We're running. I don't know what else to do.

Tears stream down my face, because I've never known an agony like this. It's so raw, ripping my heart from my chest. My love, my mate, my husband. He's just found out that I'm an impostor, and he's so angry that I can almost taste it.

My wolf is terrified, and maybe I was right all along, I was born an omega, because all I want is to cower and cry and wait for death.

I stumble and Ellis swings me up into his arms easily, carrying my shaking body in his strong arms as he sprints. It might have been easier to shift to run, but I just can't—my wolf is in even worse shape than me, and I think if I shifted and let her take over, she would just lay and wait for Aldous to come and rip us to shreds.

Isn't that what I deserve, though? Don't I deserve to be maimed by the man that made vows to me based on a lie? He thought I was going to save him and his pack, the pack he'd sacrificed so much to protect.

That his father had sacrificed so much to protect. I'd stood there while he grieved his own father, and still didn't tell him that it was my fault he was dead, that it was my fault his pack members were dying.

What have I done?

"Ellis, you need to leave me here." It comes out as a croak, and he ignores me, simply holding me tighter.

Aldous deserves justice. His pack deserves justice.

I try not to think about Lydia with him. A very small part of me is proud of her for making the decision, even against her parents' wishes, but it's a very small part. I can't deny my jealousy, my pain, because he's my mate and she is going to take him from me. No matter that lives are at stake, my heart is shattering and I can't control it.

We run alongside the lake, and I try not to think about just being here, about how serene it was, holding my husband. He shared such an important and intimate moment with me.

Is that just what it feels like when you lose your mate? Or is he forcibly tearing us apart in his rage?

He must hate me, so much.

I slip in and out of awareness, not exactly consciousness because I don't sleep, but at some point Ellis stops moving and I have no idea where we are. I'm not a worldly wolf, I only know the Delacroix land and what I've learned in books, but something smells inherently foreign about this place.

"I need to rest a bit," Ellis says, and he sounds exhausted.

I want to apologize, because he's had to carry me this whole way, but I bite it back. He didn't have to do that. I even asked him to leave me.

I could probably follow our trail back the way we came, but what good would that do? He'd probably just come get me. He may be tired, but he's determined, apparently.

Before I can ask how far we've come, I realize the early sun's rays are just peeking over the horizon. He's been running all night.

My chest still throbs, but less than before. It doesn't feel like Aldous is ripping me in half anymore, but he's not gone, either. Does that mean we're still bonded? How does one even break a mate bond, anyway? And the farther apart we are, will that make it easier?

And then, a petty part of me wonders, if he's still bonded to me, that means he hasn't mated with Lydia, right?

I should let Ellis rest, and hopefully if Aldous means to come find me to kill me, he can catch up. We were running on human legs, surely his best fighters in wolf form could catch up to us quickly.

The thoughts swirl in my brain, terrifying me with their intensity. I can't find a single survival instinct in my body anymore. I've never wanted to face judgement for anything so badly in my life.

I just want to see him one more time. If I have to die to do it...if I only see him because he means to kill me and mate with Lydia to save our packs...

Being this far away from him feels like death already. Actual death can't be worse than this.

"Aera," Ellis whispers, and when did he get so close to me? "Lay with me."

I can't. I don't say it out loud, but my body stiffens, and he seems to understand.

"Still, after all this time?" he snarls. "I've done nothing but take care of you your whole life. And you can't even give me comfort back?"

"It's not comfort you're asking for," I say. "I know what you want and I can't give it to you."

He spins me around, gripping my shoulders so hard I'm sure I'll bruise. "What do you mean, you know what I want?"

"I have loved you my whole lie, Ellis Roark, but not in the way you've ever wanted me to." It's the gentlest way that I can think to say it. I don't want to hurt him, have never wanted to hurt him, but if he's going to have expectations for whatever our lives are now, I need to get rid of them now.

His face morphs into something I've never seen on him before, and I try to flinch away. He doesn't look like himself anymore—he looks like a monster. The sweet caring Ellis I thought I knew has disappeared, replaced by a fire breathing demon.

"I gave up my whole life for you," he snarls. "I endured constant ridicule from the rest of the pack for associating with you at all, I could have had everything if it weren't for you! The son of the beta, I was supposed to marry Lydia, and with that bitch's poor dominance I would have been Delacroix alpha, and it would have become the Roark pack! Maybe that would have broken the curse, but I gave up all of those opportunities for you. To take care of you because I fucking love you!"

He's screaming in my face and I don't know what to do, I don't know what to think or feel being I only exist as guilt now. Guilt from my deception, snowballed into guilt over what I've done to Ellis all these years. What I'm doing to him now.

Something happens that takes a moment to register in my brain, because I can't breathe, and it feels like there are hands on my throat, but it can't be Ellis because Ellis wouldn't hurt me—

"And all this time you've known and fucking ignored it?" he snarls. "I thought you were just too broken to see it and that one day we could get away together and you'd appreciate everything I do for you."

His breath is hot on my face and I claw at his arms, because all that is coming out of my mouth are squeaks and choked noises and no, this isn't right, this isn't how it's supposed to go—

A deafening roar shatters the air around us, and Ellis disappears, hands torn from me. His screams don't last long, body shredded to ribbons, and the attacking wolf stands tall before slowly turning, blood dripping from its fur.

My wolf cowers because she knows a second before I do that it's him, it's our mate, he's found us and he's come to kill us for the Delacroix betrayal.

For my betrayal.

Aldous shifts and stares down at me, and I close my eyes, baring my bruised throat.

I'm ready.