EMMA'S POV
The grand hall smells like pine and old stone. Hundreds of wolves fill the space, their presence pressing down on Emma like weight. She stands near the back, her hand on her throat, watching the stage.
Marcus is up there.
He looks like a king. Tall. Strong. The kind of alpha other wolves respect without him having to say a word. His dark eyes scan the crowd and Emma's heart does that stupid thing it always does when he's near. It jumps. It races. It forgets how to beat normal.
Three years. They've been together for three years.
Elena Price stands next to him in a white dress that costs more than Emma's car. Her blonde hair is perfect. Her smile is predator sharp. Emma has always hated the way Elena looks at Marcus. Like she owns him. Like he's a prize she's already won.
The head council elder steps forward.
"We gather tonight to unite two packs," the elder says, his voice echoing through the stone hall. "To bring strength through bond. I present to you the union of Marcus Stone and Elena Price."
Emma's lungs stop working.
No. That's not what this meeting is about. Marcus told her this was a council meeting. Council meetings are about territory disputes and pack law. Not bondings. Not this. Not them breaking apart like this.
She tries to move toward the stage but her legs won't cooperate. Around her, wolves are watching. She can feel their eyes. Can feel them waiting for her reaction.
Marcus finally looks at her.
His eyes find hers in the crowd and they're cold. Empty. Like looking at a stranger. Like the last three years meant nothing. Like she means nothing.
And then it happens.
The mate bond that's been connecting them since she was eighteen years old, the bond that's supposed to be unbreakable, the bond that made her entire body hum with his presence every single second, snaps.
It doesn't break slowly. It doesn't fade.
It shatters.
Emma screams.
The sound rips out of her chest so raw and wild that the entire hall goes silent. Wolves nearby step back like her voice burned them. The scream isn't just noise. It's the sound of her soul tearing in half. It's the sound of dying while still breathing.
The pain is worse than anything physical. Worse than fire. Worse than anything her body could experience. This is agony that lives inside her bones, that burns through her veins, that makes her want to claw out of her own skin.
Every wolf in the hall feels it. Pack bonds echo pain through the connection and Emma's scream travels through them like lightning. She hears other wolves whimper in response. Some cover their ears. Some shift without meaning to.
Marcus is frozen on the stage.
Elena looks shocked. The council elder takes a step back.
Emma doesn't care anymore if she's making a scene. She doesn't care if everyone is watching. Her wolf is clawing to get out. Her body is convulsing like she's having a seizure. She falls to her knees and her bones crack as she starts to shift without control.
The transformation tears through her because it's not natural. It's panic. It's pain. It's her wolf trying to escape from a body that suddenly feels like a prison.
Fur ripples across her skin. Her face stretches. Her bones reshape themselves. She's shifting in front of everyone but she can't stop it. She can't control it.
She runs.
Her four legs carry her toward the exit and she doesn't look back at the stage. She doesn't look back at Marcus. She just runs because her wolf is screaming and bleeding from inside and the only thing that matters is getting away from that hall, away from his cold eyes, away from the bond that's destroyed her.
The compound entrance explodes past her and then she's in the night air. Forest stretches ahead, dark and wild. Her wolf loves the forest. Her wolf wants to run until her legs break.
So that's what Emma does.
She runs through the darkness, branches whipping her face, pain screaming through her entire body. The bond keeps breaking even after the initial snap. It's like dying over and over. Like pieces of her are being torn away and she can't stop it.
Her wolf tries to howl but it comes out wrong. Broken. Desperate.
She runs for hours. She runs until her legs don't work anymore. Until her breathing sounds like something dying. Until her body finally gives out and she collapses against a massive tree in the middle of nowhere.
The forest is quiet around her. So quiet. She can hear her own heartbeat and it's wrong. It's irregular. It's skipping like something's been ripped out of it.
Emma shifts back to human form and she's lying naked on the cold ground, covered in dirt and blood that might be hers or might be from running through branches. Her skin is ice cold. Her breath comes in short gasps.
She's shaking so hard her teeth chatter.
The bond is still there but it's different now. It's dead weight. It's a scar. It's a part of her that's been amputated and she still feels phantom pain where it used to be.
Emma tries to stand and her legs give out. She crawls backward until her back hits the tree and then she just sits there. Her body is shutting down. Going numb. She should call someone. Should find help. Should do something smart.
Instead she just sits in the darkness.
How long can someone survive with a dead mate bond? How long until the pain kills her? She read somewhere that rejected wolves sometimes die from the bond break. That their hearts just stop working right and they fade away.
Maybe that's what's happening. Maybe she's dying right now.
Emma closes her eyes and waits for darkness to take her completely.
A sound pulls her back awake.
A car engine. Far away but getting closer.
Headlights sweep through the trees and Emma's eyes snap open. She's still human and naked and someone is coming. If it's pack, they'll find her like this. Vulnerable. Broken. Helpless.
She tries to move but her body won't listen.
The headlights get closer. The engine gets louder.
Then there's a voice calling her name from somewhere in the darkness. A voice she doesn't recognize but it's desperate. It's hunting.
Emma's breath catches.
She's not safe out here. Not anymore. Not after what just happened.
A figure emerges from the darkness between the trees and Emma can't see the face but she can smell the wolf underneath the human skin.
It's someone from the compound. Someone looking for her.
And Emma is completely trapped.