Bloom

Saying Goodbye

McKenna

(Present)

---

It’s done. The bond with my pack is destroyed.

I’d be lying if I said it was a walk in the park. It hurt like hell. Worse than hell. My parents had tried to describe the feeling—how when you’re transferred to another pack, it’s like being ripped from one heartbeat and sewn into another. But they’d only ever transferred, never severed. This was different. This was obliteration.

It wasn’t just pain. It was a tearing of identity. A clawing out of something I’d been since birth. A scream that didn’t come from my throat but from my soul.

And yet, even as it scorched me from the inside, something inside me welcomed it. The pain. The darkness. It felt like dying, yes, but also like being reborn. Like burning down a forest to make way for something wild to grow. I shouldn’t feel this way, I knew. It wasn’t normal. But I couldn’t tell anyone—not even McKayla.

I clutched my chest, gasping, then forced myself to stand. My dress was torn at the hem from where I’d fallen to my knees, but I smoothed it down, wiped my eyes, and straightened my spine.

Pull yourself together, McKenna.

I wasn’t going to slink away like some broken thing. This had been my pack—my home—even if I’d been invisible in it. They deserved at least a goodbye.

I cleared my throat. My voice was hoarse but steady. “I would like to thank my pack for all the support shown to me in my time living with you.” My eyes swept the hall. Most didn’t meet my gaze. A few looked pitying. A few disgusted. Typical.

I turned to my parents—Alpha McGunther and Luna Evra—and tried to smile. “Alpha. Luna. You should know that I am not mad. This is how it was supposed to be, and I know the Moon Goddess has her own plans for me.” My voice faltered. The hall blurred at the edges. “Or maybe she doesn’t. Maybe I’m just in the way of something bigger…”

I gave a little laugh, looking down at my hands so they wouldn’t see my face crack. “I hope she does have bigger and better plans for me. Otherwise, I’m screwed.”

In the corner of my vision, I caught Alpha Azeo’s frown. That arrogant, beautiful monster. He’d been the first to speak my banishment aloud. He’d been cutting me down since the day we met, never knowing me, never giving me a chance. I told myself I couldn’t really hate him for something that wasn’t his fault—my lack of ability—but it was easier to blame him. It felt better.

He’s just an attractive, arrogant ass, I thought. And I’m finally done with him.

With my pathetic little speech still hanging in the air, I turned, my hair falling like a curtain to shield my face, and walked out. My throat burned. My eyes stung. But I would not let them see me cry.

---

Azeo watched her go, every nerve in his body fighting the instinct to rise, to go after her. His wolf pressed against his skin like claws under fur, snarling.

She’s leaving. Do something.

He sat still, hands clenching under the table. He’d done what he had to do. The Moon Goddess demanded it. Breaking her down was the only way she’d ever rise to who she was meant to be. That didn’t make watching her go any easier.

---

Outside, the night was cool. Fairy lights twined the trees, soft and glowing, and for a moment it almost looked like something out of a dream. The music from the ceremony drifted out, mixed with laughter and clinking glasses. It sounded like a world I no longer belonged to.

I moved fast. I needed to get out before the warriors caught my scent. Rogues smelled different—sharp, bitter, like smoke. The guards from my old pack might not hurt me, but those from the other packs… they wouldn’t hesitate.

My bag waited in the pile near the carriages. I slung it over my shoulder and headed for the border, keeping to the shadows.

Then my mother’s voice filled my head through the necklace’s link. McKenna, honey, just wait by the border for me.

I almost laughed out loud. Mom, are you out of your mind? The guards will smell me and kill me. You know that.

Honey, you don’t smell like the other rogues. You have no scent at all. I don’t know why, and I don’t know if anyone else has noticed. But I need to give you a proper goodbye.

That made me pause. No scent? How? Another weirdness to add to the list.

Okay, I said. I’ll wait in the woods on the hill by the border. Where we always said we’d meet if we were attacked.

Okay, honey. Even with no scent, keep yourself hidden, please.

I will, Mom. See you soon.

---

I stayed low, darting between trees, the thrill of it pulsing through me like a heartbeat. My heart raced—not just with fear but with something that felt dangerously close to excitement.

Was this what my life would be now? Sneaking, hiding, outsmarting? McKenna against the world.

It didn’t sound so bad.

At the hill, I slipped into the shadows, pressing my back to the rough bark of an oak. The border lay just beyond, a faint shimmer in the air where the territories’ magic met. I crouched, waiting.

Then my mother’s voice hit me again, sharp this time. McKenna, honey, something is wrong. Hide.

I didn’t hesitate. My ears had already caught it—the faint rustle of leaves where no one should be. Not one or two people. Many.

I scrambled up the tree, fingers finding holds without thinking. Climbing had always been my secret skill, my escape from the taunts of the training grounds. Now it might save my life. I nestled into the branches, pulling leaves around me.

Silence. Then another rustle. Then nothing. No scent, no sound but the wind and the faint thump of my heart.

I craned my neck, trying to see.

Down below, the party still glittered. But beyond the fairy lights, shadows moved. Dozens. Maybe more. Wolves, big and dark, their eyes glinting as they slunk through the trees toward the unsuspecting guests.

My stomach dropped.

Rogues.

And not just a few.

I wanted to scream, to run, to do something. But what could I do? I was no one. A weakling. A banished zero.

I clung to the branch, watching as the warriors from the packs sprinted toward the borders, shifting mid-run, their bodies stretching into fur and claws. The tension in the air snapped like a cord.

This was going to be a bloodbath.

My family. My friends. My pack.

And I could do nothing.

---

At the head table, Alpha Azeo stiffened. His wolf lifted its head, ears sharp. Something was wrong. He could smell it now—a ripple of dark, bitter scent moving toward the ceremony.

He shot a look at Beta Rex, who was already on his feet. “Rogues,” Rex muttered.

Azeo rose slowly, his chair scraping against the floor. All the other Alphas were still laughing, drinking, oblivious. His eyes flicked to the doorway just as he caught it—no, her. A flicker of McKenna’s scent—or rather, the absence of one.

No scent at all.

His wolf snarled. She’s out there.

He moved before he’d even decided to. His claws pricked at his fingertips, his eyes burning green to black to red to blue before settling again.

The Moon Goddess had placed her piece on the board.

And the game was about to explode.

---

I pressed my forehead to my knees, hidden in the branches, forcing myself not to cry. The necklace at my throat pulsed faintly with my heartbeat.

I whispered into the leaves, my voice so small the wind almost took it away: “Goodbye.”

Not to my mother, not to my father. To everything.

To the girl I had been.

To the life I had lost.

Goodbye.

And somewhere beyond the trees, the first scream tore through the night.