Chapter 2

KARI'S POV

A collective gasp ripped through the temple as I felt a pair of comforting hands around me, for the first time.

Without thinking, I leaned into them, letting my sister hold me as shame threatened to drown me.

This was a scandal that would ring through the ages, a public destruction of my dignity.

“And as for you,” Titan said, turning back to me, his voice dropping to a lethal, cruel snarl.

No…no..

My mouth went dry with fear, and shock.

“I, Titan of Wilder, hereby reject you. Our bond is severed. You are nothing to me now.”

I doubled over as pain flashed in my lower belly, like hot iron being pulled through my insides, a final proof that our had been broken.

I fell to my knees, the white silk of my dress pooling around me like spilled milk. The room spun, I felt faint.

And through the haze of my agony, I saw Indira lean in, her lips brushing Titan’s ear as she smirked at my broken form.

“Have this woman removed from my sight!” Titan boomed, “she no longer has a place in this place.”

But then before the guards could get to me, I got up, tearing away from Bianca as I ran towards the large door.

I didn't know where I was going but I kept running…

                            ***

The marble floor was cold against my palms as I struggled to breathe.

We were back in Silvermoon, and I was crumpled on the floor, before my parents, siblings and the man who had shattered my heart and ego.

The rejection mark on my soul felt like a festering wound, burning like the bleeding scratches on my skin.

“I am very disappointed in you, Kari.”

I looked up, searching for a sympathetic look on my father's face.

There was none.

“Why?” I croaked, feeling as defeated as I looked in my drab, black dress.

“I haven't done anything for you to be disappointed in me for, papa.”

My father, the Alpha of Silvermoon, sat stone-faced, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at me.

My mother looked away, her mouth a thin, hard line of shame.

“No lady in our bloodline has ever been rejected by a mate! And especially not on the day of their marriage!”

“Father, please,” I gasped, reaching out a hand.

He didn't move.

“You have brought a stain upon our household that even the rains of a century cannot wash away, Kari.

To be rejected at the altar... it is a death blow for our reputation. No one will ever respect nor fear us again.”

“Is that all you care about?” I asked, my vision blurring with unshed tears. “What about the fact that I am hurting? The fact that my sister took away the man I love.”

“Silly girl!” mother snapped, “Indira didn't take Titan from you, he chose her over you!”

“And for good reasons too,” father supported, nodding. “No one wants a woman like her.”

“I did nothing!” I screamed, the sound raw and jagged. “Titan betrayed me!”

My mother looked down at me from his height on the dais, his hand still firmly folded in his chest.

“You were found wanting, Kari. Do not blame the sun for shining on a more vibrant flower.”

Indira stepped forward, her silk skirts hissing against the stone.

She leaned down, ostensibly to help me, but as her face came close to mine, she whispered into the shell of my ear, “Titan never loved you, you little fool. He spent every night you in my bed, laughing at your silly letters.”

I lunged for her, a snarl ripping from my throat, but the guards were faster. Two hulking men immediately seized my arms, their grip bruising the delicate skin.

“Take her out,” father ordered, his voice bored.

“I can not bear to look at her anymore.”

“Papa, no!” I fought them, my heels dragging against the floor. “Titan, please…you cannot let them cast me out like a common thief! I have nowhere to go!”

“That,” Titan finally said, turning to lead Indira toward the grand doors, “is no longer my concern. You are not my mate anymore, and therefore I no longer owe you anything.”

“Wait!” Bianca cried, trying to break through the line of guards to reach me, but our father caught her by the shoulder, pulling her back.

“Leave her, Bianca,” my father commanded. “I do not want her bad luck to rub off on you, be quiet!”

“Where do you want me to go?” I sobbed brokenly, my heart feeling heavy. “I don't know where to go.”

“You may journey to Ayha's temple,” my father replied flatly. “Ask her to help you wash away this curse lest it festers through generations.”

The words cut deeper than Titan’s rejection. I looked at my mother one last time, begging for a glimmer of maternal comfort, but she merely turned her back to me, adjusting her lace shawl as if I were a smudge of soot on the wall.

The guards hauled me through the heavy oak doors and threw me down onto the gravel path of the courtyard. The iron gates of the palace groaned shut behind me, the sound of the locking bolt echoing like a coffin nail being driven home.

I stood up, my dress torn and stained with mud from my early morning long walk through the forest.

My wolf  had gone utterly silent in the face of Titan's scorn. I was now alone, mateless, because now no one would ever want me after Titan's rejection.

They'd all think he rejected me because of something irredeemably wrong. I was in pain, so great it made me feel like I was on fire.

You can end the pain… a tiny voice whispered in my mind. They call it the coward's way out, but it takes a great deal of courage to take your own life…

I let the thought fester. And as the first drops of a cold, grey rain began to fall, I made a decision.