Chapter 148 : Fractured Paths

Chapter 148 : Fractured Paths

ELIAS’ POV

I shoved another shirt into the leather bag with enough force to split the seam. My hands would not stop shaking. Every corner of our shared chambers reminded me of the life I had fought so hard to build. The cradle in the corner. The scent of Kai still clinging to the pillows. The faint mark on the floor where we once danced like fools after our first real reconciliation. All of it felt like a lie now.

I glanced at my son sleeping in the portable bassinet. His tiny chest rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm. At least one of us still found rest. I brushed a finger across his soft cheek and felt my throat tighten. “We are getting out of here,” I whispered. “Just you and me.”

Footsteps echoed down the hallway. I kept packing. Boots, cloaks, the small pouch of coins I had hidden away months ago, and every document that proved I once held status as Luna. I refused to leave empty-handed.

The door flew open. Kai stood there, chest heaving, eyes wild with panic.

“Elias, stop this,” he said. His voice cracked on my name. “You cannot take him and just walk away.”

I zipped the bag shut and slung it over my shoulder. “Watch me.”

He crossed the room in three long strides and grabbed my arm. I yanked free so hard he stumbled back. “Do not touch me. Not after you stood in that council chamber and exiled me like some criminal.”

“I did it to protect the pack,” he shot back. His face flushed with frustration and something closer to fear. “Liora is falling apart. The elders are breathing down my neck. This is temporary. Give me time to fix it.”

“Temporary?” I laughed, but the sound came out sharp and ugly. I stepped closer, refusing to lower my gaze. “You promised her you would remove me. I heard every word outside that door. After I carried our child through months of uncertainty, after I risked my life to bring your sister home, you chose her demands over me. Again.”

Kai reached for me once more, but I sidestepped him. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the strands. “I love you. Both of you. This tears me apart. Please. Stay in the eastern tower. We can work through this.”

“Work through this?” I lifted the bassinet with my free arm, careful not to jostle our son. “You want me to sit in a guarded tower while the pack whispers that I slit Lucien’s throat? While your sister looks at me like I am the monster who destroyed her world? I am done pretending. I’m done smiling through the humiliation.”

I headed for the door. Kai blocked my path, shoulders squared, body tense like he might shift right there. “You cannot leave with our son. He needs stability. He needs both of us.”

“He needs a father who is not treated like dirt,” I snapped. My power flickered at my fingertips, white light dancing across my skin. The air crackled between us. “Move.”

Kai did not move. Instead he placed both hands on my shoulders, eyes pleading. “Elias, I know I failed you. School, that first night, my father, all of it. I own every mistake. But running solves nothing. Stay. Fight with me.”

I stared at him for a long moment. Part of me still loved the man standing there. The other part bled from too many wounds. “I did fight. For one year and three months I fought. I fought for us when no one else believed. Now I am fighting for myself and for him.” I shrugged his hands off. “Get out of my way, Kai. Or I swear the next time my power flares it will not be a warning.”

He stepped aside, face pale. I walked past him without looking back. My boots echoed down the corridor. Servants and guards stared but said nothing. I kept my head high even as my heart splintered with every step.

Outside, the evening air hit me like a slap. I adjusted the bassinet against my side and made my way to the stables. A young groom saddled a horse without questions after I pressed a gold coin into his palm. I secured my bags, strapped the bassinet safely across the saddle with extra blankets, and mounted up. The castle gates loomed ahead. I rode through them without once glancing over my shoulder.

The forest path swallowed me quickly. Trees closed in, and the sounds of the pack faded behind. My son stirred once, letting out a small cry. I slowed the horse and rocked the bassinet gently until he settled again. “I have you,” I murmured. “I will always have you.”

Night had fully fallen by the time I reached the outskirts of a small neutral town two hours away. I knew this route well. During my second departure months ago, I had quietly secured a modest apartment above a quiet bakery. No one in the pack knew about it. The owner, an older woman named Mara, asked no questions when I paid six months in advance. She simply handed me the key and offered fresh bread whenever I needed it.

I dismounted in the narrow alley behind the building. My arms ached from carrying everything, but I welcomed the physical burn. It kept my mind from replaying Kai’s face in the doorway. I tied the horse to a post and unloaded my bags and the bassinet. The wooden stairs creaked under my weight as I climbed to the second floor.

The apartment smelled of yeast and cinnamon from the bakery below. I set the bassinet down in the small bedroom and lit a lantern. Simple furniture greeted me: a bed, a table, two chairs, and a worn couch. Nothing grand. But it was mine. No guards, no judging eyes, no Kai making promises he could not keep.

I unpacked only what we needed for the night. Clothes went into the dresser. A few blankets formed a nest around the bassinet. My son woke fully then, fussing for milk. I prepared a bottle with steady hands, sat on the edge of the bed, and fed him while silent tears tracked down my cheeks. “Your father chose the pack again,” I whispered. “But I choose you. Every single time.”

Memories flooded in as I rocked him. My own father’s cold dismissal years ago. My stepmother’s sharp words that cut deeper than claws. My stepbrother’s open hatred. I could never take my son back to that house. They would turn him against me or worse. This apartment, hidden and quiet, gave us a chance to breathe.

A soft knock sounded at the door. I tensed, power rising instinctively, but it was only Mara. She held a small basket covered with cloth.

“Thought the little one might like some warm milk and honey bread,” she said with a kind smile. Her eyes flicked to the bassinet but she kept her questions to herself.

“Thank you,” I replied, accepting the basket. “We will not be any trouble.”

She waved a hand. “Stay as long as you need. The town keeps to itself. No one will bother you here.”

I closed the door after she left and leaned against it for a long moment. Exhaustion settled into my bones, but so did a strange sense of relief. No more walking on glass. No more forcing smiles while the pack whispered behind my back. Here I could simply be a father.

I ate a piece of the bread while my son slept again. The taste reminded me I had barely eaten all day. Tomorrow I would find work. Something quiet. Maybe help in the bakery or run messages for the local merchants. Anything that kept food on the table and a roof over our head.

My mind drifted back to Kai. Part of me wondered if he had already sent trackers. Another part hoped he felt every ounce of the pain I carried. I had given him everything. My trust. My body. My future. And still it was not enough.

I crossed to the window and looked out at the darkened street. Stars dotted the sky between scattered clouds. Somewhere in the distance, the forest stretched toward the pack lands. I turned away from the view and blew out the lantern.

“Come on, little one,” I said softly as I climbed into bed beside the bassinet. “We start fresh tomorrow.”