Bonds That Kill

​SERIS~

“You have to wake up, Seris.” Someone shook me, rattling my bones.

​My eyes sprang open, agony threading through my body in an instant. Panicking, I looked around to see my uncle and Lily standing over me, their faces carved with worry.

​“Uncle—” The word died on my lips as I let out a sharp howl. It all came back to me with every bolt of pain. The funeral, the coronation, the picture… Sylus’ judgment. I should have been dead by now.

​Yet there was no one else around. Confusion speared me as I writhed against the searing heat that raked my body.

​“Uncle—”

​Tears filled his eyes as he pulled me into his arms like he used to when I was a little girl. “I could not go through with it. I cannot kill you, no matter what some Alpha says.”

​Emotions clogged my throat. He had defied Sylus, and he could be accused of treason, all because he loved me.

​Suddenly, my back arched. A violent spasm rippled through my spine, the mate mark on my neck pulsing with blinding white heat. A pathetic whimper escaped my lips.

​"Steady, Seris. Hold onto me," Uncle Osric muttered, his arms tightening around me as I trembled. He pulled back just enough to look into my eyes, his face pale under the dim light of whatever hidden shack we were in. "The rejection... it's tearing you apart from the inside, Seris.”

​I shook my head against his chest, tears leaking down my temples. The pain was already driving me to the brink of insanity, but through the haze of agony, the reality of my situation slammed into me.

​"Uncle," I choked out. "You can't... my stomach... I'm pregnant. The rejection is already hurting the baby."

​Osric froze. The blood drained from his face entirely, leaving him looking hollowed out. His eyes dropped to my belly. "Pregnant?" he whispered, the word laced with pure dread. He looked up at Lily, then back to me, his hands beginning to shake. "The Alpha heir... if Sylus's wolf energy continues to reject your body, it will miscarry, Seris. The counter-rejection will kill the fetus."

​Beside the cot, Lily moved frantically, pressing a freezing cloth to my burning forehead. But relief evaded me with each second that passed.

​"We don't have time to process this," Lily said, her voice tight as she rinsed another towel. "The Gammas will realize she's missing from the pits within the hour. Osric, if we are going to burn out that mark and get her out of Howlridge territory, we have to do it now. Before his pack-link senses that she's still breathing.” Her voice edged with terror. They would be killed alongside me for what they were doing.

​I looked around the strange shack, as if help would just pop out through the haze of pain. A weathered face filled my field of vision, my heart lunging into my throat so hard that I snapped upright.

​But the others did not look as horrified as I felt by the stranger.

​“Can you help her?” my uncle asked urgently.

​“Who is she?” I asked.

​“She is an old friend,” Osric replied.

​The old crone’s eyes bore into me, her hand coming over my chest as I froze in place. “I will have to sever the bond.”

​“He already rejected me,” I blurted, his harsh words still echoing in my head.

​She smiled oddly. “Did you think that simple words could shatter the bond between an Alpha and the mate he already marked?”

​I swallowed hard.

​“The rejection will only lay waste to you and his child that grows in your womb,” she warned.

​“How do we stop it?” I clutched my stomach harder, anger leaking into my voice. “How do I sever the bond completely?” He might not have believed me—but I would never let him harm my child.

​The old crone’s smile widened, devoid of any warmth. "Simple words won’t cut it, child. An Alpha’s mark roots itself into the very soul of his mate. If you want to sever it before it kills your baby, you must tear it out yourself. A mutual rejection, sealed in blood."

​My breath hitched. "Myself?"

​"You must destroy the mark with your own hands," she said, her voice dropping low and rhythmic. "As you carve it away, you will speak the words to reject him in return. Your wolf must cast him out, just as his cast out yours."

​Lily let out a muffled sob, covering her mouth, while Uncle Osric's grip on my shoulders tightened. "Is there no other way? The pain could kill her."

​"The pain of the bond rotting inside her will certainly kill them both," the crone snapped. She turned back to me, reaching into the folds of her tattered cloak to pull out a small glass vial containing a thick, glowing silver liquid. "Drink this. It will keep your wolf tethered to your flesh while you break the chain. Otherwise, she will flee from the agony, and you will die a shell."

​I snatched the vial and downed it. The liquid tasted like ash and lightning, sending a burst of raw energy straight to my core. For a second, the agonizing heat in my neck numbed into a dull throb.

​Then, the crone pressed a heavy, silver dagger into my trembling palm. The blade was short, hooked, and unnaturally cold.

​"Press the edge to the center of his teeth marks," she instructed. "Carve across the flesh until the blood runs black with the residual bond. Repeat the words."

​My fingers closed around the hilt, and I felt a faint, desperate flutter in my stomach. Sylus had thrown us away. He had chosen a lie over me. He had called our child a bastard and sentenced us to burn.

​Cold hate swallowed my fear.

​"I am ready," I whispered, lifting the blade to my throat.

​"Speak the words," the crone commanded.

​I pressed the silver edge into the puckered, blistering skin of Sylus's mark, gasping out as the metal sliced through the first layer of flesh. A blinding shockwave of agony tore through my nervous system. Xena howled in my mind, a sound of pure, unadulterated torment as the spiritual tether began to stretch and fray. Tears blinded me, but I didn't stop. I dragged the blade deeper, carving a jagged line right through the center of the crescent scar.

​“I revoke your claim, Sylus Hawkins. I reject you as my mate, as my Alpha, and as the father of my child!" the crone prompted.

​"I revoke your claim, Sylus Hawkins!" I shouted through the pain, my voice cracking as dark, almost black blood welled from the wound and spilled over my collarbone.

​The air in the shack turned heavy, a psychic roar echoing in the corners of the room as the remnants of Sylus’s Alpha aura fought to keep its hold on me. The mark pulsed violently, trying to reject the blade, but I gripped the hilt with both hands, driving it further into the skin.

​I cried out, the crone’s final prompt blending with my own rage. "I reject you as my mate, as my Alpha, and as the father of my child!"

​With a final, desperate wrench, I pulled the blade free, slicing off the skin the mark had been etched onto.

​The suffocating weight of the mate bond snapped, evaporating into nothingness. The searing fire in my neck instantly cooled into the clean, sharp sting of a normal wound, and the agonizing pressure in my womb vanished, replaced by a sudden warmth.

​The dagger clattered to the dirt floor. I slumped backward into my uncle’s arms, gasping for air, completely free. Tears of heartache threatened to slip free, but I refused to mourn a love that never existed.

​“You have to get her out of here,” the crone pushed, her eyes darting toward the door. “The Alpha will feel the break and might investigate.”

​My uncle rose, lifting me carefully into his arms as my eyes began to shut from exhaustion. “I have made plans to send her to the human territories. She will be safe from him there.”