Chapter 5 – Severing a bond

Mina POV

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She didn’t dare to stop at her room. Oliver would be listening to her every move as she fled the packhouse. If she paused, she didn’t know what he would do. She ran down the stairs, barely registering what was happening as she fisted the note into her pocket and spilled into the street. The cold night air hit her in a rush that tightened her chest. Her breaths were rapid and shallow. She hesitated on the cobbled street.   

   

The warriors stationed at the packhouse doors stared at her. Their gazes dropped to the blood on her hands, her tear-streaked face, the twist of red on her t-shirt echoing her mother’s wound. They frowned, piecing together their leader’s rejection of her and the image before them. Then, as if Oliver was punishing her for stopping, their eyes glazed over with a mindlink. She didn’t know what he told them, but their hands tightened on the daggers at their belts. Dread pooled within her as they refocused, the same hate twisting their features.   

   

Mina backed away. One step, two. She turned on her heel and sprinted down a random street, her only goal to get off the territory. She had only just turned the first corner when both warriors’ voices rang through her mind.    

   

‘I reject you, Williamina Skye, as the Clear blue Luna.’   

   

Each one sliced into her, painful, cold, cutting at her connection to the pack.   

   

Mina moved as fast as her bare feet would carry her. The stone was cold against her soles, but she barely felt it against the rising panic thundering in her veins. 

As she fled through the township, more and more wolves came out of their homes. Her mother’s scream, the warriors’ rejections, they had pulled the wolves from their beds to investigate. Now, they had a front row seat to watch the fall of their false Luna.  

The men and women of her pack jerked when they saw her, ushering their pups out of sight. Her appearance cemented the evidence Oliver had spread through the mindlink, and they all turned away. They closed their doors, shutting her out to the cold, to the night, abandoning her. None held back as they joined in the tirade of rejections attacking her from all sides.   

   

‘You killed our Luna.’   

   

‘You’re a traitor to our pack.’   

   

‘Murderer.’   

   

‘I reject you...’   

   

‘I reject you...’   

   

‘I reject you...’   

   

Each one sliced into her, the pain unbearable as her link to the pack slowly severed. Mina would’ve screamed if she had the breath to spare.   

   

Other wolves called out for her head, to get revenge for the Luna, and soon a group of warriors were hot on her tail. Mina didn’t dare to shift, she had nothing except the clothes on her back and the contents of her pockets, but the warriors didn’t either. It was as if they were content to simply chase her from the territory, none of them willing to actually strike her down. It gave her a weak hope they wouldn’t follow her beyond the border, a small blessing in the face of her burning legs.  

She fled out of the township, across the open plains that reached to the borders of the territory. Mud clung to her bare feet as thick as tears clung to her cheeks. More rejections poured in, each one hurled with insults, their bite sharper than the cold wind whipping at her. She recognised each voice, despite their twist of venom. She had grown up around these wolves, been raised to lead them one day, but now they threw her away like she was nothing to them. No, it was worse than that. They were hunting her.  

  

She was guilty. That was what they all thought, so that’s what she was. 

Her will to keep running faltered, causing her to stumble. What life waited for her beyond the border? Living as a rogue? A Luna unwanted by her wolves. A Skye wolf without a pack to lead, that would be used and abused for her power. Maybe she wasn’t even that anymore. Not if the note was true. It was only her natural survival instinct that made her push back to her feet and keep going. It was a desperation that clawed at her, one that promised her someone in the nation would believe her truth.   

  

Her feet ached as they sunk into the cold mud, but they didn’t falter as they carried her over the boundary. The moment she left the territory, Mina crashed to her knees, the final connection to the Clear Blue pack gone. She collapsed into the mud, as a deep, gut-wrenching sob tore from her throat. It screamed into the night, but no one was around to hear it. No one cared. She was alone. She had lost everything; her pack, her home, her friend, her mother... Her heart ached, a deep grief threatening to consume her, and she let it. It tinged her soul black, numbing her to the world.    

She barely heard the footsteps approaching, but Mina silenced as they drew near. Maybe one of the warriors had decided to kill her after all. She didn’t bother to uncurl herself or try and run. She was happy to accept her fate, to be killed on the same night as her mother. She had been on the precipice of becoming the leader of one of the strongest packs in the nation, her life with Owen planned out. Now she had nothing. She had lost it all. She had nothing left to live for.  

Isolation chilled at her, its edges sharp and bitter. She stilled, praying to the Moon goddess that the wolf would make her death quick. She squeezed her eyes tight, ignoring the urge screaming at her to run. She had nothing to run for. She was done.