on the armrests. “And?”

“The food remains untouched. It is…back in the kitchen. The guards report no movement, no sound from her room.”

Something cold slithered down my spine. “How did it…how long?”

“Several hours now. Should we—”

I surged to my feet, shoving past him. The halls blurred past me as I strode toward her chambers, guards scrambling to keep up.

The door stood slightly ajar. Wrong. My pulse thundered as I pushed it open.

Empty.

The bed lay perfectly made, untouched. No clothes in the closet. No books on the nightstand. Even her scent had faded to almost nothing.

“Search everywhere,” I said dangerously but quietly. “Every room, every corner. I want her found.”

Guards scattered throughout the pack house. I stood motionless, cataloging each missing detail. The silver photo frame is gone from her dresser. The empty space where her mother’s jewelry box sat. How long had she planned this? How had I not noticed?

“Alpha!” A guard burst in, breathing hard. “Two men down in the east wing. Injured but alive. Clearly dragged there.”

“No sign of her anywhere in the pack house,” James reported grimly. “The grounds are clear.”

“The forest?”

“Teams searching now, but—” He hesitated.

“What?”

“Her trail ends at the tree line. As if she vanished into thin air.”

Impossible. No wolf could mask their scent so completely. Unless…

“Get out.” When no one moved, I roared: “ALL OF YOU, OUT!”

The room emptied instantly. I sank onto her bed, the mattress still holding a ghost of her scent. She’d really done it. Really left.

The hollow space in my chest ached fiercely. My wolf whined, desperate to chase her, drag her back where she belonged.

“She won’t last a week out there,” I muttered. “Pathetic little thing doesn’t know how to hunt. How to fight.”

I laughed bitterly. Five years of keeping her weak and dependent. Never letting her train with the pack. Never teaching her to defend herself.

“She’ll come crawling back,” I told myself. “Begging for protection. For food.” I kicked over her nightstand. “What did she think? That she could just walk away? Survive in the wild?”

The mate bond’s absence mocked me. Without it, I couldn’t track her, couldn’t sense her location or emotions. She was truly beyond my reach.

“Stupid girl. Playing rebellion.” My fist smashed into the wall. The plaster cracked. Blood dripped from my knuckles. “She’s nothing without me. Nothing!”

I grabbed her pillow, ripping it apart. Feathers floated around me.

“Sir?” A final guard hovered in the doorway. “What should we tell the pack?”

“Tell them their Luna ran away like the coward she is.” I threw the torn pillow across the room. “And when she comes back starving and broken, I’ll decide if I want her back.”

The guard hesitated. “And if she doesn’t come back?”

I stared at the empty room, at all the spaces where Penelope used to exist. My words didn’t match the panic clawing at my chest.

“Tell them their Luna is gone.”