Chapter 4

Lyra's POV

At first, none of the guards dared to actually lay a hand on me. Damian had treated me far too well in the past, and they weren't sure if this was just some kind of test.

That was until the executioner showed up.

He strode in, barking furiously at the hesitant guards. "What the hell are you all waiting for? The Alpha has given his orders. She crossed Clara. Just make sure she's still breathing by the end."

"A-Are we really doing this? She's still the Alpha's fated mate, after all. She's the Luna…"

The executioner sneered and raised something in his hand—the Alpha badge bearing Damian's personal crest. "Is this not enough? The Alpha personally handed this to me. Do your worst."

The guards no longer hesitated. They didn't even need whips. The silver dungeon itself was enough.

Silver-infused chains were clamped tightly around my wrists. With the silver pressed against my skin, every single breath I drew forced my chest against the cold silver bars.

It hurt. It hurt so incredibly bad.

Tears mixed with sweat poured down my face as I stared blankly at the badge in the executioner's hand. I remembered it clearly. Damian had personally placed it in my palm, holding my hand as he said, "Lyra, hold onto this badge. With it, no one in the territory will ever dare to touch you."

I didn't beg for mercy. I clenched my teeth hard and let every burn sear itself into my bones. I wanted to remember this pain. I wanted to remember who gave it to me.

Once I left this territory, these wounds would become the fuel that kept me alive, carried me farther, and stopped me from ever looking back.

Damian would never find me again. I swore it.

I didn't know how much time passed before I was finally released. Word was that Damian had softened his stance.

The guards changed me into clean clothes that temporarily covered the burns on my body, but they couldn't hide them completely. I glanced down at the faint scars on my wrists and pulled my sleeves lower.

It didn't matter. There were less than two days left.

Once the ceremony began and blind spots appeared in the border patrol, I'd leave these scars and every single memory behind in this territory forever.

I stumbled toward the Alpha's quarters. When I looked up, I saw the oak watchtower. Clara was sitting up there, with Damian standing behind her, his gaze filled with pure tenderness.

That watchtower was something Damian had built specifically for me, just because he was worried I'd get bored.

Perhaps the pain had already numbed me, because when I saw this scene, I felt no bitterness at all. I merely turned and walked away.

But just a second later, Damian caught up to me and grabbed my wrist.

"Lyra, one stint in the silver dungeon, and you've already forgotten basic manners? Why aren't you bowing when you see your Alpha?"

His movements were so aggressive that my weakened body couldn't handle them. I stumbled and fell, causing my forehead to slam against the ground and draw blood.

Damian looked stunned for a second before his hand instinctively flew out. "Lyra—"

But his hand suddenly stopped midair, as if he had almost touched something filthy. He immediately pulled back and shoved me away instead.

"Why are you making such a scene? You spent less than a day reflecting in the silver dungeon, and it's not like those guards would actually dare to touch you. Why even bother to act so pitiful?"

I stared at him without saying a word.

The burns covering my entire body were still throbbing faintly. I truly wanted to ask him how he could possibly say those words out loud.

But I decided against it. There was no point in asking anymore.

"My apologies, Alpha. I'll leave right now so I won't disturb you."

I turned around, not wanting to look at him for a second longer.

Soon. There were less than two days left.

When I returned to my wooden shack in the woods, I set fire to everything Damian had given me over the past five years.

The portrait of me he'd personally painted, the moonlight lamp he'd spent half a month crafting because he knew I was afraid of the dark, and the luminous pearl he'd retrieved from the depths of the ocean—all of it was reduced to ashes.

The flames illuminated my face, but my expression remained cold. I closed my eyes, letting the words rise from the place where our bond used to be.

"I, Lyra Caelwyn, reject you, Damian Veylor, as my mate."

The bond snapped.

A violent, searing agony exploded from the back of my neck, right where my mate mark was located. The mark was peeling away, like a red-hot burning iron being ripped away from my skin, leaving my flesh a bloody mess and my soul torn apart.

Through the other end of the bond, I felt a wave of intense shock and violent resistance coming from Damian. But I immediately slammed my emotional walls up, refusing to let him drag me back.

…

Third-Person POV

Far away in the Alpha's quarters, Damian suddenly felt a tearing sensation in his chest. He doubled over as a mouthful of blood surged from his throat and splattered across the tray in front of him.

His wolf let out a dying howl inside his mind, again and again, nearly ripping his sanity to shreds.

He dropped to his knees, his entire body trembling violently.

"Alpha!"

The guards fell into chaos, but Damian couldn't hear a single thing. The only thing he could feel was that something was being ripped away from the very depths of his soul.

…

Lyra's POV

I had once sworn to the Moon Goddess that Damian and I would share the same den in life and the same grave in death.

But vows could be broken, and I was done.

The moment I pushed open the side door of the Alpha's quarters, I heard crying.

"Alpha, I really love you. Can you please not send me away after tomorrow?"

Through the crack in the door, I caught sight of Damian and Clara entangled together. She was curled up in his arms, pleading pitifully.

Damian rejected her without any hesitation.

"Be good, Clara. You have to understand that the she-wolf I truly love is Lyra. I only agreed to this ceremony because you were captured back then and suffered so much out there. Once the ceremony is complete, this entire act ends.

"I've made Lyra suffer enough during this time. I can't keep hurting her."

Clara pouted. "But Alpha, what about our pup?"

Damian squeezed her chest and chuckled. "Didn't we already agree that once the pup was born, I'd hand it over to Lyra to raise?

"I personally forced that bowl of poison down her throat for your sake. Your pup will be the only one who can inherit the Alpha title in the future. What else could you possibly be dissatisfied with, huh?"

Clara immediately stopped crying and broke into a smile as she wrapped herself around him.

Standing outside, my heart turned into ice.

So that was what it was. Damian had forced that bowl of poison down my throat just to ensure that Clara's pup would inherit the Alpha title.

He kept saying he loved me, yet every word—every decision—was made for another she-wolf.

I thought I could no longer feel any heartache, but my tears still fell silently.

The Damian who once held me in his arms every night and whispered that he wanted me to bear his pups was truly gone.

I wiped away my tears and turned to walk away.

Only one day remained.