SCARLETT

For some reason, I hadn't thought Roman was being serious when he said that he was going to organise a trip to Port Lou for Erica and I. Of course, Brandon had insisted that he come with us since his mate was pregnant, and Roman also didn't like the idea of us going alone. I was more than okay with that though. It was going to make things a little trickier, but this was my chance.

My chance to leave.

The thought caused my stomach to flip, and I almost doubled over in pain in the middle of the shopping centre.

"You look like you have cramps," whispered Erica into my ear, and I widened my eyes at her, forcing a smile, and the comment made Roman peer at me with concern.

I sensed that he knew something was up. I had always been great at hiding my emotions, but the mate bond had ruined that for me. The easiest thing for me to do was keep my distance. After the ball, I knew I couldn't take any more chances at being discovered and it was making me paranoid.

"Have you heard anything else from Nyx?" I opened up the question to everyone, unwilling to look Roman in the eyes. If I did, I was going to melt. The sadness and uncertainty that swam in them for the past few days broke me. Guilt swarmed my soul.

"Nothing besides a letter to thank us for our attendance," Roman responded, his voice slightly strained. He hadn't enjoyed the ball one bit, but that didn't mean I trusted him enough to tell him what I was. It would be so easy for him to turn on me, and the idea of that pained me more than what I was about to do to him.

It was selfish, but I had been taught to have my back up when it came to everyone. That didn't exclude my mate.

"There it is!" Erica exclaimed, her braided hair whipping me in the face as she turned to me with bold eyes. "The boutique. I'm going to find you a bridesmaid dress there today. That's my goal!"

My eyebrows flew into my hairline, and I tipped my head sideways as I attempted to register what Erica had just said. She laughed, shrugging at me.

"The wedding isn't for another ten months," Brandon said, wrapping his arms around Erica from behind, his hands caressing her pregnant belly that had started to show just the tiniest bit.

"Which means I'm technically behind schedule." Erica's complaint caused everyone to laugh. "Scarlett, you're going to love the rest of the bridal party. I can just tell that you'll get on well."

I ground my teeth together. Erica enjoyed my company enough to make me a bridesmaid at her wedding, and here I was, about to leave without their knowledge - never to be seen again. I felt nauseous.

"I don't want you two seeing the dress. It's supposed to be a surprise." Erica attempted to shoo the boys away, pointing over to a number of different stores down the strip that they could go to. "We can catch back up with you both later on."

Although Roman seemed hesitant, he agreed, slowly moving over to me to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. I leaned into the palm of his hand. I couldn't help myself, and I leaned forwards, cupping his cheeks and pressing my lips to his. This was the last kiss I was ever going to have with him, and I forced back the tears as I pushed my chest flush against his.

There was no need to use my powers and manipulate Roman's mind to get him to leave me alone. He was doing it on his own accord because he trusted me, and I was about to throw it right back into his face.

Was I a bad person? Probably. But I was going to have to live with that. Because that's what I would get in return. To be able to live.

I prolonged the kiss before pulling away and shutting my eyes. I didn't want Roman to see the tears building.

"What was that for, baby?" I heard the smile in his voice and it caused my heart to crack.

"Just because I'll miss you." I said the words casually. I didn't want Roman to read into them too much, but I wanted those words to be the last thing he heard, so when he did realise I had gone, he knew my feelings for him were real. This wasn't easy for me.

"Just come and find me if she gets too much," Roman whispered to me. "We'll be a few shops down."

Everything moved in slow motion. Roman and Brandon walked away, and my eyes clung onto him. All I could hear was my blood rushing to my ears, and I blinked a few times as my gaze followed my mate's form until he disappeared around the corner.

I struggled to swallow, my throat thick with grief.

That had been the last time I was going to see my mate. My hands shook, and I turned to Erica to see her gazing at me with worry, her mouth set in a firm line.

"Scarlett," she breathed. "Are you ready?"

I composed myself, nodding, heading into the boutique. I didn't hear a word Erica said though. I simply agreed to everything, nodding and humming every few minutes whenever she held up a dress or made me try something on.

The only thing I could think about? Roman.

His heartache when he realised I was gone. The confusion he would feel as to why I had left. The anger that I had lied. The pain of not being wanted by the one person who was supposed to stick by you no matter what. Your mate.

I knew him, though. He wouldn't give up on me. He would search for me, so I was going to have to be extra careful to remain hidden. Leaving the country had run through my mind more than a few times, and it seemed like the only way to evade him for good. If he were to catch me and realise what I was, I didn't expect him to show me mercy.

"Scarlett." Erica's loud voice yanked me from my daydream. "You've gone really pale. Do you need to sit down for a minute?"

