Alina
The sound of my own heart breaking is the only thing I can hear. It’s a wet, tearing sound, like fabric ripping apart in my chest. I’m on my knees, though I don’t remember falling. The polished wood of the Great Hall floor is cold against my skin.
My mother’s arms are around me, her familiar scent of lavender and winter rose a fragile shield against the hundred pairs of eyes staring at me. “Alina, my love, look at me.”
I can’t. If I look up, I’ll see him. I’ll see the stranger wearing my best friend’s face.
“You bastard.” The voice is Liam’s, low and trembling with a rage so profound it seems to shake the very air. “You absolute, gutless bastard.”
“Liam, stand down,” my father, Alaric, commands. His voice is tight, the formal tone of a Beta addressing a subordinate, but the fury beneath it is a wildfire.
“I will not stand down!” Liam roars, and a chair clatters to the floor. “He’s my best friend. He just destroyed my sister. He dishonored our family.”
I risk a glance up. Liam is standing between me and Mason, his body a rigid line of defiance. Mason hasn’t moved. He stands there, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, his face a mask of cold resolve.
“This has nothing to do with honor, Liam,” Mason says, his voice devoid of any emotion. “It’s about survival. It’s about the pack.”
“The pack?” My father steps forward, placing himself beside his son. He is the Beta. He should be standing beside his Alpha, but tonight, that line has been irrevocably broken. “You dare speak of the pack? You have publicly shamed the daughter of your Beta. You have split this pack in two with your arrogance.”
Alpha Valerius finally moves, his face a mess of confusion and anger. “Alaric, this is not the place.”
“Then where is the place, Valerius?” my father challenges, not an ounce of deference in his tone. “Where is the place for my daughter to be treated like refuse? Thrown away because she is not convenient for your son’s ambition?”
Mason flinches at that, a tiny, almost imperceptible movement. “It is not about convenience.”
“Then what is it about?” Liam takes a step closer to him, their chests nearly touching. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks a lot like cowardice. You’re afraid. Afraid you won’t measure up at the games, so you’re cutting off anything you think is a dead weight.”
“She is a dead weight!” Mason shouts, the first crack in his icy composure. The words hit me like a physical blow. My mother’s grip tightens around me. “An Alpha cannot be chained to weakness. We would be a target. Every rival pack would see her, see us, and know where to strike. Do you want that for us? Do you want to lose everything because I was sentimental?”
“She is your mate!” Liam shoves him, a hard, violent push. “The Goddess chose her for you.”
Mason stumbles back, then shoves Liam back twice as hard. “The Goddess was wrong!”
The gasp that ripples through the crowd is a collective sound of shock and sacrilege. My father’s hand goes to the hilt of a ceremonial knife at his belt he never uses.
“Mason!” Alpha Valerius barks, his voice finally cracking with true authority. “That is enough!”
But it’s too late. Liam launches himself at Mason. The sound of a fist connecting with a jaw echoes through the hall. Mason grunts, staggering back with blood blooming on his lip. The pack members surge back, clearing a space as the two men who were raised as brothers begin to tear each other apart.
“Stop them!” my mother, Lyra, screams, her body shielding mine from the sight. But I see it anyway. I see the brutal, desperate fight. This is my fault. All of it.
My father and Alpha Valerius dive in, trying to separate them. Other warriors join, pulling Liam’s arms, restraining Mason. The Great Hall, a place of celebration only minutes ago, is now a scene of chaos and violence.
“Look what you’ve done,” a voice hisses from nearby. I turn my head and see Myra, one of the senior warriors, glaring at me. Her daughter was always jealous of my closeness to Mason. “You’ve torn them apart. The Alpha and Beta lines, fighting like wild dogs.”
“She did nothing,” my mother snaps at her, her voice shaking. “Mason did this.”
“The Alpha-heir did what was necessary,” another voice murmurs in agreement. “It’s harsh, but he’s not wrong. We need strength.”
The pack is dividing, right here in front of me. The whispers are like venom, some defending Mason’s brutal logic, others looking at me with a pity that feels worse than hatred.
Finally, they manage to drag Liam away from Mason. My brother is breathing heavily, a cut over his eye, his shirt torn. He looks at me, and the anguish on his face is a mirror of my own. He has not only lost his best friend, but he has been forced to do it to defend me.
My father helps me to my feet. My legs are unsteady, like a newborn foal’s. “We are leaving,” he announces to the hall, his arm a steel bar around my waist, holding me up.
He looks directly at Alpha Valerius, who is tending to his son. “My family is leaving. We will discuss what this means for the pack tomorrow. When blood is not so hot.”
