Chapter 2: Shattered

Nyra’s POV

"I, Kael Draven, Alpha of the Silverclaw Pack, formally reject this bond."

His voice carries across the clearing, amplified by the same magic that made the councilman's words echo. Every syllable lands like a physical blow. The golden thread connecting us flickers.

"I will never accept an omega as my Luna."

The bond doesn't break.

It twists.

Pain erupts in my chest, white-hot and vicious, like someone's taken the glowing thread between us and wrapped it around my heart, pulling tighter and tighter until I can't breathe. The warmth turns to ice. The connection that felt like coming home moments ago now feels like drowning.

I gasp, my hands flying to my chest.

Senna?

Silence.

Senna, please.

Nothing. My wolf, who has been with me since I was old enough to shift, who whispered comfort during the worst nights, who promised we would survive this ceremony together, she's gone. Not dead. Worse. Muted. Locked away behind walls I can't break through.

"The omega designation is not fit to stand beside an alpha," Kael continues, his face a mask of cold authority. "The bond is a mistake. I refuse it entirely."

The crowd erupts.

"Finally, someone with sense."

"Omegas don't belong in positions of power."

"The moon must have been testing him."

Their approval crashes over me in waves. I'm on my knees now, though I don't remember falling. The corrupted bond pulses with every heartbeat, sending shocks of agony through my body. It doesn't fade. It doesn't release me. It just keeps twisting tighter, suffocating, wrong.

I look up at Kael through blurred vision.

He's still watching me. For just a second, something cracks in his expression. His jaw tightens. His hands curl into fists at his sides.

Then one of the councilmen leans close to him, a man with silver hair and cold eyes, whispering something I can't hear. Kael's face hardens again. He turns away.

Just like that, I stop existing to him.

"The ceremony will continue," the head councilman announces, his voice brisk and businesslike, as if he didn't just witness someone's soul being shredded. "The next bonding pair, step forward."

They're moving on.

Around me, wolves shift their attention back to the platform. Conversations resume. Someone laughs. The drums begin again, their rhythm steady and indifferent.

I'm still on the ground, gasping for air that won't fill my lungs, and they're continuing the ceremony like nothing happened.

A beta steps around me carefully, avoiding eye contact.

"Excuse me," she murmurs, her tone polite but distant.

I try to stand. My legs won't hold me. The bond keeps pulsing, each wave of pain worse than the last. It's not just physical. Something fundamental inside me is breaking, fracturing along lines I didn't know existed.

This is what you deserve, a voice whispers in my head. Not Senna. Just me. The part of me that always knew I wasn't worth choosing. You were stupid to hope.

"Move," someone says behind me, annoyed. "You're blocking the view."

I crawl. Actually crawl, hands and knees, away from the center of the clearing. No one helps. No one looks at me directly. I'm invisible again, except now I'm also broken.

When I finally reach the edge of the clearing, I collapse against the same oak tree I'd hidden behind earlier. My entire body shakes. The shawl has fallen off somewhere. I don't care.

The ceremony continues without me.

I watch through tears as other bonds are revealed, other pairs step forward to accept what the moon has given them. 

Each acceptance sends another spike of pain through my corrupted bond, reminding me of what I lost. What I never really had.

Kael stands on the platform with the other alphas, his expression neutral, controlled. Perfect. He looks completely unaffected.

Maybe he is.

Maybe rejecting me was easy.

The thought makes something inside me crack wider. I press my hand against my chest, trying to hold myself together, but I can feel it. 

The bond isn't gone. It's still there, twisted and dark, connecting me to someone who doesn't want me. Who announced to hundreds of witnesses that I'm not good enough.

Get up, I tell myself. Get up and leave before someone notices you're still here.

But my body won't obey. The pain is too much. The bond keeps tightening, and Senna's silence is louder than any scream.

I don't know how long I stay there. Long enough for the ceremony to end. Long enough for wolves to start dispersing, heading to the celebration feast in smaller clearings throughout the forest.

A group of omegas passes near me. One of them glances my way, her expression a mixture of pity and relief. Relief that it wasn't her. Relief that she's not the one who dared to be bonded to someone above her station and paid the price.

"Let's go," her friend says, pulling her away. "Don't stare. It's rude."

They disappear into the darkness.

I'm alone.

The clearing empties slowly. Guards remain at the perimeter, but they're not watching me. Why would they? I'm no threat. Just a broken omega who can't even stand.

The corrupted bond pulses again, and this time I taste copper. I've bitten through my lip without realizing it.

You have to move. The thought surfaces through the pain. You can't stay here.

But where would I go? Back to the pack house, where everyone saw what happened? Back to the tiny room I rent, where I'll lie awake feeling this bond strangle me?

No.

The word forms clear and certain in my mind.

No. I can't go back. I can't live like this, feeling him on the other end of this ruined connection, knowing he's out there somewhere, alive and whole and completely unaffected while I'm drowning.

I force myself to my feet. My legs shake but hold.

The forest spreads out behind me. Not the safe, cultivated paths that lead back to pack territory. The other direction. The deep woods. Shadowpine Forest, where the trees grow so thick that sunlight never touches the ground. Where wolves who enter are never seen again.

It's forbidden for a reason.

I take a step toward it.

Senna? I try one more time, desperate for any response.

Silence.

The bond twists again, vicious and unrelenting. I can feel Kael somewhere in the distance, probably at the feast, probably accepting congratulations for his wise decision to reject an unworthy mate.

Another step. The pain makes my vision blur.

Maybe Shadowpine will kill me quickly. Maybe it will be slower. Either way, it has to be better than this. Better than living with a bond that reminds me every second of every day that I wasn't chosen. That I wasn't enough.

I reach the tree line.

Behind me, the sounds of celebration drift through the night. Music. Laughter. Life continuing for everyone else.

I step into the darkness between the trees.

The temperature drops immediately. The air tastes different here, ancient and wild. Magic prickles against my skin, so much stronger than in the ceremonial clearing. This is old magic. Dangerous magic.

I don't care.

I keep walking, one foot in front of the other, even though every step sends agony shooting through my chest. The trees close in around me. The sounds of the celebration fade.

The bond keeps twisting tighter.

My vision starts to blur at the edges, not from tears this time. Something else. Something silver and bright, like moonlight except it's coming from inside me, bleeding out through my skin.

This is it, I think distantly. This is how I die.

The silver light grows brighter. I stumble, catching myself against a tree trunk. The bark is rough under my palm, real and solid.

Somewhere far away, I think I feel the bond flare. Like Kael can sense something's wrong.

Good.

Let him feel it. Let him know what his rejection did.

The silver light consumes my vision entirely, and I fall.