The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 36

Broken Bond-T
The applause had just begun to swell again after the last diploma was handed out, the Alpha stepping forward to give what was meant to be a triumphant closing speech-words about unity, strength, and the future of the pack.
Nick barely heard any of it.
At first, it was a strange pressure in his chest, sharp and sudden, like the air had been ripped from his lungs. He frowned, a hand lifting instinctively to his sternum.
Then it hit.
Pain exploded through him like a blade driven straight into his heart.
Nick let out a strangled, inhuman sound as his knees buckled beneath him. He crashed to the ground, clutching his chest, his body curling in on itself as a howl tore from his throat-raw, broken, and filled with
agony.
The ceremony dissolved into chaos.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Chairs scraped violently against the ground as people jumped to their feet, heads snapping in every direction, instincts screaming attack, threat, danger.
“What’s happening?!” someone shouted.
“Is it an ambush?!”
The Alpha was already moving.
He reached his son in seconds, dropping to his knees beside him. “Nick!” he barked, his commanding voice cracking for the first time in years. “What is happening? Are you hurt? Who did this to you?!”
But Nick couldn’t answer.
His body thrashed violently, muscles seizing as another wave of pain tore through him. His claws dug into the ground, his back arching as he let out another tortured howl, the sound sending chills down every spine present.
୮
“Doctor!” the Alpha roared, panic finally bleeding through his authority. “I need a doctor-now!”
Lori’s parents were already pushing through the crowd.
Doctor Alex dropped beside Nick, his experienced hands glowing faintly as he tried to assess him, while Luna knelt on the other side, tears already streaming down her face.
“Nick, look at me,” Alex said urgently. “Tell me where it hurts.”
Nick screamed in response, his body convulsing uncontrollably.
“This isn’t physical trauma,” Alex muttered grimly. “We need to move him-now. To the clinic.”
“Clear the way!” the Alpha shouted.
1/3
Broken Bood
+25 Points
The graduation ceremony was abandoned entirely, forgotten in seconds as warriors and elders scrambled, Forming a protective corridor. Nick was lifted-still thrashing, still howling-and rushed toward the pack
clinic, his cries echoing through the clearing like a death knell.
Inside the clinic, the atmosphere was suffocating.
The Alpha paced like a caged beast, fists clenched, jaw tight, his authority unraveling thread by thread as his son’s screams pierced through the closed door of the treatment room.
Luna sat rigid in a chair, her hands shaking as tears slid silently down her cheeks. She pressed them to her mouth, whispering prayers to the Moon Goddess under her breath.
“Make it stop,” she sobbed. “Please… make it stop.”
Minutes stretched into an eternity.
Then-slowly-the screams began to fade.
They didn’t stop abruptly. They dwindled, breaking into hoarse gasps, then weak whimpers, until finally there was only silence.
The door opened.
Doctor Alex stepped out, his face pale, conflicted, and grave in a way that made the Alpha’s blood run
cold.
He was at Alex’s side instantly. “How is he?” the Alpha demanded. “What’s happening to my son?”
“I gave him a strong sedative,” Alex said quietly. “He’s unconscious now. It was the only way to stop the pain.”
“But what caused it?” the Alpha pressed, his voice rising. “Was it poison? A curse? An attack?”
Alex hesitated.
That hesitation was everything.
“What?” the Alpha growled. “Tell me.”
Alex swallowed hard. “What Nick experienced… was the severing of a mate bond.”
The room went deathly still.
“A what?” the Alpha asked, his voice sharp with disbelief. “That’s impossible. He doesn’t have a chosen mate.”
Alex nodded slowly. “I know, as I could not see any marking on this body.”
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