Chapter 4 What did you say

Seraphina POV

The lobby seemed to tilt. The freezing claws of the Terminal Soul Wither dug deeper into my chest, shredding my lungs until every breath tasted like blood and ice. He didn't call me here to set me free. He wanted me to build the throne for Isabelle.

"No," I whispered, my voice trembling but laced with a hollow, unbreakable resolve.

Talia blinked, her triumphant smirk faltering. "Excuse me?"

I reached into my coat pocket, my numb fingers brushing against the heavy brass key to the Blackwood estate. The only home I had known for the past three years. I pulled it out and dropped it onto the polished black marble counter. It landed with a heavy, final clink that echoed in the cavernous reception area.

"Tell your Alpha I won't be writing his petition," I said, staring dead into Talia's shocked eyes. "I am done with this Pack. I am done with him."

Without waiting for her response, I turned on my good heel. The fractured bone in my ankle screamed in agony, but I forced myself to walk, limping heavily toward the revolving glass doors.

"You're making a mistake, Omega!" Talia called out behind me, her voice dripping with venomous disbelief. "You'll come crawling back! You always do!"

I didn't look back. I just needed to get to my car. I needed to disappear.

Damien POV

I severed the mind-link with the Crescent Pack Alpha, rubbing my temples to ward off an impending headache. The scent of sterile office air and cheap vanilla perfume announced Talia's arrival as she stepped out of the private elevator into my penthouse office.

"Is the petition handled?" I demanded, not looking up from the alliance contracts on my ebony desk.

"She refused, Alpha," Talia said, her voice tight. She stepped forward and placed a familiar brass key on my desk. "She left this. She said she is done with the Pack. And... security logs show she actually left the estate yesterday morning. It's the first time she's stepped off the grounds in three years."

Left?

A sudden, violent tremor shook my chest.

Mine! Our mate is leaving! Kael, my inner wolf, snarled viciously, thrashing against my ribs in a blind, suffocating panic. You fool! You are driving her away!

I gritted my teeth, my hands gripping the edge of the desk until the wood groaned. I forced the beast down, suffocating his pathetic whimpers. It wasn't panic. It was fury. How dare a useless, wolfless Omega challenge my authority? How dare she think she could just walk away without my permission?

"She doesn't get to leave until I say so," I growled. My Alpha aura leaked into the room, heavy and suffocating, forcing Talia to lower her head and bare her neck in submission. "Call her right now. Tell her she has two choices. She finishes that document for Isabelle, or I will officially declare her grandmother and uncle as enemies of the Pack. No territory will harbor them. They will be hunted as Rogues."

Talia swallowed hard, clearly confused by my refusal to just let the trash walk away, but she nodded quickly. "Yes, Alpha. I will call her immediately."

She turned toward the elevator but hesitated. "There is one more thing. A human courier dropped off a thick envelope from her this morning, addressed to Beta Liam."

I waved a dismissive hand, already reaching out to re-open the mind-link with my allies. "File it with the rest of her garbage. I don't have time for her desperate attempts for attention."

"Understood."

Talia walked over to the bottom drawer of my desk-the one dedicated to the useless trinkets Seraphina used to send me. I didn't even glance up as Talia tossed the heavy, unopened envelope inside. It landed softly atop a pile of dust-covered star charts and pressed bookmarks.

The drawer clicked shut, burying whatever pathetic plea she had sent in the dark.