Chapter 45. Parting

"You need to leave," Mark said, his voice steady and his expression worryingly blank.  

Carla's lips parted and closed, at a loss for words.  

"O-Okay," she nodded her head. "If that's what you want, then I can take the couch..."  

"No." He caught her as she made to stand up. "Not leave," he smiled in amusement, though it soon turned sad, "leave."  

"You're not making any sense."  

"The pack, Carla. You, Aria, and Caroline have to leave. Beta is gone right now, and there's a change in the air, a promise of something terrible to come."  

"Terrible?" she asked.  

"War. You saw me talking to some members of the pack tonight."  

She nodded.  

"They want to fight." His lips stretched into a grin, green eyes lighting up with excitement. "I never thought this day would come—not after the death of my dad and the other rebels—but somehow it did, and