Chapter Three - Pack Law
1756 Words
By sunrise, Jasmine had learned that heartbreak was not the worst thing a person could lose.
Protection was.
She stood in the middle of her father’s office, staring at the two men seated behind the enormous mahogany desk.
Her father didn’t look at her.
Neither did Beta Adrian Kane, the representative Damon had brought with him.
The silence was suffocating.
Jasmine’s fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag.
“So that’s it?”
Her father finally lifted his eyes.
“Jasmine.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You don’t get to say my name like that and pretend this is a normal conversation.”
Beta Adrian sighed.
“This is not personal.”
Jasmine laughed bitterly.
“Of course it isn’t.”
Her father leaned back.
“Damon has formally ended the mate bond.”
“I know.”
“And the council has accepted the rejection.”
“I know.”
“Then you understand your position.”
Jasmine stared at him.
“My position?”
Her father hesitated.
“You are no longer the future Luna of the Kane pack.”
The words hurt.
She had already known them.
Hearing them aloud was different.
Her father continued.
“Because the bond was rejected rather than broken by mutual agreement, you cannot claim Luna privileges, pack protection, or Kane family support.”
Jasmine looked from him to Adrian.
“So Damon betrays me, and I’m the one who loses everything?”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Really?”
Her laugh was sharp.
“Then explain it to me.”
Adrian folded his hands.
“Pack law doesn’t determine morality, Jasmine. It determines consequences.”
“I didn’t ask for consequences.”
“You accepted the bond.”
“I accepted my mate.”
“And he rejected it.”
Jasmine stared at him.
Something cold settled inside her.
“So the law protects the person who cheats?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Infidelity is a private matter under current pack law unless it involves coercion, violence, or an abuse of Alpha authority.”
Jasmine felt her nails digging into her palms.
“Private?”
“My daughter was betrayed by her mate and sister.”
Her father finally spoke.
Adrian’s expression softened slightly.
“I understand your anger.”
“No, you don’t.”
Jasmine turned toward her father.
“You were supposed to be my father.”
“I am your father.”
“Then act like it.”
He flinched.
For a moment, Jasmine thought he might finally stand.
Instead, he looked down at the papers in front of him.
“Damon’s family controls nearly forty percent of our company’s current contracts.”
Jasmine stared at him.
There it was.
The real reason.
Not law.
Not tradition.
Money.
“You’re worried about business.”
“I’m worried about this family’s survival.”
“You mean your business.”
“Our business.”
“You knew about the affair?”
His silence answered.
Jasmine’s stomach turned.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“When?”
“Jasmine—”
“When?”
Her father rubbed his forehead.
“Two weeks ago.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“You knew for two weeks?”
“I was trying to determine whether it was serious.”
Jasmine stared at him in disbelief.
“While I was planning a future with Damon?”
“I didn’t want to destroy the alliance between our families without proof.”
“You didn’t want to destroy your business alliance.”
Her father’s face hardened.
“That alliance has kept this family comfortable for twenty years.”
“And what am I?”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“What am I worth to you if I’m not useful to your business?”
Her father’s expression changed.
“Don’t say that.”
“Then prove me wrong.”
He stood.
“Jasmine, I love you.”
“Then why am I standing here alone?”
He had no answer.
Jasmine nodded.
“Exactly.”
She turned toward the door.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
Her father reached for a document.
“There is something else.”
She didn’t turn around.
“What?”
“Your apartment.”
Jasmine’s stomach tightened.
“What about it?”
“It was provided through the Kane partnership.”
She slowly turned.
Her father’s eyes avoided hers.
“Damon’s family has requested that you vacate it.”
For several seconds, Jasmine couldn’t speak.
She had lost her mate.
Her sister had betrayed her.
And now even her home could be taken from her.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
Her father swallowed.
“You can come home.”
Jasmine stared at him.
After everything that had happened, it was the first comforting thing he had said.
Then he added:
“Temporarily.”
The comfort disappeared.
“Temporarily?”
“Until we resolve the business situation.”
Jasmine nodded.
“Of course.”
She opened the door.
“Jasmine.”
She looked back.
Her father looked older than he had that morning.
“I am sorry.”
She studied his face.
For a moment, she wanted to believe him.
But apologies didn’t restore bonds.
They didn’t erase betrayal.
And they didn’t give her back the family she thought she had.
“I’m sorry too.”
She left.
⸻
The moment Jasmine stepped outside, her phone started ringing.
