The Wolfless Crown

Chapter Four: The Cast Out

(Sophie POV)

I do not remember when the crowd stopped shouting. I only remembered the silence that followed.

It fell suddenly, so heavy, like the whole world had been forced to hold its breath at once. My ears rang as if I had been struck, and my heart beat so loudly in my chest.

I was on my knees, my palms pressed into the cold ground of the mating circle. My dress was torn and blood-stained fabric.

Alpha Kael’s eyes were on me, his eyes seemed as if they were searching my very soul. Every single part of it! Clawing their way to the deepest parts, that even I did not know of.

“Anyone who dares to touch her again will lose their arms” I heard him say smugly.

This man had all the confidence in the world. He stood up and turned to face the elders. He did not raise his voice when he spoke, I don’t even think he needed to, his presence alone evoked command.

“This ceremony is over,” he said calmly.

No one dared to argue. The elders lowered their gaze and shifted uncomfortably.

Alpha Kael looked down at me.

“Stand up,” he said.

His voice was firm but not cruel. I swallowed hard and forced myself to rise, even though my legs trembled so badly I thought they might give out beneath me.

When I was standing, he spoke again, this time to everyone.

“She will not be dragged about like an animal,” he said.

“ And you will allow her to retrieve her belongings before you banish her.”

He turned to face Sasha who was clinging to the arms of Nathan by now.

“ Are you sure she did all these things you accuse her of?”

Sasha’s cheeks flushed with red and she shook visibly out of fear. “ Yes.“ she replied.

A murmur broke out among the crowd and one of the elders stepped forward with his jaw so tight.

“Alpha Kael, with respect, this is Moonvalley’s business.”

Alpha Kael’s eyes moved to him slowly. The pressure in the air intensified and my breath caught in my throat as the elder stiffened.

“You have been requesting an alliance with Silvercreek for months,” Alpha Kael said evenly. “If you want it, you will do as I say and show decency.”

I watched the elder’s pride crumble as he bowed his head and nodded.

“She may retrieve her belongings but you’re banished from Moonvalley” the elder said stiffly to me.

My chest tightened as Alpha Kael turned back to me and looked at me right in the eye.

“You will go to the house you lived in and take what belongs to you.”

I brushed off the tear threatening to come down and nodded my head.

“And no one will hurt you, not unless they wish to answer to me.”

There was no doubt in his tone and it wasn’t even a threat. It was just certainty from this stranger who believed in me.

I nodded again, though fear still curled tightly in my chest.

“I will speak with the elders,” he continued. “ and after that I will come for you.”

I wanted to say a thank you but my mouth wouldn’t bring itself to move, so I just nodded and turned away.

Every step I took away from the mating grounds felt heavier than the last one. I could feel eyes on my back and I could hear the whispers starting up again, but none of it mattered anymore.

To me I had already lost everything.

⸻

The Alpha’s mansion rose ahead of me, tall and imposing, its lights glowing softly against the night sky. I’ve lived here for months, trained here, slept under this roof believing it would one day become my home but now it feels like a stranger’s house.

When I entered and closed the doors behind me, for the first time since the rejection, the silence cut through me harder than the screams.

I reached my room and I entered it. His jacket still hung over the chair, and the window was still cracked open the way I liked it at night.

I pressed my palm briefly to my chest and forced myself to breathe. Then I dropped to my knees, pulling my bag toward me and started packing mechanically, clothes first, then books, then the locket I was allowed to keep that had the pictures of my parents.

I opened it and my fingers brushed over the worn edges as I looked at the picture that held my mother’s gentle smile and my father’s steady gaze. I really wanted to prove to everyone that they were wrong and that my parents were never traitors.

“I tried,” I whispered. “I really did.” I sobbed quietly.

I heard that coy laughter that I have now come to hate more than anything from the door.

“Goodbye loser!”

I looked up and Sasha was right there by the door, staring at me with so much anger.

When did she even come in? And what more does she want from me? I never realized how much she hated me until she framed me and almost got me killed.

“ I’ve never done anything to you. Why do you hate me so much?” I yelled.

Sasha laughed, “ I just hate you naturally and because everything always seems to go your way.”

“But I’m wolfless” I cried.

“ And yet you still somehow managed to snag the alpha. Imagine you!” She moved into the room.