Sweat had accumulated on my hairline, and I swiped it away. "No, no, I'm fine. Let's look at a few more dresses."

Erica studied me for a second more, seeming hesitant, but she soon turned to the worker helping us, questioning him on what other colours they had available in a certain dress. She was distracted, moving around the store with her as she traced her fingertips over the fabric of each dress, and I took a deep breath, heading for the exit with hurried feet.

Tears began to overflow, but I made sure not to run. I needed to blend in with the crowd so that there weren't any witnesses to a crazed crying girl rushing through the shopping centre.

My heart thumped in my chest, slamming against my ribs painfully.

These people cared for me. They liked me. They wanted me as part of their family, but it was just all a fairytale. It wasn't reality. It couldn't happen for a gifted wolf. Anyone I became close to immediately became a target, and I wouldn't sentence them to the same fate I had.

I exited the shopping centre. A sign for a bus station hovered above me, and I followed the path until I spotted the busy bus stop. A small crowd was waiting for the next one, many of them holding luggage and nattering to one another. I waited patiently next to a mother and daughter, the young girl clutching onto her mother's arm tightly as the wind blew through her hair.

I was on edge. I had a limited amount of time before Erica sounded the alarm to Roman and they came looking for me. The buses came every five minutes here due to it being an active city, but every minute that ticked by felt like an eternity. My eyes were trained on the exit to the centre, and everytime the automatic door slid open, I expected Roman to storm out.

The sound of heavy footsteps caught my attention, and I turned, noticing a tall muscular man storming past us. He was wearing sunglasses, hiding his eyes, but the snake tattoos on his head were distinctive enough. I gasp bubbled up my throat.

The security guard from the party.

He worked with Nyx. Was he here for me?

"Come on, come on," I muttered as I dragged my eyes away from the guard to the tower clock, willing for the bus to appear from around the corner. Every second counted.

Suddenly, a yell caught my attention, and my eyes immediately found the tattooed man again. He was clutching onto a young girl - she couldn't have been more than eighteen or nineteen - opposite the bus stop. She screamed, flinging her arms, attempting to whack the man in the face.

The red mark on her hand. She was a gifted wolf. That was why he was here.

"You can either come with me willingly, or I can do this by force," snapped the guard, yanking the girl closer to him, gaining more than a few onlookers, but he simply reassured them that he had received intel about a gifted wolf in the area and was just doing his job.

Nobody seemed to object, proving to me that a lot of people did indeed believe that gifted wolves were a danger to society. My hands shook as I watched the girl be dragged away and forced into a black saloon car, her pleads falling upon deaf ears as she tried her best to escape her captor. It didn't look like she had used her gift, and it made me wonder what she had been cursed with.

You could have used your gift to save her.

Guilt consumed me. I couldn't risk it. Not when I was at such close proximity to the guard. He was strong and it would have taken a lot out of me to manipulate his mind. There would have been a high chance I could have used far too much and alerted him that he was being toyed with. I didn't want him searching around the area for another gifted wolf if he knew that wasn't the gift the other possessed.

"What was that, Mommy?" the little girl next to me asked her mother, her brows furrowed.

"A gifted wolf, honey," her mother answered, sighing. "They're dangerous wolves. They hurt people. It's all they know how to do. It's how they're programmed."

My outrage blossomed and more angry tears leaked down my cheeks. Would Roman say the same thing?

That we're dangerous.

That we hurt people.

That it's all we know how to do. It's how we're programmed.

The small crowd around me huddled in closer together once they spotted the bus heading for the bus stop, skimming past me and jostling my body. My mind was running rampant. Everything was a blur.

Was I just proving the lady right by leaving Roman and his pack?

I was hurting them by leaving, because it was all I knew how to do. It was how I had been programmed. To run. To sit in silence and watch as one of my own got taken. I was a traitor. An accessory to all of this by doing nothing.

I was part of the problem.

"Excuse me, Miss?" The bus driver blared their horn as he leaned out of his seat, waving at me. "I have a tight schedule to adhere to. Are you going to get on or not?"

I gazed around. I was the only one left at the bus stop.

Was leaving going to stop all of this? I was desperate for change. Desperate for gifted wolves to be seen as anything other than dangerous or a nuisance. But in order to make that happen, I needed to stop being a coward.

I had prioritised my own safety when the picture was so much bigger. Gifted wolves were going to continue to be born and abused, and by wasting my life in hiding, I wasn't doing anything for the future generation of my kind.

And this wasn't something I could do alone. Roman's pack - my pack - could help me fight Nyx.

I shook my head at the bus driver and stepped away, watching my last chance at freedom slip through my fingers.

Staying was what I needed to do for the greater good, even if it meant possibly exposing myself to my mate.

And I had to take that chance.