na

eremony was not physical.

rning sage and salt circles. The Elder chanted in the old

igging into my chest, finding the golden thread

the eternal void that comes with severing th

te. The bond was already a noos

be

r ceremonial knife down,

hout anesthesia. I curled into a ball on the rug, gasping, clawing at the floorboards. The con

olute, terri

the tremors stopped. When I stoo

's mate. But after I failed to shift at eighteen, Lydia had gradually taken it over. Now, it was a glorifie

ed. Inside was a photo of me at eighteen, smiling, hopeful, waiting for my wo

n the crate I use

?" I a

ional voice said. "We're calling about your rese

h, I was broke. My parents had

t," I said softly. "I'll f

body disposal fee w

o my room

His tie was undone, his hair messy. He was breat

it?" he

I asked, not bo

g around the cramped, dusty room as if searching for an

hat the bond was severed, to him, I would smell like nothi

I said, my voice flat

as a flicker of genuine confusion, like a man who stepped off a curb and found no ground beneath hi

u talking to

ome," I answ

ed the phone from my hand and hurled

ipulate me with this suicide garbage! You think buying a g

Pack with your obsession with death. You are the Alpha's Mate, a

aid, meeting his furious

say you are!" He used the

e command bypassed my brain and

round. He looked powerful, be

y. "When we were eighteen. You swore to

ss makes mistakes. She paired a lion with a mouse. You a

But the part of me that co

," I said. "I

out of the room. He slammed the door so

, I crawled over to my broken phone. The

ours. Attached were my medical records, the logs of the 'medicine' Lydia gave me,

y of the email: *Congratula