It’s a threat. A clear one. The Beta is questioning his loyalty to his Alpha.
Alpha Valerius just nods, his face grim. He can’t even look at me. No one can.
My family forms a protective circle around me as we walk through the stunned crowd. My mother on one side, my father on the other, Liam trailing behind us, his breathing still ragged. I keep my eyes on the floor, on the path to the door. I can feel Mason’s gaze on my back, but I don’t turn. I can’t.
The walk back to our family quarters is silent and heavy. The festive decorations lining the path now seem like a cruel mockery. As soon as the door closes behind us, the dam breaks.
“I will kill him,” Liam says, his voice flat and empty. He punches the solid oak door, and the wood groans in protest. “I swear on my life, I will kill him.”
“No, you will not,” my father says, his voice weary but firm. “You will not throw your life away for his dishonor.”
“He called her a dead weight, Dad! He stood there and called his mate, my sister, a liability in front of everyone!”
My mother leads me to a chair and gently pushes me down. She kneels in front of me, taking my cold hands in hers. “Alina. Talk to me. Please.”
I shake my head. There are no words. There is only a gaping, hollow wound where my soul used to be connected to his.
“Alaric, what do we do?” my mother asks, looking up at my father. “How can you serve him after this? How can we live in a pack where the future Alpha has done this to our child?”
My father runs a hand over his face. I have never seen him look so old, so defeated. “I don’t know, Lyra. My loyalty is to the pack, but my life belongs to my family. Valerius let his son do this. He stood by and watched.”
“He will choose his son over us,” Liam says bitterly, slumping into a chair. “He always does. Mason gets away with everything.”
“Not this,” my father says, his eyes hardening. “This is not something that can be swept away. This is a rejection of a fated bond. It is an insult to the Goddess herself. There will be consequences.”
Consequences. The word hangs in the air.
I look at them. My proud, strong father, his position as Beta now threatened. My fierce, loving brother, his lifelong friendship destroyed. My gentle mother, her heart breaking for her daughter. They are all willing to go to war for me.
And they will lose. Mason is the future Alpha. His word, his power, will eventually win out. My family will be ostracized, punished for their loyalty to me. My father might even be stripped of his title. All because of me.
Mason’s words echo in my mind. A weakness. A liability. A vulnerability.
He was talking about the pack. But he was right in another way. Right now, I am a weakness to my own family. My presence here will destroy them.
“He’s right,” I whisper. My voice is raw, cracked.
Three pairs of eyes snap to me.
“Alina, no,” my mother says instantly. “Do not ever think that.”
“But it’s true,” I say, finding a sliver of strength. I have to make them see. “Look at us. Look at this room. Liam, you almost killed your best friend. Dad, you’re ready to challenge your Alpha. Our family is being torn apart. The pack is being torn apart. Because of me.”
“This is because of Mason’s cruelty,” my father insists.
“His cruelty doesn’t matter,” I say, standing up. My legs feel a little stronger now. A cold, terrible purpose is beginning to form in the pit of my stomach. “What matters is what happens next. If I stay, you will all suffer for defending me. You will lose your places, your friends, your home.”
“We would lose it all for you gladly,” Liam says, his voice thick with emotion.
I look at my brother, my heart aching. “I know you would. And I can’t let you.”
I see the understanding dawn in my father’s eyes first, followed by a wave of horror.
“Alina, do not even think about it,” he warns.
“It’s the only way,” I say, my voice gaining conviction even as my heart fractures a little more. “If I’m not here, there is no one to defend. There is no conflict. The line between you and the Alpha can be repaired. Liam can… he can move on.”
“Never,” Liam chokes out.
“You have to,” I insist. “For the good of the pack.” I use Mason’s words, and they taste like ash in my mouth. But I see the terrible logic in them now. “He made his sacrifice. Now I have to make mine.”
My mother stands, tears streaming down her face. “Your sacrifice? To leave us? To go out there alone? You are not a rogue, Alina. You are the daughter of the Silver Moon Beta.”
“I’m the wolf-less mate of a future Alpha who rejected me,” I correct her, my voice flat. “That is all anyone will ever see when they look at me here. If I leave, I can be something else. Or I can be nothing at all. Either way, you will be safe.”
I look at each of them, my beloved family, and memorize their faces. The fury in my father’s eyes, the sorrow in my mother’s, the betrayal in my brother’s. This is the last time I will see them like this.
My decision is made. The pain of Mason’s rejection was an explosion. This pain is a quiet, steady blade, sliding into my heart. But it’s a necessary one.
I am a weakness. So I will cut myself away.
