Chapter 3

Ronan's pov

The silence in the clearing was eerie, every wolf waiting for my decree. Then the bonfire crackled, and I felt the tension. I can feel the anticipation. The pack members looked at me. I felt their—fears, desperation, bloodlust and yearning for retribution.

But I am the Alpha. I decide what justice looks like, then I offer them something different.

"According to pack law, I banish you, Aria Blackwood." My voice emerged like gravel grinding against stone, resonating through the night. "You have until dawn to exit my territory."

The words felt toxic on my tongue, but I pushed them out regardless. Definitive. Unyielding. An Alpha’s word was law, and mine was final.

I anticipated her to break down. I expected tears, pleas, perhaps even a collapse. Instead, Aria lifted her chin and looked at me across the flames.

Her silver eyes flickered in the firelight, glowing with tears that refused to drop yet radiating another emotion. Perhaps it was pride. Or hatred.

She begged once, I silenced her. Then after the ritual of rejection she turned and stepped into the hallway. Each step she took was like a sharp pang in my chest, severing the unseen connection that still bound us. The mate bond was not entirely broken—it burned like acid within me. An Alpha doesn't flinch.

“You're a damned fool,” Kael growled angrily in my mind. “You've just discarded our Luna.”

“She's ours,”

“She was,” My jaw tightened then I brushed him off. “Now she's nothing,” I have made my decision.

Before I could collect my thoughts, Elder Varyn approached, his crooked staff sinking into the earth. The old man looks fragile. When he grabbed my arm, his grip felt like a steel camp.

"The bloodline must never be awakened, Alpha Ronan," he said in a low but urgent tone. "Did you see her eyes? Silver."

I stiffened, instinctively looking toward where Aria had vanished into the darkness beyond our firelight. "What bloodline?"

Varyn's grip grew tighter, but I was strong enough, I didn't feel pain. “Silver Fang. Legends speak of wolves born with silver eyes—a cursed lineage with power to command all packs, even Alphas. If she survives through the night, long enough to awaken, she will be unstoppable.”

My face went white, and my confidence cracked for the first time that night. But I buried it instantly, “You're saying I just rejected—”

“You know the consequences if she lives,” Varyn interrupted, his whisper sharp as a dagger. "The council is already aware. They’ve sent hunters."

Hunters. I felt a certain sense of anxiety.

The pack started to whisper nervously around us. I could feel their uneasiness. They had gathered expecting a simple celebration and now found themselves in the midst of something much more complicated.

I masked up my feelings like an Alpha would do in times of trouble—fearless, back straight, chin raised. Alphas didn't flinch. My expression as hard as stone not remitting any form of weakness.

Then I let my Alpha authority slice through their muttering like a blade. “Enough.” My tone cracked like a whip. “The matter is settled,” I snapped at the crowd, “Let the celebration continue.”

They bowed their heads and obeyed. Then continued the celebration immediately, the drumbeats resumed, though some whispers lingered in the air like smoke. Garvin remained beside me, his face filled with worries.

“The council will challenge this,” he said quietly. “You can’t evade them indefinitely.”

I poured whiskey in my wine glass holding them firm as if the turmoil rolling up in my heart didn't exist.

"They'll gain nothing. I’m accountable to no one."

Yet as I spoke, I felt the untruth burn harder than the whiskey down my throat. The council had influence everywhere. And now they were aware of Aria.

I drank the whiskey in one gulp, welcoming the sting but it did nothing to stop the lingering ache of severing a bond.

“She's ours!” Kael howled in my mind, fury crashing through me like a battering ram. “You felt it. You still feel it.”

“She’s weak,” I snapped back, my hands shaking while I tried to maintain control. “Too soft for an Alpha’s world. She can’t be by my side and she can’t be this pack’s Luna”

“Liar.”

This single word cut me off guard, because I knew he was right. Aria wasn't weak– her strength is above measured. It was strong to awaken desires I couldn’t allow myself to have, even strong enough to make me forget what being Alpha truly entailed.

Kael’s rage rushed in powerfully, and this time I couldn’t control it. My hands hit on the table, teeth bared in a snarl that was more beast than man. The whiskey glass shattered under my grip. Blood dropped to the floor, hot and red but pain was nothing.

People glanced at me, but I laughed, signaling them to continue that it's part of the party.

I calmed myself down, putting my rage under control.

Garvin left my presence so I could calm my demons. I poured another glass of whiskey watching the fire as it flickered.

Yet deep inside, the bond pulsed faintly. Weak but persistent, like a heartbeat that refused to cease.

I'd banished her. Stripped her of everything. Sent her into the wild with nothing and a death sentence from the council looming over her head.

So why could I still sense her?

I lifted the glass to my lips, forcing a smirk—an expression that had made others retreat for years. But the whiskey tasted like ash, and the smile felt like a show.

Despite everything the bond should have been dead. But it beat faintly, each beat a reminder — if she bled, I bled. If she suffered, I suffered. And the council’s hunters were already on her trail.

And I was starting to realize it might always remain there.