Chapter 2 A Liability
ELARA
The joy is a supernova in my chest. Bright. Overwhelming. For a dizzying second, I think this is it. This is what it feels like to have a wolf. But the voice that screamed Mate in my head is silent now, leaving only the thrumming, undeniable connection to the man in front of me.
Damon’s hands are still on my arms, his grip firm, grounding me. His expression is a perfect reflection of my own shock. His lips part, but no sound comes out. His golden eyes are wide, searching mine as if looking for an explanation I don’t have.
“Damon,” I breathe. His name feels different on my tongue. Sacred.
He finally finds his voice. “I… I don’t understand.”
“It’s the bond,” I say, a giddy laugh bubbling up. “The mate bond. It’s us. We’re mates.”
I say the word aloud and the connection between us flares, a tangible warmth spreading through my veins. It is more real than anything I have ever felt. More real than the solid ground beneath my feet or the music that has started to fade back into my awareness.
He stares at me. The wonder in his eyes begins to flicker. Something else replaces it. Something guarded. Calculating. His grip on my arms loosens, and he takes a small step back. The space between us feels like a chasm.
“No,” he says. The word is quiet, but it hits me like a physical blow. “That can’t be right.”
My smile falters. “What do you mean? We both felt it. I know you did.”
I reach for him, needing to feel that connection again, to prove it is real. He pulls his hand back before I can touch him.
“There’s been a mistake,” he says, his voice losing its warmth, becoming flat and cold. “The Goddess wouldn’t… She wouldn’t pair me with…”
He doesn’t finish the sentence. He does not have to. With you. A human. A wolf-less girl.
The supernova in my chest collapses into a black hole. “Damon, don’t. Don’t say that.”
He shakes his head, running a hand through his dark hair. The charming, easygoing boy I danced with moments ago is gone. In his place is the future Alpha, his face a mask of grim determination.
“Think about it, Elara. The Games are in a few months. Our pack needs to win. I need to win. I need a strong mate. A partner. A wolf.” Each word is a carefully placed stone, building a wall between us.
I can see people starting to notice. The dancing has stopped. My parents are watching from the porch, their smiles frozen. Liam is starting to walk toward us, his expression hardening with every step Damon takes away from me.
“I can be strong,” I plead, my voice cracking. I hate how weak I sound. “I can help. The bond…”
“The bond is a mistake,” he cuts me off, his voice rising, gaining an edge of authority that commands attention. He is no longer talking just to me. He is addressing the silent, watching crowd. He is making a proclamation.
“Damon, what are you doing?” I whisper, a cold dread seeping into my bones.
He straightens to his full height, his shoulders thrown back. He looks every bit the Alpha he is destined to be. Cold. Unyielding. Powerful.
He looks directly at me, but his eyes are devoid of any recognition, any warmth, any trace of the boy who has been my friend my entire life.
“I, Damon, son of Alpha Marcus, future Alpha of the Silver Creek pack,” he announces, his voice ringing out with chilling formality across the silent yard. “Reject you, Elara, daughter of Beta Kaelen.”
Time stops. The air leaves my lungs in a painful rush. The world narrows to his face, his cruel, beautiful face.
“No,” I choke out. Tears blur my vision. “Please, Jax. You can’t.”
He ignores my plea. He is not done. He wants to make it perfectly, publicly clear.
“I reject you as my mate,” he continues, his voice like ice. “The Silver Creek pack requires strength. To win the Games, to lead our people, the Alpha must have a mate who is his equal. A warrior. A wolf.
He finally looks away from me, his gaze sweeping over the shocked faces of our pack members. He is assessing their loyalty. Daring them to question him.
“You are a weakness I cannot afford,” he says, his eyes landing back on me. He delivers the final, killing blow without a flicker of emotion. “You would only be a liability.”
Liability. The word hangs in the air, ugly and sharp. It echoes in the roaring silence of my shattered heart.
My legs give out. I would have collapsed onto the grass if not for the strong arms that suddenly wrap around me. Liam.
“You son of a bitch,” my brother snarls, his body vibrating with a rage so profound it is terrifying. He holds me up with one arm while his other hand clenches into a fist.
“Liam, no,” my father’s voice commands. He is there in an instant, his hand clamping down on Liam’s shoulder.
“Did you hear what he said to her?” Liam yells, struggling against our father’s grip. “I’ll kill him.”
“Stand down,” my father orders, his Beta authority lacing his tone. He is looking at Alpha Marcus, who has moved to stand beside his son. A silent, tense standoff between the two most powerful men in the pack.
My mother is beside me now, her hands on my face, turning me away from the scene. “Don’t look, sweetie. Don’t look at him.”
But I cannot help it. I look past her shoulder. I see Damon standing there, his expression unreadable. He watches as my brother fights to get to him, as my father holds him back, as my mother tries to shield me from the humiliation. He watches, and he does nothing. There is no regret in his eyes. Only a cold, chilling indifference.
The fragile, hopeful joy I felt just minutes ago feels like a cruel joke. A dream that has twisted into a nightmare. The mate bond, which had flared to life so brilliantly, is now a source of searing, unbearable pain. A phantom limb that aches for a connection that has been violently severed by the one person who was supposed to complete me.
I can hear the whispers starting. Soft at first, then growing in volume as the shock wears off. Murmurs of pity. Murmurs of agreement.
“He’s right. We need to be strong for the Games.”
“But she’s the Beta’s daughter…”
“A wolf-less mate for an Alpha? It’s a disgrace.”
“Poor girl. In front of everyone.”
Every word is a fresh cut. I pull away from my mother, from Liam’s protective hold. I need to stand on my own. I will not let them see me fall apart completely.
I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold the broken pieces together. I look at Damon one last time, a silent, desperate plea in my eyes. See me. See your friend. Remember us.
He meets my gaze for a fraction of a second. A flicker of something, maybe surprise at my composure, crosses his face. Then it is gone, replaced by that same arrogant mask. He turns his back on me, a final, dismissive act. He walks toward his father, the two of them a united front of power and authority.
The party is over. People begin to drift away, unable to look me in the eye, their discomfort a heavy blanket in the suddenly cold night air. The fairy lights that seemed so magical before now seem to mock me, illuminating my shame for everyone to see.
My family surrounds me, a tight circle of protection. But they cannot protect me from this. The pain is inside me, a poison spreading through my blood.
Damon rejected me. He called me a weakness. A liability. He chose ambition over the sacred bond the Goddess gave us. He chose the fleeting glory of a game over me.
And he did it in front of our entire world, shattering not just my heart, but my entire existence in one cruel, calculated speech.
I stand there, hollowed out, as the last of the guests disappear into the woods, their whispers trailing behind them. The silver locket from my mother feels impossibly heavy against my chest. A token from a birthday that will forever be remembered not as the day I turned eighteen, but as the night I was publicly branded as worthless.