Blood On The Oath
922 Words
The grand hall smelled like expensive pine polish and old sweat. Pack guards lined the cold stone walls, their arms crossed over thick leather vests. Every single pair of eyes tracked me as I walked toward the raised platform.
My knees trembled inside my oversized wool trousers, but I kept my head high. I couldn't let them see how terrified I actually was. By the way, running away right now sounded like a great plan, but two heavy guards stood right at the doors behind me. I was trapped.
Lucas sat on his black wooden throne at the end of the long room. He looked completely unbothered, like the night we spent together never happened. His dark hair was brushed back, slick and neat. His heavy silver Alpha ring caught the morning sunlight cutting through the high windows.
Next to him stood Victoria. She wore a tailored white dress that cost more than my family made in ten years. Her long blonde hair fell perfectly over her shoulders. She looked like pack royalty, and she knew it. She stared down at me with pure disgust, her thin lips pulled tight.
"Elena Vance," Lucas said. His deep voice boomed through the hall, echoing off the high beams. "Step forward."
I took three long steps and stopped right at the base of the platform. The wooden floorboards creaked under my worn boots. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"You spent the night in the Alpha quarter," Victoria declared, her sharp voice slicing through the silence. She didn't wait for Lucas to speak. She just took control of the room. "Care to explain why an omega was wandering near the leader's private chambers after midnight?"
"I was delivering the monthly patrol logs," I said, my voice steady. Direct. "The Beta asked me to bring them up personally."
"Patrol logs?" Victoria let out a short, harsh laugh that sounded like dry leaves scraping across concrete. "Is that what we call trapping our Alpha nowadays? You used dark herbs, didn't you? You tricked him."
The accusation hung in the heavy air like smoke. The guards shifted their weight, their hands moving closer to the daggers at their belts. A low murmur ran through the crowd of pack elders sitting along the left wall.
I looked straight at Lucas, ignoring the blonde viper standing beside him. Did he really think I set a trap? Was he actually going to let her say these wild lies?
"Lucas," I said softly, breaking protocol by using his first name. "Look at me. You know I didn't trick you. You called me in. You reached for me."
Lucas narrowed his dark eyes. A muscle in his jaw twitched once, hard. For a second, I thought I saw a flash of regret in his cold gaze. Maybe he remembered the way he held me while the rain beat against his balcony glass. Maybe he remembered promising that things would change for me.
Then Victoria placed her manicured hand flat on his shoulder. Her long fingernails dug into his dark leather coat.
"Remember your duty, Lucas," she whispered, though the quiet room carried every word. "My father's army is waiting at the southern border. My pack gives you five hundred warriors the moment our marriage bond is sealed. An omega brings you nothing but shame."
That was the truth, wasn't it? It always came down to numbers and territory. Pack politics mattered way more than a soul connection or a shared night. I was an omega with dirt under my fingernails and no family clout. Victoria was an heiress with an army behind her back.
Lucas stood up slowly. His massive frame shadowed the entire platform. He didn't look at Victoria, and he stopped looking at me too. He stared somewhere over my head, looking at the heavy oak doors at the back of the room.
"Elena Vance," Lucas announced, his strong voice carrying zero emotion. "Your presence in my private quarters was an insult to the Bloodmoon Pack structure. You tried to climb above your station."
"I didn't try to climb anything," I snapped back, my anger finally burning through my fear. "You took me into your room!"
"Silence!" an elder shouted from the side.
Lucas raised one hand to quiet the room. He took a deep breath, his chest expanding under his heavy leather coat.
"I reject you," Lucas said clearly, his voice hitting me like a physical blow. "I reject whatever foolish bond you think exists between us. You hold no place in my heart, and you hold no place in this pack."
A sharp pain sliced through my chest, deep near my ribs. The faint, subtle pull I had started to feel toward him snapped like a dry twig. My skin burned like I had been thrown into a fire. I gasped for air, clutching my jacket over my heart.
Victoria smiled, a nasty little curve of her lips. She had won, and she knew it.
"And to ensure our border safety," Lucas added, his eyes finally dropping down to meet mine, cold and empty. "You are banished from Bloodmoon territory. Leave before sunset, or my guards will hunt you down."
I stood frozen on the cold floorboards as the elders began to applaud. My head throbbed, but I refused to let a single teardrop down my face. So, this was how my loyalty was rewarded. Banishment.
Anyway, they thought they were stripping away my future. They had no idea what I was taking with me.
- Writer
