C1 Chapter One

Kara's pulse raced in her chest at a quick pace that mimicked the thrumming of paws on the soil as she approached Gareth. His figure stood sharp against the fading light, arms crossed, a statue fashioned from ice and indifference.

"Kara," he murmured, his voice devoid of warmth.

"Please, Gareth, we need to talk. This can't be how it ends," she urged, her voice showing a trembling she couldn't hide.

"Talk?" Gareth scoffed, his brows knitting together in a façade of perplexity. "There is nothing left to discuss."

"But I don't understand," Kara murmured, her words coming out in a rush. "I thought—"

"Thought what? That you were my forever?" Gareth cut in, his tone keen as a sword. "That was a mistake."

Each statement seemed like a physical blow, leaving invisible marks on her skin. The coldness in his dark gaze chilled her to the bone.

"Is this because of the council? Because I can fight them with—" Kara's outcry was stopped by Gareth's icy look.

"Kara, listen carefully," he whispered, edging closer, the gulf between them a chasm filled with unsaid words. "You are not my match. Not now, not ever. Your existence here... it’s an annoyance I no longer desire to bear."

"An irritant?" Her voice broke, the solitary syllable a whisper lost in the wind.

"Exactly," Gareth acknowledged, moving away, his back a last barrier, disconnecting their last link.

Kara felt something shattering within her, the crevices spreading through her spirit. She watched him walk away, each step a punctuation point at the end of their unfinished narrative.

"Fine," she murmured, her certainty seizing her shaking limbs. Her mind swirled with ideas of rebellion, of proving him wrong, and of growing beyond the boundaries of his rejection.

Tears threatened at the corners of Kara's vision, distorting the features of the pack members gathering in a loose semicircle around her. She blinked fast, resisting the tears that welled up, unwilling to give Gareth the gratification of watching her cry.

Kara stood at the edge of the clearing, the weight of her bag thick in the air around her. The Alpha's pronouncement, decisive and unrelenting, left no opportunity for dispute. Her formerly beloved place among them had been torn away, creating a vacuum that resonated with each heartbeat.

"Kara Thorne," Alpha Marrow's voice roared, "in accordance with the laws of this pack and the rejection by your would-be mate, you are hereby banished."

Her heart missed a beat, but she fought to let her grief emerge. She maintained her head up, her spine straight as an arrow, yet every muscle in her body screamed in mute anguish. With deliberate feet, Kara continued her trek through the crowd, her gaze fixated on the shadowy treeline beyond, her route lighted by the contemptuous moon.

"Kara." Aria's voice trembled as she reached out, only to let her hand fall back to her side, powerless

Silas stood behind Aria, his countenance enigmatic, yet his eyes—a stormy gray matching the tumultuous sky—betrayed his inner struggle. He said nothing, but his quiet was louder than any words of comfort he could provide.

"Stay strong, Kara," Aria murmured, her voice just reaching Kara's ears above the noise of the throng.

"Strength is all I have left,I know" Kara said without glancing back, her voice firm despite the quiver she felt within.

As she passed the outer ring of her erstwhile comrades, their murmurs stuck to her like burrs. Some were filled with pity, some with barely veiled disgust. None of it matters now. Their thoughts, their acceptance—she was beyond it all.

"Remember who you are," Silas eventually spoke out, his voice bearing a serious weight.

"Who am I, Silas?" she thought cruelly. "A rejected mate? An outcast?"

"More than this," she replied passionately, even as uncertainty gnawed at her resolve.

The jungle loomed before her, dark and frightening, devouring the remaining remains of her previous existence. With each stride, the familiar odors of pine and moist earth flooded her senses, a sharp contrast to the icy dismissal she'd received. It was as if nature itself was inviting her into its embrace while everything else she knew turned its back.

"Is this what destiny feels like?" she questioned softly, the irony not lost on her. "To be thrust forward by the hands of those who no longer want you?"

"Kara!" Aria shouted out one final time, her voice cracking with anguish.

"Go!" Silas added that his instruction was more of a plea for her to escape the misery that would undoubtedly follow if she remained.

She didn't react; she couldn't trust her voice not to betray the fight raging inside her. Betrayal and desertion collided with the drive to live, to prove her worth not just to the pack but to herself.

"Will I ever find a place where I belong?" The notion reverberated hollowly as she passed the invisible barrier that separated her from her past.

"Will there be anyone who accepts me for both my strengths and my flaws?" Kara pondered, moving farther into the trees, the darkness surrounding her like a blanket.

"Or am I destined to walk alone, a lone wolf against the world?"

The rustle of leaves beneath accented her departure—the sound of finality. Each leaf crunched was a memory left behind, and each broken twig was a link severed.

"Let them chat. Let them watch," she determined, marching along. "I will forge my own path, and one day, they will realize the gravity of their mistake."

"Kara Thorne isn't someone to be dismissed. I am not weak."

With that stubborn idea driving her onward, Kara went into the darkness, the last glimpse her friends—and her pack—had of her being the proud set of her shoulders as she confronted the unknown. But even as the distance expanded, the sorrow for what she lost clung to her like a second skin.

"Goodbye, dear friend. My protector. My pack." she murmured into the wind, the phrase a combination of grief and challenge.