“You filthy witch!” Maia grabbed my arm, nails digging into my skin. “After everything we’ve done for you! We gave you a home, an education, a job—and this is how you repay us? By trying to bewitch my son?”
“I didn’t—” I tried to say, but someone shoved me from behind.
Then another hand. Another push.
The crowd was pressing in, their hatred a physical force. Someone threw a champagne glass that shattered at my feet. Then food. Drinks. Whatever they could grab.
I covered my face with my arms, trying to protect myself as jeers and insults rained down like blows.
“Enough!”
Dimitri’s voice cut through the chaos. The crowd parted reluctantly, giving him space. When I looked up at him through my tears, hope flickered weakly in my chest.
Maybe he would defend me. Maybe he would…but he wouldn’t even meet my eyes. Wouldn’t even look at me.
“Selene is right,” he said, his voice devoid of any warmth. “Isabella Garrett is my Fated Mate.”
“How would you know the bond is real?” Maia demanded, her voice shrill. “She’s bewitched you!”
“No, Mother.” Dimitri’s voice carried across the silent crowd. “Because if she had, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
He took a breath, and I watched his throat work as he prepared to destroy me.
“I, Dimitri Ravencrest, future Alpha of Garnia Pack, reject Isabella Garrettas my Mate.”
A searing, white-hot, all-consuming pain exploded in my chest.
The bond that had connected us, that had made me feel complete for the first time in my life ,began to tear.
It wasn’t a clean break. It was agony, like someone had reached into my chest and was slowly ripping out my heart while I was still alive to feel every second of it.
My wolf howled, a sound of pure anguish that echoed through my entire being. She clawed at the shredding bond, desperately trying to hold on, to keep what was ours.
But it was no use.
“The bond is false,” Dimitri continued, each word twisting the knife deeper. “A trick of proximity and forbidden attraction. Nothing more.”
The bond continued to unravel. Each severed connection felt like losing a piece of my soul, like having my identity stripped away layer by agonizing layer.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see past the tears. Couldn’t feel anything except the bond dying, taking my wolf’s spirit with it.
“I choose Selene Ashworth as my Mate and future Luna,” Dimitri announced. “Tonight, I formally announce our engagement.”
The crowd erupted in cheers, but I couldn’t hear them over the roaring in my ears, over my wolf’s cries of pain.
Something inside me broke—not just the bond, but something fundamental. Something that couldn’t be repaired.
My wolf retreated into the deepest, darkest part of my soul, wounded beyond measure. Not dead, but so damaged she’d hidden herself away where even I couldn’t reach her.
I was incomplete. Broken. Shattered beyond repair.
Through the agony, I saw Dimitri’s eyes finally find mine. I saw regret there. Pain. Grief. But it didn’t mean a thing.
The crowd was still cheering, celebrating my destruction.
With nothing left to do, I picked myself up and ran.
I pushed through the crowd, blind with tears and pain as I ran to my room.
