Severed Bond: The White Wolf's Wrath

Severed Bond: The White Wolf's Wrath

Shirlee Melnick

5.0
Comment(s)
47
View
17
Chapters

I was dying at the banquet, coughing up black blood while the pack celebrated my step-sister Lydia's promotion. Across the room, Caleb, the Alpha and my Fated Mate, didn't look concerned. He looked annoyed. "Stop it, Elena," his voice boomed in my head. "Don't ruin this night with your attention-seeking lies." I begged him, telling him it was poison, but he just ordered me to leave his Pack House so I wouldn't dirty the floor. Heartbroken, I publicly demanded the Severing Ceremony to break our bond and left to die alone in a cheap motel. Only after I took my last breath did the truth come out. I sent Caleb the medical records proving Lydia had been poisoning my tea with wolfsbane for ten years. He went mad with grief, realizing he had protected the murderer and rejected his true mate. He tortured Lydia, but his regret couldn't bring me back. Or so he thought. In the afterlife, the Moon Goddess showed me my reflection. I wasn't a wolfless weakling. I was a White Wolf, the rarest and most powerful of all, suppressed by poison. "You can stay here in peace," the Goddess said. "Or you can go back." I looked at the life they stole from me. I looked at the power I never got to use. "I want to go back," I said. "Not for his love. But for revenge." I opened my eyes, and for the first time in my life, my wolf roared.

Chapter 1

I was dying at the banquet, coughing up black blood while the pack celebrated my step-sister Lydia's promotion.

Across the room, Caleb, the Alpha and my Fated Mate, didn't look concerned. He looked annoyed.

"Stop it, Elena," his voice boomed in my head. "Don't ruin this night with your attention-seeking lies."

I begged him, telling him it was poison, but he just ordered me to leave his Pack House so I wouldn't dirty the floor.

Heartbroken, I publicly demanded the Severing Ceremony to break our bond and left to die alone in a cheap motel.

Only after I took my last breath did the truth come out.

I sent Caleb the medical records proving Lydia had been poisoning my tea with wolfsbane for ten years.

He went mad with grief, realizing he had protected the murderer and rejected his true mate. He tortured Lydia, but his regret couldn't bring me back.

Or so he thought.

In the afterlife, the Moon Goddess showed me my reflection. I wasn't a wolfless weakling.

I was a White Wolf, the rarest and most powerful of all, suppressed by poison.

"You can stay here in peace," the Goddess said. "Or you can go back."

I looked at the life they stole from me. I looked at the power I never got to use.

"I want to go back," I said. "Not for his love. But for revenge."

I opened my eyes, and for the first time in my life, my wolf roared.

Chapter 1

Elena POV:

The chandelier above the banquet hall spun dizzily, a kaleidoscope of crystal and light that mocked the darkness spreading through my veins. *The air was choked with the smell of roasted venison, designer perfume, and the heavy, musk-laden pheromones of shifting wolves.* To anyone else, this was the celebration of the year-Lydia, the pack's darling, had just been promoted to Elite Warrior. To me, it felt like a funeral.

I coughed, pressing a napkin to my lips. When I pulled it away, the white linen was stained with black flecks. It wasn't just blood. It was the rot.

"You don't have much time, Elena," the Pack Doctor whispered, leaning in close under the guise of checking my pulse. His eyes were cold, *professional, and entirely bought.* He was on my father's payroll, after all. "The wolfsbane has calcified in your marrow. Your Inner Wolf... I can't hear her anymore. She's likely already gone."

My Inner Wolf. The spirit that was supposed to guide me, protect me, and allow me to Shift. She had been silent for years, suppressed by the 'medicine' my step-sister Lydia ensured I took for my 'condition.'

I looked across the room. There he was. Caleb.

He stood tall, his shoulders broad in a tailored tuxedo that couldn't hide the lethal power of the Alpha beast beneath his skin. He was laughing at something Lydia said, his hand resting possessively on the small of her back.

The sight tore through me sharper than any blade. Caleb was the Alpha of the Black Moon Pack. He was the most powerful wolf in the region. And he was my Fated Mate.

The Moon Goddess had paired us, soul to soul. But he didn't want a broken, wolfless Omega. He wanted a warrior like Lydia.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, tapping into the Mind-Link. It was the telepathic web that connected every member of the pack, a hum of voices I usually blocked out. I focused solely on him.

*Caleb... please,* I projected, my mental voice trembling. *I need help. It hurts. I think I'm dying.*

Across the room, Caleb stiffened. His laughter cut off. He turned, his eyes locking onto me. *There was a flicker of something-concern? instinct?-before it was smothered by annoyance.*

*Stop it, Elena,* his voice boomed in my head, cold and hard as granite. *Don't ruin this night with your attention-seeking lies.*

*It's not a lie,* I pleaded, the pain in my chest spiking as the bond between us vibrated with his rejection. *The doctor said-*

*I said silence!*

The mental command slammed into me. He didn't just speak; he used the Alpha's Authority. It was a psychic weight that forced my head down, crushing my will. But the physical pain in my lungs was stronger. I couldn't hold it back.

I bent over, hacking violently. A spray of dark blood hit the pristine white tablecloth, splattering onto the floor.

The music stopped. The chatter died.

Caleb was there in a second. Not to help, but to loom over me like a thunderhead.

"Did you drink the wine?" he snarled, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "You know your weak human body can't handle alcohol. Look at this mess."

"It's... poison," I wheezed, looking up at him. "Caleb, look at the blood. It's black."

"It's red wine, *you drama queen*," he spat.

"Oh no, Elena!" Lydia appeared at his side, her face a mask of perfect, worried innocence. She grabbed Caleb's arm. "She's doing it again, Caleb. She's jealous because I got the promotion. She always gets sick when I succeed."

