Weight of Betrayal

Corbin’s POV

I pulled my dark shorts up over my waist and roughly fastened the button. The stale scent of alcohol and Sloane's heavy, sweet perfume clung to the stagnant air in my bedroom, twisting my stomach into a tight, sickening knot. I grabbed a wrinkled shirt from the floor, throwing it over my shoulders without bothering to push my arms through the sleeves.

Sloane shifted in the bed. "Where are you going?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to look at her. Pure disgust churned in my gut as she lay tangled in my expensive bedsheets, looking far too comfortable. "I am giving you privacy to dress up and leave."

Sloane let out a low, amused laugh and sat up, letting the silk sheets pool at her waist. "I do not think I need privacy. I mean, after what we just did."

I clenched my jaw, pushing down the bitter bile rising in my throat. I refused to let her twist this into something meaningful. "I might have been drunk, but I am not stupid. Get dressed and get out. And as for your pay, see my mom. After all, it was her grand idea to do this."

I turned the brass knob, stepped out into the hallway, and slammed the heavy door shut behind me. The corridor felt far too suffocating. I needed fresh air to clear the stench of my own terrible decisions. I made my way out to the wide stone balcony that overlooked the pack grounds.

From this high vantage point, I could see almost everything operating within Bloodstone territory. The training fields were empty, the guard patrols moved in silent pairs, but my gaze drifted past all of it and locked onto the Beta’s chamber in the distance. Valerie’s house.

A heavy, jagged sigh escaped my lips, fogging the chill night air.

Memories of her face from earlier tonight flashed through my mind, relentless and sharp. I had known Valerie since we were just infants. She was basically a daughter to my father, and I loved the bond they shared so much that I naturally forced my way into her life, becoming her shadow. But the shattered look on her face when she left my mother's office was the most profound hurt I had ever seen her endure. I knew right then that today marked the tragic end of everything we had built. After what I had done to her, I doubted I could ever look her in the eyes again.

The mate bond hummed in my chest, transmitting a dull, unbearable ache that belonged to her sorrow. I should have just sat down and explained the political mess to her face-to-face. Breaking her heart in silence was pure cowardice.

A stray tear slid down my cheek, hot and shameful against the cold wind.

My older sister, Bridget, stepped out onto the balcony, her sharp heels clicking aggressively against the stone tiles. "You are here. I have been looking for you everywhere."

She paused, tilting her head as the moonlight caught my face. "Wait. Are those tears?"

I quickly scrubbed the back of my hand across my damp eyes and turned toward the glass doors, intending to head back inside and avoid this exact interrogation.

Bridget sidestepped, firmly blocking my path. "Dad or Valerie? Who are the tears for?"

I kept my voice dangerously flat. "What do you want, Bridget?"

Bridget crossed her arms over her chest. "Corbin, do not tell me you still have not gotten over that Valerie girl."

I warned her, letting a heavy sliver of my Alpha command bleed into my words. "I am not discussing Valerie with you."

Bridget did not back down. Her expression hardened into a mask of ice. "Corbin, you are the future Alpha of this pack. You cannot afford to be sentimental or weak. Mother explained everything to me. The arrangement with Sloane is crucial for our pack’s military alliance."

I balled my hands into tight fists. My fingernails bit so hard into my palms that they threatened to draw blood. I fought the vicious urge to punch the stone railing into dust. "Mother has no right to meddle in my personal life. It was stupid of me to let her trick me into doing this shit in the first place."

Bridget let out a harsh, condescending scoff. "Mother only wants what is best for this pack, Corbin. And Valerie is not it. She is weak. She does not even have a wolf to shift into. Sloane, on the other hand, possesses a powerful bloodline and vital connections that we need to survive."

Anger boiled over in my veins, hot and searing, pushing my wolf closer to the surface. "You do not understand anything! Valerie may not be the strongest physical fighter, but she has a good heart. She deserves way better than this political game."

Bridget narrowed her eyes. Her gaze turned sharp and unforgiving. "You are still stuck on her, are you not? Corbin, snap out of it! Valerie is just a childhood friend. You need to think about the pack’s future and your royal duties."

I drew in a long, shaky breath, fighting a losing battle to keep my wolf contained. "Leave me alone, Bridget. I need time to think."

Bridget lingered for a heavy, suffocating moment, her eyes raking over my tense posture with clear disappointment. "Corbin, do not make a foolish mistake that will cost us everything."

