POV: Cassian
Oaths spoken freely weigh more than commands.
I kneel in front of Aphrodite, renouncing everything I was raised to be, and feel completely unmoored. The rocky ground bites into my knees, sharp edges of stone pressing through fabric. My heart hammers against my ribs, a wild rhythm that makes my hands want to shake.
No pack. No rank. No identity beyond what I choose to create.
The Beta position defined me since birth, wrapped around my shoulders like a mantle I never questioned. Every action, every decision, filtered through that role. Enforcer of pack law. Right hand to Alpha authority. Pillar of hierarchy. The weight of it shaped how I walked, how I spoke, how I thought.
Gone. All of it gone in the time it takes to speak three sentences, the words still hanging in the air between us like smoke.