*"Get her out of here,"* my mother, Sarah, growled through the Mind-Link. Her voice was a jagged knife in my brain. *Get up and leave before I drag you out by your hair. You're embarrassing the family.*

I looked at Caleb. My mate. The man who was supposed to cherish me above all others. He looked at the blood on the floor, then at his polished shoes, which had a single drop on the toe.

Disgust. That was all I saw.

"If you're going to die, Elena," Caleb said, his voice low and cruel, "do it somewhere else. Don't dirty my Pack House."

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a bone. It was the last thread of hope I had been clinging to since I was eighteen.

The pain didn't stop, but the fear vanished. It was replaced by a cold, hollow numbness.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, smearing the black toxin across my pale skin. I stood up. My legs shook, but I locked my knees.

"You're right, Alpha," I said aloud. My voice was raspy, but it carried. "I won't dirty your house anymore."

I turned my gaze to the High Elder, who sat at the head table, watching the scene with a frown.

"Elder," I said. *"I want the Severing."*

Gasps rippled through the room. The Severing Ceremony was an ancient, agonizing ritual to forcefully break a Mate Bond. It was rarely done, and usually only when one mate had committed a grave crime.

Caleb's eyes widened, then narrowed into slits. He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my bruise-riddled flesh.

*"You think you can threaten me?"* he hissed. "You think this little stunt will make me care? You're bluffing."

"I am not bluffing," I whispered. "I am leaving."

"Then go!" Caleb roared. *He shoved me away.*

*I stumbled back, losing my footing on the slick floor.* My head cracked against the marble.

"Get out!" he used the Alpha Voice. "Roll!"

My body obeyed before my mind could. I scrambled backward, humiliated, broken, while Lydia smirked behind his shoulder.

I stood up, swaying. I didn't look at him. I looked at the exit.

My Inner Wolf let out one final, mournful whimper, a sound of absolute despair, and then she went silent. This time, I knew she wasn't just sleeping. She was gone.

Continue Reading

Other books by Shirlee Melnick

More
The Surgeon's Wife: A Postmortem Love

The Surgeon's Wife: A Postmortem Love

Horror

5.0

I feel the cold first. It' s the stainless-steel table beneath me, as my soul hovers just above, watching. The man in blue scrubs, my husband Dr. Ethan Cole, picks up a scalpel. He's a surgeon, brilliant they say, but today he' s playing forensic pathologist to my dismembered body. My body is in pieces-a leg here, an arm there. My soul is hollow, devoid of anger or jealousy, as Ethan and his assistant try to piece me together. He remarks, "This is a mess. The killer was thorough. Almost… personal." His voice sends shivers down what used to be my spine, reminding me of all the times he' d used that same dismissive tone. He finds a dark splinter near my ribs, speculating about where I was held. Moments later, his phone rings, and his voice softens for Olivia Hayes, inviting her to her birthday, then turning to me with pure disgust, muttering, "Let' s get this over with." Then he finds our secret. A tiny, nascent fetus within me. His mask shatters, replaced by a choked, guttural sound of shock, horror, and something else-a child he just declared not worth his money. Clara, my best friend, calls, frantic. Ethan coldly dismisses her, claiming ignorance of my whereabouts and indifference. Olivia arrives, radiant in red, bringing him soup. As she turns, her elbow bumps a tray of instruments, and caught off guard, a flash of pure, venomous rage twists her face – a look that unmasks my killer: Olivia. My last memories flood back: Olivia, silhouetted, smiling, whispering, "He' s mine, Chloe," before raising the hammer. Now I watch her ladle soup for Ethan, realizing my death freed him, made him hers. And a foolish, broken part of me thinks, 'Maybe it' s for the best. If my death makes him happy, then let him be happy.' But then Olivia answers Clara' s call, and, with a cruel smirk, lies, framing me as an unfaithful wife who ran off with "Ryan something." Just before Ethan rushes off, claiming a work emergency, I see him make a furtive call to Detective Ryan O' Malley, telling him to ping my real phone. And just as Olivia confidently shoves something into her bag after he leaves, it slips out: my phone, with its cracked screen and cat charm. I know exactly where Ethan is going now-to find my phone at Olivia' s other apartment-and the labyrinth of lies begins to unravel.

You'll also like

Flash Marriage To My Best Friend's Father

Flash Marriage To My Best Friend's Father

Madel Cerda
5.0

I was once the heiress to the Solomon empire, but after it crumbled, I became the "charity case" ward of the wealthy Hyde family. For years, I lived in their shadows, clinging to the promise that Anson Hyde would always be my protector. That promise shattered when Anson walked into the ballroom with Claudine Chapman on his arm. Claudine was the girl who had spent years making my life a living hell, and now Anson was announcing their engagement to the world. The humiliation was instant. Guests sneered at my cheap dress, and a waiter intentionally sloshed champagne over me, knowing I was a nobody. Anson didn't even look my way; he was too busy whispering possessively to his new fiancée. I was a ghost in my own home, watching my protector celebrate with my tormentor. The betrayal burned. I realized I wasn't a ward; I was a pawn Anson had kept on a shelf until he found a better trade. I had no money, no allies, and a legal trust fund that Anson controlled with a flick of his wrist. Fleeing to the library, I stumbled into Dallas Koch—a titan of industry and my best friend’s father. He was a wall of cold, absolute power that even the Hydes feared. "Marry me," I blurted out, desperate to find a shield Anson couldn't climb. Dallas didn't laugh. He pulled out a marriage agreement and a heavy fountain pen. "Sign," he commanded, his voice a low rumble. "But if you walk out that door with me, you never go back." I signed my name, trading my life for the only man dangerous enough to keep me safe.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book