“I’m fine. You go first. The sooner you’re free from Nyx, the better.” I regret ever having Nyx taste Kael’s blood. I regret that he ever had any control over Kael.
Kael steps forward.
I take a step back.
“You denounce your membership in the Bloodmoon pack. You no longer swear loyalty to my pack members or me?” Nyx asks Kael, wasting no time.
“I no longer wish to belong to the bloodthirsty Bloodmoon pack. I no longer trust that you, as an alpha, are deserving to bean alpha. You have lost your way as a leader. You’re cruel and selfish and undeserving of the spot,” Kael says, saying things that aren’t necessary.
Nyx’s dark eyes flare for a second in response. “If you think you could do a better job as alpha, you could challenge me instead of leaving.”
My heart races. No. He can’t challenge Nyx. Nyx would kill Kael without a second thought now.
“I don’t want to be alpha. I hate you and everything that has anything to do with the Bloodmoon pack. I want to leave the pack,” Kael says, his eyes firm on Nyx, but I can feel the tension between them. For a second, I think Kael is going to attack Nyx for what he did to me.
I hold my breath.
“So be it.”
A lightning crack lights up the sky. Nyx doesn’t move a single body part. But I can see his focus. He’s pulling away any bonds he shares with Kael. Ripping that connection apart.
Kael stands firm, but I can see the little tension lines around his eyes and forehead. He’s concentrating to keep the pain from his face. Trying to make it seem easy so that when it’s my turn, I won’t have any fear.
The moment lasts longer than I anticipate. Nyx is focused, and the magic that binds them seems to slowly unravel before our eyes.
“I release you from your bonds to the Bloodmoon pack. You no longer belong to me, or us to you. You are packless,” Nyx says.
And then, without so much as a glance in my direction, Nyx turns. Leaving nothing but a whoosh of air as he practically vanishes with his vampire speed through the woods.
Kael has already started the initiation process into the Wintermoon pack. Silently speaking words, praying to the wolf shifter god, Luan, to ask for their help to rejoin a pack. We aren’tsure it will work. I’m not sure it can be done. Usually, you can’t rejoin a pack after you leave. The alpha and magic won’t allow it. But this is different, since the pack was destroyed and no alpha remains to render the ultimate judgment.
Slowly, Kael opens his eyes, looking at me.
“Did it work?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’m not sure…Maybe.”
Not really reassuring, but it’s my turn now.
I step into the middle of the circle. Ambrose takes a step toward me.“You ready?”he asks in my mind.
“Yes,”I say back.
But my hands are trembling. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted this until now. I thought I had accepted my fate. That I would never control my wolf. But now there’s a chance. A chance to get it back. I have hope. I hate that I have hope. It will wreck me if this doesn’t work out.
“Do you, Lumi, renounce your membership in the Moonlight pack? Is the honor and loyalty you swore no longer something you want to honor?”
Moisture threatens my eyes. Of course, I’ll stay loyal to Ambrose. To the Moonlight pack. I don’t want to give it up. Not after I worked so hard to initiate. But that pain—flashes of embarrassment at being naked in front of the entire pack. Being touched, groped, almost raped—the terror streaks through me, shaking me to my core. I let the anger swell inside me at what it cost me to join and what it will cost me to leave. The feeling pushes me to say the words with absolute conviction.
“Yes, I no longer wish to belong to the Moonlight pack.”
“So be it,” Ambrose says with a more commanding voice than I expected.
And then his magic shoots out in my direction. My eyes squeeze shut, and everything goes internal. I don’t want to express any fear or pain if I can manage it.
Pain doesn’t exactly rip through my body, but the feeling isn’t pleasant. It’s like an electric current invading every part of my cells, looking for any trace of the Moonlight pack’s power and ripping that power away from me. It happens over and over and over again.
I don’t know how Emeric handled this so gracefully. I’m sure I’m screaming and writhing in pain, completely embarrassing myself once again in front of everyone.