We reach the community and shift, and it's all I can do to grab Aldous' robe from the tree and throw it over myself before he's striding back into town. I run to keep up with him, his bare skin glinting in the flickering firelight, and he stops outside of a small log cabin.

A woman stands out front, puffing shakily on a cigarette, and she looks like she wants to throw her arms around him and wail, but she draws herself together and straightens, giving me a nod. Would she think I'm jealous, or does she just not want to appear weak in front of us?

Aldous disappears into the cabin, and I'm not sure if I should go in or not. He didn't tell me either way, and it's such a small space in there. I feel like if he had wanted me to comfort him inside, he would have invited me.

I have no freaking idea what I should say to this woman. Was it her husband? Brother? Father? Should I ask how long he's been ill?

I instinctively knew what to do with my mate when he was grieving, but this is much different new territory than that was. I'm also squirming uncomfortably beneath her presence because I'm used to being beneath other wolves.

It occurs to me suddenly that when I bonded into this pack...

I'm not an omega anymore. I'm the alpha's mate, the alpha's wife. I don't know what I am outside of that.

But somehow my wolf didn't fall into my omega status again. How is that possible? I was sure that a wolf's dominance—or lack thereof—was set in stone.

How could someone's true nature change?

Though it was a mystery to me when Ellis spoke of there being packs with no omegas at all. That 'times have changed', as if alphas could control such things.

But maybe...maybe they could? Maybe I was an omega all my life not because I was born that way, but because the Delacroix wanted me that way?

A shiver runs through my body and I don't know what to do with those kinds of thoughts.

"Excuse me, my lady," the woman murmurs, stamping out her cigarette before disappearing into the cabin.

I'm sill unsure of what to do. I should probably go get some actual clothes on, instead of standing around in my husband's ritual robes. I make the internal decision to go do that, clean myself up, and return to come and ask him how I can help the community deal with this.

I need to do something. If the wolves who were so ill they couldn't come back from it were still going to die, then there was going to be lots of grief and loss here.

And if the ritual didn't break the curse after all...I didn't want to think about that. Either way I have to do my best to take care of these people.

My lady, she'd called me.

I am their lady. Their alpha's mate.

I'm not who they think I am, but I can try to be the wolf they need me to be.

I take a right and walk along a path on the edge of the settlement, quiet houses on my right, forest to my left. A noise startles me, and I whip towards the darkness, eyes wide. What was that? I'm jumpy and though I'm not defenseless, I still don't feel good about being out here alone.

I trust Aldous...but I don't know if I can really trust everyone here. The few wolves I've interacted with seem welcoming enough, but they've also been at odds with the Delacroix's for generations. Some might not accept me.

Or, perhaps I'm just hearing things, because there's nothing there. I am so full of guilt and worry that maybe it's just bleeding into my psyche now.

I take a step.

"Aera," comes a whisper, and it freezes my blood to ice.

I'm not Aera here, I'm Lydia, this is bad—

"Aera!" a hiss this time, and then I smell him, and oh gods, it's Ellis!

I whirl towards the trees, darting off into the darkness before plowing into a hard chest. He embraces me, and I fight the urge to burst into relieved tears.

"You're alive," I blubber. "You're alive!"

He shakes his head, staring down at me with confusion marring his boyish face. "Of course I'm alive. You didn't think I couldn't traverse a little Quinn land, especially now that we kinda have a truce, right?"

"No, not that." I take a deep breath, barely holding on to my emotions. "Marla said she would kill you if I betrayed who I am to Aldous."

His brow furrows, and he opens his mouth to say something, thinks better of it, then shakes his head. "That doesn't matter anymore. You and I are getting out of here."

Now it's my turn to gape. "No, I...no. I can't. The curse—"

"It's not broken, it doesn't matter," he says, and his words don't make sense.

How can anyone possibly know that for sure? I'd been considering it as a possibility, of course, but it was still too early to tell.

"Five of our pack died overnight, and they weren't even sick yesterday. The curse is stronger, I think because of the deception. Which means you're in danger and I have to get you out of here."

My gut clenches. "But..." My lungs constrict, and I imagine being at their mercy again, being in the clutches of that family, that pack, after failing my mission so horrifically.

