The Runaway 4

Chapter 4 

The next morning, that fake account was gone-every picture erased, profile completely shut down. 

Soon after, word spread across HowlNet: Claire Ramos had been reassigned out of Frostfang Pack. 

At three a.m., my phone buzzed with a text from an unfamiliar number: 

[Athena, you’re cruel. You disappeared without asking me anything. After three years together-did you 

ever truly love me?] 

I didn’t need to guess who it was. My pulse slammed in my ears. 

At the airfield, I had already blocked every way Kael could reach me. Now I added this number too, shutting 

it out before I could lose my nerve. 

But the words wouldn’t leave me. 

Did I love him? 

Yes. For so many years. From the moment the mate bond was sealed, I only sank deeper. 

Yet he was the one who broke my trust. How could he turn it back on me like I was the guilty one? 

The more I thought about it, the more anger burned in me. 

I unblocked the number just to type back: 

[And what about me? Didn’t our three years matter? If you never wanted me, then stop haunting me and just 

leave me alone!] 

I didn’t understand him. 

If I was nothing but a mistake, shouldn’t he be relieved I was gone? 

No more obligations. No more lies to cover up. 

But instead he raged, sending message after message, every line acting as if I had betrayed him. 

My mother later told me he had already taken leave and was planning to come after me. 

When my friends tried to confront him, he ordered Damien to remove them and answered coldly: 

“I’m not breaking this bond. I don’t owe anyone excuses. Tell her to return herself and admit fault.” 

That night I lay awake, mind tearing me apart. 

On one side were the things I had seen with my own eyes. 

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On the other was Kael, acting like he was the one who had been wronged. 

Some say when the bond runs too deep, wolves lose their sense. Maybe that was what was happening to us. 

If it had been any other woman, maybe I could have endured it. 

But it was Claire. And I remembered too well how everything began: two packs forcing the mate bond sealing, Kael barely healed from border wounds, Elders insisting giving him a Luna would stabilize the Pack. 

No one ever asked if I wanted it. 

Later, when my fury cooled, I admitted something bitter: Kael wasn’t wrong. 

I had never once asked him for his explanation. 

If I was going to end this, I should at least know his answer. 

I reached for my phone. But Damien’s call came first. His voice shook with panic: 

“Athena-Alpha’s been in a crash. You need to come back now!” 

At first, I thought it was another trick. 

If it turned out to be a lie, I promised myself—I would face him, force him to break the bond, and leave him 

behind forever. 

But then his parents called too, voices trembling: 

“Athena, please. If Kael betrayed you, we won’t forgive him. But when the healers carried him in, he kept 

shouting your name. There was blood everywhere…” 

My friend’s call came right after, uncharacteristically shaky: 

“It was pouring around three. Your housekeeper said he ran out in uniform, furious. Damien said his car went off the ridge road in the storm. The healers still can’t say if he’ll pull through…” 

“Athena, this could be the end. You should come back.” 

Three a.m.-the exact time I sent that last furious text. 

My legs gave out in the waiting hall, and I crumpled against the cold floor. 

On the flight back, every hour stretched like a weight dragging me down. 

When we finally landed and I received the message-“surgery successful”-I dropped to my knees, sobbing until my lungs gave out. 

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