Priya.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“At my father’s office.”
“And?”
Jasmine leaned against the wall.
“They want me to move back home.”
There was silence.
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Jasmine looked toward the city.
“They took the apartment.”
Priya swore.
“And Damon?”
“Still with Sophia, probably.”
“I swear, Jasmine, if I see that man—”
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you arrested.”
Priya went quiet.
Then:
“Are you crying?”
Jasmine touched her cheek.
Her fingers came away wet.
“I thought I stopped.”
“You don’t have to stop.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone keeps looking at me like I’m the victim.”
“You are the victim.”
Jasmine closed her eyes.
“No.”
Her voice became strangely calm.
“I’m the rejected mate.”
Priya didn’t answer.
Jasmine looked toward the glass windows of her father’s office.
She could see her own reflection.
Red eyes.
Messy hair.
A face she barely recognized.
“I don’t want their pity.”
“What do you want?”
Jasmine thought about Damon.
Sophia.
Her father’s silence.
The council.
The word rejected.
“I don’t know yet.”
Priya sighed.
“Come over.”
“I have to pack.”
“Then I’ll help.”
Jasmine almost smiled.
“Okay.”
She ended the call.
Her phone immediately buzzed again.
This time, it wasn’t Priya.
It was a message from the pack council.
FORMAL NOTICE: Jasmine Voss is hereby recognized as an unbonded member of the Voss Pack, effective immediately.
Her throat tightened.
Another message followed.
Kane residence access revoked.
Then another.
Luna candidacy terminated.
Jasmine stared at the screen.
Three messages.
Three pieces of her life erased in less than a minute.
Her wolf stirred.
Not with grief this time.
With anger.
They think we are weak.
Jasmine’s breathing slowed.
“No.”
They took everything.
Jasmine looked at the city.
“They took what they thought belonged to them.”
Her wolf growled.
Then take something back.
Jasmine’s lips parted.
For the first time since she opened Damon’s bedroom door, she didn’t feel like crying.
She felt something else.
A tiny spark.
Dangerous.
Alive.
She didn’t know what she would do yet.
But she knew one thing.
She wasn’t going to disappear.
⸻
That evening, Jasmine returned to the apartment for the last time.
Boxes covered the floor.
Her clothes were scattered across the bed.
Photographs sat on the desk.
One showed her and Damon at eighteen.
Another showed them during their first moon festival.
She picked it up.
They looked happy.
Jasmine stared at the photograph for several seconds.
Then she turned it face down.
A knock came at the door.
“Jasmine?”
Priya.
“Come in.”
Priya entered carrying two large bags of food.
“I brought dinner.”
Jasmine smiled faintly.
“You’re the best.”
“I know.”
Priya put the food down.
Then she looked around.
“So this is really happening.”
Jasmine nodded.
“I have until tomorrow morning.”
Priya’s face hardened.
“I hate him.”
“I know.”
“I hate her more.”
Jasmine said nothing.
Priya walked over to the desk.
She picked up the photograph.
“This was before?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to burn it?”
Jasmine considered it.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen.”
Priya looked at her.
“What are you going to do?”
Jasmine looked at the boxes.
Then at the photograph.
Then at her reflection in the dark window.
“I don’t know.”
Priya folded her arms.
“That usually means you have an idea.”
Jasmine smiled without humor.
“Maybe.”
Her phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Unknown number.
A single message.
You don’t know what you’ve lost yet.
Jasmine’s smile disappeared.
Priya stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Jasmine showed her.
Priya’s expression changed.
“Who sent that?”
“I don’t know.”
Another message appeared.
And you don’t know what you’ve been chosen for.
Jasmine’s pulse quickened.
Her wolf went completely still.
Then came the final message.
Stay away from Marcus Kane.
Jasmine stared at the screen.
She had never spoken to Marcus Kane.
She had never met him.
Not properly.
Yet someone knew his name belonged in the same sentence as hers.
And suddenly, Jasmine remembered the strange presence she’d felt in the elevator.
That impossible heartbeat.
That unfamiliar scent.
The sensation that had somehow felt like recognition.
She slowly looked at Priya.
“Who is Marcus Kane?”
Priya’s eyes widened.
“Jasmine…”
“What?”
Priya lowered her voice.
“Damon’s father.”
Jasmine’s heart gave one hard beat.
Somewhere deep inside her, her wolf lifted its head.
And this time, it didn’t howl in pain.
It growled.
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