After My Alpha Slapped Me, I Fled

I barely made it to my family's den before the first wave hit me. The pain tore through my chest like molten steel, forcing me to my knees as I stumbled through the doorway. A scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it, raw and primal. This wasn't just emotional pain—it was physical agony, as if my very soul was being shredded from within.

"Olivia!" My mother's voice seemed to come from miles away as another spasm wracked my body. Her cool hands pressed against my burning forehead as I writhed on the floor. "Marcus! Come quickly!"

I couldn't focus on anything but the fire in my veins. My wolf was howling, a sound of such anguish that it threatened to split my mind in two. This was the price of rejection—the severing of a bond the Moon Goddess herself had created.

"Hold on, sweet girl." My mother's gentle voice broke through the haze as she cradled my head in her lap. The familiar scent of her herbs surrounded me as she worked quickly, crushing leaves between her fingers and pressing cooling poultices against my temples and wrists.

Through tear-blurred vision, I saw her face—my gentle Omega mother, the pack's healer—twisted with helpless grief. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she worked, her hands trembling.

"I'm sorry," I gasped between waves of pain. "I couldn't... I couldn't stay with him after..."

"Shh." She brushed damp hair from my forehead. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Another spasm seized me, and I curled into myself, fingers clawing at the floor. My mother held me tighter, rocking me as she had when I was a pup.

"It hurts," I whimpered. "Make it stop. Please make it stop."

I felt her body shake with a sob before she whispered the truth we both knew: "There is no cure for a broken bond, my love. The pain will... it will lessen with time."

How much time? I wanted to ask, but another wave crashed over me, stealing my breath and my voice.

Heavy footsteps approached, and my father's commanding presence filled the room. Marcus Bennett, Alpha of our pack, knelt beside us, his normally imposing figure softened with concern.

"My brave girl," he murmured, his large hand engulfing mine. The strength of his aura provided a momentary buffer against the pain, and I gasped in relief.

"I've sent for more willow bark," my mother told him, her voice breaking. "It won't heal the bond-sickness, but it might help with the fever."

My father nodded grimly before turning his attention back to me. "You made your choice, and I stand by it," he said firmly. "No she-wolf—not even a future Luna—should accept such treatment."

I tried to smile through the pain, grateful for his support.

"But Olivia," he continued, his voice lowering, "you must understand what this means. The alliance with Silver Moon—"

"I know," I whispered. The political implications of my rejection were vast. Two rival packs, finally at peace after generations of territory disputes, all balanced on the promise of our mating bond.

"The pack will support you," he assured me, though the worry lines deepening around his eyes told a different story. "But there will be... scrutiny. Questions. Ethan's pack will not take this lightly."

Another wave of pain crashed through me, and I couldn't respond. My father's jaw tightened as he watched me suffer, his Alpha instincts raging against a threat he couldn't fight.

"Rest now," he finally said, pressing a kiss to my forehead before rising. "Your mother will stay with you."

As he left, I caught fragments of hushed conversations outside—pack members gathering, whispers spreading. The news was already traveling.

* * *

Three days later, I forced myself to attend the monthly pack gathering. Every step was agony, but I refused to hide away like I had something to be ashamed of.

The moment I entered the great hall, conversations died. Eyes turned to me, some sympathetic, others calculating. I held my head high despite the trembling in my limbs and the hollow ache in my chest.

Then the crowd parted, and my breath caught painfully in my throat.

Ethan strode through the center of the hall, his arm linked possessively with Vanessa's. Her triumphant smile cut through me as she pressed herself closer to him, her fingers stroking his forearm in a deliberate display.

"Poor Olivia," someone whispered nearby. "Too weak to handle being an Alpha's mate."

"I heard she collapsed during the rejection," another voice added. "Her wolf couldn't take it."

Vanessa's gaze met mine across the room, her eyes glittering with malice as she leaned up to whisper something in Ethan's ear. He didn't look my way, but his jaw tightened visibly.

My wolf, weakened by the broken bond, still managed a low growl within me. *We are not weak*, she insisted. *We are surviving*.

Yes, I thought, forcing myself to stand straighter despite the pain lancing through my body. We were surviving. But at what cost?