But she had to leave him, and the only home she had ever known.

Before walking out of the room, she gave him one last look, the male who had stolen her unbeating heart, then broke it into a thousand sharp pieces with just one word.

One terrible revelation.

Her bags were gathered at the front door and she moved toward them with the speed of a snail. She didn't want to go. Everything inside of her pleaded with her mind, her reason, to reconsider. But she kept walking until her hand curled around the door handle.

Even if he woke now, he wouldn't be able to go after her. The sun was high in the sky, and he wouldn't harm himself.

Not for her.

Quick and quiet, she stepped outside to the porch of her treehouse and closed the door on her home and her life. A few feet away, Dani waited solemnly in her hawk form. They didn't speak, they didn't need to. Her best friend understood her plight and would keep her secret.

There was only one thing Petra knew about her birth family, and it was the name of her father. It was an unusual name, and she knew it as well as she knew her own. In all her years on this earth, that name had only been used by her mother.

Until today.

When the male who slept on her bathroom floor, the male she wanted more than anything, spoke of justice and killing.

She positioned herself on Dani's back and the hawk kicked off the porch and exploded into the sky.

She had to find Cruen. She had to find her father before Synjon Wise did.