Chapter 5

Damian POV

The bloodcurdling howl of my Inner Wolf still echoed in the suffocating silence of my office. The Rejection Scroll lay on my desk, its shimmering silver ink mocking the very foundation of my existence. My scent, once a proud storm of pine and leather, was now a rancid cloud of panic and despair.

Marina scoffed, the sound slicing through my agony like a rusted blade.

"See? It's exactly what I said," she sneered, crossing her arms as she stared at the scroll. Her deeply ingrained prejudice blinded her to the reality of the Silver Crescent seal. "Sign it, brother. Call her bluff. Dump that wolfless disgrace once and for all. Kacie is the Luna you actually deserve."

The name *Kacie* hit my ears like a physical blow. My soul was actively bleeding from the tearing Mate-bond, and my sister's sheer, venomous stupidity was the final strike against my fractured sanity.

A monstrous, inhuman snarl ripped from my chest.

*"Get out!"*

The Alpha's Command exploded from me, heavy, dark, and absolute. Marina's eyes bulged in sheer terror as her body locked up entirely, her knees slamming into the hardwood floor against her will.

I didn't even look at her. I forced a Mind-Link to my Beta, who was hovering just outside the door. *"Drag her out. If she steps foot in this wing again without my permission, I will strip her of her rank."*

My Beta rushed in, his face pale as he grabbed Marina by the arms, hauling her rigid, trembling body out of the room. The heavy oak doors clicked shut, leaving me entirely alone in a tomb of my own making.

My hands gripped the edge of the mahogany desk until the wood splintered. Driven by a blind, pathetic desperation, I gathered every ounce of my willpower and forced a Mind-Link through the agonizing, static-filled remnants of our sacred bond.

*"Celine!"* I roared into the mental void, my voice cracking with a plea I had never used in my life.

For a second, there was nothing. Then, her voice echoed back-cold, distant, and biting like a Siberian winter wind.

*"What is it, Alpha Blackwood? Did you get the scroll? Sign it."*

Her absolute indifference shredded my heart. She didn't care. She felt nothing for me. The realization twisted my grief into a frantic, irrational jealousy.

*"Is it someone else?"* I demanded, my breathing ragged. *"Did you go back to the Silver Crescent Pack for another Alpha?! Is that why you're doing this so fast?!"*

A soft, humorless laugh echoed in my mind. *"That is none of your business. Go tend to your Omega, Kacie. My biggest mistake was ever believing the Moon Goddess made you for me."*

*"Celine, wait-"*

*Snap.*

She severed the Mind-Link with the brutal force of a guillotine. The sudden, deafening silence in my head felt like a physical blow from a sledgehammer. I stumbled back, clutching my chest as my Inner Wolf whimpered, clawing frantically at the walls of my mind.

She was gone. She wasn't coming back. She would never forgive what Kacie and I had done.

Driven by the blinding, suffocating agony of humiliation and a shattered heart, I snatched the silver pen from my desk. My hand shook violently as I pressed the nib to the heavy parchment. I slashed my signature beneath hers, officially accepting the Rejection.

The moment the ink dried, the world stopped.

A horrific, soul-cleaving pain erupted in my chest, as if invisible hands had reached into my ribcage and ripped my heart in two. I gasped, falling to my knees as a mouthful of dark blood spilled from my lips, staining the velvet rug.

The sacred Mate-bond snapped completely.

I lay on the floor, gasping for air, waiting for the pain to subside, waiting for the release I thought the Rejection would bring. But there was no release.

I inhaled sharply, searching for her. But the faint, lingering scent of jasmine under moonlight and silver frost-the scent that had secretly anchored my soul for three years-was gone. It was wiped from my senses entirely, as if Celine Moon had never existed.

*You killed us,* my Inner Wolf snarled, his voice dripping with pure, venomous hatred toward me. *You threw away our soul.*

I stared at the blood on the floor, the gray, hollow emptiness swallowing me whole. I hadn't just lost a Mate. I had severed the very tether that kept me human, leaving behind a bleeding black hole that would never, ever heal.