Chapter 511: Have to return.

Anabel.

The crunch of dry gravel beneath my boots was supposed to sound like freedom.

We were less than a mile from the western border, where the dark mountain ridge flattened into the neutral territories. Beyond the treeline lay a completely different world—one without ancient pack rivalries, without blood-soaked court politics, and without the suffocating weight of my family’s expectations. I was supposed to be relieved. I was supposed to be looking forward to a quiet, peaceful life far away from the storm brewing behind us.

Beside me, Valerie pulled her dark traveling cloak tighter around her shoulders, her bright eyes scanning the moonlit path ahead with a small, hopeful smile.

"We’re almost across the boundary, Lady Anabel," Valerie whispered, her voice light and breathless with excitement. "Just a few more minutes and we’re clear. No more Alphas, no more war, no more hiding."

"Yeah," I murmured, forcing a small, tight nod. "Almost clear."

I dragged my feet, my chest feeling strangely heavy with every step I took further away from the valley. I tried to convince myself it was just fatigue, just the lingering stress of slipping away under the cover of night while everyone else was focused on the approaching threat. I had chosen this path. I had chosen to walk away and build a life for myself.

Then, without a single second of warning, it hit me.

A sudden, violent, hollow ache tore through the center of my chest.

It wasn’t a physical pain. It was a cold, excruciating void that opened up right in the depths of my soul, a jagged rupture in the invisible fabric of my bloodline. My lungs seized, the air completely rushing out of my body in a sharp, painful gasp. My knees buckled beneath me, and I collapsed onto the freezing dirt track, clutching my hands wildly over my heart.

"Lady Anabel!" Valerie cried out, dropping to her knees beside me in instant panic, her hands grabbing my arms. "What is it? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?"

"I... I can’t..." I choked out, tears instantly welling in my eyes as the hollow ache twisted inside me, cold and agonizingly empty.

My mind spun in pure, chaotic terror. I knew this feeling. Every wolf born of noble blood knew the terrifying weight of it. The family link—the blood thread connecting me to my brothers—had just snapped. A piece of my family’s soul had just been violently ripped away into the dark.

Restlessness exploded in my veins like poison. My heart hammered against my ribs, wild and frantic, screaming at me to run, to fight, to tear through the trees.

My brothers.

Aidan, Davian, Damien, Adrein. Something terrible had happened... something catastrophic.

A wave of bitter, suffocating guilt slammed into my chest, hitting me far harder than the cold mountain wind. What had I done? I had turned my back on them. While they were standing on the front lines, fighting to protect everything we held dear, I had run away like a coward to pursue my own selfish peace. I had abandoned them when they needed every single blade, every single soul, standing beside them.

"Lady Anabel, talk to me!" Valerie pleaded, her voice trembling as she searched my pale, tear-streaked face. "Is it an attack? Do you think someone is followimg us?"

"No," I rasped out, my voice cracking as I forced myself up from the dirt, my boots sliding on the loose stones. "No... it’s my brothers. Something happened to them. They’re in trouble, Valerie."

Valerie’s eyes widened in confusion. "Your brothers? But lady Anabel, we just reached the border! If we turn back now—"

"We’re turning back," I interrupted, my voice dropping into a hard, desperate command that left zero room for argument. "Right now. We have to turn back!"

"Lady Anabel, wait!" Valerie tried to catch my wrist as I whipped around toward the path we had spent hours navigating. "Think about this! If you go back into that valley, you’re walking right back into the middle of the war! You said you wanted to leave it all behind!"

"I don’t care about leaving it behind anymore!" I cried out, tears spilling over my cheeks as I shoved my hands through my hair in sheer desperation. "I was being selfish! I left them to fight alone while I ran away to save myself! I can’t do this, Valerie—I can’t cross that line knowing they are bleeding back there!"

Without waiting another second, I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, focusing every ounce of my mental strength. I bypassed the main pack links, searching desperately through the subtle, quiet channels until I locked onto a familiar, quiet signature—Marta, one of the older kitchen staff members at the estate who had always been kind to me.

’Marta!’ I projected through the mind-link, my thoughts frantic, trembling, and loud. ’Marta, can you hear me?! It’s Anabel!’

There was a long, agonizing pause, the mental silence stretching until my stomach turned into a hard knot. Then, Marta’s faint, terrified voice echoed back into my head.

’Lady Anabel...? Where are you? The pack... oh gods, Lady Anabel, the pack is in absolute ruin!’

My heart plummeted into a dark, bottomless pit. ’Where are my brothers, Marta? Where is Aidan? Where are they?!’

’They’re at Alpha Noah’s pack house!’ Marta cried back through the link, her mental presence shaking with raw grief. ’I heard the Lycan prince men launched a surprise siege on the southern gates! The quadruplets Alpha returned from the northern pass... there was a terrible battle in the medical corridor...’

’Are they okay?!’ I screamed internally, my fists clenching so tight my nails bit deep into my palms. ’Marta, tell me they’re okay!’

’I don’t know the full truth, my lady!’ Marta sobbed through the link. ’I am hiding in the lower larders, but the roars coming from the upper hallway... and the whispers of the surviving soldiers that had returned... someone great has fallen, but we have no idea if it’s our enemy or our... Alpha!’

The mind-link severed abruptly, leaving only a static ringing in my ears.

I stood frozen in the middle of the dark forest path, my breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. Noah’s pack house. They were all at Noah’s estate.

A sudden, paralyzing wave of dread washed over my panic, freezing the blood in my veins.

Noah.

How could I walk onto Noah’s territory now?

How could I stand in his courtyard, look him in the eye, and face the man I had so deeply disappointed?

I had broken his trust. I had acted against his pack, disappointed him in ways I couldn’t undo, and walked away when I should have stood firm. The thought of walking onto his land—of seeing the disappointment, the anger, or worse, the total cold indifference in his eyes—made my stomach twist into a sickening knot.

I was terrified of facing him. I was ashamed.

"Lady Anabel?" Valerie asked softly, watching the conflict play out across my face as the wind howled through the high pines. "Where are they?"

"They’re at Noah’s pack house," I whispered, my voice trembling as I stared down the dark trail leading back toward the center of the valley. "The pack house was attacked."

Valerie swallowed hard, her hand resting gently on my shoulder. "If we go there..."

"I know," I choked out, a fresh tear sliding down my cheek. "I know I disappointed him. I know I turned my back on his trust, and I don’t even know if he’ll let me cross his threshold without turning his blade on me... and aside from that.. I ..h."

I looked back at the western border—just a few hundred yards away, offering safety, peace, and a quiet life where no one knew my name or my mistakes. Then I looked back toward the dark, ominous mountains where the distant echoes of my family’s agony still vibrated through my blood thread.

"I can’t run anymore," I said softly, my jaw setting into a hard, painful resolve despite the absolute terror in my chest. "Even if Noah hates me... even if my brothers can’t forgive me... I have to go back."

I turned my back on the border, picked up my skirts, and broke into a full sprint down the dark trail toward Noah’s territory.