The Dragon's Mate

chapter two

The suffocating silence hung heavy in the air, the echo of that single, cursed word still vibrating in Kai's ears. For a second, time seemed to freeze. Kai stood paralyzed, staring at Cole, waiting for the reality of the bond to settle, waiting for any sign of soft hesitation.

He never saw the punch coming.

The impact slammed directly into Kai's sternum with the force of a battering ram, knocking the air clean out of his lungs. The sheer momentum lifted his feet off the floor before throwing him backward. He crashed hard into the long table, sending plates, cake, and glass shattering everywhere, before tumbling onto the cold, hard wood.

A violent gasp clawed its way up Kai's throat, but before he could draw in a breath, Cole was over him.

"You?" Cole spat, his voice laced with pure, venomous disgust. "A weak, pathetic, motherless mistake is supposed to be my mate? My Luna?"

Cole's booted foot slammed into Kai's ribs. A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the hall, followed by Kai's ragged, agonizing scream.

"You think the universe made you for me?!" Cole roared. He dropped to his knees, grabbing Kai by the collar of his shirt and hauling him up, only to smash his fist directly into Kai's jaw. Kai's head snapped back, the metallic taste of hot blood instantly flooding his mouth.

Cole didn't stop. He hit him again, and again, and again. It was a brutal, relentless assault—fists raining down on Kai's face, chest, and stomach.

Blood splattered across the floorboards, mixing with the ruined birthday cake. Kai curled into a desperate, instinctual ball, wrapping his thin arms around his head to shield himself, his body shuddering with every brutal blow.

"Get off him! Cole, stop, please! You're going to kill him!" Martha's desperate screams cut through the haze of pain. She tried to rush forward, her eyes wide with terror, but two of Cole's heavy-set guards stepped into her path, grabbing her arms and yanking her back. Martha thrashed, crying out as she was held helpless, forced to watch the blood bath.

In the corner of the room, Luna Eleanor stood frozen. Her hands pressed hard against her mouth, her eyes wide, glistening with tears of sheer horror. But she didn't step forward. She didn't say a single word. The rumors whispered around the packhouse were true—the Luna was terrified of her own monstrous, hot-tempered son. She watched her boy beat an innocent boy bloody, and her fear chained her to the spot.

Cole delivered one final, savage kick straight into Kai's side.

Kai collapsed onto his back, his body trembling violently. His left eye was swollen shut, his lip split wide open, and every breath felt like broken glass tearing through his lungs. He lay in a pool of his own blood, gasping, helpless, and broken.

Cole stood over him, breathing heavily, wiping a smudge of Kai's blood from his knuckles with a look of utter repulsiveness. He looked down at the omega on the floor as if he were nothing more than mud on his boot.

"I, Cole Blackwood, future Alpha of the Silvermoon Pack," Cole sneered, his voice booming through the silent, terrified room, "reject you, Malakai, as my mate. You are nothing. You are a curse."

The rejection hit Kai's soul like a hot iron blade plunging straight into his heart. The newly formed bond snapped, sending a wave of searing, phantom agony ripping through his entire body. Kai let out a ragged, strangled sob, curling tightly onto the blood-stained floor.

Cole didn't offer a second glance. He turned on his heel, spat on the floor beside Kai's head, and walked out of the hall, his entourage following close behind.

The heavy doors slammed shut, leaving Kai lying in the ruins of his own party, broken, bleeding, and utterly alone in the dark.