Chapter 57

Cora

Grief is heavier when it’s a choice.

I sat on the floor of my old apartment, Riley’s crayon drawings spread out around me like shattered pieces of a life I was about to erase. The silence clung to me, thick and accusing. It wasn’t just the end of a chapter; it was quite literally the burning of a book.

No one, including myself, would ever finish reading it.

Kingston’s scent still lingered in my sheets. His touch, his voice, the way he’d curled around me in like I was the only thing anchoring him to this world, all of it haunted me as I packed away my past into taped-up boxes and battered duffel bags.

His love had never been in question. But love wasn’t armor against a pack that would destroy everything I held dear.

The Silverfangs had made their threat clear: disappear, or they’d make Riley their next headline.

I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

It didn’t matter that Kingston would be in denial of it all. It didn’t matter that he’d never believe I left him so abruptly. He’d move mountains, tear through kingdoms, all to get to us.

Which is why he had to believe I was dead.

The plan had come together in the quiet hours after their threats, after I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe and stared at my son for hours, memorizing his every hair, every curl, every sound he made.

It had to look like an accident. A faulty space heater, a tangle of wires. No one would ask too many questions. No one would look for someone they believed was ash.

I stood, walked to the utility closet, and stared at the canister of gasoline I’d picked up that morning. It felt cold, alien in my hands, a sharp contrast to the warmth that used to define this space.

Our first real home. The place Riley took his first steps.

God, what was I doing?

A sharp knock at the bedroom door pulled me from my haze.

“Mommy, are we going soon?” Riley’s voice was sleepy, confused.

I swallowed the sob that clawed at my throat. “Yes, baby. Just a little more packing, then we’ll go on our adventure.”

He smiled at the word. Adventure. That’s what I told him we were doing, leaving the city for a new place, where no one knew us, where we could start fresh.

“Like a quest?” he whispered, eyes wide. “Like knights and dragons?”

“Exactly like that,” I said, smiling through the tightness in my chest. “We’re going somewhere brand new. Somewhere safe and fun, with tall trees, and maybe even a lake. You can pick your own room and decorate it with dinosaurs if you want.”

He gasped. “Really?”

“Of course,” I said, brushing his hand. “But we have to be brave. This is a secret mission, okay? You can’t tell anyone.”

His face fell slightly. “Not even Mr. Wings?” His stuffed dragon, the one Kingston had won for him.

I chuckled. “You can tell him, but no one else. Just for now. But I promise… we’re going to be okay.”

He leaned forward and wrapped his little arms around my neck. “Okay, Mommy. I’ll be brave with you.”

He had no idea his mother was planning to fake her death. No idea that she was about to leave behind everything and everyone she loved to keep him safe.

It wasn’t bravery. It was desperation.

I let Riley play with his tablet on the bed while I quietly soaked a few old sheets and boxes in gasoline in the living room, the scent sharp and nauseating. I left the fire accelerant hidden behind the couch.

Then, I double-checked that no neighbors were home. I had a window, just an hour, where no one would interfere.

With shaking hands, I scattered old photos and torn notebooks across the couch, things no one would miss and would catch the flames easily. I wanted the whole room to go up in smoke, but nothing too fast. I needed time.

I zipped up the last bag and turned back to Riley. He blinked up at me with those big eyes, trusting and curious.

“Ready, sweetheart?”

“Are we gonna see Daddy?” I wondered who he was referring to. Did he suspect his true paternity, too?

My chest tightened. The words nearly dropped me to my knees. I blinked fast and forced a smile. “Not this time, baby.”

He pouted but nodded. “Where are we going? Are we really going to a lake?”

“We’ll go wherever you want,” I said. “Anywhere in the whole wide world.”

“Really?” His eyes widened excitedly.

I nodded. “I’ll take you anywhere. You know Mommy is always going to be there for you, right?”

“Of course, Mommy,” Riley said. “You’re always here for me.”

I nodded, feeling the tears choke me and blur my eyes.

I scooped him into my arms, holding him tighter than I ever had. He squirmed and giggled, and I kissed the crown of his head, inhaling the scent of him like it could tether me to sanity.

Then I slipped out the back, through the stairwell, our bags already stashed in the car out front.

I buckled him into the back seat, gave him a juice box, and turned the ignition.

The car idled while I stared at the keys in my hand.

One match. One spark. That’s all it would take.

I grabbed the last piece of me still inside the apartment—one of the stuffed animals Kingston had won for Riley and me at the amusement park that I had claimed for myself—and walked back in through the side entrance. My heartbeat was a roaring thunder in my ears.

I tried, fruitlessly, to call upon my wolf. I had to at least try to ask her: was I making the right choice? But of course, she was still, mute, and absent.

It was no matter. I would make this decision, as I had always made decisions, without her.

I knelt on the floor and pulled the matchbook from my coat pocket.

This was it.

This was the moment I became a ghost.

I lit the match and let it fall onto the gasoline-soaked sheets. Flames jumped instantly, greedily. The fire licked up the wall like it had been waiting for this moment, too.

I backed away fast, heart hammering, the scent of burning cloth and accelerant singeing my nostrils. Smoke began to fill the air, thick and gray.

I didn’t wait to watch it grow.

I ran.

I slammed the car door shut and pulled away from the curb, not looking back as the smoke billowed into the twilight sky behind me. Sirens would come. People would gather.

Someone would call Kingston. Someone would tell him that my apartment was burned down so quickly that nothing could be salvaged, that nothing was left behind.

I drove in silence for an hour before Riley fell asleep in the back. My hands were still shaking.

I had done it.

There was no going back now.

The apartment, my name, the life I’d built… it was all gone. Burned to ash.

But Riley was safe. And Kingston… he’d mourn, but he’d move on. He had to. For his future. For the pack. For everything he was trying to build.

That’s what I told myself, over and over.

But my heart didn’t believe it.

Because even now, as the road stretched endlessly before me and the stars twinkled above, I couldn’t help but feel like I was leaving a part of me behind.