Chapter 5

“I am done with your mess, Alpha Cassian.”

Cassian froze, his hand still on the cheek I had struck. An Omega he had despised for years had rejected him in front of Alistair and Eleanor, then slapped him hard enough to make the room fall silent. He clearly had no place for that in his world.

Eleanor stood in the doorway, shocked and hurt in a way that had come too late. Alistair looked from the blood at my mouth to Seraphina’s wounded arm, then to the silver blade on the floor, his expression dark.

I lifted my medicine box and gave them a small nod.

“You will not find my scent on the hilt, and the curse residue is not mine. If you want the truth, ask the Moon Council to examine it.”

I walked past Seraphina without waiting for an answer. She leaned against the wall with tears on her face, but excitement still slipped through her eyes.

She thought she had won again.

I left the Alpha House and made it halfway down the stone steps before the backlash from the mate bond tore through my chest. Cassian had not accepted my rejection, so the broken bond stayed hooked inside me, dragging the last connection between us tighter with every breath.

His slap had carried Alpha pressure. That power shielded Seraphina, but it crushed me. Nera whimpered deep in my mind as I forced myself to the edge of the courtyard, where my knees gave out and I fell into the wet grass with my medicine box beside me.

My chest hurt so badly that for one absurd moment, I felt regret.

I should have slapped him one more time.

A breath of pain escaped my throat, almost close enough to laughter.

Cassian had always been this way. Before anything was clear, he had already chosen Seraphina’s side. Before I could speak, he had already judged me guilty. She only needed to show a wound, shed a few tears, and leave the story half-finished. Cassian would fill in every gap for her.

At the pack academy, she had used the same trick for years. Once, the old herb room caught fire at night. I broke the door open and pulled her out, burning my arm in the process. When Cassian arrived, she threw herself into his arms and said she had woken inside, with no idea who had locked the door.

Everyone looked at me.

After that came the cut saddle, the switched silver chain, the torn prayer ribbons from the Moon Temple. Every trail somehow led back to me, and every time, Cassian looked at me as if my explanation would only make me more disgusting.

I had explained too many times.

None of it ever mattered.

Today’s ritual silver blade was only a harsher version of the same game.

The wolfsbane wound on my wrist began to burn again. Rejection pain and Alpha pressure crashed together until the courtyard blurred in front of me.

Footsteps stopped nearby.

I tried to reach for the small knife inside my medicine box, but my fingers had no strength.

A man’s voice sounded above me.

“Do you need a healer?”

I looked up.

He stood beyond the courtyard light, half his face hidden behind a raven mask. He did not carry Raven Hollow’s scent, but his Alpha presence was strong. Nera lifted her head in my mind without shrinking the way she did around Cassian.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who came to see Alistair.”

“Then go inside.”

He looked at the bandage on my wrist, then at the blood on my mouth.

“You just completed a rejection and took Alpha pressure. If you keep lying here, your wolf will collapse first.”

I tried to push myself up. The bond pulled hard through my chest, and I nearly fell again. He reached out, then stopped before touching me.

“I can take you to a healer, or I can call a Council guard. Your choice.”

He did not command me. He did not simply pick me up.

He waited for consent.

I gripped the handle of my medicine box.

“Council guard.”

“They will need at least twenty minutes. Your wolf does not have that long.”

Nera stirred weakly, as if agreeing with him.

I closed my eyes for a second.

“Take me to a healer. Do not take me back into the Alpha House.”

“I won’t.”

Only then did he bend down. He picked up my medicine box first, then lifted me carefully, avoiding my injured wrist and keeping his Alpha presence away from my mind.

Shouts rose near the Alpha House. Someone called my name. Someone else called for Cassian.

I did not look back.

The masked Alpha carried me through the side gate toward a black SUV parked near the tree line. Before he put me inside, he spoke quietly.

“Stay with me, Lyra Rowan.”

I looked up sharply.

“You know my name?”

He settled me into the back seat, his voice calm.

“After tonight, everyone in Raven Hollow will.”