CHAPTER 4

I left him there.

It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Harder than leaving my birth pack. Harder than surviving the winters alone.

I ran into the storm. The wind tore at my clothes, screaming my name. The "Blur" was raging now. The sky was a kaleidoscope of wrong colors.

I knew where I had to go. The Sea Caves. The lowest point in Echo Point. The drain.

I had figured it out. Silas was right about the bond, but he was wrong about the solution. We were the problem. Our proximity was the catalyst. As long as we were in the same territory, the friction of our rejection was tearing reality apart.

But if one of us was gone... truly gone... the equation would balance.

I stumbled down the cliff path, mud slick under my boots.

*You are a coward,* my wolf snarled. *He is ours!*

*I’m saving him!* I screamed back internally. *Look at me! I’m a disaster. He’s the High Pack’s golden boy. I’m doing him a favor.*

I reached the mouth of the Sea Caves. The ocean wasn't water here; it was a wall of black, swirling void, flowing upward into the ceiling of the cavern. It was pure entropy.

If I walked into that, I wouldn't die. I would just... cease to exist. I would be unmade. The bond would break. The town would stabilize. Silas would wake up with a headache and a broken heart, but he would be alive.

I stepped onto the wet stone ledge. The void hummed, hungry and cold.

"It’s better this way," I said to the empty air. "Solo to the end, right?"

I closed my eyes and leaned forward.

"ROXY!"

The scream wasn't human. It was pure Alpha command.

I froze.

Silas.

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