The Cut
1433 Words
The moon was full the night my mate told me I was nothing.
I felt the bond snap into place two hours earlier. A golden thread behind my ribs, pulling me toward the pack house. I thought it was a dream.
It wasn't.
"Rhea."
Kael's voice cut through the circle of wolves. Fifty of them. Maybe more. They parted like water as he walked toward me.
I opened my mouth. "You felt it too?"
He stopped three feet away. His silver eyes looked right through me.
"Say it," he said.
"Say what?"
"That you're my mate."
My heart slammed against my ribs. "You know I am. The bond—"
"The bond made a mistake."
Behind him, Seraphine Vale stepped out of the shadows. Perfect blonde hair. Perfect smile. Perfect everything.
I looked at Kael. "What is she doing here?"
"She's my chosen mate."
The words hit like a punch to the chest. I actually stepped back.
"You can't choose," I said. "The Moon Goddess—"
"The Moon Goddess doesn't run this pack. I do."
Seraphine wrapped her arm around his. "Poor thing," she said, looking at me like I was dirt. "She actually believed it."
"Shut up," I said.
Kael's eyes flashed. "Don't speak to her like that."
"Don't speak to her like that?" My voice cracked. "I'm your mate, Kael. Not her. Me."
He laughed. Actually laughed.
"You?" He looked me up and down. "The omega who sleeps in the barn? The girl whose own father won't look at her?"
"That's not my fault."
"Everything is your fault, Rhea. Your blood is weak. Your wolf is silent. You're a liability."
I felt the circle tighten around me. Wolves I'd grown up with. Wolves who'd watched me carry water, clean their floors, tend their wounds. Not one of them spoke.
"Please," I whispered. "Just talk to me alone. We can figure this out."
"There's nothing to figure out."
Kael stepped forward. Close enough that I could smell him. Pine and smoke and something electric. The bond screamed inside me.
"Then why does your wolf want me?" I asked.
His jaw tightened.
"I see it," I said. "Your hands are shaking."
"It's not my wolf. It's rage."
"No. It's the bond. You feel it too."
Seraphine tugged his arm. "Kael. End this."
He pulled away from her. Took another step toward me. His silver eyes burned.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"The truth is, I was embarrassed when the bond snapped to you." His voice was low, meant only for me. "I prayed it was a mistake. I begged the Moon Goddess to take it back."
"That's not—"
"But she didn't. So now I have to do it myself."
I shook my head. "You can't reject a mate. It's forbidden."
"For the weak." He reached out and touched my face. Just one finger under my chin. The bond exploded with heat. "For the strong, everything is allowed."
"Don't do this."
"I have to."
"Kael—"
"I, Kael Blackthorn," he said, loud enough for the whole pack to hear, "reject you, Rhea Vennier."
The bond ripped.
Not like a thread breaking. Like a rib snapping. Like someone reached inside my chest and tore out my heart with bare hands.
I fell to my knees.
My wolf—the silent one they all mocked—finally screamed. A sound no one else could hear. A sound that split my skull open.
"Please," I gasped.
Blood dripped from my nose.
Kael looked down at me. His face was stone. But his hands were still shaking.
"It's done," he said.
"It's not done," I choked out. "The bond is still there. I can still feel you."
He frowned. Looked at his own hands. At the black veins starting to creep up his wrists.
"What is that?" Seraphine stepped back.
"I don't—" Kael grabbed his chest. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. You rejected me. This is your curse, not mine."
"My curse?"
"The bond doesn't break just because you say words. It's a living thing. And you just tried to kill it." I wiped the blood from my lip. "It's fighting back."
He staggered. One knee hit the dirt.
Someone in the crowd gasped.
"Alpha?" A voice called out.
Kael raised his head. His silver eyes met mine. For one second—just one—I saw something soft there. Something scared.
Then it was gone.
"Get her out of my sight," he said.
Two guards grabbed my arms. Dragged me across the dirt. I didn't fight. I couldn't. The bond was still tearing, still burning, still screaming.
"Wait," I said.
They stopped.
I looked back at Kael. He was standing now, but his hands were shaking harder.
"You gave me your cloak once," I said.
His face went pale.
"Two winters ago. I was on patrol. My coat was too thin. You didn't say a word. Just took it off and put it around my shoulders."
"That was before I knew you were my mate," he said.
"No. That was because you knew. You just didn't want to admit it."
Seraphine stepped between us. "She's lying."
"I'm not lying," I said. "Ask him. Ask him why he remembers that night too."
Kael didn't answer.
The guards dragged me to the border. Threw me down on the cold ground.
"Don't come back," one of them said.
I lay there for a long time. The moon was still full. The bond was still burning. But now there was a hole in it. A wound that wouldn't heal.
I pressed my hand to my chest. Felt the scar forming. The rejection mark.
It wasn't supposed to be black. I'd seen rejected wolves before. Their marks faded to silver. Healed over time.
Mine was turning dark. Jagged. Angry.
Something is wrong, I thought.
But I was too tired to figure out what.
I closed my eyes.
When I woke, I wasn't alone.
A man stood over me. Tall. Platinum blond hair. One silver eye. One red.
"You're alive," he said.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who's been watching you for a very long time, Rhea Vennier."
I tried to sit up. My body screamed.
"Don't move. Your rejection wound is infected."
"Wolves don't get infections."
"This one isn't normal." He crouched down. "Can you smell that?"
I inhaled. Dirt. Blood. And something else.
"Lies," I whispered.
"What?"
"There's something in the air. It smells like... like rotten honey. That's lies. I've never smelled that before."
The man smiled. It wasn't a kind smile.
"Your hybrid blood is waking up."
"I'm not a hybrid."
"You are now. Or you always were. The rejection triggered it."
He offered me his hand.
"Come with me. I'll teach you what you are."
"Who are you?"
"Silas Draven."
The name hung in the air. Familiar. Wrong. Like an echo of my own last name.
"Why do you care about me?" I asked.
"Because the wolf who rejected you is dying. And when he dies, a war starts. I need you alive to stop it."
I looked at his hand. Then at the dark scar on my neck.
"What happens if I say no?"
"Then you die here. And the world burns anyway."
I reached up. My fingers brushed his.
The second I touched him, I smelled something new. Not lies. Something else.
Fear.
Silas Draven was afraid of me.
I didn't know why. But I decided to find out.
"Fine," I said. "Teach me."
He pulled me to my feet. The world spun. I almost fell.
"Easy," he said. "Your body is changing. The hybrid blood is rewriting everything. You'll be weak for a few weeks."
"I've been weak my whole life. A few more weeks won't kill me."
"No," he said. "But Kael Blackthorn might. If he finds you before you're ready."
I touched the black scar on my neck.
"Let him come."
Silas raised an eyebrow.
"You're not afraid of him?"
"I'm not afraid of anyone who bleeds."
He laughed. A real laugh this time.
"Good. That's the first lesson." He turned and walked into the darkness. "Keep up, little wolf."
I followed.
Behind me, the full moon disappeared behind clouds. Ahead of me, Lunaris City waited. A city of exiles. A city of secrets.
And somewhere in the trees, I felt the bond tug one last time.
Kael's wolf was reaching for me.
I pulled back.
Too late, I thought.
But my body didn't believe it.
My body remembered his hand on my face. The heat. The pull.
I shook my head and walked faster.
- Writer
