Breaking the Bond: My Alpha Chose a Vampire, So I Took My Pack

When I realized that my mate, Alpha Cassian, couldn't get Lucille out of his mind and had even shut me out of our mind link, I began making plans to leave with the rest of the pack. Cassian had met Lucille while exploring human society. He described her as naive and helpless, a college student who had gone to a party one night and woken up a vampire the next morning. I reminded him that a vampire had killed my mother and warned him to be careful, but he accused me of prejudice. I asked him never to leave Lucille alone with our pack members. He agreed, then announced soon afterward that he intended to bring her into the pack. He insisted Lucille was different from other vampires and had a heart of gold. Then our territory was hit by one strange, violent incident after another. That was when I decided to sever my mate bond with Alpha Cassian. …… Iris's POV: I knelt before the altar in the Temple of the Moon Goddess. The priestess asked why I had come. I raised my head and said each word clearly. "I ask the Moon Goddess to sever the mate bond between Alpha Cassian and me." The moment the words left my lips, the invisible bond in my chest seemed to jerk tight. A dull ache spread through my body. It had all begun a year earlier, when my Alpha mate left on his customary research trip to human society. Out of curiosity, I had begged him to take me on the cruise. Instead, he kissed my forehead and said, "Iris, you're the Luna. You need to stay here and protect the pack. Besides, the outside world is too dangerous." Disappointed, I still nodded. Then I came across a viral video on t****k. The footage shook while deafening music blared from my phone. A luxury cruise liner glittered beneath the night sky, its deck packed with elegantly dressed people dancing beneath spinning lights. Glasses clinked, and the sea breeze carried laughter and excited screams across the water. Cassian stood at the center of the crowd in sunglasses while a beautiful woman pressed close against him as they danced. She held a wineglass filled with thick crimson liquid that swirled beneath the lights. I replayed the video until my screen dimmed, and my own pale face stared back at me. Cassian and I had a furious argument when he returned. I threw my phone down in front of him. "This is what you call research?" Cassian's expression darkened as he closed the video. "I've already explained this. We need to understand the outside world, humans and vampires alike." Beta Walter stood nearby and tried to calm me. "Luna, Alpha Cassian really was conducting research. Lucille was only one of his research subjects. Nothing happened between them." I stared at Cassian's rigid profile and said nothing more. Later, Cassian moved the pack out of our ancestral forest and settled us on the outskirts of the city. My father, the former Alpha, opposed the move with everything he had. The forest gave us natural protection, a climate suited to our kind, and everything we needed to survive. Near the city, we would be surrounded by hunters, vampires, and dangers we couldn't predict. Cassian refused to reconsider. He argued that living closer to the city would make it easier for him to study human society and help the pack adapt to modern life. In the end, I followed him to that unfamiliar land. There was no damp scent of moss and no familiar murmur of wind moving through the canopy. At night, distant city lights turned the horizon white, and the constant hum of traffic sounded like a restless beast that never slept. The priestess's voice pulled me back to the present. "The Moon Goddess has granted your request. The mate bond will be severed at the next full moon. Until then, you may still change your mind." Darkness had fallen by the time I returned to the pack house. Only a few lights were on in the hall. An omega couple sat beside the long table with red, swollen eyes and mud on their clothes. Their pup huddled in his mother's arms, one small fist clutching her dress. Cassian stood beside them with a deep frown, looking more irritated than concerned. I hurried over and lowered my voice. "What happened?" The couple looked up, and their eyes immediately filled with tears. "Luna, we live at the edge of the pack territory," the omega woman said through her tears. "A group of hunters appeared without warning. Their drones flew straight across the border, and the gunfire went on for ages. Our child hasn't stopped shaking." At the word gunfire, the pup trembled again and buried his face deeper against his mother. I turned to Cassian. "There are too many hunters nearby. We should take the witch to the border tonight and have her reinforce the weak points in the wards." Cassian nodded and started to move, but his phone rang. The moment he saw the screen, the irritation vanished from his face. His expression softened, and he strode to the window to answer in a gentle voice. When the call ended, he looked back at me. "Tomorrow will be soon enough. We won't be able to see much in the dark anyway. Lucille is in trouble, and I need to go help her." He walked out of the pack house without waiting for my reply. The omega couple held their pup tighter, looking completely lost. "Luna," the omega man asked softly, "what did the Alpha mean? Werewolves can see perfectly at night. And vampires have been our blood enemies for generations. Your mother was killed by one, wasn't she?" He spoke quietly, afraid of offending me but unable to hold the words back any longer. "Will you take us back to the ancestral territory? Hunters are everywhere here, and our child is terrified." I gave the family my room and tucked the softest blanket I could find around the pup. Once the child finally fell asleep in his mother's arms, I returned to the hallway and pulled on my coat. An icy wind slipped through a half-open window. I gathered the warriors and the witch, then went out to inspect the defensive perimeter myself. As I stepped outside, I glanced back at the faint, warm light coming from my room. That was when I made my decision. Leaving alone wouldn't save anyone. The rest of the pack would still be left in danger, even if they didn't fully realize it yet. 'If Cassian won't protect this pack, I will. I'll take everyone with me.'