Chapter 63

"Every single person here came on their own," Fay told me, her fingers absently tracing loops in the coarse dirt beneath us. “I never meant for this place to become a sanctuary, but one person came to us and then…" She trailed off, her gaze distant.

My chest tightened. "How did they all find you?"

A wistful smile touched Fay's lips. “Well the first was Bethany, but you probably know that. She stumbled on the casino by accident while trying to run away, and she wouldn’t have survived alone, so we told her to come with us.

“Then Bethany’s father came looking for her, and even though he didn’t feel that he could leave, he promised to spread the word to those who needed it. He told Mia, who got in touch with us. Her song spread like wildfire through the underground Omega networks and before I knew it, they were showing up on our doorstep, eyes haunted and bodies bruised."

The image of dozens of abused Omegas seeking refuge made my stomach churn. I swallowed hard, trying to push down the bile rising in my throat. "And you took them all in?"

Fay nodded, her expression a mix of pride and exhaustion. "How could I not?”

She didn’t have to say any more. I knew exactly what she meant.

“What about the rest of you?” I asked. “Where did you come from, and how are you all so normal after this much time?”

Fay's expression darkened. "We’re what's left of the White Paw Pack," she said, her voice low. My breath hitched.

White Paw had been a small pack with barely a city block of territory. That territory, though, was adjacent to both the Crescent Moon and Lunar Crater packs, who were much larger and notoriously competitive against each other. I’d been in the midst of wedding planning at the time that everything happened, but that didn’t mean I didn’t remember the headlines.

The two larger packs had been engaging in minor skirmishes for weeks, nothing significant enough to warrant the city getting involved but enough to make it clear they were both trying to become Lunaris’ fourth great pack alongside Moonshadow, Eclipse, and Ravenscrest. About six months ago, if I remembered correctly, one of those skirmishes became deadly—but not for either of the packs involved.

No, the only casualty was White Paw’s young Alpha, who had attempted to get them to move their conflict off of his territory. He was just protecting his pack, as any Alpha swore to, and he had died for it.

It was tragic. The outroar was immediate, but short-lived, and because White Paw had no political power the entire situation was deemed a regrettable accident. Neither of the larger packs were charged.

I remembered being furious about it, venting to Damian about the cruelty inflicted on the survivors of White Paw. He’d calmed me down with promises to open Moonshadow’s borders to White Paw as soon as we were married. I had promptly forgotten about it.

My mouth hung open, horrified, and Fay just shook her head. “Figured you’d know about it,” she said bitterly.

“But…didn’t the members get absorbed into nearby packs?” I asked, remembering that piece from the weeks following the attack.

“Only the ones with ties elsewhere,” Fay said. “The only packs that opened their borders were the ones who did this to us.”

I gasped. The only options for those without other ties had been Lunar Crater and Crescent Moon? The same people who had slaughtered their Alpha and torn away their independence tried to use their tragedy to add more names to their pack’s register?

It was unbelievably shameless, and cruel.

“So this camp…”

“Is most of White Paw,” Fay nodded, lips thin. “At least, what’s left. We lost a lot of the old, young, and sick to the forest.”

I stared at her, horrified.

“But we’re sane,” she sighed. “For now. Since Alpha Robert didn’t disband the pack before his death, we’re left with a pseudo-pack bond that’s tethering us to sanity.”

A chill ran down my spine as the implications sank in. I could hear the Rogues laughing and joking outside, and I wondered how long they had before that tenuous thread of sanity snapped. The weight of their uncertain future pressed down on us both, mixing with the lingering horror of the Omegas' stories.

“That’s why you’re leaving,” I said softly. “For Darkmoon.” Fay smiled humorlessly.

“We can’t stay here,” she said, exhausted. “We’d hoped, at first, that we could find an Alpha and re-bond our pack, but we don’t have time to wait around for that anymore.”

Fay's eyes grew distant, a hint of worry creasing her brow. "The old pack bond... it's fraying. We can all feel it weakening day by day. We don’t know if we can make it to Darkmoon, or if we’ll find a pack there if we do, but we can’t stay here any longer.”

My heart clenched. These wolves, already so wronged, were facing a nearly impossible journey all for the potential of further rejection. "A Lunaris pack can still take you in,” I said, grasping at straws.

A bitter laugh escaped Fay's lips. " Who would want us? The things they've had to do to survive... Once word gets out, no respectable pack would touch us with a ten-foot pole."

The harsh reality of Fay's words hung in the air between us. She was right—they were branded, living outside of the city walls like wild things, and even if a pack would still take them they were legally criminals. My mind raced, grasping for a solution.

Suddenly, an image of Elroy flashed in my mind – strong, commanding, but with a hidden well of compassion I’d glimpsed in rare moments. What about Eclipse?

My thought trailed off as I realized the precarious state of my own relationship with my Alpha. We hadn't spoken in over a week, the silence between us a yawning chasm of hurt and misunderstanding, and yet...

He'd followed me to the casino. He’d tried to protect me. Did that mean he still cared?

Before I could pursue that train of thought further, a sudden wave of energy crashed over the camp. It was heavy, oppressive, and frigid – an Alpha aura so potent it made the air itself feel thick. It filled my nose, my skull, my bones—it took me to my knees with feral grief and fear and rage.

It was stronger than anything I’d ever felt, powerful enough to make my forehead bead with instant sweat and forcing Fay to the ground, gasping desperately. It hurt in every cell of my body, but I knew this aura.

Elroy was here.