Chapter 4 Public Deprivation and the First-Stage Rupture

Elara's POV

My hysterical laughter cut through the pouring rain, echoing over the silent tribal cemetery.

The pack members exchanged uneasy glances. Kevin's face turned livid in an instant, his eyes churning with the kind of rage that comes from being openly defied.

I could see it—the fury boiling in his gaze.

He was used to everyone cowering before him.

And I, a woman he'd already humiliated, still dared to challenge him in front of the entire pack.

That alone was enough to ignite his wrath.

Hestia pressed a silk scarf to her nose, casting a disgusted glance at Aiden's coffin—still not completely buried.

"Elara, you're already a criminal. What are you raving about now?"

She raised her voice deliberately: "Aiden only felt ashamed because he covered for a shameless slut like you—that's what killed him! Kevin, let's leave right now. This place reeks of death. What if it ruins my Moon Goddess coronation ceremony in a few days?"

Aiden had barely been dead a day, and this venomous woman—who'd poisoned him with fake evidence—was now trampling even his final dignity. Calling him 'unlucky'!

"Hestia, you bitch! I'll tear that mouth off your face!"

A surge of wild strength erupted from somewhere deep inside me. I lunged up from the mud, throwing myself at her with everything I had.

"Ah! Kevin, save me!" Hestia shrieked, shrinking delicately against Kevin's side.

Bang!

A brutal force slammed into me, sending me flying backward.

Kevin blocked her path. His hand clamped down on my outstretched right arm.

"In front of the entire pack, you dare attack her!"

He spat the words through gritted teeth, then twisted my arm with savage force.

Crack!

The sound of bone snapping exploded through the storm.

Agh!!!

Searing pain shot up my arm straight into my brain. My wrist—shattered. Broken clean through.

My arm hung at a grotesque angle, white bone fragments piercing through torn flesh. Blood mixed with rainwater and splattered onto the ground.

I trembled all over, my legs giving out. I collapsed hard into the mud.

"Elara! I've already forgiven all the terrible things you've done. Why do you still want to kill me…?" Hestia peeked out from behind Kevin, tears streaming down her face like she'd suffered the greatest injustice in the world.

"You're lying! It was you… you're the one who killed Aiden!"

I clawed at the ground with my one good hand, lifting my head in desperate, anguished defiance as I screamed at Kevin: "It was her! The fake evidence had rogue werewolf venom on it! She poisoned Aiden! Kevin, just investigate it!"

"Enough!"

Kevin's voice thundered. The terrifying Alpha pressure crashed down again, forcing my head back to the ground.

"You vicious, lying woman. Not only do you refuse to repent—now you're slandering Hestia!"

I stared at his back as he shielded her, and suddenly it all seemed absurd.

In his eyes, I was the rebel. The troublemaker who refused to submit.

And Hestia? She was the symbol he'd handpicked—docile, harmless.

He wasn't protecting her.

He was protecting his own inviolable authority as Alpha.

He turned to face the pack members standing in the storm, his voice amplified by raw Alpha power, reverberating in every werewolf's ears:

"Elara has crossed every line. She's attacked a pack member in broad daylight! I hereby declare that all ties between her and the Shadow Pack are severed! She is no longer a member of the Shadow Pack! Starting today, by my authority as Alpha, I strip Elara of her surname and status within the Shadow Pack! She is banished from the Shadow Pack and will no longer hold any mate candidacy!"

The proclamation sent shockwaves through the crowd.

Snap.

A pain a thousand times worse than my broken wrist tore straight through my heart. I curled into a ball in the mud, coughing up blood in violent, heaving gasps.

I looked up at Kevin.

When a Mate Bond breaks, the Alpha is supposed to feel the same—or even greater—soul-tearing agony.

But there was nothing.

Kevin stood tall in the rain, his posture unwavering. Apart from the cold, ruthless expression on his face, he didn't even flinch.

He felt no pain.

How was that possible?

My entire body shook. Through the curtain of rain, my trembling gaze caught the cruel, triumphant smirk Hestia couldn't quite suppress.

In that instant, I understood everything.

Doomweed.

I suddenly caught the faint, bitter scent of herbs lingering near the mate mark on the back of my neck.

That wasn't just any herb.

It was witch's Doomweed.

Hestia must have tampered with my wounds and my mate mark long ago.

No wonder my white wolf's presence had felt like it was being held underwater.

No wonder Kevin couldn't feel my pain.

That Doomweed wasn't just torturing me—it was numbing his perception of the Mate Bond.

What a ruthless scheme. What a perfect trap.

"Take her away." Kevin looked down at me with disgust, then turned his back without another glance. "Throw her in the beast cage at the edge of the territory."

Two burly guards stepped forward, hoisting me up by the shoulders and dragging me toward the punishment zone at the far edge of the pack lands.

I didn't struggle.

The rain washed over my face, merciless and cold.

Through the haze, I watched Kevin's towering, untouchable silhouette. I watched Hestia's victorious smile.

The pain in my shattered wrist had gone numb.

But the crack in my soul bled silently.

Kevin, today you broke my wrist to defend your authority. You drove the first blade into our mate bond.

You're so blinded by that woman's Doomweed, you can't even feel what's real anymore. And yet you think you're still in control.

This first fracture—you carved it yourself.

When the bond shatters completely and the backlash comes for you, I'll be watching. I want to see if you, the great Alpha, can still stand so proud.