Unbonding the Ruthless Alpha

Chapter 5

Aria's POV

The moment the car door shut, the rain swallowed me whole.

It wasn't gentle rain.

It wasn't the kind you see in movies.

It was cold, vicious, and instant.

The temperature hit me like a slap, cutting straight to the bone, stealing my breath. My clothes were plastered to my skin in seconds, heavy and useless.

The world narrowed to darkness, wetness, and the sound of my own heart beating too fast.

The car's taillights burned two red holes in the downpour.

Two little dots.

They blinked.

Then vanished around a bend.

Just like that—

I was alone.

Not the quiet kind of alone.

The kind where the darkness presses in from all sides.

The kind where the forest itself feels like it's watching.

I stood there as the rain ran down my face, my hair, my neck, soaking me until there was no warmth left to lose.

My husband had left me here.

My fated mate.

Ditched me like an inconvenient piece of baggage.

Because another woman was waiting for him.

She'd said, "Damon... I'm scared... I'm bleeding..."

And he'd told her not to be afraid.

He'd told her to wait.

He'd told her he was coming.

Each word was a brand, one after the other, searing my chest until my heart felt raw and exposed.

And me?

I wasn't worth a second of hesitation. No debate. No argument.

I just needed to disappear.

Immediately.

Because Claudia was waiting.

There was never a choice between me and the woman he loved.

No—I wasn't even an option. I was the wrong answer, crossed out before the question was even finished.

The rain seeped deeper, into places I didn't know I could still feel.

My body began to shake, little uncontrollable tremors that made my teeth chatter.

Every breath scraped my chest, short and shallow, and every step I tried to take made my lower abdomen clench in agony.

My wolf curled into a tight ball in the back of my consciousness.

She didn't growl. She didn't fight.

She just... went still.

That scared me more than anything.

A flash of lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating the winding mountain road ahead—slick, narrow, disappearing into blackness.

I couldn't stay here.

I would die.

Not heroically. Not meaningfully.

Just coldly. Forgotten. Alone.

With stiff fingers, I pulled out my phone. Opened Uber.

No cars available in your area.

I tried again.

Same result.

Of course.

I stared at the screen for a long moment, then let my arm fall limply.

That left only one option.

Walk.

The first step sent a fresh, twisting agony through my abdomen.

I only made it a short distance before I had to crouch down, hand pressed hard against the pain, riding the wave until it receded enough to let me move again.

I had no choice.

Just like I'd had no choice two years ago.

"Aria, you are his fated mate," my father had said, his eyes bloodshot, his voice ragged with desperation.

"It's the only way. To save the family. To end the feud. Damon Hawthorne will be a powerful Alpha. He will protect you."

Fated.

Meant to be soul-deep resonance.

The Moon Goddess's blessing. One life. One bond.

I'd been foolish enough to think—maybe—something else could grow from it. If not love, then respect. At least peace.

I learned how wrong I was, and quickly.

My last hope had died on a hospital bed today.

Tonight buried the rest.

By the time I reached the estate gates, I was staggering.

I floated through the entrance like a ghost.

Up the stairs.

Into the room marked 'Mrs. Hawthorne.'

I peeled off the wet clothes, my fingers numb, moving slowly as if shedding a skin that had never truly fit.

I looked at myself in the mirror—

Pale as a ghost.

Hollow-eyed.

Lips tinged blue.

Like a doll that had been played with, broken, and discarded.

Like a corpse.

My temples were throbbing, and my mind, in cruel, vivid detail, painted a scene: him bursting into a hospital room, face etched with panic, gathering her into his arms. Murmuring soft reassurances. Maybe pressing a desperate kiss to her forehead.

He would stay all night, holding her hand until she slept.

His scent would envelop her.

His warmth would protect her.

A sudden, strangling pain tore through my chest.

It was worse than the pain after the procedure. Worse than any physical hurt.

It ripped directly from the core of my soul, as if something essential was being forcibly, brutally torn out of me.

The thing I'd stupidly called hope.

Or maybe the bond itself.

Inside me, my wolf finally spoke.

Not with rage.

Not with sorrow.

But with a low, mournful howl that seemed to come from somewhere deep and primal—a sound of pure grief and acceptance.

It echoed through every part of me, breaking through the lies I'd been telling myself.

And in its wake, one thought remained, crystal clear:

Enough.

Truly, enough.

This pathetic marriage—disguised as fate, built on debts and hatred—this prison that had drained every ounce of warmth from me until I was nothing but a hollow shell.

It was time.

Time to blow it all apart.

I took a deep breath, and then—

I reached into the deepest part of my bloodline, into the ancient Grayson legacy, and woke the oldest, most merciless power sleeping there. The power that could sever soul bonds.

It needed no incantation.

No ritual.

Just absolute will to destroy—and the willingness to sacrifice part of myself.

My consciousness tore through the night, ignoring distance and barriers, locking onto the one whose soul was still linked to mine through that fragile, fraying thread—

Damon Hawthorne.

With the last of my strength, with all my pain and pride, with hatred and relief twisted together, I forged my will into words—a vow and a curse—and branded them onto his soul:

"I, Aria Grayson..."

Then, word by word, I declared:

"...reject you as my mate."