AURORE POV:
The decision settled in my soul like a stone. It wasn't a choice made in anger, but in the cold, clear certainty of a person with nothing left to lose.
I ran a hand over my face, wiping away the last traces of my tears. I unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway, my only goal to retrieve my car keys from the bowl by the front door and walk out of this house forever.
I reached the top of the stairs just as Kallie emerged from the shadows of the corridor, a glass of red wine in her hand.
She gave me a small, pitying smile. "Feeling better, sister?"
Before I could answer, her body lurched. It was a clumsy, theatrical movement. She "tripped," stumbling directly into me. The dark red liquid arced through the air, splashing all over the front of her pristine, sliver designer dress.
A dramatic gasp. "Oh!"
It was loud enough to draw every eye from the party below.
Her own eyes filled with tears instantly. She looked at me, her lower lip trembling with practiced hurt. "Aurore... I know you don't like me... but you didn't have to do that."
It happened so fast I barely had time to process the lie. Before I could even form a denial, a furious presence stormed up the stairs.
Keifer.
He didn't even look at me. His eyes were fixed on the weeping Kallie and the crimson stain blooming on her dress. He reached her in three long strides, pulling her behind him in a protective gesture that was as familiar as it was painful.
He glared at me, his face a mask of rage. "What is wrong with you?"
I looked at the way his hand rested on Kallie's arm, the way his body shielded hers. Any lingering warmth in my heart turned to ice.
"It wasn't me," I said, my voice flat and devoid of emotion.
"Don't lie to me!" he snarled. "I saw you. Everyone saw you."
"Apologize to her. Now." The words were an order, laced with the authority of his Alpha status.
I met his furious gaze and held it. The old Aurore would have bowed her head. The old Aurore would have apologized just to make it stop.
But the old Aurore was dead. She died in a doctor's office this afternoon.
"I have nothing to apologize for," I said, each word clear and deliberate.
His face darkened. My defiance was a spark on a short fuse. I saw the shift in his eyes, the tightening of his jaw.
"I said," he growled, "apologize."
He unleashed his Alpha aura.
It wasn't a command, not a direct order that my wolf would be compelled to obey. It was something cruder. A raw wave of power, of pure, intimidating force, designed to cow and dominate.
It slammed into me like a physical blow.
My already weak body couldn't withstand it. The force threw me backward, my spine connecting hard with the wall. A sharp, searing pain shot through my back, and a grunt of agony was forced from my lips. Black spots danced in my vision. For a second, I thought I was going to pass out.
"Keifer!" My mother's shriek echoed up the stairs.
She and my father, Desmond May, rushed up to the landing. Eleanor went straight to Kallie, fussing over the stained dress as if it were a mortal wound.
My father looked at me, crumpled against the wall, and his face was etched with a profound, crushing disappointment. "Aurore, how could you? Kallie is your sister!"
No one asked if I was hurt. No one seemed to notice that I could barely stand.
I pushed myself off the wall, using it for support. The pain in my back was a dull, throbbing fire. I looked at them. My mother. My father. My mate. The three people who were supposed to love me unconditionally. And they were all looking at me as if I were a monster.
A strange, hysterical feeling bubbled up in my chest.
I started to laugh.
It wasn't a happy sound. It was low and bitter, laced with a decade of pain and a lifetime of disillusionment.
They all stared at me, their anger momentarily replaced by confusion.
I stopped laughing as abruptly as I had started. I straightened my shoulders, ignoring the protest from my bruised spine. I looked at my father, then my mother, and finally, at Keifer.
My voice was steady now, cold as a tombstone. "You're right. I have disappointed you."
I let the words hang in the air for a beat.
"I disappointed you by taking this long to see you for who you truly are."
I took a deep breath, gathering the last of my strength. It was time to burn the final bridge.
"From this moment on, I, Aurore May, sever all ties with the May family. You," I said, looking directly at my parents, "are no longer my mother and father."
The words dropped into the stunned silence like a bomb. Eleanor's jaw dropped. Desmond stared, speechless.
Even Keifer looked as if I had physically struck him.
But I wasn't finished.
