Chapter 3 Severing The Mate Bond

"What do you mean, Cynthia?" Killian's voice trembled.

As he looked at me, a real fracture appeared for the first time in those always-arrogant eyes.

"Sit down! Cynthia! I order you not to move!"

A powerful Alpha aura erupted, pressing down on me, trying to force me into submission like before.

The surrounding guests dropped to their knees under the crushing pressure, trembling violently.

Only I remained standing.

The force that once made my knees buckle now brushed over me like nothing more than a passing wind.

Because my heart had already died.

What could an Alpha threaten someone who no longer feared death?

I reached up and pulled off the ridiculous clown wig, tossing it into a puddle of spilled wine.

Then I used my sleeve to wipe away the grotesque red paint from my face, little by little.

It felt as though I was erasing the past ten years of my youth, and the foolish girl I had once been.

"Killian, you know what? I truly loved you once. I thought if I obeyed you, if you remembered what we once had, you would at least save my mother. But it turns out I wasn't even worth a joke in your heart."

"Cynthia, stop!" Killian's face turned ghostly ashen. Veins bulged along his neck as he lunged forward, as if he could physically silence me. "Don't say another word! We can start over. As long as you..."

"There's no starting over. Do you know why I insisted on saving my mother?"

I stepped toward him slowly. My wolf roared inside me.

"Because she was the only person in this world who truly loved me. And you," I pointed at him, tears streaming down my face as I laughed, "you used that love to make me drink poison alcohol, to turn me into a clown, to make me kneel like an idiot before a murderer. Killian, you're the pathetic one. You keep calling me a traitor. Take a look at yourself now."

"Enough!" Killian's face drained of color again. The veins in his neck stood out sharply. "Cynthia, don't push me! I hid your mother's death to make you atone. It was the only way you would obey!"

"Atone?" I let out a cold laugh. "Atonement means making me unknowingly earn three months of morgue fees for my own mother? Atonement means letting the woman in your arms crush my mother's only keepsake?"

I turned sharply toward Vivian.

The once-arrogant woman was now screaming, clutching Killian's sleeve in panic. "Killian, she's lost her mind! Kill her!"

"You're right."

I nodded, my gaze wild yet resolute. "The old Cynthia is dead. She died in that bottle of liquor. She died on that death certificate."

I took a deep breath.

"Cynthia, what are you doing?" For the first time, real fear surfaced in Killian's eyes. He reached out in panic, trying to grab me. "Don't do anything foolish. If you just behave, I can..."

"You can what? Buy my mother a nicer urn?"

I stepped back. I widened the distance between us.

I straightened my spine and gathered every ounce of strength into my voice.

I looked straight into Killian's eyes and shouted the vow that would damn him forever. "I, Cynthia Hartwell, reject you, Killian Ashford, as my Alpha and mate! For the monstrous lie you spun! And for my mother's death! Our Mate Bond is broken. From this moment until death!"

As the final word left my lips, a streak of crimson lightning tore across the night sky beyond the windows.

It was the Moon Goddess bearing witness.

It was punishment descending.

Killian let out a scream of pure agony.

The Mate Bond that linked our souls was torn apart by force.

He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed heavily to his knees.

He clutched his chest as if trying to hold himself together. "No... Cynthia... no..."

He remained on his knees, blood staining his lips, his hand trembling as he reached for me. The pride and coldness in his eyes were gone. Only terror and despair remained. "Please... don't leave... take it back..."

The guests descended into complete chaos.

Screams rang out. Tables and chairs crashed to the floor.

"Oh my God! She rejected the Alpha!"

"Killian is coughing up blood! Call the Healer!"

Vivian stood frozen for a second, then shrieked at the guards, "Grab her! Get that bitch! She's killing the Alpha!"

Dozens of armed guards rushed in from every direction, sealing off every exit within seconds.

I glanced once more at Killian kneeling on the floor.

He writhed in agony like an abandoned stray.

I felt no satisfaction.

"Goodbye, Killian."

I turned, seized a chair, and smashed it into the floor-to-ceiling window behind me.

Then I ran toward the shattered opening without hesitation.

Glass shards exploded outward.

I leapt into the dark, rain-soaked night.

Behind me, Killian's voice ripped through the storm. "Cynthia!"

But it was too late.

The rain drenched me in seconds, washing away the clown paint on my skin and the last fragile bond between us.

I shielded my abdomen and ran barefoot across the muddy lawn.

The cramps grew sharper with every step. I knew I would not last much longer.

But I had to run.

Not to save my own life.

But to take this unborn child farther away from the nightmare named Killian Ashford.

The rain fell harder and harder.

I plunged into the endless darkness of the border forest.

I left the grand estate behind. I left the man I had loved for ten years behind. Forever.