Chapter 3 The mockery of the pack
“The bond was a mistake, Astraea.” Jaxon said, turning to the high Seer, who was holding a black dagger wrapped in incense. “Seer, sever it.”
“Jaxon you know it would kill me.” Astraea screamed.
The high Seer came forward, then began to chant a low sound that seemed to make the air around him turn thick and oily. The fire rose in flame.
“By the blood of the sun and the laws of the Moon,” the Seer said, “I cut the thread that was never meant to be woven.”
He came forward, the black dagger slicing through the empty air between Jaxon and Astraea.
Astraea felt an explosion in her chest. It felt like white hot iron was put through her heart. It was not just pain.
It was a sensation of her very essence being divided into two. Every memory, every spark of the bond was being forcefully torn out of her system.
She let out a sound that was not human. A raw scream that silenced the whole crowd.
“My wolf… she screaming” Astraea's gasp have vision turning black inside her mind as a small white wolf was screaming. Its spirit being divided by the dark magic.
The pain came outwards, staying in her bones, her blood, her marrow. She collapsed, her body shaking with violent tremors. Her skin that was already white turned to a scary shade of grey. She began to cough so hard, that red blood came out of her mouth and spilled across the white of her dress and on the altar.
“Look at her,” someone said from the crowd. “She's dying from the inside out.”
Jaxon flinched, his hands going to his chest as a reaction of the severed bond hitting him. He gasped, his golden eyes flickering for a second, but he stood his ground and watched as Astraea folded into a ball, shaking so hard.
“Is it done?” Jaxon asked, his voice tight and strained but he did not let it show.
The seer nodded, looking down at Astraea with a little bit of pity in his eyes. “The bond is gone, Alpha. She's no longer your own. She's no one.”
Verena crossed over Astraea’s body. She leaned down her face, inches from Astraea's ear, whispering. Though Astraea was already losing consciousness.
“you really should have died in the womb, Astraea,” Verena hissed. “But do not worry. I will take very good care of your Jaxon and your throne and your life.”
Astraea tried to speak, but only blood came out of her mouth. The cold she felt her whole life was now a very large storm in her chest.
As the world began to fade around her, she saw Jaxon turn his back on her, leading his pregnant Luna towards the great hall. No one stopped to even look back to see if she was still breathing.
Astraea lay on the altar, the weak omega who had lost everything. She felt her heart slow down, her lungs filled with icy air of the North. She was dying. She was sure of it.
The celebration in the great hall of the Shadow fang pack was filled with gold and red colours. The direct opposite of the grey shadow that was covered over Astraea's soul.
The air was filled with the scent of roasted meat, spiced wine, and the pheromonal scent of five hundred wolves.
At the head of the hall, seated on thrones, were Jaxon and Verena, sitting like gods over their subjects. On their neck, the fresh mating mark shone with a hot golden light, to the pack it was a sign of the moon's blessing. But to Astraea, it felt like hot needles put into her eyes.
“More wine, Omega. Or are your legs as broken as your body?”
Astraea flinched at the shouted command. She was standing at the end of the servants line, her body shaking so bad that the heavy silver jug in her hands was shaking. The breaking of the bond, had left her empty. She felt like a glass cup that had been broken and glued back together. The cracks were loud.
“I’m… I’m coming,” Astraea whispered. She walked towards a table of warriors from the silver oaked pack.
Her white hair, usually her pride before, was filled with dried blood from the altar. She looked like a ghost that was haunting her own funeral.
“Look at this,” one of the warriors said, reaching out to hold Astraea's wrist.
“This is what Jaxon almost let lead the south, beside him. I have seen better looking wolves in a skinny pit.”
“Let me go,” Astraea said a voice sounding dry, with no sort of energy in it.
“Let you go? Why? We are celebrating,” the warrior laughed, looking at his fellow warriors.
“Hey, boys, watch this.”
“ Hey, Omega, if I pour this wine on the floor, will you lick it up? It's probably the best meal You will get tonight.”
“Let her, be Bram” another warrior laughed, throwing a half eaten bone at Astraea's feet.
“You might catch whatever sickness made her wolf turn that disgusting color. White wolves are a bad omens. Everyone knows that. They are just omegas who could not find enough pigment to be made into a real wolf.”
Astraea did not fight back. She could not. Anytime she tried to summon her wolf, she felt only a cold, loud silence, where the bond used to be.
She filled the cup of the warrior with shaking hands and moved towards the high table where the happy couples were.
“Astraea, darling, you're finally here,” Verena called out, her voice making Astraea's stomach to churn.
Verena looked beautiful. She had changed from the red gown and now wore a gold velvet gown that matched Jaxon's aura.
She leaned closer to Jaxon, tracing the mate mark on his neck while Jaxon looked at her with a hunger that made Astraea wish the ground would open and swallow her up.
