Christina’s POV
Slap!
My head snapped to the side, vision blurring, skin burning as if soone had pressed a brand into .
I looked up to see Niall’s furious eyes.
My fated mate just hit .
Three minutes ago, I was daydreaming about redecorating this ridiculously expensive pack house. Two minutes ago, I accidentally knocked over a frad photo in his bedroom. A picture of my sister.
Now blood rushed in my ears— sharp, humiliating. Akira roared inside , a storm of betrayal that stole my breath.
"You broke it!?" Niall spat. "This is the only picture I had with Beatrice. Your jealousy makes sick."
"Are you fucking insane?" I gritted my teeth.
"No, you’re the one who’s twisted!" he roared."I already agreed to marry you, what more do you want? Beatrice left because of you! Because you forced the mate bond on !"
The hatred in his eyes cut deeper than any slap.
"She was your sister! And now you covet what was hers? You won’t stop until every trace of her is erased, will you?" He said in anger as he shoved backward, into the coffee table.
I landed on the shattered glass. Pain lanced through my palm, and my blood sared across Beatrice’s perfect smile.
How bitterly fitting.
My cheek throbbed. My hand was bleeding. But nothing hurt more than the realization that my so-called mate had never loved .
"It wasn’t ," I said, one final attempt at reason. "I never forced this mate bond on you. I never asked her to leave."
Logically speaking, I understood why soone might bla .
On my eighteenth birthday, I shifted and realized Niall was my fated mate.Stupidly, I wrote it all down in my diary. I planned to tell him when he returned from his business trip. If he couldn’t accept , I was prepared for rejection.
But Beatrice found my diary and made it public.
Privacy ant nothing to her. She broadcast my diary to everyone in the Crescent pack .
I was publicly shad as the pathetic spare who dared reach above her station for her perfect sister’s Alpha.
Then Beatrice graciously left for abroad, leaving behind a letter saying she’d discovered my secret and decided to let go and let him be mine.
Her generosity was as real as soone being generous with a credit card that wasn’t hers.
And I was the villain who drove away The Crescent Pack’s perfect princess.
To my family, I was a long-neglected player suddenly promoted to the first string—a strategic shift I was now duty-bound to appreciate. My parents didn’t truly care which daughter married Niall, only that the pack alliance was sealed. Even if Niall had literally ripped my heart out, my parents would’ve handed him napkins to clean up.
It was as if my parents had always hated . No matter how much I outperford Beatrice in training, they always made excuses for her and found fault with . I was bitter, ungrateful, soone who couldn’t appreciate her dear sister.
My fingers clenched around the engagent ring. This pathetic symbol of our joke mateship.
Hot tears blurred my vision. I blinked them back fast.
I bolted for the door and got out before the tears ca.
Niall grabbed my wrist to stop . "Clean it up."
"What?"I stared him in disbelief, needing to confirm I’d heard him right.
"You broke the photo fra. Clean up the pieces." Ice-cold command.
Too bad I never was good at taking orders.
"No." I lifted my chin. Zero compromise.
His jaw clenched. "You sure you want to do this, Christina?"
"Yes. I said no." I stared him down without flinching.
If love ant grinding my self-respect into dust, then fuck love.
The air between us snapped, tension rising like a storm. He leaned in, fury blazing. "Last chance. Disobey , and I’ll end this bond right here—".
"We are over," I cut in.
Shock froze his face.
For a mont,the air went still.
He hadn’t expected to actually say it.
I yanked my arm free, breath hitching as hope for escape flared—only for him to seize again, his grip bruising, his eyes burning with sothing close to hatred.
"This is on you, Christina!" Niall snarled, his tone that of a sworn enemy rather than the mate fate had chained to.
"I, Niall Granger, Alpha of the Frostpelt Pack, reject—"
"Shut the hell up!" I snapped.
If anyone was ending this bond, it would be .
My gaze locked onto his, unflinching.
"You don’t get to reject . I reject you, Niall. Now accept it."
The world seed to crack in half.
Akira howled inside , a keening wail of loss, while searing agony tore through my chest as the bond unraveled thread by thread.
His jaw tightened,but he forced the words past clenched teeth.
"I accept your rejection. Now clean up your ss and fix the damn photo."
My hands shook as I picked up the shattered fra, shards biting into my skin, my blood saring across the glass. I tore the picture down the middle, ripping his face away from my sister’s, as if severing every last tie.
Without hesitation,I swung my hand and slapped him hard across that infuriatingly handso, arrogant face. The crack echoed between us.
I leaned in, letting him see the fire in my eyes.
"Now," I hissed, "we’re done..."
The silence was absolute.
My palm stung, but oh, the satisfaction almost dulled the pain in my chest.
Niall staggered back, shock flashing in his eyes.
It wasn’t from pain, but from realizing the docile girl he’d despised no longer existed.
I smiled coldly. "Goodbye, Niall. Go worship your shrine to Beatrice."
And I walked out of that suffocating hell, head high.
I would rather drown in my own tears than let him see one more drop.
When I reached the parking lot, the cold night air hit my face, but overwhelming pain crashed over like a tidal wave.
Fuck, no one ever told that breaking the mate bond would be this excruciating.
It felt like having my heart sliced up and served to Hannibal Lecter.He’d probably enjoy it with a nice Chianti and so fava beans.
I curled up in the driver’s seat, cold sweat streaming down my face.
Akira lay weakly inside , whimpering,"It’s so fucking strange!Like soone reached into my gut and tore sothing out with their fist."
I couldn’t agree more.
I wanted to find my mother,she would definitely know how to ease this kind of pain.
Or maybe any creature in pain instinctively thinks of their mother.
As I hesitated between sending a mind-link or making a call, my phone vibrated.
My eyes were so blurry that I fumbled to swipe and answer.
"Chrissy, you must be insane!" My mother scread."How dare you humiliate Niall like this! The pack alliance is ruined!"
"Mom, he rejected ," I said weakly. "As in, formally. Also, he hit . So there’s that fun detail."
"He... what?" For once, she sounded stunned.
My dad’s voice cut in, "Don’t be dramatic. After everything Beatrice sacrificed for you? You will apologize to Niall imdiately and beg him to marry you, or you’re no longer welco in our territory!"
He hung up before I could respond.
I stared at my phone in bewildernt, my father’s words echoing in my head.
Not "Are you okay?" Not "We’re coming to get you."
Just threats about banishing from the pack.
Why was it that no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn’t earn even a sliver of their approval? When I was rejected by my mate and dying from the pain, all my parents could think about was the pack alliance and my fucking sister who had disappeared God knows where!
Beatrice never had to do anything, yet she was their precious jewel.
So, this is it?
On the day I severed the mate bond with my fated mate, I finally realized that my parents had never loved .
It shattered my last remaining, pathetic and pitiful longing for my parents’ love.
Enough.
I was done trying to earn love that would never be given.
I was done being the convenient backup daughter.
I was taking back the self-respect I’d lost long ago, and I was breaking free of this engagent—no matter the consequences.
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