June 10 2026, 5:17pm
Nyx’ara’s breath caught in her throat, but obviously, that was not enough for him as he pushed harder, a smile blooming on his face— one that sent chills down her spine— as he continued; "What is the name of the girl who was always found sneaking food into your cell...?"
Her heart thrashed wildly.
No. No. No.
Her body turned to steel. Her blood roared in her ears and her heart dropped so low, she couldn’t feel it in her chest for a couple of seconds.
"Berlin!" He suddenly chuckled, "Ah, ah! Berlin. I would have her torched at the pack’s popular pier."
"Flynn..."
"But first, she would be flogged a hundred times just like you were three years ago for blatantly disobeying my orders!"
His words made her eyes go wide and heavens, she couldn’t believe that this was the same man she had loved. That this was the same Flynn who couldn’t hurt a fly.
His breath— warm and disgusting— fanned her face and his fingers lingered on her skin for a second too long as he continued;
"I strictly ordered everyone to stay away from you. I made sure you were ostracized from society but she repeatedly disobeyed my orders, and if you don’t do this, I’ll start by burning her until all that is left is her charred filthy bones... And know this, Nyx’ara, her blood will be on your han—"
"I will do it!" Nyx’ara cried, interrupting him, missing the fact that she did not stutter.
Her body went limp when he carefully let go of her, and with a thump, she fell to the floor, crashing like a pack of cards.
Tears seeped out of her eyes but at this point, she was too weak to hold them back, so she simply let them fall. She resignedly let them stream down her face and soak into her filthy dress.
She did not know how long she sat there wondering at what point her life had taken this drastic turn, but when she finally came to, her mind was made up.
She carefully wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand and hissed; "I-I will do it. L-leave B-Berlin o-out of this!"
"W-we w-will!" Tristan answered with a mocking sneer.
However, she ignored him. Completely fixating her attention on Flynn who hadn’t taken his eyes off her even once and then she gritted out through her burning throat;
"G-good."
"Good what?" He asked but she ignored him.
With her eyes squeezed shut and her hand pressed against her chest, she continued; "A-and Flynn... I a-also want you to k-know that I, Nyx’ara Devereux, f-formally reject you as my mate. Henceforth, w-we have no ties b-binding us together. No d-debts either. N-now and forever more."
Silence.
It thundered between them suffocatingly until all she could feel was the weight as it pressed down on her chest. As soon as she made that utterance, rejecting Flynn, something invisible in the air shifted.
Suddenly, it felt as though every ounce of good air had been vacuumed clean right out of the room, leaving them with a suffocating smoke that pressed down on their windpipes.
Tension coiled tight like a snake about to attack. It was so thick that it could be felt on the skin. For a moment, she saw something strange flicker across Flynn’s face— guilt, regret, pain, disbelief— before it slowly disappeared.
His jaws worked as if he had things to say to her but could not bring himself to say them. Guilt and remorse twisted, swirling until it appeared nothing less than a bottomless pool in his eyes.
However, just as he opened his mouth as if to speak, Elara beat him to it.
She cried; "Are you reconsidering it, Flynn?"
His gaze flickered to her face and just like that, his mask of indifference was back on his face, and Nyx’ara could swear at that point that this was more than just a love affair. She could bet that Elara had jazzed him, but what does she care?
She simply needed her freedom.
"You shouldn’t be taking this much time to reject Nyx’ara like she has rejected you, except you still love her." Elara chirped in again, and this time, whatever reaction she intended to get from Flynn by saying that, she got, as the next thing Nyx’ara knew, Flynn was drawing himself to his full height.
He cast her one last cold glance and hissed icily; "Rejection accepted." And then he growled with a voice dripping with contempt, "...And I, Flynn Ravenscroft, also formally reject you, Nyx’ara Devereux as my mate. Henceforth, we have no ties binding us together. No debts... now and forever more."
As soon as the words slipped past his lips, a blinding hot pain lanced through Nyx’ara, immediately knocking all the air out of her lungs. She wanted to pretend to be strong, like she was unaffected by the dissolution of their mate bond, but she could hardly help the way her knees crashed to the floor.
She cried.
In a desperate attempt to fight the several needle-like sensations crawling up every inch of her body, she made a grab for her throat, clawed at her flesh, and thrashed wildly.
That only earned her more scratch marks. More bruises. More pain.
"Be gentle on yourself," a voice suddenly said. Maybe Flynn, maybe Elara. "We wouldn’t want you to kill yourself before the quadruplets even come for you."
Nyx’ara didn’t respond to that. I mean, who would? So she simply ignored them, turned away, and tried to will her pain to stop. It did not.
She also does not know how long she lay there, slipping in and out of consciousness while willing death to take her soul, but when she finally came to, it was to a loud cracking sound echoing somewhere in the distance.
The sky split open just as an enormous thunder crackled through the dark clouds.
She flinched. But she couldn’t move because she was still so numb. Still too battered to move an inch.
Shortly afterwards, large sheets of rain began to pelt down the earth, not missing her motionless body as well.
The feeling that came with it was painful yet fulfilling. It felt like more strokes of a whip pelting down her skin. However, because it was cold, it chilled her all the way to her bones... until she started to shiver and her teeth began to clatter.
But she still couldn’t move.
After about thirty minutes under the pouring rain, her body began to go numb. Sounds in the distance dissolved into white noise and her ears rang as her blood roared inside of them.
Her wolf had retreated into a corner of her soul.
And soon she did too, closing her eyes as sleep slowly crept up on her.
When she woke up, it was morning. The sun was shining down on earth with a vengeance as if to make up for the rain of last night. The skin of her back was burning, but she did not know if that was as a result of the rain or due to the whip marks that must line every inch of her skin like some gory mural painting.
She rolled to her side at the sound of approaching footsteps only to have her breath leave her lungs when her foggy vision landed on Flynn, standing about a couple of metres away from her.
But he was not alone.
Flanking him were three burly bodyguards and to the other side were Elara and the rest of Nyx’ara’s family.
Some other pack members were also present... and so was Berlin. Berlin whose eyes were red and puffy, Berlin who looked like she had spent the entirety of the night crying.
Her eyes would not meet Nyx’ara’s even as Flynn roughly shoved her forward and hissed;
"Tell everyone here what you told me!" He snarled and at the sound of his voice, she flinched.
She scuffled forward and dropped to her knees and with more tears streaming down her face, she cried out;
"I saw her!"
Saw who?
Nyx’ara stilled and all the nerves in her body screamed out at her.
"I was in the rooftop library with Nyx’ara when she pushed the princess off!"
"I did too," echoed Tristan, her brother. "I also saw her push the princess off the roof!"