It wasn't my fault, surely none of this is wholly my fault, but they need someone to blame, they love to blame me, don't they?

"I can't go back." The words come out hoarsely, like a prayer, and I step back from him.

"You don't understand, we're not going back, we're leaving," Ellis insists, snatching my wrist. He begins striding parallel to the town, in the direction of the lake, opposite to the Delacroix land. "I'm finally rescuing you, like I should have years ago."

"But what about your father?" I don't care about Barton, but Ellis must, he's his flesh and blood.

I let him lead me, almost stuck in a daze, because this, like everything else in the last two days, is happening so damn fast I can't process it.

"He's dead." The flippant way in which he says this makes me dig in my heels, stopping him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I put a hand on his shoulder, expecting to find warmth, emotion, something, but there is none.

His gaze is hard as steel. "Don't be, it doesn't matter. I can finally have what I want now."

My heart sinks. I don't like the look in his eyes. I've never seen him so...I don't know what it is, but it scares me.

I don't know how to ask him what it is he wants, because I don't think I want to know. The main thing is that he's confirmed that the ritual didn't work, that the curse is still horrendously active, and he's right that I'll be blamed from both packs.

And how does that work, when Aldous and I are already mates? Can he punish me? That depth of betrayal...how can I own up to that with him?

"I can't leave." The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Do I want to face this, head on? Do I want to see the pain in Aldous' eyes when he realizes I lied about who I am, and now it's going to cost lives?

No. But I deserve to. And I can't just leave him. He's my mate. Whether he hates me and punishes me or not...this is something we need to deal with together.

"What are you talking about?" Ellis demands, and his eyes soften a fraction, revealing a bit of the boy I once knew. "Aera, I'm here to save you. Your life doesn't have to be like this anymore."

"I don't need saving." I straighten, ripping my arm from his shocked grip. "Aldous has treated me well since I've been here, and I owe it to him to tell him the truth."

"You don't owe him shit," Ellis snaps, and takes my wrists again. "He's just another asshole alpha using you against your will—" His voice cracks when he realizes what he just said, and I can practically feel the anger radiating from him.

I want to tell him that I wasn't unwilling, that yes, I walked into this marriage terrified, but Aldous has been a lovely and caring and gentle husband...but the words fail me.

"You're not his true mate, Lydia is." Ellis bites out her name. "And the bitch finally came to her senses and is doing what she should have done in the first place."

My stomach drops to the ground. "What are you talking about?"

"Lydia came here with me. We split up so I could find you and she can find Aldous." He takes my shoulders, staring into my eyes desperately. "She agreed to present herself to him and tell him the truth, so that I could rescue you and take you away from here, don't you see? Now you don't have to face the horrors anymore. She's going to take her rightful place and save the packs from the curse, and you and I can..." He trails off, hope and pain in his eyes.

But all I can think about is Aldous. I imagine Lydia stepping into his arms, embracing him, kissing him—GODS I can't deal with this!

My wolf thrashes inside of me, and I nearly double over with the force of it. I can't fight our bond, I can't abandon my mate, I can't!

"You're lying," I bite out through gritted teeth. "She wouldn't have done that, she wouldn't have come here. Her parents wouldn't have allowed it. You're lying because you want me to leave with you."

"I'm not, and her parents don't know," he says. "We snuck out."

How did he even convince her to do that? What did that conversation look like? Why were they even talking to each other? Ellis hates Lydia. And Lydia hates everyone.

But I don't have time to ask any of these questions. All I want is Aldous.

"He's my mate." The words come out as barely a whisper. "How am I supposed to leave him?"

"He's not your true mate," he insists, and it sounds like he's begging, now. "You know as well as I that wolves choose their mates, and neither of you chose this, it was a matter of convenience. Lydia is meant to be his mate."

His words cut deep. Could Aldous cast me aside for Lydia so easily, only wanting me because he thought I could save his people? Would he be happy to have a real wolf, that wasn't an omega, one that actually had strength and status in her pack?

One that could actually break the curse?

Anger. Anger surges through the bond, but it's not mine. My wolf cowers.

My husband is in a maniacal rage.

Ellis wasn't lying.

Aldous just met Lydia.