CHAPTER 129: HER MESSAGE

Dane’s POV

A buzz from my phone told me I had a new message. For a moment, I didn’t touch it. My eyes stayed locked on Lila, searching her face, because there was something in her expression that chilled me to the bone.

The notification sat on the screen like a weight, but I couldn’t bring myself to open it. Deep down, I already knew who it was from. If Hailee really had left us something, then whatever waited inside that message... I wasn’t sure my heart was strong enough to face it.

My hand trembled as I hovered over the screen, terrified of what I might see.

Finally, with a shaking breath, I tapped the message.

Hailee’s face appeared, filling the screen, and my chest seized. She was sitting on her bed, her posture too still, her eyes carrying that kind of sadness that eats a soul alive from the inside.

For a second, I almost dropped the phone.

"I don’t even know how to begin..."

My chest clenched so hard it hurt. Just seeing her like that—alone, fragile—was unbearable. My thumb hovered at the edge of the phone, like part of me wanted to shut it off before I heard a single word. But I couldn’t.

Her lips parted, and her voice came out soft, trembling.

"By the time you watch this video, I should be gone."

The words sliced through me like a blade. My body went rigid, my heart hammering so loud it drowned everything else out. Should be gone? No. She couldn’t mean that. Not for me. Not for us.

I gripped the phone tighter, knuckles tightening, fighting to steady my breathing. My wolf clawed at me, howling in rage and grief, demanding I reject what I was hearing not believe what I was seeing. But I couldn’t ignore it. Her voice was there. Her face was right in front of me.

Tears blurred my vision as I leaned forward, my chest shaking with every shallow breath. "No, Hailee..." I whispered, as though she could hear me through the screen. "Don’t you dare..."

She kept speaking, and every word she said hurt me more. The memories of holding her just hours ago, of her trembling in my arms, of her lips against mine—they all slammed into me at once. She had chosen now to disappear. And she hadn’t even let me fight for her.

The room spun. My vision darkened at the edges. Rage, pain, love, grief—all of it boiled together until I thought I’d lose my mind.

By the time the video faded to black, my whole body was trembling. My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching it, my chest burning like fire.

I lowered the phone slowly, my hand shaking so badly I almost dropped it. My lips parted, but no sound came out. Only a single tear slid down my cheek, hot and relentless.

"She left me..." I whispered hoarsely, broken. "She left me."

And for the first time in years, I felt like I was truly drowning.

My eyes darted to Nathan and Callum... both staring at their own phones, both staring at the same message Hailee had left them. By the tears streaming down their faces, I knew they had received almost the same words as me.

"No... no..." Nathan shook his head in denial, then rushed to Lila and grabbed her by the arms. "Where the hell is she... where the hell did she go?" he demanded in panic.

I rushed to Lila too and stood before her, and so did Callum. We surrounded Lila, who looked as broken as we were.

"Speak... please, Hailee." I pleaded desperately.

Lila stood frozen in the middle of us, her eyes wide and wet. Nathan’s grip on her arms tightened, his whole body trembling with rage and panic.

"Where the hell is she?" Nathan shouted, his voice breaking. "Where did she go?"

Callum was right beside me, his chest rising and falling fast, his phone still clutched tightly in his hand. I could feel his wolf pushing at the edge, just like mine, desperate for answers.

I stepped closer too, my voice rough, pleading. "Hailee wouldn’t just leave us like this."

The room felt suffocating, all three of us crowding her, our desperation suffocating her. Lila’s lips trembled as she looked from one of us to the other. Her eyes were red, her whole body shaking.

Finally, she whispered, her voice small and broken.

"I don’t know much..." She swallowed hard, her eyes glistening. "All I know is that Hailee isn’t an omega. She never was. She’s... she’s going back to her real family."

Her words struck me like a thunderbolt. My chest tightened painfully, my mind spinning. Not an omega? My gut twisted because I had always felt it—that spark, that difference in her. She was never just ordinary. I knew it. I knew it from the very first time I touched her.

But hearing it now only made it worse.

Nathan shook his head violently, his jaw tight. "Her real family? What the hell does that even mean?"

Callum’s voice came out hoarse, trembling with anger. "Which pack? Tell us, Lila. Where?"

Lila’s tears fell freely now. She shook her head, gripping her shirt like she needed to hold herself together. "I don’t know the pack," she whispered. "She never told me. She... she couldn’t. All she said was that it isn’t here. It isn’t in this country."

The silence that followed was deafening. My heart thudded hard in my ears. Not in this country. She was gone... far beyond our reach.

I felt my knees weaken, my fists clenching helplessly. My wolf howled inside me, furious, heartbroken, ready to tear the world apart to bring her back.

Nathan wasn’t calming down. If anything, he was spiraling. His grip on Lila’s arms was so tight she winced, but he didn’t notice. His eyes were bloodshot, wild, his wolf practically clawing at the surface.

"She can’t just leave! She can’t just disappear like this!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Do you hear me, Lila? She can’t!"

Callum stepped in, grabbing Nathan’s wrist to pull him back. "Nathan, enough—you’re hurting her!"

We were all in pain... but Nathan was on another level... he was practically not himself.

"Don’t you dare tell me enough!" Nathan snarled, jerking free, his chest heaving. He looked ready to tear the whole damn house down brick by brick if it meant dragging Hailee back. His phone slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor, but he didn’t even notice.

I swallowed hard, trying to push down the same pain building in me. My fists ached from clenching so tightly. My wolf was restless, pained, howling for her. But rage wasn’t going to bring her back.

"Nathan," I forced out, though my voice shook, "Lila doesn’t know more. You can see it in her eyes."

"She has to know something!" Nathan’s voice thundered, raw and breaking. "She was her best friend! Don’t tell me Hailee left her with nothing—don’t tell me she left us with nothing!"

Lila broke then. Her hands covered her face, her sobs tearing through the tense air. "I don’t know anything else! She didn’t tell me where—just that she was going back to her real family. That’s all! That’s all I know!"

The words stabbed deep, even though she’d already said them. Real family. Not us. Not here.

Nathan staggered back, dragging both hands through his hair, his breath sharp and ragged. His chest rose and fell too fast, panic painted in every line of him.

Callum cursed under his breath and slammed his fist against the wall, injuring his fist. His face twisted, raw grief spilling over as he leaned his forehead against his arm. "She left us..."

I looked between them, my throat tight, my heart breaking in my chest. Nathan’s rage, Callum’s grief, my own pain—it all mixed together into something unbearable.

"She’s not gone," I said, more to convince myself than them. My voice came out low, trembling. "She can’t be gone. I’ll find her. I don’t care if it takes me to the ends of the earth—I’ll bring her back."