Luna Darla moved with startling speed, stepping between Tomas and Bella. She grabbed Tomas’s hand, yanking it off Bella’s arm with surprising force. Bella’s eyes darted to the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, followed by heavy footsteps pounding toward them.
Robyn.
“Run!” Bella commanded Tyler. The brief moment of freedom, with no hands on her, was all they needed. Tyler didn’t hesitate. They bolted from the restaurant, their wolf-enhanced speed turning them into a blur. Humans scattered, gasps and shouts trailing behind them as Tyler charged through anyone in her path.
Bella didn’t care. All that mattered was getting away.
They ran for blocks—ten, twelve—until they were sure no one was following. Then, abruptly, Tyler stopped, her breaths heaving as she stared into the shadows of the night.
Bella felt her wolf retreat, control slipping back to her. She stumbled toward a nearby bus bench and collapsed onto it, her mind spinning. Tyler’s wild energy lingered in her veins, but her thoughts were a chaotic mess. What had they done? What now?
For a long time, Bella sat there, staring at nothing. The world around her blurred, her surroundings unfamiliar. Her instincts screamed to keep running, but she couldn’t. The pups.
The thought clicked into place, piercing through the noise in her mind. Bella fumbled for her phone and called a cab, giving her address automatically. She had to go home.
The ride was quiet, her thoughts fractured as they bounced between fear, exhaustion, and determination. Going home might be a death sentence, she realized. They had defied Alpha Tomas, openly challenged him in a public place. If they came after her, it wouldn’t just be Tomas—it would be Luke.
As the cab pulled to a stop a block from her building, Bella paid the driver and slipped out, her movements careful and deliberate. She circled to the back of the building, her senses on high alert for any wolves patrolling the area. She knew they were there. Luke’s reach was too vast, his obsession too consuming, to leave her unguarded.
Keep calm. Get to the pups. Protect them. That’s all that matters.
Bella crept through the shadows, her steps silent, her heart pounding with the single thought that kept her going: her babies.
Bella spent twenty long, nerve-wracking minutes carefully observing the patrol patterns around her building before finding a gap. Slipping through silently, she used her key card to access the stairwell, opting to avoid the elevators. Her heart pounded as she climbed the flights of stairs to her floor, each step feeling heavier than the last.
Would they still be there? she wondered, her thoughts racing. Of course they would. Suzzy hadn’t called her, which meant nothing catastrophic had happened. If something was wrong, Suzzy would have called. She always would. Bella clung to that hope. It was unlikely Benzy and Macky had hurt her children—they were wolves, yes, but they wouldn’t leave a bloody mess in her apartment.
More likely, they were waiting. Waiting for her to come home, ready to take her in.
As she reached the fire door leading to her floor, Bella paused, biting her lip nervously. She wasn’t ready. The idea of walking into a trap, of being brought in against her will, was suffocating. Without thinking, she turned and climbed to the roof instead.
The wind was cold when Bella stepped out onto the rooftop. Winter was on its way, the crisp air biting at her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly, and let her gaze drift over the city skyline. The bright lights twinkled like stars, the noise from the streets below faintly reaching her ears.
The scene brought a pang of nostalgia. Memories of snowy winters filled her mind—snowball fights with her brother, hiding in snowdrifts, playful pounces in the fresh powder. A soft sigh escaped her lips, the memories tinged with sadness. How long had it been since she’d felt at home?
Bella glanced out over the city again, the urban sprawl she had called home for years. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t really home—not for her and certainly not for Tyler. There was no forest to run through, no other wolves to connect with, no pups for her children to bond with. She’d grown so accustomed to solitude that it had become her reality. But tonight, standing here with wolves circling her figuratively and literally, she realized how much she had been denying herself—and her children.
Was this how rogues felt? The thought struck her hard. The constant tension, the overwhelming sense of being out of place, the fear of being hunted—it all made sense now. Her fight-or-flight response had been active for years, so deeply ingrained in her that she’d almost forgotten it was there. But tonight had awakened it in full force, making her realize she was anything but fine.
Her breath hitched, and she forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. She couldn’t let herself spiral. In and out. Calm down. Regain control. Slowly, the tightness in her chest began to ease, but that nagging feeling of needing to run stayed, a constant hum in the back of her mind.
Bella closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling softly. The Winter Moon Pack is looking more appealing by the second. It was a thought she couldn’t ignore anymore. She didn’t want her children growing up with this fear, this overwhelming sense of not belonging.
With her resolve somewhat restored, Bella made her way back down the stairs, pausing only briefly before stepping through the fire door onto her floor. She walked down the corridor toward her apartment, her footsteps quiet but purposeful.
Benzy and Macky were still there, leaning against the wall near her door. The moment they saw her, their postures changed. They straightened, their bodies tense, their eyes sharp as they tracked her every movement. There was something in their expressions—concern?—but Bella didn’t trust it. Faked, surely.
“Well,” she said, her voice steady despite the storm inside her, “I see you’re still playing watchdogs. How dedicated.”
Neither of them smiled. Their eyes stayed locked on her, searching her for signs of what had happened. They knew something was off, that much was clear, but they weren’t saying it aloud.
