Chapter 2

Chapter 2. Broken Bonds

The journey back home seemed to take more time than normal. Not because of the distance, but rather because of what happened. Lily was in the rear seat of the family car quietly. Her eyes locked on the outside view.

The moon hid behind clouds. Its glow dulled, as if it couldn’t stand to see the consequences. Her mother extended her hand toward her.

Lily let her take it, but the gesture felt distant. The bond she thought would anchor her had snapped in front of everyone. And now, she drifted.

Upon their arrival at their estate, the housekeeper opened the door before they reached the steps. The housekeeper averted Lily’s gaze as she walked by.

Her father was seated in the foyer, jaw clenched. His Beta insignia shining on his lapel.

A symbol that once meant something. Now, it felt like decoration.

"Come,” he said, voice low. “Let’s talk in the study.”

Lily shook her head. “Later.”

“You need rest,” her mother added.

“I need space.”

Lily walked past them and climbed up the stairs. Her room hadn’t changed. The pale curtains, the carved oak furniture, the books stacked on her windowsill, everything is still the same. But Lily wasn't.

She removed her silver dress that still carried the scent of shame. She carefully folded it before putting it in the rear of her closet. She waited beneath the shower for quite a while. The water washed her skin clean, but it couldn't wash away the pain and shame of rejection. Her wolf remained silent. Excessively silent.

The silence overwhelmed her as she lay on the bed. Each breath she inhaled caused pain. A persistent pain encircled her chest. The pain didn’t throb; it pulsed rhythmically, like an injury discovering how to beat.

The issue with broken connections was that they didn’t simply disappear.

They burned slowly. Like poison in the bloodstream. By morning, the rumors had started going around. She didn’t need to check her phone to know. Servants whispered in corners. Her uncle avoided eye contact at breakfast. Her aunt had suddenly left town.

At the market, she caught the stares. The pity in some eyes, the amusement in others. People loved a scandal. Especially when it happened to someone with a history of pride.

"Did you hear she begged him?"

"Maybe she was too weak for an Alpha."

"They say she slapped him before he could finish rejecting her."

Lies and twisted versions of a truth she didn’t owe to anyone.

She returned home early the next day. She was tired of holding her spine straight while the world bent around her. Before she walked up the driveway, the aura hit her as she got close to the door.

Jace.

She walked into the garden. There he was, with his hands in his pockets, in a relaxed posture as if he hadn’t shattered her heart in front of the whole pack.

"You are on private property," she stated. He looked her over, eyes moving slowly, calculating. “I came to make things clear.”

“I don’t need clarity. I need you gone.”

His smirk returned. The one that made her want to claw something. “Don’t get in my way, Lily.”

She laughed. It wasn’t soft. “You think I want anything to do with your path?”

“I think your father’s position has protected you for too long. I think you're still under the illusion that being rejected was the worst I could do.”

She stepped closer. “You already did your worst. I’m still standing.”

“Not for long,” he murmured.

She didn’t flinch. “Get off my land, Alpha Thorn.”

He held her gaze a second longer. Then he turned and walked away. No apology. No regret. Just entitlement trailing behind him.

That night, the pain changed.

It wasn’t a sharp pang anymore. It was deeper and colder. Like a crack forming down the middle of her body.

She clutched the bed sheet as she lay on the bed. Her wolf let out a whimper. Not from longing but from the sting of rejection still echoing through her bones. The goddess had chosen Jace for her. Her soul had accepted that bond before her mind had time to resist it. Now, there was a hollow space where that connection used to live.

Jacks created a space that nothing could fill in her life. Her mother checked on her and sat quietly on the edge of her bed. And ran fingers through her damp hair.

“He’s a coward.'' her mother whispered.

Lily didn’t respond.

“You’ll rise from this.”

Still, Lily said nothing but gave a forced smile at her mother. To her, right now, survival didn’t feel like triumph. It felt like cruelty.

In the following days, Lily lost her appetite for food. She moved around the estate like a ghost. Her father tried to rally the council in her defence, but most of them were already under Jace’s influence. Allies became shadows. Letters were returned unopened.

Then came the summons.

Her father stormed into her room, eyes blazing. “He’s calling for a private audience. At his new estate.”

“No.”

“He claims he wants to make peace.”

Lily stood. “I don’t want peace. I want distance.”

But Jace didn’t deal in distance. He dealt in leverage.

That evening, a package arrived. Inside: her family’s old crest, snapped in half.

A message.

She held it in her hands, eyes tracing the broken lines. The Rowan name had once stood for loyalty and protection.

Jace was trying to erase that, piece by piece.

She stepped into her training room the next morning. The scent of leather and steel grounded her. She hadn’t sparred in months. But her body remembered. Her muscle memory took over.

Each strike hit the bag with increased force. Sweat ran down her spine. Her arms ached, but the pain remained. The unease indicated to her that she was still alive.

When her mother spotted her two hours later, she was happy. She just stood at the entrance quietly. From there, she watched her daughter reignite the battle.

Lily walked back to the house strong. Inside her room, she stood in front of her human-sized mirror, a towel resting on her shoulders. Her skin flushed from exertion. She looked at her reflection steadily and shook her head slightly.

No more tears, neither did she pity herself anymore. ''Let them talk. Let Jace scheme. I will overcome every gossip.'' She said confidently.

With that confidence, she added. ''Let the bond break. Let it bleed. I'm still here. And I'm no one’s secret, not anymore.''

Then, the wind grew stronger outside, howling through the cracks as though it had taken her vow and given it to the spirits.

A sound echoed. The noise was too intentional to be for nothing. Lily's heart raced not from fear, but from the sudden realization that she was no longer isolated.

Then came the aura, faint, familiar, and impossible. A mix of rain-soaked pine and wildfire heat. The aura of a bond that should’ve been but hadn’t.