Severing the Family Ties

The searing, unendurable pain hollowed Nyssa out completely. She stood rigidly in the center of the heavy leather-scented office, gasping for air as though invisible hands were crushing her throat. Her glossy eyes remained fixed on Cormac. Through the newly forged mate bond—still raw, still throbbing from the ruthless passion they shared just hours ago—she silently, desperately pleaded with him. She projected every ounce of her bleeding heart across that sacred tether, begging her Goddess-chosen mate to change his mind. She needed him to choose her. But his dark eyes offered nothing. His resolute, unyielding gaze confirmed the cruel, inescapable truth. He had definitively chosen her sister, Talia. He would not take it back.

Clinging tightly to a fragile, fraying thread of hope, Nyssa forced herself to look away from the man who had just ruined her. She turned her desperate eyes to her parents, the people who brought her into this world and swore to protect her.

"Do you agree to this?" Nyssa begged, her voice cracking with a vulnerable agony that laid her soul bare. She searched her father's stoic face, then her mother's tear-stained cheeks. "You are truly going to let him do this to me?"

Her father, Beta Vance, did not step forward to hold her. He offered no comfort. Instead, his broad shoulders squared, and his steady, authoritative voice cut deep into her flesh.

"We have to think of the pack, Nyssa," Vance stated coldly, citing their supreme duty. "We must look out for all the wolves who depend on us, not just our own blood. Our loyalty to the pack is bigger than this family. This territory needs a strong, stable leadership line."

Her mother, Corinne, delivered the final, crushing blow. She wept openly, dabbing her eyes, but her words were sharp and pragmatic. "Talia is pregnant, Nyssa," Corinne reiterated, her voice trembling but resolute. "There is a baby to think of now. The pack needs stability. We cannot have an illegitimate heir. You have to understand our position."

Desperate for any sign of genuine remorse, Nyssa looked past her parents to her older sister. She prayed Talia would step up, deny the arrangement, and refuse to steal the mate the Moon Goddess had assigned. But Talia’s eyes were merely pools of cowardly regret.

"I am so sorry this happened, sister," Talia whispered, her body trembling with a fabricated sorrow that made Nyssa’s stomach churn in disgust. "I love you. I didn’t know Cormac was your mate. If it weren’t for my pup, I would step aside. I truly would." Talia paused, a pathetic sob escaping her lips. "But I can’t—not now. My baby needs a father."

The absolute totality of the betrayal instantly froze the blood in Nyssa’s heart. Every excuse they offered drove another nail into her coffin. The very people meant to shield her from the world's pain were the ones actively destroying her. They stood in this rich mahogany office, shamelessly masking their personal cruelty and ambition as a noble duty to the pack.

In that bone-deep, chilling realization, a profound shift took place inside Nyssa. The pleading, broken girl died on the spot. She forcefully severed her emotional ties to them all. She looked at Vance and Corinne and realized they were no longer her loving family. They were just the Beta family, fiercely and blindly loyal to the Alpha's bloodline, willing to sacrifice their youngest daughter for political gain.

And Cormac. He was no longer her beloved mate. He was merely the future Alpha who had used her body, claimed her virginity with his cock, left his wet seed inside her, and casually discarded her soul without a second thought.

Forcing an icy, unsettling calmness that completely erased her usual radiant warmth, Nyssa straightened her spine. She pushed her shoulders back and wiped the stray tears from her face. She refused to let them see her bleed any longer.

"So," Nyssa said, her tone dropping to a freezing, detached register. "What do you propose, Alpha?"

The sudden lack of emotion stunned the room into silence. Nyssa had always been the bright, warm spark of the family. Now, that spark was dead. Alpha Garrick cleared his throat, seemingly relieved by her sudden compliance, yet his demeanor remained grim.

"Cormac and Talia will have their grand mating ceremony next month," Garrick dictated, his voice leaving no room for negotiation. "The pack already knows you are Cormac’s fated mate. To maintain perfect unity and quell any whispers of dissent, we desperately need you to be present. We need the pack to see you publicly support this union without a hint of bitterness."

Nyssa stared at him, her shattered heart fracturing even further. The sheer, unmitigated humiliation disguised as a pack duty was almost laughable.

"So," Nyssa asked sharply, her voice dripping with biting sarcasm. "You want me to give up my Goddess-given mate, watch him claim my sister, and be thankful for it?"

Garrick’s temper flared in frustration at her insolence. "That is not what I said, Nyssa!"

"It doesn't matter," Nyssa swiftly shut him down, her voice bitter and hollow. "You can do whatever you want. I don't matter to this pack anyway, so my feelings are irrelevant."

"Don't say that, sister," Talia cried out, weeping openly now. She stepped forward, desperately begging for understanding and absolution. "That isn't true."

Nyssa let out a harsh, cynical laugh that echoed through the quiet room.

"Please," Talia pleaded, closing the distance between them. She reached out her trembling hand to grasp Nyssa’s arm. "We love you... please."

The moment Talia's fingers brushed her skin, Nyssa violently recoiled backward. She jerked her arm away as if her sister’s physical touch were burning fire. The sister she once blindly idolized, the woman who had shared her secrets and dreams, was now the direct source of her deepest, most suffocating agony. Nyssa could not stand the sight of her.

"I need to think," Nyssa said with a freezing finality that echoed off the stone walls. "I need to be away from all of you."

Turning sharply on her heel, she marched toward the heavy oak door. She viciously ignored the chorus of voices calling her name. She ignored their desperate cries, their hollow apologies, and their reaching hands. She sealed her heart in an impenetrable vault, locking away the pain and the betrayal.

As she gripped the brass door handle, she felt the familiar pressure of her family trying to reach her through the pack mind-link. They were trying to force their guilt and justifications into her head. With a brutal mental shove, she forcefully blocked them all. She slammed the door to her mind shut, severing the connection completely.

Nyssa strode out the door, leaving her shattered life behind in that office. For the first time in her entire life, Nyssa was truly, profoundly alone.