“I, Darius, Alpha of the Hellfang Pack, reject Maeve as my Luna and mate.” The words leave Darius’s mouth like they cost him nothing.
For a second I don’t understand what I’m hearing.
I keep waiting for him to correct himself, to say it is wrong on purpose so that someone can stop this, but the Great Hall stays silent and he doesn’t take it back.
My whole body turns cold in a way that has nothing to do with the cold temperature in the room.
Every pack member is on their feet around us, and not one of them is willingly looking at me.
“Darius, wait.” I step toward him before I can stop myself.
“Wait, please—”
He didn’t wait or even flinch.
“Please don’t do this to me.” I grab the front of his shirt with both hands, and I hate how my voice sounds as I was begging in front of everyone I’ve ever called family.
“You don’t mean it. Tell them you don’t mean it.” I cried.
“Maeve.” His voice is low, meant only for me, but it isn’t gentle.
“Let go.”
“I can fix this. Whatever it is, I can fix it, just don’t—”
“Let go of me.” He warned.
I don’t.
I can’t, not now.
“We can still fix this.” I begged.
My fingers are locked into his shirt like some part of me still believes if I just hold on hard enough and say the right words in the right order, he’ll remember who we used to be and stop this before it becomes real.
He pushes me off slowly, his one hand at my shoulder, in one motion, and I stumble back into the space where a hundred people are watching me fail to hold onto the only thing I had left.
The silence that follows is worse than any sound could ever be.
I could hear my own breath, uneven and too loud, and I feel the exact place on my shoulder where his hand was, like the way he shove me just now is still happening even after I was on the ground already.
Nobody moves to help me stand up and nobody says a word or even make an attempt to help me.
“The pack needs an heir, Maeve.” He says coldly, like it will make what just happened make sense.
“You know I don’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.” My voice comes out smaller this time.
I don’t try to touch him again.
“Not this one.” He said slowly.
Elder Voss steps forward before I can answer, his voice carrying over the whole hall like he’s reading a verdict that will end my life.
“She is wolfless. She bears the mark of misfortune. She has failed to give the Alpha an heir after three years of mating. The pack cannot survive under a cursed Luna.” He spat.
I press my hand against my collar without meaning to.
Three years of high necklines and scarves I didn’t need, three years of hiding the mark on my throat so no one would call it what the elders are calling it now, but right out loud, in front of everyone.
None of it mattered.
I could have hidden it for a hundred years and it still would have ended exactly like this.
Astra crosses the space between us slowly, like she wants everyone to watch her do it.
Her hand rests on the curve of her stomach the entire time.
When she stands in front of me, she leans in close enough that only I can hear her.
“You should have seen your face.” Her voice is soft, almost sweet, which makes it worse.
“Begging him like that. In front of everyone.” She smiles, and it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“It’s over for you. There’s nothing you can do now, not one thing, so don’t embarrass yourself ir even think of trying.”
My eyes drifted away to the other side, I want to answer her.
I want to say something that will wipe that satisfaction off her face.
But I couldn’t find the right words to say, and all I can do is stand there while she looks at me like I’m already gone, like I’ve already stopped existing in this hall.
That’s the part I hate most.
Not that I can’t fight her.
That I don’t even try.
“You have until sundown to leave Hellfang land,” Darius says, and this time his voice doesn’t waver at all.
“You’re no longer welcome here. I severed the bond.” He announced.
The bond between us rips, sudden and physical, somewhere behind my ribs, and I have to lock my knees to keep from doubling over in front of everyone who’s already seen me break once tonight.
I won’t give them a second time.
I bit my lips as I turn around, even though turning around means walking past every face in this hall that used to know me.
Nobody follows me to the doors.
☆☆☆
The walk off pack land doesn’t feel real.
My shoulder still holds the feeling of his hand, a pressure that won’t fade no matter how many times I press my palm flat over the spot like It can be rub out of my skin.
I keep replaying the moment he pushed me, not the words, not even Astra’s words, just that one motion, over and over, like my body is more interested in relitigating it than my mind is.
I told myself I wouldn’t beg.
I told myself that on the walk into that hall, and I broke that promise in under a minute.
Theres no wolf, because I never had one to begin with , I’m just a woman alone in the dark with a torn collar, a bruised shoulder, and a memory of her own voice pleading with a man who didn’t even blink before he shoved her away.
I don’t look back at the lights of the Great Hall.
I already know what I’d see if I did, the hall is still lit, the pack still gathered, already moving on to whatever comes next without me in it.
My hand finds my collar one more time.
I pull down the sleeves an inch, just enough to feel the skin underneath in the dark where no one can call it ugly.
“That’s gross and Ugly,” That’s what they always said.
“She is wrong.”
Tonight, for the first time, I don’t know if I still disagree with them.