Yara
"You promised me," I screamed, my throat raw, the words tearing out of me before I could stop them.
My body strained against the hands holding me down—firm, unyielding, pressing hard into my shoulders as I tried to push forward, to get to him. It didn't matter how much I struggled, they didn't loosen. They held me exactly where I was.
"You promised me," I repeated, the words spilling out again, sharper this time and laced with anger, disbelief and pain.
"I promised to help you kill your mother's murderer," Darius said, his voice so cold it cut through the noise in the square, through the murmurs, through the tension and landed directly in my chest.
"I didn't promise to protect you when you bring problems to my pack."
"I didn't do it."
I shook my head, again and again, as if the motion alone could undo everything happening around me. As if I could force this moment to reset, to bend back into something that made sense.
My wrists burned where the guards had bound them with thick, rough rope, the fibers biting into the soft flesh with every movement. My bare feet scraped against the stone beneath me as I struggled against the hands forcing me down.
"You know I didn't do it," I pushed, my voice tightening despite my effort to keep it steady. "We were together last night. How could I be with you… and then somehow be in the Truce Lands killing five vampires when that place is two days from here?"
Darius didn't respond. He stared at me like I was speaking nonsense. Like the words coming out of my mouth meant nothing.
For a moment, I couldn't reconcile the man standing in front of me with the one I had gone to sleep beside.
The difference was too stark.
Last night, his hands had been warm, slow and careful in the way he touched me, like I was something precious.
He had whispered to me in the quiet hours before dawn, his voice low against my skin, steady and grounding in a way I had come to rely on without even realizing it.
When I woke from a nightmare—choking on the memory of my old pack, of the ones who killed my mother, of the ones who had hunted me—he had been there, calm and certain as he told me I was safe now..
That version of him was gone because the man standing in front of me now looked at me like I was beneath him. Like I wasn't worth the effort of understanding.
A familiar feeling crept in slowly, tightening around my chest. I felt small and alone, the same way I had felt the day my mother, the only family I've ever known, died.
"This did not happen last night." The voice came smoothly from behind Darius as one of the vampire representatives stepped forward, his movements slow and pompous. His presence alone shifted the atmosphere, drawing attention without needing to demand it.
"This occurred three nights ago," he continued. "We have been tracking your scent since then."
My head turned sharply, my gaze snapping back to Darius.
"Darius, I didn't do it," I said again, the words quieter now, but heavier. "Why would I kill vampires? They've never done anything to me. Someone is setting me up. You need to think—this is a trap."
His expression didn't change. Not even a flicker.
"Well," he said after a moment, his tone flat, almost detached, "you'll have to explain that to the gentlemen here."
He gestured slightly toward the vampires behind him. Not even looking at them as he did. Something in my chest tightened into a painful knot.
"Miss Yara," the same vampire said, his gaze settling on me fully now, sharp and assessing. "Where were you three nights ago?"
"I was—"
The answer caught in my throat as my mind went completely blank.
Three nights ago. I tried to piece it together, but the memory refused to settle into something clear.
Where had I been three days ago? I couldn't even remember anymore. One moment, I was out on a run with two of Darius' men—the guards assigned to watch me—and the next, I was waking up in the Truce Lands in the dead of night. They were gone. Completely gone. And my head… it throbbed with a sharp, splitting pain.
I found my way back home and told Darius everything. Shockingly, the two men denied ever following me. They claimed they had no idea what I was talking about. Darius didn't even question it. He brushed it off, said I must have slipped away again—like I always try to—because I hate being watched.
And when I refused to back down, when I insisted that I wasn't lying, his expression changed. That familiar look. The one that made my stomach drop.
He said I was slipping again. Back into the hallucinations—the ones that started after my mother died.
According to him, I must have run too far during one of them and somehow ended up in the Truce Lands.
It didn't make sense. I had never once had an episode in my wolf form. Not once. But, I still chose to believe him because what else was I supposed to believe?
He promised he would find another healer for me. And now—today—he's decided I murdered five vampires during one of those same hallucinations.
"You see, Miss Yara, you have nothing to say," the vampire said smoothly, his hands clasped in front of him as he looked down his nose at me like I was something foul. "Not only are you a cold-blooded, heartless killer… you are also a witch who practices dark magic."
