Rejected by the King, Protected by Her Alpha Twin Chapter 08

Chapter 8 Severed Ties

Father crashed down onto the stone floor, overcome with shock. “Impossible…”

I slid my blade back into its sheath and dropped to his eye level. “I told you I left men behind to watch over her.”

Every drop of color drained from his face.

He’d framed my private guards for treason, then put nineteen loyal warriors to death for refusing to swear fealty to him.

Survivors had melted into the northern frontier, biding their time for my return.

Ronan slammed a thick leather-bound ledger hard on the ground before him.

“Seventy percent of everything the commander set aside for Selene got sold off. Half the gold went straight to Evelyn’s house. The rest bought off guards and pack elders.”

Caius flipped the ledger open. His knuckles whitened with tension.

“You embezzled Vesper’s territorial wealth to build your own private retinue?”

Father fell silent for a beat, then let out a bitter, sharp laugh.

“Caius, drop the innocent act.”

He lifted his chin, raw desperation burning in his eyes.

“I claimed Selene had killed the royal cub. You never even checked the scent before stripping her rank and running her out of the pack capital.”

“I said Evelyn would make a better luna, and you rushed her coronation without a second thought.”

Every word cut deep. “Could I have had those guards killed without the alpha king’s silent approval?

“Would Selene be trapped in this agony if you’d looked the other way?”

A heavy hush fell over the hall.

Every eye locked on Caius. As alpha king, his job was to protect his pack-mates.

Instead he swallowed lie after lie and handed my father the knife to spill blood for him.

Caius’s features darkened, yet he could not utter a single retort.

clapped twice, cold and quiet. “Father finally told the truth.”

My gaze moved past him toward Caius.

“You will repay every last bit of what you owe as well.”

Realizing Caius could not save himself, Evelyn broke into shrill, wild laughter.

“What right do any of us have to judge us?

“Vesper and Selene are twin wolves! Twin bloodlines bring ruin down on packs. They never should have been allowed to live alongside each other!

“The Grand Elder should have exiled one of them long ago!”

The Grand Elder’s brows knotted tight. “Who filled your head with that falsehood about twin wolves needing exile?”

Evelyn jabbed a finger toward my mother. “My aunt! She said Vesper had to vanish forever so the royal pack would accept Selene as luna!”

Selene leaned weakly against Ronan and turned slowly toward our mother.

“So my sister faked her death… all for me?”

Mother flinched, her whole body trembling, unable to meet Selene’s

gaze.

The Grand Elder slammed his ceremonial scepter against stone. “That is complete nonsense!

“Hundreds of years ago, some packs feared twin bloodlines. At times one child would be sent away to grow up in a distant territory.

“But no ancient law demanded execution or permanent exile!

“The old alpha king publicly declared twin wolves stood under the moon goddess’s protection. Vesper was his hand-picked commander for the northern frontier. Who would dare cast her out?”

I stared at my mother, sharp bitter irony settling over me. I had never needed to die. All those warnings of blood-born disaster were nothing but an excuse to get rid of me.

“Why?” I set my blade tip against the stone floor.

“I beat back brutal beast hordes across the northern frontier. I left Selene everything I could give.

“What did I do that made you want me gone?”

other dissolved into sobs. “Evelyn’s mother was my own younger sister!

“On her deathbed she begged me to look after her daughter. The girl endured more than ten years among rogue wolves. I owed them both!

“I only wanted to make things right for her!”

A hollow laugh tore out of Selene. Covered head-to-toe in wounds, no trace of softnes lingered in her eyes.

“You owed your sister, so you paid with my sister’s life.

“Evelyn craved the luna title, so you paved her path using mine.

“Mother… what generous ‘reparation’ you offered.”

Mother lunged toward her. “Selene, I love you too!”

Selene stepped back, dodging her out-reached hands.

“You do not love me.

“You love a docile, weak daughter you can sacrifice whenever it suits your needs.”

Mother shuddered from head to toe.

“Selene, what are you doing?”

Battered and broken as she was, Selene straightened and crossed over to my side. She reached for my hand and laced her fingers through mine.

“From this day onward, I am no longer your daughter.”

She glanced at me, faint relief softening her pale features.

“They cast me out of the pack capital once.

“Now I reject them.”

I squeezed her ice-cold hand. Deep in my mind, my wolf spirit let out a long, ringing howl.

No one forced her to walk away this time.

She had cut those ties of her own free will.

Then Selene turned to face Caius.

nd you.”

“The fated-mate bond brought me nothing but humiliation, agony from silver-barbed lashes, and imprisonment.”

“Caius, I want nothing of the luna title. I want nothing of you.

“I demand our mate bond be severed. I will leave your pack for good.”

Caius lunged forward. Unchecked pheromones exploded from him, surging through the temple hall.

“That cannot be!”

I stepped fully between him and Selene, shielding her.

The crushing aura of the alpha of the northern frontier burst forth, shattering his raging pheromone surge in an instant.

I pointed my blade at the alpha king, my smile icy.

“You had no trouble casting her out once, did you not?

“Now she rejects you-

“What right have you to say no?”