•Amara's POV
The words hit me square in the chest like a hard blow delivered during a fight.
The air left my lungs just as the entire pack gasped collectively in shock.
But I could barely hear them over the sound of my own heart shattering.
"What do you mean you reject me?" I said to him in a voice that shook badly.
My entire word was spinning.
Kade's eyes met mine.
And for just a moment, I saw a flash of the man that I had fallen in love with.
Then it was gone.
It was quickly replaced by the cold mask of an Alpha making a political decision.
"I need a new Luna," he said to me in an acerbic tone that crushed me.
I gaped softly, uncertain if what to do as my hands hurriedly flew to my pocket.
I was panicking.
I needed to show him the pregnancy test that was supposed to save us.
I needed to tell him that both of us had finally been able to make a baby.
"Come," Kade called out to the shadows and I looked up at the sound of his voice.
A woman stepped out of the shadows, draped in the Luna robes.
The moment I saw her, I knew that I couldn't do anything again anymore.
It was Elara, and she had a triumphant smile playing across her lips.
She was beautiful in a way that made my stomach to clench with anxiety.
Elara Moonridge had long golden hair and perfect curves highlighted by her dress.
My heart skipped several beats as my hands dropped away from my pocket.
Disbelief caused my throat to tighten.
"No," I whispered, but my voice was lost in the sudden silence that followed.
"Yes Amara," Kade countered.
He stared at me for the longest of time with a guilty look in his emerald orbs.
And then he turned away.
"Silvergrove pack," he announced, "I have called this assembly here tonight to make an important announcement."
My head was spinning and I crouched a bit to keep myself from falling backwards.
"You are dismissed from your position Amara," he began. "Elara with take it."
Whispers filled the pack as my heart twisted and my stomach clenched tight.
The council was instantly nodding their approval with gleaming eyes.
"You shall hand over your crown to Elara and step down," he delivered.
"No," I muttered. "No! No!" I began to scream while I shook my head.
Kade couldn't do this to me.
Not now.
"Stop throwing a tantrum," he spat with disgust. "Come," Kade gestured to her.
Elara walked up to him after casting a mocking smile my way.
Elder Thorne stepped forward to proclaim Elara the new Luna of Silvergrove pack.
"I introduce Elra of the Moon ridge pack to you all as your new Luna," he said.
And just like that, it was gine.
Everything I had worked for and everything I had been was given to someone else.
Tears filled my eyes and began to rush down my face before I could hold back.
It felt like I was slowly watching one of my haunting nightmares unfold.
I clutched my heart which was splitting into several chinese formations.
Tonight wasn't supposed to go like this.
I was supposed to tell him about the baby and we were supposed to celebrate.
But as it seemed now, our baby might never have a father.
"Why?" I demanded in a cracked voice. "Why are you doing this to me?"
The look in his eyes when he answered me would continue to haunt me.
"Amara, it is because you are pathetic," he spat in a cold, clinical voice.
My jaw dropped slack.
"You are a weak wolf that I have detested for longer than I care to admit."
The pack had gasped.
And even the Elders had looked surprised and stunned by the cruelty of his words.
The disdain in his eyes, the disgust in his time did something unspeakable to me.
"I need a Luna who can give me heirs," he continued to yell at me.
My legs started to give out, but I battled to keep standing and hold the fort.
"And not a barren, useless wife who brings about nothing to this pack!" he added.
He gestured towards Elara.
"I need someone who is stronger and far better than you Amara, a Luna."
She stepped forward with a satisfied smile that I would never be able to forget.
"See my choice, Amara," he gloated. "See what a real Luna should look like."
"You can't do this to me Kade," I muttered in a pleading voice. "I am your mate."
"Accept the rejection Amara!" He bellowed as he grabbed me by the shoulders.
He shook me as he spoke.
"Accept it so we can part ways! I do not want to be tied to a weakling as you!"
My heart dropped to my feet.
"I can not Kade!" I screamed. "You promised me forever in the mating ceremony."
Kade stepped back with a tsk.
"Amara, there is nothing like forever for a weak, incompetent and barren liability."
His voice was cold.
His words where like ice arrows shot straight at my heart without mercy.
It moved sleek, like cupid.
But, it was damaging.
"You are unworthy of the crown you wear and the position that you keep."
My legs began to shake.
Tears clouded my eyes, pain veiled my heart and disappointment glazed me.
I could have fought.
I could have screamed about the baby that was now growing inside of me.
I could have chosen to destroy every one of them there with the truth.
The pack would have been torn apart by the scandal of it had unfolded them.
And even Kade would have been forced to take me back because of the pregancy.
But, I didn't.
I didn't do any of that.
I couldn't do it.
Instead, I looked at Kade one more time, my eyes memorizing every inch of his face.
Then I reached up to remove my crown, the weight of it suddenly unbearable.
The pack watched in stunned silence as I placed it on the floor at Kade's feet.
"This is what you want?" I asked him with a broken voice and trembling hands.
"Yes Amara, I want you and your weak liability ass far away from me."
It was all the words I needed to hear to realize my fucking place.
"I, Amara Nightshade, reject you, Kade Blackwater, as my mate and Alpha."
The bond deep inside of me violently ripped apart as I let out a piercing scream.
It was a sound that was so raw it didn't even seem normal to me at all.
All of my pain, my agony and the fury from the betrayal was channeled into it.
The hall went deathly silent.
My fingers trembled as I dropped to my knees before him, rigged by pain.
Every inch of me felr like it was being marred and torn apart viciously.
Something built up, churning inside of my stomach before it was forced up.
It was blood.
I lurched forward as the blood sprayed out of my mouth with a hard core intensity.
I steadied myself with a hand in the floor and felt relief right after gagging.
For a moment after that, I couldn't breath as I just knelt there.
I waited till my breathing was steady and I was composed enough.
I rose to my feet, battling to do it but becoming victorious at the end.
Then, I looked Kade in the eyes one last time and whispered to him.
"You will regret this when you learn what you have lost," I muttered.
I had expected him to stop me.
Some part of me hoped he would realize what he was doing and take it all back.
He didn't.
Instead, he had stood there like a statue while the pack stared at me in shock.
And I had stood there with the crown at my feet and my heart in pieces.
I realized it wouldn't be worth it.
I realized that I didn't want a mate who had to be forced to stay with me.
I didn't want to raise my child in a pack that would always see me as weaklinh.
"It is over," I said to him in a bitter voice. "Our forever has finally ended."
Then I had turned and walked out of the great hall with my head held high.
I left my crown, my mate and the life I had thought would last forever behind.
In my pocket, the pregnancy test felt like the heaviest thing in the world.