Gasps rippled through the gathered pack and they Baden to chant, calling me a witch and demanding for my death.
But I didn't hear them. Everything around me faded, blurring at the edges as I was dragged back to three years ago.
To a place similar to this one. To this same accusation.
To my mother… standing where I stand now as she was condemned for killing werewolves without cause. Condemned for practicing dark magic.
The memory snapped something inside me.
"I am not my mother." My voice came out low, then rose despite the ache in my chest. "And even if I were… she didn't deserve what was done to her by my evil lack. She didn't hurt anyone. I didn't kill those vampires."
"Liar! She's a witch!"
"Kill her!"
"Witch!"
Darius' gaze hardened. Something dark flickered in his eyes, then vanished.
"Enough."
The single word silenced everything. I dragged in a breath, my chest heaving as I looked at him, searching for a crack in his cold expression. Something that told me the Darius I knew was still there.
"Darius…" My voice broke. "Look at me."
For a second, his eyes met mine and there it was. The faint flicker of something I had been searching for. Hope flared in my chest before I could stop it.
"You know me," I whispered. "You know I wouldn't do this."
Silence stretched between us for a moment before he tore his eyes away, his jaw tightening.
"I know exactly what you are."
Darius stepped forward, boots striking stone as he closed the distance. The guards holding me stiffened.
"You are a risk to the Bloodfang Pack," he said, voice calm, measured. "And I will not allow that risk to remain within my borders."
My eyes widened when the weight and full meaning of his words sank in.
"No—" I shook my head. "You don't mean that. You can't—"
"I, Darius Murray," he cut in, his voice rising just enough to carry, "Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack reject you, Yara Luckett as my mate."
The words didn't register at first. They hung heavy in the air before hitting me directly on the chest like I've been sucker punched.
Something inside me snapped and a sharp, tearing pain ripped through my chest, so sudden and violent that I couldn't even scream at first. My body jerked against the restraints, my vision blurring as something deep, primal, essential was ripped away from me.
I screamed as the bond shattered—the sound ripping out of me, raw and animalistic. I collapsed forward, the strength draining from my limbs all at once, my body giving way as if something vital had been torn out of me.
The guards struggled to keep me upright.
It felt like I was dying. Like my wolf was being torn apart beneath my skin, clawing, howling, raging against something it couldn't fight.
"Please—" I choked. "Darius… please…"
He didn't look at me because he had already turned away like it was over, like I was nothing.
The finality hit harder than the rejection. I wasn't even worth watching break.
My stomach lurched. A violent cough tore through me, and then blood, hot and thick, spilled from my lips.
It splattered against the stone floor as another wave followed. My body convulsed, the pain twisting deeper, sharper, until I could barely breathe.
No one moved or even spoke.
A low, satisfied sound broke the silence.
"Well," the vampire said, stepping forward. "Now that that is settled, we will be taking her. Justice must be served."
My head snapped up at his words.
No.
I couldn't let the vampires take me. They would torture me for things. For information before finally killing me.
"Stay where you are." Darius' voice cut through the square.
The vampire paused, then turned slowly. "Excuse me?"
"This is my territory," Darius said, his tone dropping. "And while she may no longer be my mate… she was under my protection when this accusation arose."
My heart stuttered in my chest.
"You will not lay a hand on her within my lands."
The vampire's lips curled slightly, displeasure flickering across his face. "She murdered five of my kind on sacred ground."
"And you will have your answer," Darius replied evenly. "But not here."
"What do you propose?" the vampire asked.
Darius didn't hesitate, not even for a second. "She will be banished." He said in a firm tone. "She will be escorted to the edge of my territory and cast out. What happens beyond my borders… is no longer my concern."
My stomach dropped at his words.
"Darius—" I tried, my voice barely holding together. "You're sending me out there? They'll kill me—"
His jaw tightened, but he didn't look at me.
"That," he said, his voice flat, "is no longer my responsibility."
The last fragile piece of hope I had clung to shattered completely.
"Drag her to the boundary," Darius ordered, his voice devoid of anything human.
Then he turned his back on me.
On us.
On everything we had been.
"Darius!" I screamed, my voice breaking as I thrashed against the guards, desperation clawing its way out of me. "Darius, please—!"
Nothing. He kept walking, each step steady and unshaken like he couldn't hear me.
Like I had never meant anything at all.