POV: Aria
The pain was everywhere.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The severed mate bond felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped out my heart while it was still beating.
"Get up, Omega." A guard's boot nudged my side. "You're embarrassing the Alpha."
I tried to move, but my body wouldn't obey. The rejection pain burned through every nerve, every bone. My wolf was silent—completely silent for the first time in my life. Like she'd died inside me.
Maybe she had.
"Look at her," someone laughed. "Crying on the ground like the pathetic thing she is."
"Did she really think the Alpha would accept her?"
"The Moon Goddess must have been drunk."
Their laughter mixed with the sound of music starting up again. The ceremony was continuing. My rejected mate bond meant nothing to them. I was just entertainment now.
Through blurry vision, I saw Kade standing with Seraphina. She was crying happy tears as he wiped them away gently. He touched her like she was precious. Like she mattered.
He'd never touch me that way.
"Aria." A soft voice broke through my pain. Gentle hands helped me sit up.
Lisa. The only wolf who'd ever been kind to me. She was an Omega too, but she'd found her mate last year—a kind Beta named Thomas who actually loved her.
"Come on," she whispered. "Let's get you out of here before—"
"Stop."
Kade's Alpha command froze everyone in place. My body went rigid even though every muscle screamed in agony. He walked toward us, and the crowd parted like he was a king.
He stopped in front of me. I couldn't look up. Couldn't face him.
"The pack council has been summoned," Kade announced. His voice was cold, businesslike. Like I was a problem to be solved, not the mate the Moon Goddess had chosen for him. "A rejected mate bond is serious business."
My heart lurched. Hope flickered stupidly in my chest. Maybe the council would make him reconsider. Maybe—
"We need to decide her punishment."
The hope died.
"Punishment?" Lisa gasped. "But she didn't do anything wrong! The mate bond just—"
"Silence." Kade's eyes flashed gold—his wolf rising to the surface. "This doesn't concern you."
Thomas pulled Lisa back, shaking his head. Don't fight the Alpha. That's what his expression said. You'll only make it worse.
Two guards hauled me to my feet. My legs barely supported my weight, but they dragged me forward anyway. The crowd watched like I was a criminal being led to execution.
The pack council sat in a semicircle near the platform. Five elderly wolves who'd served the pack for decades. Their faces showed no sympathy as I was forced to kneel before them.
"Aria Nightshade," Elder Marcus began. "Tonight, you formed a mate bond with Alpha Kade Blackthorn."
I said nothing. What could I say?
"The Alpha rejected you, as is his right under pack law." Elder Marcus's voice was neutral, but I heard the judgment underneath. "However, a rejected mate bond creates... complications."
"What kind of complications?" I whispered.
"Your bond, though severed, leaves a mark," Elder Vivian spoke up. She was the oldest wolf on the council, her hair completely white. "Other wolves will smell the Alpha's rejection on you. It brings shame to the pack."
Shame. Of course. Everything always came back to shame for Omegas.
"Then I'll leave," I said quickly. "I'll go to another pack, somewhere far away where—"
"No pack will take you." Elder Marcus cut me off. "A rejected Omega is considered cursed. Bad luck. No Alpha would risk bringing that into their territory."
The words hit me like stones. Cursed. Bad luck. Unwanted everywhere.
"Then what do you want from me?" My voice broke. "What am I supposed to do?"
The council members exchanged glances. Finally, Elder Marcus looked at Kade. "The decision is yours, Alpha. She was your mate."
Kade stepped forward. For one insane second, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes. Regret? Hesitation?
Then it was gone.
"A rejected mate is a curse on the pack," Kade said, his voice carrying across the ceremonial grounds. "And curses must be removed."
My blood turned to ice.
"I hereby sentence Aria Nightshade to exile in the Forbidden Lands." Kade's green eyes finally met mine, and they were empty. Like I was nothing. Like I'd never been anything. "You have until dawn to cross the border. If you're still in our territory when the sun rises, you'll be executed."
The Forbidden Lands.
Everyone knew what that meant. It was the cursed territory north of the pack lands, where exiled wolves went to die. Where rogues and dark magic lived. Where no one who entered ever came back.
It was a death sentence dressed up as mercy.
"Please." I hated how my voice shook. "Please, I'll do anything. I'll never speak to you again, I'll—"
"Dawn, Aria." Kade turned away. "Don't make me hunt you down."
Seraphina stepped forward, linking her arm through his. She looked at me with cold satisfaction. "You should have known your place, Omega. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes—she tests us. Kade passed the test by rejecting you."
The council dismissed me with a wave. The guards released my arms, and I collapsed back onto the ground.
The ceremony music started again. Wolves returned to dancing, to drinking, to celebrating their mate bonds. My exile was already forgotten.
Lisa helped me to my feet one more time. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so, so sorry."
I stumbled away from the ceremonial grounds, toward the small shack where Omegas lived. I had maybe four hours until dawn. Four hours until I had to walk into the Forbidden Lands and never come back.
Four hours left to live.
Behind me, I heard applause and cheers. Kade had just announced his engagement to Seraphina. They'd hold their mating ceremony in two weeks.
My legs gave out. I fell to my knees in the dirt and finally let myself break.
The Moon Goddess had given me a mate just to let him destroy me.
And now she was sending me to die alone.
Through my sobs, I made a decision. If I was going to die in the Forbidden Lands anyway, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of watching me suffer first.
I'd walk into that cursed forest with my head high.
And I'd let the darkness take me on my own terms.