The Sealing Blow
944 Words
In two days.
That was all it took for the world Ava once knew to fall into deeper ruin.
The whispers started early in the morning, laced with mockery and disbelief. Ava had tried to ignore them as she passed through the pack house, head down, shoulders drawn in tightly as if she could hide from their words. But the truth had a way of finding her—loud and unkind. She was heading to the middle of the pack house where everyone was summoned for an official announcement.
Stephen was getting married.
To Clarissa.
It wasn't a random rumour anymore, it was now official.
Ava’s knees had buckled when she heard the official announcement. It wasn't just announced by an official within the pack. It was also a formal message pinned to the public board in the training hall—where every member of the Blackwood pack would see it.
“In two nights, under the full moon, Alpha heir Stephen will wed Clarissa of Blackwood. All are expected to attend the bonding ceremony.”
No apologies.
No explanation.
Not even a mention of the girl he’d once sworn himself to. The one he’d held under the stars, whispering forever into her hair.
Ava pressed a hand against her chest, trying to ease the ache. But it was deeper than skin and bone—it lived in her soul.
She had loved Stephen. Not for his title or power, but for the boy who laughed too loudly and once risked punishment just to sneak her moonflowers from the forest. And even for a man she had believed he would fight for her, even when she failed to shift. That his love wasn’t conditional.
She had been wrong.
And now the whole pack watched her fall.
They didn’t even try to hide their sneers anymore. Some avoided her like she was cursed. Others whispered openly.
“Maybe she was never truly meant for him.”
“It doesn't even make sense. A Luna without a wolf?”
“Clarissa’s the better choice anyway.”
Ava wanted to scream.
To run.
To hide.
To disappear into the woods and never look back. But she however battered and tried her best to keep herself upright.
—-
It was finally the day of the Wedding ceremony.
She hadn't seen a wedding as colorful as it.
It was huge and screaming all voices of respect and royalty.
She stood in the crowd during the ceremony, not saying a word or paying attention to anyone.
Tears threatened, but she refused to let them fall.
Clarissa stood beside Stephen in a silver gown that shimmered in the torchlight. Her smile was triumphant. Stephen’s expression was unreadable—cold, distant. He didn’t look at Ava, not even for once.
Not even when she fixed her eyes on him, thinking of how it would have been her standing right there instead of Clarissa.
Her lips trembled with the memory of everything they’d once been.
As the sacred binding vows were spoken, Ava felt something inside her break.
She couldn’t feel the bond anymore. Like it was more of a spiritual connection that had just gotten broken rather than a physical commitment.
She became numb, she couldn't even feel the phantom tug at her chest.
Not even the silent echo that had whispered mate.
It was gone.
It was now broken.
He had severed it.
Tears slid down her cheeks now, unchecked. She didn’t wipe them away. Everyone saw her cry.
He had killed the bond.
And he hadn’t even flinched.
When the crowd erupted in cheers and howls for the newly bound pair, Ava turned away. Each step felt like walking on shattered glass. Her body moved, but her heart stayed behind, splintered and left at the altar of promises long betrayed.
She returned to her quarters, a hollow echo of herself. She didn’t know what came next. What her place was now in the pack, if she even had one. She was obviously a nobody now.
She sat on her bed in silence, clutching the edge of her old training tunic. It still smelled faintly of pine and the river where Stephen once taught her to swim. She closed her eyes and tried to hold onto anything that didn’t hurt. Memories that seemed quite beautiful.
Ava stayed days in her room without a word to anyone in silence, all in her own world.
Everyone had already gotten used to the fact that Stephen was now married to Clarissa, who they felt was better than Ava, who couldn't even shift.
That’s when the knock came on her door. It snapped Ava out of her thoughts.
“Who could it be?”
The knocks were firm, cold and commanding.
She froze.
A scroll slid under the door.
With trembling fingers, Ava picked it up and unraveled it.
> “By order of Alpha Donovan, you are hereby summoned to the Alpha’s chamber at dusk. Don’t dare delay.”
Her breath hitched.
Summoned?
The Alpha?
Why?
What did she do?
What did he want?
So many questions reeled in her head all at once.
She could sense danger lurking even though she couldn't tell what it was. Her eyes darted to the window, where dusk already crept across the sky in strokes of gray and gold.
Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs.
Something was coming.
And she didn’t know if she’d survive it.
The Alpha never really summoned anyone except there was a fault.
And the only fault she could think of right now.
Was that she didn't shift and maybe that was a huge problem.
Even after Stephen was already married.
- Writer
