Severed Ties

Cerys's POV

Absolute silence fell over the grand expanse of the Justice Hall, a suffocating weight that pressed against the high, vaulted ceilings. I stared unblinkingly at Kaelen and Vespera, the two of them standing there like a picturesque painting of tragic romance. A smile, completely devoid of warmth, stretched slowly across my lips.

"Honestly," I said, my tone sharp enough to slice through the thick tension in the room and cut glass, "looking at the two of you makes it impossible to tell who is filthier. You're like two perfectly matched garbage bins, overflowing to the brim with deceit."

Kaelen physically froze. As if the very fabric of Vespera's dress had suddenly caught fire, he instinctively ripped his arm away from her delicate waist. The sudden, jerky movement caused Vespera to stumble slightly, but Kaelen didn't even look at her. His wide, panicked eyes were locked entirely on me.

"Cerys, no, you've completely misunderstood the situation," he stammered, the smooth, confident Alpha edge to his voice completely gone. He took a desperate step forward, his hands raised in a placating gesture. "I swear to you, I can explain everything. There is a completely logical reason for—"

I cut him off with a swift, merciless wave of my hand. "Save it. I have absolutely zero desire to hear another one of your pathetic excuses. I'm entirely out of patience for your endless justifications."

Luna Vivienne, recovering from her initial shock, stepped forward, her chin tipped up in that familiar, commanding angle. "Cerys, enough of this. About the rescheduled coronation ceremony—"

My lips curled in pure, unadulterated disgust. "What coronation?" I snapped, turning my piercing gaze toward the woman who had given birth to me. "The vows never actually took place. There is nothing to reschedule, and there is certainly nothing left to celebrate."

"Cerys, what are you implying?" Vivienne demanded, her voice faltering slightly as the reality of my coldness began to set in.

"I am not implying anything. I am stating a fact." I shifted my attention dead into Kaelen's terrified eyes. "Yesterday, when you made the choice to walk away from me at the altar, I explicitly warned you. I told you that if you walked out those doors, we were finished. I don't make idle threats. So let me make it crystal clear for you right now: Kaelen Ashwood, we're over. I don't want you anymore."

"No!" Kaelen's voice cracked like a violent boom of thunder. His Alpha dominance flared outwards in a desperate, suffocating wave of denial, rattling the loose papers on the nearby desks. "I outright refuse to accept that rejection! You don't mean it!"

"How dare you!" Alpha Tiberius roared, his face turning an angry, mottled purple as he stomped forward. The heavy thud of his boots echoed off the marble floors. "The sacred mating alliance between Moonglen and Ashwood was finalized long ago! You treat our pack's future like it is some childish game! You will not throw an embarrassing temper tantrum in a public hall and shame this family!"

I met my father's blistering glare with glacial, unshakeable calm. The intimidation tactics that used to make me cower as a pup now meant absolutely nothing. "If this sacred alliance is so incredibly vital to your precious pack, Alpha," I suggested sarcastically, "then you should marry Kaelen yourself. Or, better yet, just offer up your other, far more beloved daughter. She already seems perfectly comfortable in his arms."

Before Tiberius could close the distance and escalate the explosive argument into physical violence, the heavy oak doors of the Justice Hall swung open. A senior Enforcer casually strolled into the room, a thick incident folder tucked under his arm. He smelled of bitter black coffee, rain, and the unmistakable metallic tang of dried blood.

Spotting me standing alone, squared off against the entirety of my furious pack, he paused, raising his thick brows in profound surprise. "Adler? You're still here?"

Instantly, the Adler family's toxic, ingrained reflexes kicked in.

"What law did she break now?" Tiberius demanded loudly, pointing an accusing finger at me. "I swear to the Goddess, if she's caused more trouble—"

"The Justice Hall might as well permanently assign her a holding cell," Balthazar, my brother, chimed in, loudly scolding me. "Are you ever going to grow out of this rebellious, destructive phase, Cerys?"

Right on cue, Vespera slipped flawlessly into her gentle, angelic peacemaker persona. She stepped forward, her hands clasped together in front of her chest, her voice a soft, pleading whisper. "Please, Father, Balthazar... do not jump to conclusions. You know Cerys's fragile emotions get the better of her. She just acts out because she doesn't know how to handle her feelings."

"Whoa, hold up," the Enforcer interrupted, his face twisting in profound offense. He looked between the hostile members of my family as if they had all completely lost their minds. "Who the hell said she was under arrest?"

The room fell dead silent.

The Enforcer brutally dropped the reality check on the room, his voice booming with absolute authority. "The girl was viciously attacked by a coordinated pack of heavily armed rogues last night. She was cornered in an alleyway and nearly mauled to death. When my squad found her, she was covered head-to-toe in her own blood. She's incredibly lucky to even be breathing right now."