“A wolfless nobody!” She screamed.

Sasha has always been cruel to me even when I lived with her parents, Aunt Belridge and Uncle Luca. She would take the little dress I had and rip them to bits. But doing this to me was just crossing the boundary and I could never forgive her.

“You know he came to me and begged” She added with a mischievous smile.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Nathan begged me to let him mark me.”

The words hit me like a slap and I fell back a bit.

“We slept together,” she continued lightly. “More than once. He said he couldn’t stand the thought of a wolfless Luna standing beside him. That you embarrassed him.”

“That’s a lie.” I yelled.

“We both plotted this plan together, to frame you and end you” she said sweetly. “Of course Nathan knows you’re innocent”

My head spun and I held the bedroom drawer for balance. He did all this on purpose? The man I once gave my all to. Pain engulfed my whole body and I shook with anger.

I heard footsteps rush into the room and heard Nathan’s voice, he looked at me and I glared at him back with all the hate in the world.

“Sasha, what did you say to her?”

“I only told her the truth”

Nathan hit the wall, “Why would you do that?”

She turned to him, amused. “Because it’s already over. She is finished and we will never see her again.”

“What does it matter?” She cooed.

Something snapped within me and all those pains and sorrow I felt were replaced by anger, pure raw anger.

I grabbed the vase from the side table and hurled it at Nathan, he moved quickly and it shattered into a million pieces on the ground, just the same way I’m going to shatter and break everyone ever who tried to break me.

“I gave you everything,” I said, my voice shaking with fury. “I believed in you when no one else did!”

Nathan opened his mouth, to say something but didn’t.

“The strategy I told you which you used in battle is what earned you the respect and the title of the Alpha you have now! Remember?! “ I yelled in absolute pain.

“Even if you didn’t love me anymore, you could have just told me and I’ll leave. I almost died!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“ It wasn’t my intention for everything to go like this” Nathan looked at me finally. “I just wanted you banished not dead”

“You know it is unruly of an Alpha to reject his mate without any plausible reason. What would the others think of me?” He yelled out. “ They already laugh at my back because of you.” He sucked in his breath. “Framing you was the only way.”

Nathan doesn’t look at me and just stares at the ground like the disappointment he is. A mistake I wish I had never made.

“You used me and now all of a sudden you get embarrassed by me now that you’re Alpha!”

I held the dresser I’ve been leaning on and stood up straight even though my body ached. This is the last time I will look weak in front of them!

“ I also reject you Nathan as my mate. With everything in me!!” I screamed. “ And I will never forgive either of you. Never!” I shouted coldly. “I swear by it.”

I moved to leave the room with my luggage but Sasha blocked my way, grabbed Nathan and kissed him again. This time more slowly and deliberately, making sure I could see everything.

If she was expecting me to end up in tears again, she was wrong because instead I burned in anger. I am so relieved that Nathan rejected me because all I feel now is just coldness when I look at his stupid face.

I held my head high, grabbed my bags tightly and pushed past them and through the doors not sparing them a second as I made my way down the stairs and out of the house. Sasha must have felt embarrassed by my actions because she started chasing after me and yelling.

“ Good riddance b***h!” she screamed. “I hope you die!” She yelled as she ran down the stairs after me but stopped in her tracks suddenly.

The air shifted as we all watched Alpha Kael step into the house in his tailored suit.

His eyes moved briefly to me, taking in the small bag I carried. He reached for my bags and carried them from me without asking.

“Sophie,” he said calmly. “It is time for us to go.”

I nodded and we headed out the house together under the watchful eyes of both Sasha and Nathan. I knew Sasha was seething in anger even if I couldn’t see her face because I heard her scream.

Outside, the night had fallen deeper and a sleek, black car waited in front of the house. Its engine hummed softly from a very polished metal gleaming under the lights. I had never seen anything like it so close before.

Alpha Kael opened the door for me and placed his hand at my lower back as I stepped inside. His presence felt like a shield to me.

He sat beside me and closed the door gently. His eyes meeting my gaze again.

“You’re safe with me now”

The car pulled away and as I watched MoonValley disappear through the window, my chest tightened with grief and fear and something else I did not yet have a name for yet.

I was leaving everything I had ever known behind and nothing would ever be the same again.