Unbroken bond

Chapter 5

Raziel Pov

I couldn't breathe.

Killian's words—the cold, brutal rejection—kept slamming through my head like a punch I couldn't dodge. I was stuck there, knees digging into the hardwood, but I didn't feel it. Couldn't move. For a second, everything went dead quiet. No party bass thumping, no crowd gasping, no elders whispering. Just this piercing ring drilling into my skull.

I watched him walk away. Those broad shoulders I'd had my back for fifteen years, heading straight for the door, not even a glance back. I kept waiting—praying—he'd stop, turn around, laugh it off as a stupid joke, yank me into a headlock, call me Black like always.

But the door slammed. He was gone.

Then the pain hit. Not like a cut or bruise. This was a gut-wrenching emptiness ripping open in my chest. I'd taken beatings from my dad; I knew broken bones. But this? This was my soul tearing apart. My wolf inside, curling up small, whining for the Alpha who'd just thrown us away.

Rael and Mila rushed over, faces twisted in horror. Lips moving, Rael's eyes brimming with tears, hands grabbing my shoulders—but no sound.

The world turned silent, like I was sinking under water.

Rael shook me hard, fingers digging in. That jolt cracked the quiet.

"—aziel! Raziel, look at me! Breathe, come on, breathe!" Her voice sliced through, sharp and scared.

"He... he did it," I whispered. My voice didn't even sound like mine—old, wrecked, like I'd lost it all. "He really did it."

"He's a fool, Raz," Mila snapped, her hands quick and steady, checking my pulse like always. "Shock from the bond. It freaked him out."

"Not shock, Mila," I croaked, finally lifting my eyes. The room packed with stares—pity, disgust. A rejected Beta. "He hated it. Hated me."

I tried standing, but my legs buckled like jelly. Fire bloomed on my shoulder, right where the mark should've been. Now just a rejection burn, searing like hot ash.

"Get him out," an Elder barked, voice flat. "Rejection's messing with the pack vibe.

Infirmary, now."Infirmary. Like hell. I didn't need meds. I needed my best friend—the guy who swore yesterday we were a package deal.

Rael and Mila flanked me, slinging my arms over their shoulders. I towered over them at 6'1", dead weight, but they hauled me anyway. Through the crowd, past that vintage reserve Killian teased me about hogging, out into the biting night.

Estate lights glared down the driveway. His car? Already dust.

"Where'd he go?" I gasped, cold air finally hitting my lungs. Every breath scraped like glass shards.

"Forget him, Raziel," Rael said, voice shaking mad. "He's gone. Left you crumpled on the floor."

I glanced back—house glowing, party noise picking up inside. Life rolling on. His life. He'd beaten the moon goddess for his freedom, and it only cost him the one who'd die for him.

"I can't feel him anymore," I murmured, the truth landing heavy. That phantom heartbeat from midnight? Gone. The warmth? Vanished.

"I know," Mila said quiet, eyes soft with that pity that twisted my gut. "Rejection does that. It'll hurt more before it fades.

"Didn't think it could. Wolf silent, heart hollow, "Black" now a ghost.

They steered me toward the medical wing. I tipped my head to the moon—full, uncaring. It didn't give a d*mn it'd wrecked me. Didn't care my unbreakable bond shattered in seconds.

Eyes shut, I let the black pull me under. Wishing I'd wake in The Den, Killian's arm slung around my neck, countdown still forty-eight safe hours out.

I must've blacked out, 'cause next thing, I'm blinking into white sheets and that sharp antiseptic stink. Woke right at midnight—twenty-four hours since my world imploded—soaked in cold, greasy sweat.

My heart wasn't beating; it was hammering my ribs like a caged thing clawing to escape. Tears hit before my eyes even focused, hot tracks cutting through the crusted salt on my cheeks. No clue why, but my whole body was lit up. Like my blood turned to boiling lead, churning under my skin, begging for mercy that wouldn't come.

“Mila... Rael...” It came out a wrecked croak.

Didn't need to yell. They were right there, bolting to my bed, faces ghost-white under the infirmary's dim glow.

“What’s wrong? Raziel, talk!” Rael grabbed my hand, her skin like ice on my scorching mess.

“Don’t know... body’s on fire,” I sobbed, tears pouring now, shaking me apart. Clawed at my chest, over my heart. “Hurts so bad. Can’t stop it. Why can’t I stop crying?”

Mila scanned the monitors, hands unsteady, eyes flicking from screen to me. Her face went from doctor-mode to straight-up horrified, like she might hurl.

“Didn’t know Killian was this messed up,” she whispered, voice quaking with fury I'd never heard from her. “Arrogant, sure. But this? Cruel as hell.”

Even with veins on fire, even after he smashed me on that dance floor, fifteen years kicked in. Still fretting over him. My busted wolf, whimpering and raw, still sniffed for cedar.

“Killian...” Head flopped sideways. “He okay? Something wrong with him? Why’s it feel like I’m dying?”

Rael made this choked noise—half sob, half growl. She shot Mila a look, pure heartbreak pity that iced my burning blood.

“Raziel,” Mila said, perching on the bed's edge, grabbing my other hand. Locked eyes, voice a raw hush. “I’m sorry, love. Really. But this burning... the bond screaming...”

She gulped, words sticking like barbs.

“He’s hooking up with someone. Right now.”

World didn't hush. It exploded.

Not just fever—the bond's shredded scraps piping his every move straight to me. Killian out there, probably with Clare, burying the echo of us in her. His touches, her scent on his breath—all funneled through rejection into white-hot agony spiking my nerves.

“No,” I gagged, nausea surging. “He wouldn’t... best friend. He knows this is killing me.”

“Doesn’t care, Raz,” Rael bit out, squeezing harder. “Trying to snap the bond for good. Thinks overwriting your scent quick with hers lets him wipe you out.”

I yanked free, curled tight into a ball, face shoved in the pillow to choke down the fresh shatter. The "Bestie" stealing my fries, "Brother" headlocking me, "Alpha" swearing package deal—he'd vanished.

Now? A guy who'd leave me frying here while he drowned in her, just to play fate's boss.

Rejected? Nah. Erased