Cast Out

I didn’t make it far before my legs gave out.

The moment I crossed the boundary of the ceremonial grounds, the pain I’d been holding back tore through me. I collapsed to my knees in the dirt, fingers clawing at the ground as another wave of agony ripped through my chest.

The broken bond burned like acid in my veins.

I had been rejected—but not released.

My wolf whimpered inside me, curled tight and silent, as if she too was bleeding.

“Get up.”

The voice was sharp. Cold.

I looked up through blurred vision to see Beta Marcus standing a few feet away, arms crossed, his expression stiff with discomfort rather than sympathy.

“The Alpha wants you gone before sunrise,” he said. “You’re not to return to the pack house.”

I let out a shaky laugh that tasted like blood. “Of course not.”

Marcus shifted his weight. “An escort will take you to the outer border.”

Escort.

As if I were a criminal.

As if I had done something wrong by existing.

I forced myself to stand, swaying slightly. No one offered help. Wolves I had grown up with—people who once smiled at me, trained beside me, called me sister—watched from a distance with a mix of pity and judgment.

Some looked relieved.

A rejected mate was bad luck.

I walked past them anyway.

Every step away from the pack house felt heavier than the last. My ceremonial dress was already stained with dirt, the white fabric mocking me with what I had lost before I’d ever been allowed to claim it.

At the edge of the clearing, two guards stopped.

“This is far enough,” one of them said. “You’ll cross the border alone.”

I nodded.

No goodbye.

No apology.

No acknowledgment that I had once belonged here.

I stepped past them and into the forest.

The pack border hummed faintly as I crossed it—a warning ripple against my skin, as if the land itself was rejecting me too.

The moment I was through, the bond flared violently, stealing my breath. I cried out, collapsing against a tree as the pain spiked, my vision going white.

I curled into myself, shaking.

This was the price of rejection. A wound that would take months—maybe years—to dull. Some never survived it. Some went mad. Others lost their wolves entirely.

Lucien knew that.

He had still done it.

Hours passed. Or minutes. I couldn’t tell.

Eventually, the pain eased enough for me to breathe again. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, surprised when my tears had already dried.

I felt… empty.

Hollowed out.

When dawn began to bleed into the sky, I forced myself to stand again.

I had no pack. No protection. No destination.

But I wasn’t dead.

And as long as I was breathing, I would not crawl back to beg for mercy.

I walked.

By midday, my feet were blistered and my throat burned with thirst. I’d shed the ruined dress hours ago, tearing it into strips to bind my wounds. The forest had grown unfamiliar—thicker, darker. Dangerous.

This was no longer Blackwood territory.

A growl sounded behind me.

I froze.

Slow. Controlled. Not feral.

I turned just in time to see a massive black wolf step from the shadows, eyes glowing a sharp, intelligent silver. He didn’t attack. Didn’t rush.

He watched.

Predator assessing prey.

I straightened despite the fear curling in my gut. “I don’t belong to any pack,” I said hoarsely. “I’m not a threat.”

The wolf’s head tilted slightly.

Then—shockingly—he dipped his head.

Respect.

Before I could react, the forest shifted. The wolf stepped back into the shadows and disappeared, leaving behind a strange sensation humming beneath my skin.

Power.

Old. Dangerous. Watching.

I didn’t understand it then.

But years later, I would realize that was the moment fate changed its mind.

As night fell, exhaustion finally claimed me. I collapsed near a stream, too tired to care if I lived or died.

I stared up at the stars, the moon hidden behind clouds.

“Why?” I whispered into the darkness.

No answer came.

But for the first time since the bond awakened, I felt something unfamiliar stir inside me.

Not pain.

Not longing.

Resolve.

If the Moon Goddess thought breaking me would teach me obedience, she was wrong.

They had taken my future.

I would build a new one.

And the next time I stood before Alpha Lucien Blackwood…

I would not be the girl he cast out.