Chapter Six: Torn Apart
The night air was cold against Selene’s skin, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as the ache in her chest.
She stood at the entrance of the Bloodmoon Pack’s grand hall, her heart pounding so loudly it drowned out the muffled whispers of the pack members gathered behind her. The world felt distant—blurred, surreal, broken.
This was it.
She was leaving.
Cast out like she had never mattered.
Like she had never belonged.
The rejection still burned through her veins, an open wound that refused to heal. She had spent her entire life believing that Bloodmoon was her home, that these people were her family.
But she had been wrong.
And Kieran…
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push away the memory of his voice as he spoke the words that had shattered her world.
“I, Kieran Blackwood, reject you, Selene Nightshade, as my mate.”
She had known pain before.
She had known what it was like to be the outsider, the orphan taken in out of pity, always hovering on the edges of the life she had desperately tried to make her own.
But nothing had ever hurt like this.
Nothing had ever felt so final.
Her breathing was unsteady as she turned to face the only man she had ever called father.
Alpha Aldric stood tall before her, his face void of any emotion, as if casting her out was no more difficult than sending a rogue off their territory.
Selene’s throat tightened. “You’re really doing this.”
Aldric’s eyes flickered with something unreadable—but not regret. Not hesitation. Just certainty.
“You knew the rules,” he said.
Rules. Always the rules.
It didn’t matter that she had spent her life proving her loyalty to this pack. That she had trained with them, bled for them, fought for them. That she had grown up in this house, eaten meals at their table, laughed with them, loved them.
None of that mattered.
Because she wasn’t really one of them.
She never had been.
Selene swallowed against the sharp sting in her chest. “I wasn’t given a choice.”
Aldric exhaled, his expression unwavering. “Neither was Kieran.”
At the mention of his name, Selene’s gaze flickered toward him—the man who had been everything to her.
Her friend. Her protector. The boy she had once believed would always be at her side.
Now?
He couldn’t even look at her.
Kieran stood rigid, his fists clenched at his sides, his golden eyes fixed on the ground.
Coward.
Selene’s fingers curled into her palms.
“You could stop this,” she said, forcing her voice to remain steady.
Kieran’s jaw tensed.
“Say something,” she whispered, desperate, pleading. “Tell them this isn’t right.”
He said nothing.
Selene’s heart cracked.
Her hands trembled at her sides. “I spent my whole life believing I was part of this pack.”
“You were,” Aldric said.
But the past tense cut deeper than any blade ever could.
Selene let out a hollow laugh, shaking her head. “No. I was never part of this pack. I was only here until it became inconvenient.”
A muscle ticked in Aldric’s jaw. “You would do well not to test my patience.”
Selene met his stare, refusing to look away. “Or what? You’ll kill me?”
The words should have been a challenge, but there was nothing left to fight for.
She could see it in his eyes.
If she stayed… he would.
And the worst part?
No one would stop him.
Not Kieran. Not the pack.
No one.
A wave of nausea rolled through her, the truth settling over her like a suffocating weight.
She was alone.
Completely and utterly alone.
Selene forced herself to turn away.
She wouldn’t beg.
Not for them.
Not for him.
She straightened her spine, lifting her chin, even as her heart felt like it was cracking apart inside her chest.
“Fine,” she said quietly. “I’ll leave.”
Aldric gave a small nod of approval, as if she had just made the right decision.
But the thing was…
It wasn’t my decision at all.
She glanced around the hall one last time. Familiar faces stared back at her—some sad, some guilty, some indifferent.
Not one of them spoke up.
Not one of them fought for her.
Selene turned and walked away.
She didn’t look back.
Because if she did…
She might have shattered completely.
The wind howled through the dense forest as Selene moved through the trees, each step heavy, each breath painful.
She had walked for miles. Hours. She didn’t know where she was going.
All she knew was that she couldn’t stop.
The Bloodmoon borders were behind her now, but the weight in her chest remained.
She kept waiting for the pain to dull, for the emptiness to subside, but the rejection still pulsed inside her like a living thing.
Her wolf whimpered in the back of her mind. Lost. Alone. Unclaimed.
Tears blurred her vision, but she forced them back.
She wouldn’t cry.
She wouldn’t let them break her.
But gods, it hurt.
Every step away from Bloodmoon felt like tearing another piece of herself off and leaving it behind.
Because no matter how much she wanted to hate them…
No matter how much she wanted to hate him…
She had still loved them.
She had loved him.
And they had thrown her away like she was nothing.
A sharp crack echoed through the night, and Selene’s head snapped up.
Her heart pounded as she scanned the darkness.
She wasn’t alone.
A shadow moved between the trees, too fast for a human.
A low growl rumbled through the air, and her wolf stirred.
Rogues.
Selene didn’t have a pack anymore.
No protection. No home.
And now?
She had a target on her back.
The realization settled over her.
The wolves in the shadows weren’t just random rogues.
They had been waiting for her.
Selene squared her shoulders, ignoring the fresh wave of fear that clawed at her chest.
She might be alone.
She might be broken.
But she would not go down without a fight.
Not now.
Not ever.