Banished Into His Arms

Chapter 1

Nyra’s POV

When the guard knocked on my door close to midnight, my heart skipped a beat.

“His Alpha wants to see you,” he said and I sat up at once.

At this hour? My chest tightened, maybe it was about Calista.

She returned this evening after three years of being gone, and ever since then, the whole pack has been in chaos.

Maybe Draven wanted to explain, maybe he wanted to tell me why he looked so shaken when he saw her.

Maybe after three years of being his fiancee, I at least deserve honesty.

That little hope was foolish, but I still held it as I threw a shawl over my nightdress and followed the guard through the sleeping pack house.

The walk to Draven’s private study felt too long and too silent.

My palms were damp by the time we stopped outside his door and the guard pushed it open for me.

I then stepped inside and Draven was already there, he stood behind his desk, one hand braced against the wood, and his dark eyes were fixed on me.

There was no greeting, no softness and no warmth and something in my stomach sank.

“Draven?” I said gently but he did not answer, instead, he picked up a parchment and threw it across the desk and it slid toward me and stopped right in front of my hands.

“Sign it.”

I blinked and I looked down, the words hit me like a slap.

“Termination of Engagement.”

For a second, I could not breathe, I just stared at the parchment, and waited for the letters to change, for my eyes to tell me this was not real but it was.

And then I saw the worst part, his signature was already on it, he signed it before calling me here, before hearing me and before looking me in the eyes.

He had already decided and then my fingers began to shake.

“Draven…” My voice came out broken. “What is this?”

His face did not change.

“It means exactly what it says.”

The room spinned for one ugly second.

Three years, three whole years and this was how he ended it?

There was no explanation, no apology, but just a parchment thrown across a desk like I was nothing.

I then looked up at him, and before I could even gather the pieces of my heart, he said something worse.

“You should be grateful this is all I’m asking you to sign.”

I frowned. “What?”

He then reached to the side of the desk and lifted two things.

The first was a silver bracelet and my breath caught.

It was Calista’s bracelet, I saw it on her wrist earlier this evening.

The second was a tiny dark vial.

My stomach dropped, I knew that smell, it was Wolfsbane.

My eyes then snapped to his.

“What is this?”

His jaw hardened. “These were found in your room.”

I stared at him and then I laughed, a small, broken laugh because that was insane.

“That’s not possible.”

His face remained hard.

“Calista collapsed tonight after drinking poisoned tea.”

My whole body went still. No.

“She nearly died.”

I then took a step back. “What?”

“One of the maids reported seeing you near her chamber.”

My lips parted, but no words came out.

“Her bracelet was found under your bed,” he continued. “And the poison was hidden inside your drawer.”

I just stare at him because none of this made sense, because I have never seen that vial before in my life, because this has to be some sick joke.

Then I whispered, “You think I did this?”

He did not answer and that silence was enough, the pain that shot through my chest was sharp, ugly and burning.

“You think I poisoned her?” My voice rose. “Draven, are you hearing yourself?”

His eyes flashed. “Lower your voice.”

I then let out a bitter laugh. “No.”

My throat tightened, but I forced the words out.

“After everything?”

He said nothing.

“After what I gave up for you?”

There was still nothing and then I stepped closer to the desk, and tears already gathered in my eyes.

“Do you really believe I would do something so low?”

For one second, I saw something move in his face and then it disappeared and when he spoke, his voice was calm, it was too calm and that hurt more.

“I don’t know what you have become.”

The words landed like a blade in my chest and I actually stopped breathing for a second.

Because that was worse than him calling me guilty.

It meant he had already decided I was no longer the woman he knew, that whatever faith he once had in me was gone.

I then shook my head slowly. “No.”

My voice trembled now.

“No, you don’t get to say that to me.”

He did not move but I did and I moved closer, my hands were shaking so badly I had to move them into fists.

“I dragged you out of Blood Hollow when everyone else left you there!”

His expression changed for the first time but I did not stop.

“You were bleeding, burning with poison, you could not even stand.”

The memory hit me so hard I almost lost my breath, that night, the rain, the blood.

His body half-limped against mine as I dragged him through mud and stone.

My own side cut opened by rogue claws and my fingers pressed herbs into his wounds while I cried and begged the Moon Goddess not to let him die.

I had been just an omega servant then, there was no title, no place and no power.

Still, I stayed with him until dawn and when he lived, he stood before the whole pack and chose me.

I could still hear his voice from that day.

“The woman who bled beside me will one day stand beside me.”

That promise became my whole life and for three years, I endured everything because of it.

The whispers, the sneers, the cruel stares.

The noble she-wolves who mocked me for daring to stand beside an Alpha.

I swallowed it all, for him, for us and for the future he promised me.

And now he stood here looking at me like I disgusted him.

“You know me,” I whispered. “You know I would never do this.”

His face turned unreadable again and the door opened and I turned and then my heart sank straight to the floor.

Calista then walked in and she looked pale and weak.

One hand pressed to her chest like she could barely stand but the moment her eyes landed on me, I saw it.

That tiny flicker, that hidden satisfaction and then she walked straight to Draven and gripped his arm.

Then she looked at me like I was something filthy.

“Please…” she whispered, and her voice trembled. “Don’t let her hurt me again.”

I froze and the room went silent, my lips parted, but nothing came out because in one sentence, she had buried me.

She did not need proof, she did not need tears, she did not need anything, she only needed to act afraid and Draven believed her.

I turned slowly to him and his body was already angled toward her, protecting her, choosing her again.

That hurts more than anything else tonight, my eyes burned as I looked down at the parchment on the desk.

The release, the end and the proof that I was already discarded before I even walked in here.

“Sign it,” Draven said again and my hand trembled as I reached for the pen.

I did not even know how I managed to hold it but I signed.

My name looked broken on the page.

Nyra Veylin.

The moment I set the pen down, something inside me cracked and I placed it back on the desk and wiped my tears before they could fall.

Then Draven said, “Until the Moon Goddess Ceremony investigation is concluded, you will remain under guard.”

I nodded once, I could not trust my voice anymore and then I turned to leave.

But before I could take another step, two guards moved in front of me and I blinked and thenI looked at them, then at Draven and slowly, horribly, I understood.

They were not here to escort me back to my room, they were here to take me to the pack prison.