She turned sharply and walked back into the hallway. The rhythmic sound of her heels faded away, leaving me alone with the crushing, monumental weight of my responsibilities. The mate bond with Valerie pulsed in my chest, a constant, rhythmic drumbeat reminding me of my ultimate betrayal. I stared out at the dark, sprawling horizon, wondering if I could ever make things right between us, or if the damage was already permanent and beyond repair.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, shattering the quiet. I pulled it out and stared at the glowing screen. A text from my mother.

*Corbin, we need to discuss the arrangements with Alpha Mercer. Meet me in the study.*

My stomach churned with dread. Alpha Mercer was Sloane’s brutal father. The fate of the ancient bloodline, the security of the pack, and my own severed heart all hung in a delicate, fragile balance. What would be the ultimate cost of my duty?

In the Bloodstone pack, tradition demanded the formal appointment of a new Alpha exactly one month after the previous Alpha passed away. Until that crowning ceremony, the five elders and the Luna held the reins of absolute power. But before the elders placed the Alpha crown on my head, I had to fulfill the grim bargain. I had to reject my actual fated mate, Valerie, in front of the entire pack. Then, I had to formally mark Sloane as my chosen mate.

The next evening arrived far faster than I wanted. The town crier’s haunting, mournful howl echoed through the sprawling territory, bouncing off the dense pine treeline. It was the official summons. The pack members dropped their daily chores, abandoned their training routines, and rushed to gather at the central square. An intense air of curiosity and morbid anticipation hung heavy over the growing crowd. The murmurs and whispers buzzed in my ears like a swarm of angry hornets.

Elder Whitman, a wise and deeply aged pillar of our community, stepped up onto the elevated wooden dais. He raised his weathered hands, demanding instant silence. "Brothers and sisters, we gather here today to witness a solemn event. A bond severing."

The crowd erupted into fresh, shocked murmurs. A public rejection was incredibly rare and scandalous.

Elder Whitman raised his hands a second time, and a tense hush fell over the packed square. "Corbin Lowell, son of the late Alpha Garrett, step forward."

I emerged from the shadows of the platform, the collective weight of a thousand judging eyes pressing down on my shoulders. Every single step felt like dragging my boots through thick, pulling mud.

"Valerie Hayes, daughter of Beta Camilla, step forward."

Deep down in the darkest, most selfish corner of my mind, I prayed Valerie would defy the elders' summons. I wished she would run away just for tonight so I would not have to execute this nightmare. But the restless crowd parted, and Valerie stepped into the flickering torchlight. Her eyes were swollen, red-rimmed from crying, and her face was deathly pale. Just behind her, Victor stood with his massive arms crossed over his chest. Pure, murderous fury radiated from his stiff posture. I could read the profound disappointment and rage on his face. Valerie was the absolute apple of his eye, and he despised watching her suffer. I knew without a single doubt that if I did not hold the future Alpha title, Victor would have dragged me into the dark woods and beaten me to a bloody pulp.

Elder Whitman shifted his stern, uncompromising gaze to me. "Say the words, son."

I swallowed the massive lump forming in my throat. My voice cracked painfully as I forced the damning sentence past my trembling lips. "I, Corbin Lowell of Bloodstone Pack, reject you, Valerie Hayes of Bloodstone Pack, as my mate."

A sharp, collective gasp rippled through the hundreds of spectators. Valerie’s fragile shoulders trembled. She fought a fierce, silent battle to keep her composure, but fresh tears spilled over her lashes and tracked down her flushed cheeks. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small handkerchief, and gently dabbed the moisture from her face. Then, she lifted her chin and stared directly into my eyes. Her gaze pierced through my Alpha defenses, looking straight into my naked, guilty soul.

The raw agony radiating from her hit me like a physical blow to the sternum. The ancient mate bond amplified her devastation and fed it straight into my veins. I wanted to turn and run. I wanted to lock myself in my dark room and drown my pathetic existence in endless bottles of cheap whiskey.

The crowd held its breath, waiting in deafening silence.

Elder Whitman turned toward Valerie. He gave her a solemn nod, urging her to finish the cruel ritual. "I, Valerie Hayes of Bloodstone Pack..."

She paused. The words seemed to stick like jagged glass in her dry throat. She closed her tear-filled eyes, took a deep, shuddering breath, and let one final, stray tear trace down her jawline. When she opened her eyes again, the vulnerability was gone, replaced by a hollow, terrifying emptiness.

