re

hovered in the space between us, trembling slightly, before falling

of the cameras. He wanted to be the trag

o give him the

low. "You're upset. You're emotional. Just come b

ng here under a spotlight for ten minutes while you chased another woman

mson dress sweeping against the marble like an open wound. She stopped at th

ipping with sickening authority. "You're only making it har

into a fresh wave

" Chloe laughed loudly from the front row, tapping her

ears building. Inside my mind, my wolf gave a high-pitched, panicked whine. She was suffocating unde

ed, replaced by a cold resolve. He took a deep breath, stepping closer to th

ough the ballroom with absolute alpha finali

He didn't look at the tears cur

etely stone-cold. "I tried to convince myself that what we had was enough. I tried to move on because Lyra left. But the

d creeping up my fingers, tur

ding agony in my voice. "For two months, you held my hand and tol

His alpha aura flared with a sudden, suffocating dominance that slammed into my chest. "You were always there, Aurelia!

his fingers curling

as always belonged to her. A weak wolf can never be the Luna of the

can never

ecting me because I was worthless; he was rejecting me because he was weak, selfish, a

ir wasn't just an emotional insult to a weak

rupted in the exact center of my chest. It lava

ntil all I could hear was the frantic, chaotic beat of my own failing heart. Inside my head, my wolf shrieked in absol

completel

roat as I choked for a single drop of air. The microphone stand clattered down beside me

am echoed from the back, but she

, expecting a dramatic tearful exit, completely blind to the phys

tering violently across the pristine white satin of my gown. The blood look

off instantly, replaced by abso

he floorboards, the stone splitting into clean,

ersibly wrong. The irritation on his face vanished, repla

es beside me, his large hands trembling violently as he grabbed my shoulders. "

de my skin crawl. The coldness of actual death was already c

th panic for the catastrophic scandal unfolding before the pack elde

kept rolling, capturing ever

andeliers. The mocking whispers, the flashing lights, the desperate, broken cri

hyron screamed, his tears finally falling, hot and c

laimed me entirely. My heart gave one last, sluggish

ttomless ocean where Zephyron's screams could no longer

lence of the void, a str

in the dark, as a female voice echoed through the

re neve