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Aurora Clio, once the cherished mate of the powerful Alpha Rowan was abandoned and left to die after her mate chose his pack over her. When fate intervention led to her rescue; she returns two years later as a formidable force, feared, revered and out for revenge. When Rowan sees her again, powerful and untouchable, regret consumes him. He will do anything to reclaim her, but she is not the woman he abandoned-she is his worst nightmare. As they clash over power, vengeance, and an ancient stolen artifact, Rowan finds himself drawn to her more than ever. But when a deadly truth emerges, revealing Aurora as the key to his destruction, he realizes he may have lost her forever-just when he finally understood what she meant to him.
Chapter 1 001
The boos from the crowd were deafening to Aurora's ears as she fought to keep her eyes open, staring back at them bravely.
She was tied to a stake, her hair matted with dirt, sweat, and blood while her face was covered with soot.
Amid all this humiliation, there was one thing missing. Tears.
There was not a single drop of tears that slipped from her eyes.
That's right.
She has not shed any tears ever since her ordeals began. She only gazed back at the crowd with defiant fury in her eyes.
"You should look at yourself first before you try to seduce our Alpha. Is a runt like you qualified to be our Luna?" Someone from the crowd booed.
"Tch! That innocent face and vixen body are only good for deceiving men. Go to hell! Go die!" another wolf chipped in.
A chuckle escaped Aurora's lips as she couldn't believe that, these were the same people who once called her Luna.
Even the maids that once served her were also there, jeering at her, not minding the fact she treated them all like sisters when she was up there, never looking down on any of them.
She looked at her mate and scoffed, biting her lips to endure the pain in her heart.
When she heard that the pack council was calling for her demotion because of her heart condition, she was worried. But not too much because she knew her mate loved her and had promised to protect her at all costs.
Yet, everything fell apart last as her world crumbled last night. Within a few hours, there she was, tied to a stake, like a criminal waiting to be demoted.
As for her beloved mate, Alpha King Rowan Claudius, ruler of the Silver Fang territories, he was standing on a podium with his hand wrapped around the waist of a familiar she-wolf.
This wolf was the preferred Luna queen, unanimously accepted and recommended by all the pack members.
"You're the weak yet shameless woman I've ever seen. You didn't look at your mirror before dreaming of being our Luna?" the voice of an older woman cut through the air, her words cutting through Aurora's already bruised heart.
"Bitch! Because of you weakening our alpha and distracting him with your sickness, our treasuries were robbed, our farms and land plundered, and now my son is dead. Pay for it with your life!" another woman wailed.
A single step forward by Rowan and the pack center contorted into a deafening silence.
Rowan took another step forward, clearing his throat as he prepared to address the pack. Maddy, the preferred Luna, stood close to him, wearing on her face a mocking smile of victory.
"Silence!" Rowan shouted, raising his hand.
At once, everywhere went silent, except for Aurora's labored breaths. One could even hear a pin drop. Even though they didn't agree with Rowan's choice of his first mate, it never changed the fact that they respected him as a competent leader.
He walked up the stage and motioned to Maddy to stop following him. She frowned, but quickly masked it with an amiable smile and obeyed.
Aurora looked up at him, her eyes mirroring the pain in her heart. For a moment, Rowan felt the pain too, and an inkling of guilt. But he quickly steeled his resolve, reminding himself to look at the bigger picture.
He lowered his gaze to look at Aurora, who was tied to a stake beneath the podium. He swallowed a chunk down his throat as he commenced, "You already know what I'm here for. So there will be no need for much talk."
Aurora could only blink back the tears that threatened to fall as she pleaded, "Rowan, I'm in bad shape now. Can you give me some time to recover?"
To Rowan, it only seemed as if she was doing everything possible to delay getting rejected, infuriating him the more.
Without considering her words, he gritted his jaw as he spat, "I, Alpha Rowan Claudius of the silver fang pack, reject you weakling, Aurora Clio as my mate and Luna. May our paths never cross again."
Blood gushed out Aurora's mouth immediately the words left his mouth. She gripped her chest in pain as she struggled to control her breath. The power disparity between them was already too much and rejection was meant to hurt like hell.
As the weaker one in the relationship, she would be the one to suffer the pain the most. Even more so in her current body conditions.
She looked up at him, the tears she had been fighting back streaming down her face as the blood oozing from her dripped into her tattered clothes.
"Did you ever love me once?"
"No" His reply was cold and emotionless, without hesitation.
The disappointment and pain crashed down on her, making her shoulders slumped.
"Then all those moments that we spent together, all those promises, what were they to you?" She whispered, dreading his answer. But she needed to hear it anyway.
"An irresponsible desire, a fleeting crush from a disgraceful lust-filled past I would like to erase if I can turn back the hands of the clock. A terrible mistake. The moment of indulgence is past, and it's time to get back on track."
If Aurora thought his initial words broke her heart, this one shattered her and tore her open till there was nothing left.
The beautiful memories she cherished were nothing but a mistake to him. But this was good, she should try her best to get rid of lingering sentiments too.
"I, Aurora Clio accept your rejection."
Her acceptance of the broken bond sent a sharp pain through his chest. He could feel Hus wolf howling in pain but he needed to control himself.
He was sacrificing for his people and his pack. He was a leader and the well-being of his pack came first to his personal desires.
"From today," he added. " I banish you from the Silver Fang territories never to return without an explicit permit, as long as you shall leave."
A resounding cheers of approval from the pack members filled the air as he declared Aurora banished.
If Aurora thought all this was painful, then she was most definitely not ready for the next blow.
Right there before her very eyes, Maddy walked up to her mate-ex-mate, kissed him on the lips while locking gazes with her, adding insult to her wounds.
The tears clouded Ger vision as a sharp pain coursed through her bones, rendering her blank.
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