The Banished Mate
1058 Words
The great hall was crowded by midday, the murmurs of the gathered pack rising and falling like distant thunder. Wolves of all ranks filled the space, lining the stone floor with their silence and scrutiny. The light streaming through the high windows cast long shafts of pale gold across the center platform, where Alpha Caden stood, Liana at his side.
Ariana’s heart hammered as she stepped into the room, her boots echoing sharply. Mira stood nearby, face solemn but unreadable. The other elders flanked her, lips drawn tight.
She didn’t wait to be invited forward.
“I have something to say,” Ariana called, her voice firm, slicing clean through the murmurs.
Caden’s head turned slowly. His expression didn’t register surprise—just irritation. Liana’s lips parted in a breathy sigh as if this were all so exhausting for her.
“You’ve said enough,” Caden said, his voice cold.
“No,” Ariana shot back. “I haven’t. Not until the truth is spoken.”
Gasps stirred through the pack like dry leaves in the wind.
She turned to the crowd. “Liana used a scent-binding spell. f*******n magic. She stole my scent—my bond. I overheard her admitting it. She used my blood, my hair, and tricked you all.”
A growl rumbled low in Caden’s throat. “Enough.”
“She’s not your true mate,” Ariana pressed, desperate now. “She used binding oil. That scent you followed—it wasn’t hers. It was mine.”
“She’s lying,” Liana said quickly, eyes wide and shining. “She’s confused. This is what grief does. Please, don’t listen to her.”
A few wolves nodded in sympathy. A few others looked uncomfortable.
“I am not confused,” Ariana snapped. “And I am not broken. You—” she pointed to Liana, voice trembling with rage, “you took everything from me.”
Caden’s eyes narrowed. “This again. You disgrace yourself.”
“I disgrace myself?” Ariana’s voice rose, raw with disbelief. “I am the one who was betrayed! You didn’t even pause to question it. You just claimed her—like I never existed.”
“I followed the bond,” he said tightly. “The scent I felt pulled to.”
“The scent she stole!” Ariana shouted. “You’re too arrogant to admit you were tricked!”
The silence that followed cracked like thunder.
Caden stepped forward, his power rolling off him in waves. “You accuse your Luna. You accuse your Alpha. And you do so with no proof, no witnesses, no honor.”
Mira opened her mouth to speak, but Caden raised a hand. “No. I will not hear more of this. Ariana Silverclaw—by your own actions, you have declared yourself unbound to this pack. Your words have caused division, your bitterness unrest.”
“You would exile me for telling the truth?” Ariana said, barely able to speak.
“I would exile you,” Caden said coldly, “for turning your back on your Alpha.”
The air left the room.
“I can’t believe you,” Ariana whispered. “You know me.”
“I knew who I thought you were,” he said. “Now I see I was wrong.”
Liana leaned into him, clutching his arm like she was trying to steady herself—when Ariana knew damn well the performance was for everyone else.
“I, Caden, Alpha of the Northwind Pack,” he said loud enough for all to hear, “declare you banished until further notice. You will not cross our borders again without permission. You are no longer of this territory.”
Ariana’s feet felt frozen to the stone. The weight of the words crashed through her like a breaking dam. She had known this was a risk. But the finality of it, the sheer cruelty of Caden’s voice, pierced her like a blade.
The pack parted in silence as she turned and walked out.
She didn’t run at first.
She walked.
Out of the hall.
Out of the village.
Out of everything she had known.
It wasn’t until she passed the last ridge of the training grounds, where the pine forest thickened and the light began to fade into green-shadowed silence, that she finally broke.
Her legs moved faster. Then faster still.
She ran until her lungs burned and her tears blurred the trees. Until the weight of everything crashed down and the cold wind tore at her cloak like a curse.
She ran until the village was nothing but a memory behind her.
She collapsed near the riverbank, trembling.
The sounds of the forest whispered around her—branches creaking, birds calling, a stream gurgling gently nearby. Her breath came in shuddering waves. Her fists clenched the dirt beneath her knees.
He had exiled her.
He hadn’t even doubted her.
She had risked everything to tell the truth, and he’d discarded her like she was nothing.
The betrayal ran deeper than any wound.
A snapping branch behind her made her flinch. She spun, claws half-drawn.
A figure stood just beyond the tree line.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Cloaked in dark gray, eyes glinting in the shadows.
“Who are you?” she called out, voice raw.
The man stepped forward slowly, hands raised.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said. “I’m here because your scent was stolen. And I’ve been trying to find the real one.”
Ariana staggered to her feet, heart pounding. “You—what did you say?”
“I said,” the man replied, stepping into the light, “that you don’t smell like her. You never did.”
His eyes were strange—dark, with a ring of glowing amber around the pupils. He wasn’t one of Caden’s wolves.
“I’ve been tracking Liana for weeks,” he continued. “Her scent never felt right. Familiar, but… not bonded. Not authentic. And then last night, in the clearing, I smelled you.”
Ariana’s breath caught. “Who are you?”
He gave a slow nod, like he had waited a long time for this moment.
“My name is Kael,” he said. “And I think I’m the only one who knows exactly what she did to you.”
- Writer
