Chapter 12 The Breaking
The suppression ritual began at sunset.
Mora drew symbols in the dirt around me with white ash. Elder Thaddeus stood outside the circle. Kael was forced to stand twenty feet away, held back by Garrett and Lyra.
Through the bond, I felt Kael’s emotions battering against me like a storm. Terror. Grief. Love so fierce it burned.
“This will hurt,” Mora warned. “The bond is woven into your soul. Suppressing it is like cutting out a piece of yourself.”
“I can handle pain,” I said, thinking of eighteen years with my father.
Mora placed her hands on either side of my head and began to chant. The air shimmered with power.
At first, nothing happened. Then I felt it—a pulling sensation in my chest. The bond between Kael and me began to fray.
“Stop,” Kael snarled. “She is in pain. Stop this now.”
“The ritual cannot be stopped once begun,” Elder Thaddeus said coldly.
The pulling became tearing. The bond stretched and stretched, fighting to stay connected. Through it, I felt Kael’s agony matching my own.
Then, with a sound like breaking glass, the bond snapped.
The absence hit me like a physical blow. One moment, I could feel Kael’s presence in my mind. Next, there was nothing. Just cold, empty silence.
I gasped, clutching my chest. This was worse than anything my father had ever done. My soul was screaming at the loss of its other half.
“Sera!” Kael tried to break through Garrett’s hold. “Sera, I am here!”
But I could not feel him. Could not sense him through the bond that no longer existed. He was just another person across a clearing.
The realisation made me want to vomit.
“The bond is suppressed,” Mora announced. “It will remain dormant for twenty-four hours.”
“Take her to the isolation chamber,” Elder Thaddeus ordered. “No visitors. No contact with anyone.”
Two beta females helped me to my feet. My legs barely supported me. The world felt wrong, like I was missing a vital sense.
They led me to a small stone building. Inside was a single room with a bed, a chair, and a tiny window. A prison.
“We will bring you food and water,” one of the betas said. “Try to rest.”
They left, locking the door.
I was alone.
Completely, utterly alone. The silence in my head was deafening. I kept reaching for Kael’s presence, only to find nothing but emptiness.
I sank onto the bed, trying to hold together pieces that felt like they were falling apart.
Hours passed in a blur of pain and confusion.
The physical agony faded, but the emotional emptiness remained. I felt hollowed out.
Without the bond, memories took on different shapes. I remembered the test—Kael’s wolf pinning me, his fangs at my throat. Without the bond softening it, the memory was pure terror. He had nearly killed me.
I remembered the claiming. His dominance was overwhelming every rational thought. My omega instincts are screaming for an alpha. Had I truly chosen him? Or had my biology forced the choice?
Doubt crept in like poison.
A knock on the door. A beta entered with food and a folded paper.
“Someone left this for you, Luna.”
She hurried out. I unfolded the paper with shaking hands.
Elena’s elegant handwriting filled the page.
“Dear Sera, I know what you are feeling. The emptiness. The doubt. I felt the same way once. Kael and I were engaged before Isabelle. Then she arrived, his true mate, and he discarded me like I was nothing. You are not Isabelle. You will never be Isabelle. Once you have given him what he needs, you will be as disposable as I was. Choose freedom, Sera. Choose yourself.”
I crumpled the letter. Every word was designed to manipulate me. I knew that.
But without the bond, without Kael’s love flowing through the connection, the words hit harder.
Was I just a replacement? A convenient omega who survived his wolf? What happened after I gave him three heirs?
Another knock. Another message. My father’s rough handwriting.
“Stupid girl. You think you have found safety, but you have only traded one master for another. Come back to the Blackwood Pack. I will forgive your disobedience. You were never meant for greatness. Accept what you are.”
I threw this letter against the wall. But a small voice whispered—the voice that sounded like eighteen years of abuse.
What if he is right? What if you are just a broken omega playing dress-up as a Luna Queen?
A third knock came near midnight. Victor Kane’s formal handwriting.
“Luna Sera, Kael’s desperation for heirs is about survival. He has less than six months to produce an heir before the Council strips his title. You were the first omega his wolf did not kill. That made you useful. Nothing more. I can offer you true freedom. Reject the bond. Come to the Western Territories under my protection. The choice is yours.”
I sank to the floor, all three letters scattered around me. Each one was poisoned. I knew that. But without the bond, the poison worked.
What if they were right? What if Kael’s gentleness was just a disguise for control?
I did not sleep. I sat in darkness, drowning in doubt, counting down hours.
Choose the bond. Return to the man whose wolf nearly killed me.
Or choose freedom. Walk away from everything.
As dawn broke, the door opened. Elder Thaddeus stood there with the witnesses.
“It is time, Luna Sera. The twenty-four hours have ended.” His ancient eyes bore into mine. “What is your choice?”
My mouth opened.
Then the door burst open behind Elder Thaddeus.
A young wolf stumbled in, bleeding and gasping. “Attack! The Western Territories are attacking! Victor Kane breached the border during the night!”
Chaos erupted. Through the commotion, I saw Kael across the clearing, his eyes locked on mine.
And I realised what had happened.
This had all been a distraction.
The trial, the letters, the isolation—all designed to keep everyone focused on me while Victor positioned his forces.
I had been a pawn.
And now the Northern Kingdom was at war.