The Broken Bond

POV: KAELITH

I scramble up from the cold bedroom floor, my chest burning from the phantom pain of the severed mate bond. I stumble blindly out of the room, charging down the winding mansion hallways to escape the suffocating smugness of Jaxen’s face. Bursting through the heavy front doors, I sprint out into the torrential downpour as though hellfire is nipping at my heels. I run with reckless desperation. I need the aggressive rain to mask the hot, humiliating tears streaming down my face.

I weave through the sprawling pack grounds, my boots slipping in the slick mud. Shadows shift beneath the awning of the main pack house. Even over the deafening roar of the storm, the cruel whispers of the pack members slither through the freezing rain. Their voices drip with malicious judgment, slicing through the dark night and hitting me with pinpoint accuracy.

"She finally found out."

"She is so stupid for not seeing it. How blind can one girl be?"

"I don't even know why she was born into that family. She is clearly talentless."

"Of course Alpha Jaxen-Minor is going to choose a woman like Sienris over her. They both got accepted to Astraea-Zenith-Academy."

Their mockery wraps around my throat like a vice. I hasten my steps, pushing past the dense treeline until my knees finally give out. I collapse onto the muddy grass of our front yard. The freezing rain soaks me to the bone in seconds, plastering my hair to my face and seeping heavy into my clothes. But the physical cold is nothing compared to the agonizing reality settling deep into my chest like lead.

The mate I had loved so dearly, the boy who held my hand and whispered sweet promises into the dark, had been manipulating and fooling me for two entire years. He used me solely to harvest my body. Every kiss, every shared secret, every stolen moment—it was all a calculated lie.

I remain trapped in this cold misery, shivering in the mud, until the heavy front door of my house swings open. The harsh yellow porch light spills over the wet lawn, cutting through the rain. My mother, Loranis, stands in the doorway. She does not rush out into the storm to help me. Instead, her face twists in sheer annoyance as she glares at my drenched figure from the safety of the dry porch.

"Kaelith!" she harshly scolds. "What are you doing out there? Get inside before you catch a cold. No one is going to take care of you if you get sick!"

Her callous words sting, but I drag myself out of the mud. My muscles ache with every step. I walk into the foyer, shivering violently as the warm indoor air hits my freezing skin. Water drips steadily from my ruined clothes onto the hardwood floor.

My mother grimaces, staring pointedly at the growing puddle on her pristine carpet.

"Goodness," she mutters, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why are you always causing trouble? Why can't you just be like your brothers? I never had a hard time raising Luvican or Kierax."

I clench my jaw. When my brothers break rules or start fights, she brushes it off. But with me, her patience is nonexistent. I wipe the cold rain and the hot tears from my eyes. Despite a lifetime of emotional neglect, I harbor a foolish, desperate sliver of hope that she might finally offer some maternal comfort. Maybe she will see the devastation written all over my face and hold me.

"Jaxen-Minor cheated on me with Sienris," I confess, my voice shaking in the quiet foyer. "He severed our mate bond tonight."

I wait for the shock. I wait for the maternal outrage. Instead, her expression remains entirely stony and neutral. She does not even blink.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asks flatly.

My breath hitches in my throat. I stare at her. "What?"

"His family has never been fond of you," she says, her tone dripping with dismissal. "I always told you he was too good for you. You were never a match for him. The least you could have done was satisfy him in bed, but you clearly failed at that, too."

The harsh words punch the air right out of my lungs.

"Sienris is going to the Astraea-Order with him," my mother continues, ruthlessly tearing down my fragile ego before I can even process the pain. "You need to just attend the local academy. Find yourself a mateless partner and settle down."

I stare at the woman who gave birth to me. "You knew?" I whisper, the betrayal tasting like bitter ash on my tongue. "All this time, you knew about the sordid affair, and you never bothered to tell your own daughter?"

My mother rolls her eyes, sighing in exasperation. "Oh, come on, Kaelith. The entire pack practically knew. You remained blindly, delusionally ignorant."

At that very moment, heavy footsteps echo from the hallway. My father walks into the foyer. He glances at my muddy, shivering form with a look of pure disgust.

My hands shake. The soaked acceptance letter I have been clutching this entire time slips from my trembling fingers. It lands on the pristine carpet. The fold falls open, exposing the golden, shimmering emblem of the Astraea-Zenith-Academy.

My father stops dead in his tracks. His eyes lock onto the crest.

"You..." he starts, his voice trailing off.

I muster every ounce of courage left in my battered body. "I got accepted," I reveal. I lift my chin, hoping against all reason for a single ounce of paternal pride.

Instead, my father's face hardens into a scowl. "Did you forge this document, Kaelith? Is this how desperate for attention you have become?"

"I did not fake it!" I protest, my voice echoing in the grand foyer. "I passed the trials! Can't you just be happy for me?"

Without a heartbeat of hesitation, my mother steps forward. She snatches the heavy parchment from the floor. Her manicured fingers grip the edges of my hard-won dreams. Then, she violently tears the acceptance letter into pieces right before my eyes.

"No!" I lunge forward, but it is too late. The shredded, muddy fragments flutter to the floor. The sound of the thick paper ripping sounds like the final crack of my breaking heart.

"There must be a mistake," she unapologetically claims, brushing the wet paper from her hands. "Someone as weak as you could never survive in the Astraea-Order. It is reserved for the strongest young wolves. Not you."

"She is right," my father firmly backs her up. He steps closer, weaponizing their finances with a cold glare. "And even if they somehow accepted you, we cannot afford the tuition."

I stare at him, my blood boiling beneath my freezing skin. "That is a blatant lie," I shoot back. "You are fully funding Luvican there. Kierax is currently studying at that exact same prestigious academy right now!"

"Exactly," my mother rigidly insists. "Kierax stays at the Astraea-Estates because he cannot live in the regular dorms. That is incredibly expensive. We will only financially support you if you attend the local, mediocre school."

For years, I have been the silent, obedient daughter. I swallowed their wicked double standards, quietly praying they would one day love me as fiercely as they loved my brothers. I accepted the neglect and the insults.

But staring down at the shredded, muddy fragments of my ultimate dream scattered across their pristine floor, something shifts deep within my chest. The oppressive sorrow that weighed me down out in the rain evaporates. A sharp, resilient, and defiant anger takes its place, burning bright and melting away the icy chill. The final string holding my obedience together finally, irrevocably snaps.

I stand up straighter, feeling the sudden rush of power that comes with having absolutely nothing left to lose. I raise my head. My voice slices through the heavy air with newfound steel.

"No. I'm going to Astraea-Order."

My father frowns, crossing his arms, clearly taken aback. "No? Young lady, are you hearing yourself?"

"I said no," I repeat, stepping right over the torn pieces of my letter. "I am not going to the local academy."

"Then what?" my mother mocks, letting out a harsh laugh. "Do you want to become a common laborer?"

"I am going to Astraea-Order," I firmly declare again.

The atmosphere in the foyer instantly thickens with their radiating, toxic rage. My mother's face turns a dangerous shade of red. Her eyes narrow into venomous slits.

"Do not push us, Kaelith," she warns, her voice dropping into a deadly register.

"No matter what you say or do, I am leaving."

My mother steps right up to my face. She spits out an ultimatum that digs into my heart like a jagged blade.

"If you choose to leave and disobey us, you are no longer a part of this family. You are entirely stripped of our emotional and financial support. You will be nothing to us."

She expects me to cower. She expects me to drop to my knees and beg for her scrap of approval, just like I have done my entire life.

But this time, standing tall amidst the ruins of my old life, I do not hesitate. I look them dead in the eye and accept my disownment.

"Then, so be it."