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Raven POV
“Anyone who objects to this union between Alpha Matthew and our future Luna, Cassandra, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“I object,” I said, my voice slicing through the air as I stepped into the wedding hall.
Gasps rippled through the crowd like thunder.
But I didn’t care.
I barely saw them. My eyes locked on only two people.
Matthew…the only man I ever loved since I was a teenager. The one I believed saw me, truly saw me, beyond my rank… beyond being a wolfless omega.
And Cassandra…my best friend. My sister in everything but blood.
Standing there beside him in a Luna’s wedding gown.
About to marry him.
On the same day that was supposed to be ours.
The same day he promised would bind us.
My heart pounded as I stepped forward, each footfall heavier than the last.
The betrayal clawed at my chest, but I kept walking, toward the altar, toward the lie, toward the knife they had both buried in my back.
“What’s going on?!” I screamed, my voice cracking as I stumbled forward. “Today is our wedding day!”
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
Matthew didn’t flinch.
He didn’t even blink.
“The only thing that should surprise you,” he said coldly, “is that you ever thought I’d marry a stupid, wolfless omega.”
Cassandra laughed beside him, lacing her fingers through his.
“How could the pack’s little slut ever dream of becoming a Luna?” she sneered, smirking as if this was all one big joke.
I gasped, clutching my chest as pain lanced through me. Like my heart was being ripped out in front of everyone.
“I’m not a whore,” I whispered. “And you…of all people…you know that.”
I stepped forward, reaching for him. For the man who’d once held me like I was his world.
“But… you promised me..”
“Don’t touch me,” he snapped.
He shoved me hard…
I fell backwards from the altar, landing with a sickening thud.
The wind was knocked out of me. My gown tangled around me like a shroud.
“Raven!” My mother cried, rushing to my side.
She dropped to her knees, clutching my shoulders ,her arms wrapping around me like a shield ,but I couldn’t hear her over the pounding in my head.
Over the sound of my own soul tearing.I collapsed into her, sobbing.
I had thought my parents would be disappointed.
I had expected judgment when I told them I couldn’t keep waiting for a fated mate. But instead… they’d surprised me.
They were happy. Proud, even.
Supportive of my decision to choose love rather than wait for a bond that might never come.
Not every wolf gets to meet their mate.
The lucky ones do. But for the rest of us… we’re left with nothing but fading hope and the quiet ache of time slipping away.
So I chose Matthew.
He wasn’t my mate…but he was kind. Or at least, I thought he was.
I let myself believe I could be happy with him. That maybe a chosen mate could still mean forever.
But now?
Matthew had shattered that fragile dream. He didn’t just break my heart.
He destroyed my one chance at happiness.
And as I clutched my mother in the middle of that church, surrounded by laughter and betrayal, I knew…
There was no going back.
“This should be the last time I ever see you near my pack…or my family,” Matthew growled, his voice dripping venom. “The next time I do, I’ll skin you alive. Consider this a favor.”
His words were a blade.
And they cut deeper than anything ever had.
I screamed.
A sound so raw, so full of agony, it echoed through the hall and out into the night.
I clutched my chest as a deeper pain surged through me…one I couldn’t stop, couldn’t control.
For a wolf, there was nothing worse than exile.
Separation from the pack wasn’t just punishment—it was a death sentence for the soul.
It carves you open. Hollows you out. Leaves you… nothing.
And just when I thought the pain couldn’t get any worse…
It did.
Something snapped deep inside me. My bones twisted. My skin burned. I collapsed again, spasming as the first wave of my shift hit.
The world blurred.
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