Chapter 106 106

Chapter 106 106
~ZAYNE~

Pain.

Red-hot, searing pain that started in my chest and furiously crawled outward until every nerve in my body was on fire.

I couldn't breathe or think straight. I couldn't do anything except feel the mate bond tearing itself apart.

My wolf was screaming. A sound of pure agony that echoed through my mind until I thought I'd go insane from it.

"Zayne?" Nessa's voice sounded, distant and muffled. "Are you okay?"

No. I wasn't okay. Nothing was okay.

The bond was dying. Arlina was killing it. Killing us.

And I'd made her do it.

I dropped to my knees. The stage floor was hard but I barely felt it over the pain in my chest.

What was happening? Why was I here? Why had I—

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

The memory hit me. Standing on this stage, holding Nessa's hands, asking her to be my girlfriend.

But why? Why would I do that?

Arlina was my mate. My everything. The only person I'd ever wanted, ever loved, ever needed.

So why had I kissed someone else?

I pressed my hands to my head, trying to think through the cloud that seemed to coat my brain.

The past few weeks were a blur. Studying with Nessa, spending less time with Arlina, thinking things that didn't sound like my own thoughts—

"She's not the same person."

"Maybe the bond was a mistake."

"Maybe I'm attracted to someone else."

Those weren't my thoughts. They couldn't be. I didn't think like that about Arlina.

Did I?

"Zayne, you need to get up." Nessa was pulling at my arm. "People are staring—"

I looked up. The party had gone silent. Everyone was watching—some with shock, some with pity, some with barely hidden satisfaction at the drama.

And there, at the edge of the stage, was Arlina.

She looked destroyed. Tears streaming down her face, hands pressed to her chest like she was trying to hold herself together.

The bond between us was shredding. I could feel each thread snapping, feel the connection we'd built over months dissolving into nothing.

"Arlina—" I tried to stand but my legs wouldn't cooperate. "Please, wait—"

"It's done." Her voice was empty. "We're done."

"No. Let me explain. I don't know why I did this. Something's wrong—"

"The only thing wrong is that I believed you loved me."

The words hurt deeper than the bond breaking.

"I do love you. I've always loved you. This—" I gestured at Nessa, at the party, at the disaster around us. "This isn't real. This isn't what I want—"

"Then why did you do it?"

I opened my mouth but couldn't answer. Because I didn't know. Couldn't remember actually deciding to throw a party or ask Nessa out or any of it.

The past few weeks felt like watching someone else live my life.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I can't explain it but something's been wrong. My thoughts haven't been my own—"

"How convenient. You blame it on confusion instead of admitting you wanted her more than me." Arlina turned away. "Goodbye, Zayne."

"Wait…please—"

I tried to go after her but Nessa's hand closed around my arm.

"Let her go," Nessa said softly. "She needs space to process—"

"Get off me."

I yanked my arm free and tried to stand. The bond was still breaking bad tearing me apart from the inside.

Arlina was already walking away. Selene at her side, supporting her.

I had to stop her and fix this—

But my body wouldn't move. My legs were locked in place, my muscles refusing to obey.

What was wrong with me?

~ARLINA~

The bond broke.

All at once, like a dam bursting.

I felt it snap, felt the connection to Zayne sever completely, and the pain drove me to my knees.

"Arlina!" Selene caught me before I hit the pavement. "Stay with me—"

I couldn't answer or do anything except scream.

The sound tore out of my throat, raw and animalistic. Pain like nothing I'd ever experienced, not even at The Order's facility.

This was worse. So much worse.

Because physical torture ended. This One felt like it would never end.

My wolf howled inside my mind in devastating grief.

Our mate. We'd lost our mate.

"We need to get her home," Selene was saying. "Help me get her in the car—"

Someone else was there. Stefan, his hands lifting me, carrying me.

The world tilted and spun. I couldn't focus on anything except the growing wound in my chest where the mate bond used to be.

How was I supposed to survive this? How did anyone survive a severed mate bond?

They didn't. That's what the stories said. Wolves who lost their mates either died from the grief or went feral from the pain.

Was that my future? Death or madness?

Car doors slamming. Engine starting. Movement.

Through it all, the pain continued. Relentless and overwhelming.

My wolf tried to retreat deep inside, seeking shelter from the agony. But there was nowhere to hide. The bond's death had touched every part of us.

She whimpered once, a broken sound, then went silent.

"No," I whispered. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me."

But she was gone. Retreated so far inside that I couldn't feel her anymore.

I was alone. Completely alone.

"Almost there," Selene said. "Just hold on—"

Why? What was the point of holding on?

Zayne had chosen someone else. The bond was dead. My wolf had abandoned me.

What was left?

The car stopped. More hands, more movement. Being carried up stairs, through a door.

"Arlina? Baby, what happened?" Mom's voice, frantic.

"The mate bond," Selene said. "She rejected it. Formally, in front of everyone."

"She did what?"

"Zayne asked another girl to be his girlfriend. At a party. Arlina was there. She watched him—" Selene's voice cracked. "She couldn't take it anymore. She invoked rejection."

"Oh god. Oh baby—" Mom's arms around me. "I've got you. You're going to be okay—"

"I'm not." My voice came out broken. "The bond is gone. My wolf is gone. Nothing is okay."

"Your wolf isn't gone. She's just—"

"Silent. She won't answer me. She's hiding from the pain and I don't blame her."

Mom was crying now too. I could feel her tears on my hair as she held me.

Footsteps in the hallway. Edward's voice calling out, asking what happened.

Selene explained quickly. His response was muffled, distant.

I didn't care what anyone was saying. The pain was too much, filling every space inside me.

They left eventually. All of them except Mom.

She sat on the edge of my bed, hand in mine, not saying anything.

The silence was worse than the pain.

In the silence, I could hear everything. The party still going on somewhere in my memory. Nessa's cruel smile. Zayne's kiss.

"I was right about her," I said into the darkness. "From the beginning. My instincts were screaming that something was wrong. And everyone told me I was paranoid."

"You were right," Mom said quietly. "I'm so sorry we didn't listen."

"Doesn't matter now. She won. Got exactly what she wanted—me, broken and alone."

"You're not alone—"

"My mate chose someone else. My wolf won't talk to me. The bond is dead." I looked at her. "How much more alone can I get?"

She didn't have an answer.

We sat there as the pain continued. As the bond finished dying. As whatever was left of me started dying too.

And then, in the silence, I heard it.

A whisper like smoke curling through my mind.

“Alone. Broken. Not enough.”

My wolf stirred slightly, but not to respond. To hide deeper.

“They always leave. Everyone always leaves.”

"No," I whispered.

“You're too damaged. Too much work. No one will ever choose you.”

The voice was familiar. I'd heard it before, back at The Order's facility. Back when Dr. Corvus was trying to break me.

But he was dead. The facility was destroyed.

So why was his voice in my head?

“You could be powerful. Take what you want. Make them all pay.”

"Stop," I said louder.

"What?" Mom asked. "What's wrong?"

“Embrace it. The pain, the rage. Let it fuel you. Let it make you strong.”

"The voices," I gasped. "They're back. The ones from the facility, they're back—"

Mom grabbed my shoulders. "What voices? Arlina, what are you hearing?"

“They'll keep hurting you. Keep taking from you. Unless you take first.”

"Make it stop," I begged. "Please make it stop—"

But the whispers continued. Growing louder, and more insistent, filling every space the mate bond had left empty.

And my wolf, instead of fighting them, retreated even deeper.

Leaving me alone with the voices and the pain.