His icy voice echoed through the room, "I, Corbett Solomon, hereby officially and unilaterally sever the soul bond with Cora Houston, and permanently reject you as my mate! You owe her two lives for the rest of yours!"
He was right about one thing. Two lives. Felicity had been pregnant with Corbett's pup.
With his ruthless declaration, I felt a tearing, agonizing pain rip deep within my soul. As his fated mate, the rightful Luna of the pack, I was now nothing but an absolute joke.
Enduring the physical and mental torture of my soul being ripped apart, I looked up at Corbett with red, tear-filled eyes, my body trembling uncontrollably. "I didn't push her! How many times do I have to tell you?!"
Corbett didn't listen. He merely glared at me heartlessly, as if looking at a sickening spectacle. "Do you think explaining is of any use now?"
It was useless. It was too late!
In the eyes of the Alpha King, if he believed I did it, then I did it! No matter how much I tried to explain, my words could never outweigh a dead woman!
I suddenly laughed. The shattering of our soul bond caused a trail of blood to spill from the corner of my mouth, but I stood up abruptly.
Using every ounce of my remaining strength to meet his gaze, I enunciated my acceptance of the broken vow word by word: "Fine! I, Cora Houston, accept your rejection!"
As the vow fell from my lips, the soul tie between us snapped completely.
"Corbett, I have loved you for ten years. Let's just treat my ten years of blind devotion as a joke. From now on, we go our separate ways!"
I gave you my love; give me back my heart! I held back my despair and tears, forcing myself to smile prouder than anyone else in the world.
However, Corbett looked at the blood on my lips, his cold sneer only deepening. He closed in abruptly, grabbing me fiercely by the chin. "You didn't think simply accepting the rejection and giving up the Luna position would be the end of it, did you?"
My face went deathly pale, the sheer agony of my soul's injury making me sway on my feet. "What else do you want?!"
"I am terminating every alliance and business contract with the Houston family!"
He ruthlessly declared his verdict, every word dripping with ice. "Starting tomorrow, I will pull all my investments and sever every partnership we share."
I slumped back onto the edge of the bed, shaking uncontrollably. I looked at the breathtakingly handsome man in front of me. His sharp, defined features and profound eyes were exactly the ones I had loved so deeply, but suddenly, I felt like I didn't know him at all.
Five years of unrequited love, five years of being bound as mates. I had left such long footprints in his life, yet now, for an unwarranted charge, he was not only severing our soul bond but also cutting off all cooperation.
"Isn't it enough that I am the only one suffering?" I looked at Corbett with bloodshot eyes. "Why sever all ties with the Houston family?! My parents treated you like their own son! What has our family ever done to wrong you?!"
"Felicity's death is the greatest wrong your family has ever done to me..." Corbett pinched my chin tighter, smiling like a demon crawling out of hell. "Using dirty tricks to force me to take you as my mate wasn't enough, and now you even took her life. Cora, I am truly not as ruthless as you are!"
Like a basin of freezing water poured over my head, I shivered violently. "Is this how you see me?"
"How I see you?" Corbett acted as if he had heard a joke, his hate-filled gaze sweeping across my face. "Are you even worthy of being seen by me? Cora, do you think too highly of yourself? From today on, you will pay the price for Felicity's death!"
Heavy rain began to pour outside. Huge raindrops smashed against the window with crisp, violent sounds. As the roar of the rain amplified, my heart grew colder. In a tone of extreme agony, I murmured, "Corbett, if one day you realize that you wronged me..."
I saw his jaw clench, a fleeting shift in his expression as if his heart had inexplicably tightened for a second, but he quickly recovered his ruthless demeanor. Only his eyes remained fixed on me, carrying a distinct hatred. "Wronged you? Cora, in this lifetime, you are the one who wronged me!"
A sudden thunderclap exploded across the sky, deafening me.
I suddenly lost all my strength, stumbling two steps back. As the rain grew heavier outside, my tears flowed uncontrollably. The man I loved turned and slammed the door as he left. The moment the door closed, it was as if our two worlds were completely isolated.
From then on, my world fell apart.
It had been raining for days. On the day of Felicity's burial, a continuous drizzle fell from the gray sky. Many pack members had gathered. Corbett, deaf to any of my pleas, forced me to my knees in front of Felicity's grave, acting as if he was dead set on making me kneel there until I died.
I struggled, but he slapped me fiercely across the face. "Stop pretending to be innocent! You are the last person qualified to play the victim!"
Enduring the stinging pain, I suddenly smiled.
In the cold drizzle, my laughter echoed-hollow, drawn-out, and full of absolute despair. Corbett, completely ignoring the watching eyes of the pack, stepped forward and kicked me viciously in the mouth. I rolled away into the mud, coughing up a mouthful of blood.