~JADE~
Levana whined softly as my thoughts reached her: 'We don't need them. We'll be fine.' My wolf grumbled, attempting to reassure me.
'They're casting us out like we never mattered. They treat us like we were never a part of this pack, as if we weren't family. How can we be fine, Lev? I am pregnant; we'll be alone in the woods with no one.' I reminded her, in case she's forgotten all about the pregnancy that I lied about.
'We will find help; we will find a new pack; the goddess knows we are innocent, and she'll never leave us stranded. She'll send help,' She replied with conviction, and I shook my head.
The goddess watched me all these years while I suffered under my aunt's brute force and did nothing. Shouldn't the goddess have predicted that my mate would discard me? Yet she still went ahead and made Hunter my mate. 'I have no faith in the goddess, Levana. I doubt if she even exists because all she ever did was watch me suffer; she never came to my aid, and I don't see her coming to my aid now.'
Levana whimpered at my response: 'Don't say such things about her; doubting her is. . .'
"Jade!" The elder's snappish voice snagged my attention away from Levana, cutting off whatever my wolf had to say.
I forced my eyes away from Hunter, ignoring the scowl on his face and the slight confusion in his gaze, and I settled my attention back on the elder. "Nothing. I have nothing to say."
"Very well, then." He nodded, briefly turning away from me. "Alpha Orion, if you would please step forward to complete the last phase of her punishment," The elder beckoned Hunter's dad.
Alpha Orion stared at the elder; his gaze slowly moved towards me, and then he turned to Hunter. "Hunter," he called his son, his voice hard and his face void of emotion. "Soon, you'll become the Head Alpha of this pack; there's no better way to fully understand what it takes to lead and protect your pack than this. The weight of casting out a pack member is as heavy as the weight of welcoming a new pack member because you can only trust your judgement that you aren't welcoming an enemy."
Alpha Orion paused; his sentence hung in the air like there was more to it. I watched Hunter's jaw tick, his hands clenched into a fist beside him, and he tried not to pull his brows together as his father continued. "Take this as one of the many lessons I've taught you about the responsibilities and duties of an Alpha who commits himself to his pack. Every decision you make as an Alpha count, either good or bad, mistake or not."
"You want me to..." Hunter's sentence dangled in the air as his voice pulled tight, and the question was clear even if he didn't complete his sentence; even the look on Alpha Orion's face showed the answer was clear.
He wanted Hunter to be the one who severed my bond with the pack; he wanted my mate to pull the final trigger and cast me out of my pack, my home.
Hunter nodded, stepping forward, and I followed mindlessly as the elder dragged me over the pack border. Like a robot, I followed his instructions as he asked me to place one foot outside the marked area of the pack border, while my other foot remained inside the pack territory.
"Give me your hand," Hunter demanded in a rough voice, and I stretched out my hand. I raised my head, and my eyes met his. He tried to bury his reaction quickly, but I caught it before he could wipe it off. I saw the way his brows bunched for a fleeting second. I saw the emotion flicker through his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
Hunter grabbed my wrist, gripping it tighter than necessary, and I bit back a whine as his claws broke the flesh and pierced through my skin.
The man who had promised to be my shield, to be my everything, held my gaze as he tapped into the pack link, searching for the one thread that bound me to this pack.
The elder recited some words while Hunter held still. My mind frayed, and a sense of emptiness rushed through me as my link to the pack snapped. My lips wobbled as the sudden rush of loneliness gripped my heart in a vice; the pressure and weight of it wrapped my heart in a painful squeeze as the last piece of connection I had with my family fractured.
Hunter let go of my wrist with a rushed breath and marched back to his position beside his family without a backward glance. I felt the touch of a hand nudging me, but I could barely see where it came from as tears clouded my vision, and I staggered backwards. Levana howled out; her agony ripped through my mind as I took the final step out of the pack territory, and a weight I couldn't describe settled on my soul.
Void.
A gaping hole opened in my heart and mind as I stumbled a few steps away from the pack, and my knees wobbled.
I barely paid attention to the last words of the elder; he talked about killing, being a rogue, and returning. I watched with an empty soul and a gaping heart as each pack member shook their head and turned, making their way back to their homes. Hunter moved; he turned away from me and stormed off with the dispersing crowd.
I should have turned around, left, and found my way out of these woods, but I couldn't, not at this moment, as I watched everyone, I once held dear to my heart turn their backs and walk away from me.
Alone.
I had never felt so alone, not even when I was far away in the Philippines with Aunt Diwa because even then, I still had a connection to the pack despite how faint it was due to the distance; it was still a constant reminder that I belonged somewhere, but now that feeling was gone only to be replaced with the intense feeling of forlornness, the glaring truth that I had lost everything.
