Adriel's humiliation in front of the pack; her first taste of betrayal.
Adriel's POV
I didn't make it far before they stopped me.
The invisible line that marked the edge of the ceremonial grounds flared beneath my feet, ancient magic reacting to my fractured bond. Pain lanced up my legs, sharp and punishing, and I cried out as my knees hit the ground.
Gasps echoed behind me.
I tasted blood.
"So dramatic," a female voice scoffed.
I lifted my head slowly, dread pooling in my stomach. Wolves were gathering again, circling me the way predators circle wounded prey.
Long shadows twisted across the ground like grasping hands as torches flared brighter.
This wasn't over.
Elder Kael stepped forward, his weathered face carved with disappointment. "Adriel," he said, his voice cold, stripped of the warmth he once used when I was a child. "You will return to the circle."
"I..." My throat closed. The bond ache pulsed violently in my chest. "I can't."
"You will," he snapped. "You do not leave a mating ceremony in disgrace without consequence."
Two guards grabbed my arms before I could react. Their grips were rough, unapologetic. I didn't fight. I didn't have the strength.
They dragged me back into the clearing.
Every step felt like walking on broken glass.
The pack parted to let us through, their faces illuminated by firelight and judgment. Some looked away while others stared openly, their eyes sharp with curiosity and disgust.
I searched for one face.
Alex.
He stood where I'd left him, tall and unmoved, speaking quietly with another Alpha as if my world hadn't just ended at his feet. His posture was relaxed. Controlled.
Untouched.
Something inside me cracked.
"Bring her forward," Elder Kael ordered.
I was shoved to my knees in the center of the circle, directly beneath the moon's unforgiving glow. The stone was cold, biting through my skin. My hands trembled in my lap.
I had never felt so small.
"Let this be a lesson," Kael said, raising his voice so the entire pack could hear. "The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. But wolves do."
A murmur of agreement followed.
My chest tightened.
"Adriel," he continued, "you were given an honor far beyond your station. And instead of humility, you disgraced this pack."
Shame.
The word burned.
"I didn't ask for this," I whispered.
"Silence," he snapped. "You will speak only when permitted."
Heat rose to my face. My wolf curled inward, wounded and afraid.
From the edge of the circle, someone laughed softly.
Lysa.
She stepped forward, her ceremonial gown shimmering silver against her perfect skin. She had always been beautiful—graceful, admired, untouchable. An Alpha's daughter. Alex's closest ally.
Once, I had thought she was my friend.
"Well," she said lightly, tilting her head as she studied me, "this is awkward."
A few wolves chuckled.
My heart sank.
"I warned her," Lysa continued, her voice sweet and poisonous. "I told her not to get her hopes up. An omega dreaming of an Alpha mate? It was bound to end like this."
She looked at Alex. "Wasn't it?"
He didn't answer.
He didn't look at me either.
The silence was worse than cruelty.
"I think we should all acknowledge what this really is," another elder said. "A dangerous deviation."
My breath hitched.
"Her abilities," he went on, "her unstable nature. Shifting without the moon. Disobedience. Now this humiliation before the Goddess herself."
My head snapped up. "I never disobeyed."
"You exist," he replied calmly. "That is enough."
The words landed like a death sentence.
The pack nodded.
I realized then—this wasn't about the rejection.
This was about erasing me.
"Alex Nightshade," Elder Kael said, turning toward him. "Do you stand by your rejection?"
Alex's jaw tightened. For a fraction of a second, his eyes flicked to mine.
Hope flared—small, stupid, desperate.
"Yes," he said.
The word echoed.
Final.
A sound tore from my throat before I could stop it. My vision blurred, tears spilling freely now. I didn't bother wiping them away. There was no pride left to protect.
"The bond has been severed," Kael announced. "By Alpha right and pack law, Adriel is no longer protected."
My blood ran cold.
"No," I whispered. "Please."
Someone stepped closer.
Then another.
The circle tightened.
This wasn't a ritual anymore.
This was punishment.
Hands grabbed me again, forcing me to stand. My legs barely held me upright. Pain throbbed behind my eyes, and my chest burned like my heart had been branded.
"Take her to the stones," Kael ordered.
Fear exploded through me.
The stones were where wolves were judged. Where sentences were decided. Where mercy was rare.
I twisted in their grip. "I didn't do anything wrong!"
"You were born wrong," Lysa said quietly, her lips curling into a smile only I could see.
Betrayal sliced deeper than any blade.
I met her eyes, realization crashing over me. All the whispers. All the sideways glances. All the times she'd asked too many questions about my abilities.
She had never been my friend.
She had been watching me.
Using me.
The guards shoved me forward, but suddenly something shifted.
A low growl rippled through the clearing.
Not from one wolf but from many.
Confusion flickered across the elders' faces.
I felt it then—the strange heat beneath my skin, the wild pulse in my veins responding to my fear and fury. My wolf stirred, no longer curled inward but rising, pushing back against the pain.
The moonlight around me flickered.
"What is she doing?" someone whispered.
I gasped as power surged through me, raw and untamed. The stones beneath my feet glowed faintly, ancient runes awakening.
Elder Kael stepped back. "Stop this at once."
"I can't," I breathed.
I wasn't trying to fight.
I was trying to survive.
Energy burst outward, knocking the guards back. Gasps turned to shouts. Wolves stumbled, shields raised, eyes wide with fear.
Alex took a sharp step forward.
"Adriel," he said, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Control yourself."
I laughed—a broken, hysterical sound. "You gave up the right to command me."
Our eyes locked.
For the first time that night, something like uncertainty crossed his face.
The ground trembled.
The moon flared brighter.
And deep within me, something ancient answered—not the pack, not the bond, not even the Goddess.
Something darker.
Something awake.
As the elders shouted orders and wolves scrambled to contain me, I realized the truth too late—They hadn't humiliated me to break me.
They had pushed me far enough to become what they feared.
And somewhere in the chaos, Alex Nightshade felt the echo of the power he had just rejected.
As the stones beneath me split with a thunderous crack, a single thought burned through my mind with terrifying clarity: If they wanted a monster… they were about to get one.