Elder Whitman pressed her forward. "Go on."

Valerie's voice was hollow. "I accept your rejection."

The words struck my chest like a silver bullet. The invisible tether connecting our souls snapped. The deep, ingrained sense of ownership, the primal, roaring urge to protect and claim her, vanished into thin air. It was a cold, chilling void. The dead pain in her eyes made me realize just how much I hated the monster I had become for the sake of a crown.

Elder Whitman stepped forward to deliver the concluding remarks. "On this day, we witness the separation of Corbin Lowell and Valerie Hayes. They shall no longer be seen or addressed as mates. They shall follow separate fates and retain the right to take up a chosen mate if it pleases either party."

The next morning, harsh sunlight pierced through the gaps in my heavy curtains, stabbing my bloodshot eyes. I woke up with a vicious, pounding headache. I had spent the entire night downing bottle after bottle of whiskey, desperately trying to erase the haunting memory of Valerie’s hollow stare. I groaned, dragged my heavy limbs out of bed, and staggered into the washroom.

I braced my hands against the marble sink and stared at my pathetic reflection in the broken mirror. The shattered glass spiderwebbed across my face, distorting my features. I looked down at my thickly bandaged right hand, throbbing from where I had punched the mirror into pieces hours ago. The physical sting was nothing compared to the agony I had inflicted on Valerie.

I turned on the cold water faucet, splashed my face, and threw on clean clothes. I had to start building a hollow life void of my true mate.

My stomach revolted at the mere thought of food, so I skipped breakfast and walked across the estate toward my late father’s office, the Alpha’s Lair.

As I approached the grand entrance, a chorus of tense, familiar voices reached my ears. Intrigued and slightly on edge, I quickened my pace. Beta Camilla stood near the heavy double doors, flanked by Victor and two armed pack guards.

Beta Camilla dipped her head, her face etched with deep lines of frantic worry. "Good morning, Your Majesty."

I scanned their tense, panicked faces. "What is going on here?"

Victor stepped forward, his fists tightly clenched at his sides. "Valerie is missing."

The air was sucked from my lungs. "What?"

Beta Camilla rubbed her temples, her voice laced with rising panic. "We thought that maybe she returned to Canada for her graduation, which is holding in three days' time. But her phone and luggage are still in her room. She could not have left without them. We have searched everywhere we could think of on the territory, but she is not in any of those places."

My heart skipped a beat and then slammed aggressively against my ribs. A cold, dreadful sweat broke out on the back of my neck.

A dark, creeping unease settled heavily over my mind. "Valerie would not just leave without a word."

This was my fault. All of it. If anything happened to her out there in the wild, I would never forgive myself.

Beta Camilla stepped closer, sheer desperation shining in her eyes. "I do not mean to bother you with this. All I need is permission to mobilize the tracking team."

I dropped all pretense of Alpha detachment. "Anything concerning Valerie can never be a bother. Things might not be going well between the two of us right now, but she is still a crucial part of this pack."

Before I could issue the formal tracking order, a sudden, blinding spike of pain pierced my skull. I hissed through my teeth, staggering sideways as my hands flew to my temples. My face contorted into a grimace of pure agony. It felt like a hot iron spike driving straight through my brain.

Beta Camilla rushed forward, her hands hovering in alarm. "What is the matter, Your Majesty?"

I knew exactly what it was. It was the phantom echo of our severed mate bond screaming in distress. But I refused to add fuel to their growing panic.

I forced my posture straight and masked the excruciating pain. "Direct the search team on what to do. I will be with you shortly."

Victor and the guards turned to follow Camilla's lead.

I retreated a few steps, leaned heavily against the cold stone wall, and closed my eyes. I pushed my consciousness outward, desperately trying to scrape together the broken remnants of our mind link. I reached for Valerie. The connection was incredibly faint, slipping like dry sand through my fingers. The sharp pain in my head intensified as her presence faded further into the distance. She was moving away, fast, or she was in grave danger. The magical thread grew thinner, weaker, until a terrifying silence rushed in to fill the void.

The link snapped shut. I lost the connection.

I pushed hard off the stone wall. "Fuck!"

I stormed down the stone steps, my chest heaving with frantic, uncontrollable panic. I shoved past the confused guards, my heavy boots tearing up the manicured grass of the estate.

I screamed into the morning air. "Valerie, please stay with me!"

I ran toward the dense forest border like a madman, chasing a ghost I had just condemned to the dark.