Chapter 3

"You have to go to the Alpha Summit."

Kaelen’s voice cut through the silence as I was packing. I froze, staring at him in disbelief.

"What else could you possibly want from me?" I asked, my voice cold as ice.

"This wasn't my idea, it's the Elders' decision." He wouldn't meet my eyes. "At the Inter-Pack Summit, Blackwood needs to present a united front. As my..." He hesitated. "Mate, you're obligated to be there."

"Mate?" A bitter laugh escaped me. "That night at the Sacred Grove, you already denied that."

"Don't make this any harder, Aria." He rubbed his temples, looking utterly drained. "Just show up, plaster on a smile. After it's over, you can go wherever the hell you want."

Faced with his unyielding stance, I had no choice but to give in.

The summit was held in the Blackwood Pack's main hall. Alphas from five different packs were gathered, and the air crackled with tension.

I was wearing the gown Kaelen had sent over—ornate but ill-fitting, like a costume that wasn't mine. He’d stuck me in a seat off to the side, while he sat at the head of the table, right next to Lyla.

"Esteemed Alphas," Kaelen began, his voice strong and clear, "thank you all for gathering here in Blackwood at this critical juncture to discuss matters of great importance."”

The meeting hadn't even been going on for an hour when Kaelen suddenly stood up: “My apologies, an urgent pack matter has come up. Beta will take over from here.”

He rushed out, not even giving me a second look. I was left completely alone, caught in a crossfire of hostile glares.

“So this is Blackwood hospitality?” the Silvermoon pack's Alpha sneered.

Lyla rose gracefully. “Don't worry yourselves, everyone. Perhaps Alpha Kaelen just had to attend to... some *family* matters.” She shot a knowing glance my way.

After the meeting broke, Lyla, with a few young wolves in tow, blocked my path.

“You know why Kaelen took off, don’t you?” She leaned in, her voice a whisper only I could catch. “He’s sick of pretending there’s anything real between you two. A lone wolf with no lineage, you don’t even deserve to stand by an Alpha.”

I clenched my fists. “Shut up, Lyla.”

“Oh, look everyone, the little stray is about to bite!” she exclaimed, backing away theatrically, and her buddies snickered. “You actually thought Kaelen loved you? He just needed a little slave to look after him while his memory was shot!”

I spun around to walk away, but her words hit me like daggers in my back: “You’ll never belong here, lone wolf!”

Back at my place, I found the whole room had been ransacked.To make matters worse, under my bed, lay a shattered wooden totem—the Blackwood pack's ancestral symbol of power.

The moment I touched the broken totem, the door was violently kicked open.

"Found it!" Lyla stood triumphantly in the doorway, Kaelen and a few pack warriors behind her.

Kaelen's gaze was as cold as steel. "How dare you steal and destroy the pack's totem!"

"I didn't!" I pleaded, "This is a setup!"

"Enough!" Kaelen roared, his dominant aura making the whole room tremble. "Twice you've desecrated a sacred artifact; you've brought immense shame upon the Blackwood pack."

He stalked closer, step by step, the Alpha's fury blazing in his eyes. "I, Kaelen, Alpha of the Blackwood pack, hereby sever all mate bonds with you!"

The words had barely left his lips when he violently shifted into his wolf form—a massive black wolf, his eyes glinting with a dangerous light. He let out a roar, and the sheer force of his dominance slammed me to the ground.

An agonizing pain shot through my heart; the feeling of the mate bond being forcibly ripped apart was like being sliced by a thousand knives.

I struggled to my feet and stumbled towards the door. But Lyla's cronies were already waiting there.

"Let's clean house!" a young werewolf shouted, then shifted and lunged at me.

Sharp claws tore through my flesh, and blood stained the ground red.I lashed out on pure instinct, but I was hopelessly outnumbered.

A jolt of sharp pain, and through it, I saw Kaelen standing not too far off, his expression a tangled mess. He hesitated. But he didn't try to stop them. Seraphina and Lyla were right there by his side, whispering about something.

Just as everything started to go black, I heard an old voice call out, "Stop! She's been punished enough!"