He flipped open his folder, his eyes scanning the precinct logs with barely contained disgust. "We checked her phone records during processing. While she was bleeding out, staring death in the face, she frantically called her family in sheer terror. Three calls to her Alpha father. Two to her brother. Four to her destined mate. And not a single one of you bothered to answer. A passing stranger had to risk his own neck to save her life." The Enforcer slammed the folder shut, muttering in utter disgust, "Some family you are."

His heavy words landed like physical, razor-sharp claws, violently raking across every smug, self-righteous face in the room.

A suffocating, horrified silence choked the air. The realization was a heavy, suffocating blanket that snuffed out the fiery anger in the room. Kaelen's face drained entirely of color. He looked like a ghost, his golden eyes wide with pure, unadulterated horror as the realization violently punched the breath out of his lungs.

He remembered the call. I could see it clicking in his mind. He had deliberately hit ignore on his vibrating phone last night, assuming I was just making a dramatic scene because he had abandoned the ceremony. He had silenced my desperate emergency call while I was fighting for my life. In doing so, he had completely shattered our most sacred, unspoken childhood vow: to never, ever ignore each other's cries for help.

The aggressive, domineering edge completely vanished from Alpha Tiberius's voice. Suddenly looking ten years older, the broad-shouldered Alpha took a hesitant, trembling step toward me. "Cerys..." he whispered, his voice gentle, almost pleading. "I... we had our communicators off. Please. Come home for supper tonight. We'll have the omegas prepare your absolute favorites."

Balthazar's eyes widened with crushing guilt. He whirled on the Enforcer, his fists clenched tight at his sides. "I fiercely demand that the Enforcers deliver full, unmitigated punishment to the rogues who laid a hand on my sister! And the man who saved her—we must reward him immediately."

I just laughed softly. The sound was dry, brittle, and broken under my breath, echoing strangely in the vast hall.

"Save your breath," I told them, my voice completely devoid of anger or sorrow. It was just an empty, hollow truth. "I will not be returning home for supper. I won't be returning home at all." I swept my gaze over the people who were supposed to be my protectors. "You all play 'family' perfectly well without my presence. I'm officially relieving you of the burden of pretending you care."

I offered them a final, chilling goodbye, turning my back on the stunned, pale faces of my bloodline.

As my boots clicked against the polished floor, heading for the exit, Kaelen violently jolted forward. "Cerys, wait!" he cried out, his boots scrambling for traction as he moved to chase after me.

But he didn't even make it three steps. Vespera's hand shot out, her pale fingers clamping desperately around Kaelen's thick wrist.

"Kaelen, please," Vespera whispered. With trembling, tear-filled sincerity, she looked up at him, her bottom lip quivering perfectly. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been injured last night, you wouldn't have had to leave her alone. She's just temporarily angry. She'll eventually come around, you know she will. Don't push her right now."

Vivienne, completely immune to the gravity of what I had just survived, quickly stepped in to validate the lie. She patted Vespera's hand comfortingly. "Vespera is entirely correct," Vivienne agreed smoothly. "Tending to a physically sick sister obviously took priority over Cerys's tantrum. She is just being stubborn."

From the doorway, my hand resting on the cool metal of the handle, I didn't even need to look back. With my heightened wolf senses, I could physically feel the nauseating, sweet waves of pure satisfaction rolling off Vespera's scent, perfectly hidden beneath her crocodile tears.

Three years ago, Vespera had survived a horrific boating accident—an accident that claimed the life of her own mate while he was diving into the freezing waters to save Kaelen's life. It was an event that allegedly left Vespera's delicate mind fractured, traumatizing her so deeply that she would wake up screaming for the ghost of a dead man.

Last night, Vespera had suffered a perfectly timed "relapse." Right in the middle of my coronation, right as I was about to officially become Luna, she had screamed and collapsed. And that "relapse" had ripped Kaelen away from the altar. The entire pack, my parents included, had deemed his abandonment of me entirely justified.

Standing at the threshold of the Justice Hall, looking out into the bleak, gray morning of the city streets, a profound sense of cathartic release washed over me, mixing bitterly with the lonely reality of my complete severing from the pack. I realized with absolute, terrifying clarity that if given the choice a thousand times over, they would still choose Vespera. Every single time.

Because Vespera Kent, the tragic, beautiful Moonglen darling, was perpetually the fragile bird worth saving.

And I, Cerys Adler, the legitimate daughter, the fiercely independent fighter... I was always the disposable wolf they could afford to lose.

I pushed open the heavy doors, stepping out into the cold city air, embracing my solitary path, and leaving them all behind to stew in the toxic, rotting filth of their own guilt.