Elara POV:
"You have got to be kidding me," Liam said, his voice loud enough for the whole hall to hear.
The disgust in his tone felt like a heavy boulder dropping directly onto my chest.
I struggled to pull air into my lungs.
"Mate?" someone whispered in the crowd.
"The new Alpha is mated to the Omega?" another voice muttered. *The visiting delegates exchanged shocked and scornful glances, their whispers rustling through the silent hall like dry leaves.*
Liam's face turned red with anger and embarrassment.
He looked at me not as a soulmate, but as a piece of trash that had ruined his perfect night.
"I cannot be tied to a weak, pathetic Omega," Liam said, his voice cold and steady. *"My pack needs a strong Luna. Not the maid."*
My inner wolf howled in agony, scratching at the walls of my mind.
*Please, no,* I begged him silently, tears welling in my eyes.
But he did not care about my pain.
He grabbed Sienna's hand and pulled her close to his side.
Sienna smirked at me, a look of pure victory on her face.
Liam took a deep breath, his chest puffing out with Alpha authority.
"I, Liam, reject you, Elara, as my mate," he declared.
*The words did not land like a blow. Instead, a great weight settled inside my chest, my diaphragm seized in a violent, cramping spasm, and I could draw no air from the hall's suddenly thin atmosphere. A taste like rusted iron flooded the back of my throat.*
The invisible bond that the Moon Goddess had tied between our souls was stretching, tearing apart forcefully.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air.
The beautiful scent of pine and chocolate turned sour, smelling like rotting wood and ash.
My vision blurred with heavy tears.
*The pain was a suffocating blanket. The great chandeliers overhead began to blur into indistinct halos of light, and the murmuring of the crowd receded, replaced by a high, thin ringing in my ears.*
"Say it," Liam commanded, looking down at me.
I shook my head, my hands clutching my chest.
If I accepted the rejection, the bond would snap completely.
The shock could kill a weak wolf.
"Say it, Omega!" Sienna yelled, kicking my side with her sharp shoe.
I coughed, tasting blood in my mouth.
I looked around the room.
Hundreds of faces stared back at me.
No one offered help.
No one felt pity.
I was nothing to them.
I gathered the last bit of strength in my broken body.
I looked up at the man who was supposed to love me forever.
"I, Elara," I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
I paused, coughing again.
"I, Elara, accept your rejection."
A loud, thunderous crack echoed in my mind.
The bond snapped.
*My inner wolf gave a final, broken cry, and then there was only a profound and terrifying silence in the space she had occupied.*
A fresh wave of unbearable agony ripped through my muscles.
But this pain was different from the heartbreak.
This pain was physical.
My bones began to heat up, feeling as if they were melting inside my flesh.
My spine arched backward against my will.
I screamed, a loud, raw sound that echoed off the high ceiling of the hall.
The rejection had triggered my first shift, and it was happening right now, in front of everyone. I didn't know if I would survive. But if I did, I would never be weak again.
