Chapter 5: Dead

Maya's Pov Lucas dragged my mentally, physically, and emotionally tired body back home. My legs could barely work, and I was an empty shell, a ghost floating through a nightmare. Our father rushed out of the kitchen, his face going pale the second he saw me. "Maya. What happened?" he yelled, pulling me into his arms. "Dad, the mate bond, it's gone," Lucas choked out, his voice cracking. "Ezra rejected her. He broke the bond, and she lost the baby." The entire house went deadly quiet. My father froze, trembling as he looked into my hollow, tear-filled eyes. "A baby?" my father whispered, his voice cracking into a million pieces. "My-- my grandchild?" I couldn't even form words. I just looked at him and a tear slipped down my cheek. That was the only answer he needed. Something inside my father snapped right then and there. He was always a quiet man. He was a loyal pack Beta who followed orders and never made trouble, but he had always loved our family more than anything in the world. His eyes turned red as his wolf started flashing back and forth in his eyes. "I'm okay," I tried to say in my weak state, but the rejection had taken a massive toll on me physically and mentally. I wanted to stop my father before he did something stupid, but he wouldn't stop to even look at me. "He killed my grandchild and left my daughter to bleed! He's going to pay" he roared, throwing open the front door. With the last bit of strength in my broken body, I stumbled out after him into the pack square. By the time I reached the edge, my father was already lunging at Ezra. But Ezra was younger, faster, and fueled by his Alpha bloodline. He ducked, sidestepped, and slammed his elbow brutally into my father's spine. A sickening crack echoed through the square, and my father fell to his knees with a painful gasp. "DAD" I screamed, tearing my throat raw. "Please stop! Get up!" He weakly turned his blood-soaked face toward me. "Maya, go" he wheezed. Ezra stepped up behind my father, grabbed him by his hair, and pulled his head back, pulling out his sharp claws to slit his throat. "Stop " I shouted, holding my head high despite the excruciating pain burning in my chest. I forced my weak body to stand straight, staring him down. "You can't just kill him. He is the Beta of this pack, appointed by council law. You don't have the right to execute a high-ranking official without a proper trial. If you murder him right here in cold blood, you're breaking pack law on your very first day as Alpha" The crowd of pack members gathered around began to murmur, realizing I was right. Ezra paused, his eyes flashing with pure rage as his pride took a heavy blow. "You think you can use pack laws to tell me what to do, you weak runt?" he growled, shoving my father to the ground and turned his lethal glare on me, stepping away from my father. "You're right. He's a Beta. But you-- you're nothing now. You're broken, worthless trash. Maybe I should just kill you right here instead and clean up this mess forever." he lunged straight at me, his claws extended, aiming for my throat. "NO. NOT MY DAUGHTER" my father roared and threw his body right between us. Ezra's razor-sharp claws drove straight into my father's chest, ripping through his flesh and crushing his heart before he could even hit the ground. My father collapsed into the dirt right at my feet, blood pooling fast around his body. His eyes rolled back as the life vanished from them forever. "NOOOOO!" I screamed, dropping to my knees and pulling his head into my lap. "Daddy, please wake up! Please!" "Let this be a lesson," Ezra boomed to the silent crowd, wiping the blood off his hands. "Anyone who disobeys me or stands in my way will end up just like him." He walked toward Hope, who wrapped her arms around him with a proud, sick smile. Lucas let out a wild, heartbroken roar and lunged straight at Ezra to avenge our dad. But Ezra's father stepped in, using his Alpha Command. "Kneel" Ezra barked. Lucas groaned in agony as his knees slammed into the hard ground, pinned helplessly. "You are a traitor, Lucas," the former Alpha said coldly. "Starting right now, you are stripped of your Beta rank and banished from the Solstice Pack forever. "Do it, you cowards" Lucas spat through his teeth. "If I stay alive, I'll spend every second hunting you down!" "Drag him to the border," Ezra ordered his guards. "Throw him across the line. If he ever steps back on our land, kill him on sight." Four guards grabbed Lucas, dragging his thrashing body toward the gate. "Maya" Lucas yelled. " Let my sister come with me." I dragged myself forward through the dirt, weeping as I reached out for him. "Lucas. Don't take him. He's all I have left" One of the guards shoved me hard, sending me crashing onto the cold floor. "You're not going anywhere, little runt," Ezra sneered, stepping over me. "My wolf still needs you here." Lucas was dragged into the darkness of the woods, screaming my name until his voice faded away. We brought our father's cold body back inside our house. When my mother saw his lifeless body lying on the floorboards, she collapsed to her knees and let out a terrifying, inhuman howl of pure agony that rattled the windows. She couldn't accept living in a world where her husband was slaughtered and her son was turned into a banished rogue. "I'm sorry," she whispered with hollow eyes. Before I could even move, she grabbed the silver hunting knife from one of the guards and plunged the blade deep into her wrists, falling limp over my father's chest. In less than three hours, I had lost everything. My mate was gone. My baby was dead. My father was killed protecting me. My mother took her own life. And my brother was banished. I was completely alone, trapped in a pack full of people who hated me. I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapped my weak arms around myself, and let the darkness swallow the last remaining piece of my soul.