---- Chapter 3 My heart felt like it was being ripped apart by invisible claws. How many times had I yearned for him to care like this, to ask where I was? Now here he was-calling, searching, chasing. But it was too late. "Eric..." I kept my voice steady, but it scraped raw against my throat. "Eric, stop tracking me." There was a pause. A beat of silence on the line. "T just want to talk," he said, but the words landed too unsure. I could barely breathe. "Where I go... it has nothing to do with you anymore." "You agreed to sever the bond. We're over... I don't want you in my life." "Please, just leave me alone." ---- After hanging up, I sank to the floor, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs. To escape the past for good, I got a new SIM card. That same day, I booked a one-way flight to Seattle. There was only one person in this world who had never tried to use me or silence me: Iris. She was everything I wasn't allowed to be-fierce, unbound, fully herself. She'd left her pack years ago and built a life from scratch in a human city. When she was struggling to start her business, I had secretly used my personal savings to help her. When Eric found out, he'd scoffed. "That little bit of money? That's not even enough for a bottle of wine for my weekend." He always knew where to aim his arrows. Not at the money, but at my pride. I was just trying to help a friend. What was so wrong ---- with that? "Lyra, with that kind of money, you couldn't even buy anecklace for one of Eric's new employees," one of his cronies had sneered. "Oh, and that friend of yours... probably a nobody, right? Just trying to sell you on 'friendship' so she can hitch a ride on the Alpha's gravy train. So transparent! They all laughed. And I stood there, my face burned with shame. Not because I didn't know how to fight back. But because no one had ever taught me I was worth defending. Now, Iris welcomed me into her city with open arms. No questions. No judgment. Just warmth, and a spare bedroom. My days with her were peaceful, and I started to think about my future.