Chapter 7

Three days later, I was woken by a frantic knocking at my door.

My wounds weren't fully healed, but I could walk again.

I opened the door to see my anxious parents and a panicked-looking Fabian.

"Gloria is sick!" my mother cried, rushing into the room. "She's dying!"

"What?"

"It's a wasting curse," my father said, his voice trembling. "Someone put a vile curse on her. Her life force is draining away."

I followed them to Gloria's room.

She lay in bed, pale as a sheet, her breathing so shallow it was almost imperceptible.

A circle of healers and mages stood around her, all of them looking hopeless.

"How did this happen?" I asked, shocked.

"It must be an enemy pack," Fabian snarled. "They're trying to weaken us by hurting her."

The oldest and most powerful shaman stepped forward, his expression grave.

"The curse has taken root in her bloodline. Normal methods won't work."

"Then how can we save her?" Fabian demanded.

The shaman was silent for a moment. "There is only one way. It requires a blood-kin to share their wolf's spirit to purge the curse."

"Blood-kin?"

"Yes. It must be a direct blood relative," the shaman said, looking at me. "Only Hazel can save her."

All eyes in the room turned to me.

"Me?"

"You are her only blood-sister," my father said. "Only your wolf's spirit can resonate with hers."

"But…" I hesitated. "The ritual could kill me," I said, my voice shaking but firm. "I won't do it."

"So what?" my mother shrieked. "She's your sister! Are you just going to stand there and watch her die?"

"I'm not saying I won't help, it's just that this ritual…"

"Enough!" Fabian cut me off, his voice raw with fury. "You're still trying to bargain at a time like this?"

"I'm not bargaining, I'm just considering the risks…"

"Risks?" he leaned in, his voice a low growl that vibrated in my bones. "Is your pathetic life more important than hers?"

The words were a dagger to my heart.

"Fabian, you can't say that…"

"Why can't I?" he advanced on me, his eyes full of menace. "She's lying there on the brink of death, and you're here weighing your options?"

"I'm not weighing my options!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" my father roared. "Do the ritual! Now!"

"I refuse."

Three words. The room fell into a dead silence.

"What did you say?" my mother stared at me in disbelief.

"I said, I refuse," I repeated. "Sacrificing my wolf's spirit could kill me. I'm not willing to take that risk."

"You selfish, wicked girl!" My mother lunged, trying to slap me.

I stepped back, dodging her hand.

"I'm not being selfish. I'm trying to stay alive."

"She's your sister!" my father bellowed.

"She's your adopted daughter," I corrected him. "And I'm your real one. Why do I always have to be the one to sacrifice for her?"

A dangerous light flared in Fabian's eyes.

"Are you sure you want to refuse?"

"Yes."

In the next second, the Alpha's Command slammed into me—a crushing, invisible weight that buckled my knees and stole the air from my lungs.

"I'll ask you one more time," Fabian's voice was a low, dangerous growl. "Will you save her?"

"I…" The pressure made it almost impossible to speak. "I… won't…"

The pressure doubled.

I finally crumpled to the floor, my body shaking uncontrollably.

"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way," Fabian said coldly. "Guards, take her to the altar."

"No!" I struggled to get up. "You can't force me!"

Several guards rushed in and seized my arms.

"Let go of me! This is against pack law!"

"Law?" Fabian laughed mockingly. "Who's going to side with a selfish traitor against me?"

He leaned down, whispering in my ear.

"You've always been desperate for my touch, haven't you? Do this one thing for me, and I'll make it less painful."

I stared at him in horror.

This was the man I once loved?

"In your dreams."

"Fine," he straightened up, his eyes full of cruelty. "Then we'll do it the most painful way possible."

I was dragged out of the room and hauled toward the ancient altar in the center of the pack grounds.

The pack members along the way just stared, not one of them speaking up for me.

"Look, it's that traitor, Hazel."

"I heard she refused to save Gloria."

"So selfish. Won't even save her own sister."

"She deserves whatever she gets."

The altar glowed eerily in the moonlight.

It was covered in ancient runes, with a silver ritual circle in the center.

The old shaman was already waiting, holding various ritual tools.

"Begin," Fabian commanded.

"No! Please, don't do this!" I struggled wildly. "I'll die!"

"That was your choice," my father said heartlessly. "If you had agreed from the start, it wouldn't have to be this painful."

I was forced onto the altar. Silver chains clamped around my wrists and ankles.

The shaman began chanting in an ancient tongue. A strange, dark energy filled the air.

"Begin the separation," he said, raising a silver ritual knife.

The blade didn't cut my skin. It plunged through me, a shard of pure agony, stabbing not my flesh, but my very soul.

"Ahhhhh—!"

An agony beyond words ripped through me.

I felt my wolf spirit being shredded, ripped from my soul fiber by fiber. It was an agony beyond the flesh, a spiritual dismemberment.

"Stop! Please, stop!"

But no one listened.

Fabian just stood there, watching, his eyes cold and empty of pity.

As more of my spirit was torn away, I felt myself dying.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, a deafening SNAP echoed not in the air, but in my very soul.

The invisible chain that bound me to him—the cursed mate bond—snapped.

Instantly, a strange sense of relief washed over me.

The ritual continued, but I felt an incredible lightness.

Like a chain I never knew was there had just been broken.

Fabian suddenly staggered, his face going pale.

He looked at his hands, his eyes filled with a dawning confusion and panic.

I knew what had happened.

The fated mate bond.

It was broken.

Completely and irrevocably broken.