Eero's perspective
"This medicine and all these teas are not doing anything for me anymore." Serra closed her eyes. She was shocked by the sudden changes in Cohen's persona. He now easily got mad, and he became a bit violent when it came to her.
"Why does it feel like you are dumping this anger at me as if I am the root cause of all of this?" Serra asked with her eyes closed.
Upon opening her eyes, she saw tiny little pieces of porcelain teacup scattered all over the floor. She finally darted her eyes at Cohen, who was very much annoyed at her and wanted her out of his sight.
He breathed deeply. "I am sorry," he said, lowering his pride.
"No. You are not just going to be sorry for your way out of this. I've had enough of your mood swings. I've had enough of you. Were you blaming me?"
The silence between the two stretched.
"Let us not talk about this. You know that I have a big day ahead of me. Today is the day that the Alpha will proclaim me as the new Alpha of our pack."
"And so? I don't care whether today is your last day on Earth. I need you to answer me-"
"Yes, Serra."
"You are being serious right now?"
"I am being honest with you right now. If you didn't seduce me, if I didn't get tempted, if I didn't fucking turn my back on Eero." Cohen closed his eyes and breathed deeply in an attempt to calm down himself, but it didn't work.
"If I didn't reject her and failed miserably, I don't think things like this would happen. She'll never be a breeder. She won't be having sex with someone apart from me, and my wolf would never suffer such damage from what happened."
Serra's shaking hand landed on his cheeks. She taunted him and smiled mockingly.
"How dare you put all the blame on me now that things become messier? Yes, I might have seduced you, showed you some cleavage, and touched you a bit, but you know yourself that you got tempted because you wanted it too. It's not like I forced myself on you."
"Serra, enough. I am not going to waste more of my energy in this fight with you."
"It's not like I begged you to come at me. You went to my room yourself. This is all your fault, a well-deserved karma."
Hearing that from Serra triggered a bottled-up anger of his. Within the blink of an eye, Cohen was pinning Serra on the wall with his finger wrapped around her neck.
"C-Cohen!" Serra was close to losing her breath when Cohen snapped back into reality and realized what he just did.
He let go of her, which caused Serra to fall to her knees, tears cascading down her cheeks. She sobbed harder when Cohen tried to approach him.
"Stay away from me. Stay away from me, Cohen," she murmured while she was still in tears.
Lightly shaking his head, Cohen walked out of his room where he bumped into the beta of their pack.
"The ceremony will start any minute from now, Cohen. What are you still doing here?" Beta Leo asked his best friend and the Alpha's son.
"I am on my way to the ceremonial hall. I just needed to check something at the last minute." Beta Leo nodded his head at Cohen, but he was eyeing him suspiciously. The man who would be their Alpha any moment from now looked pale and weak.
"You know that in the midst of the ceremony. Someone may come up to you and challenge you, right?"
"I know, and I am prepared if one ever dares to do that. I just hope no one loses their mind. I am not in the mood to soak my hand in one's blood, but if that's the only way for me to protect my claim."
"Then it can't be helped," The beta finished what he was saying.
Standing in the middle of the ceremonial hall, Cohen's eyes found Serra standing next to her parents, clapping her hand and acting all supportive of him as if they weren't arguing ten minutes earlier from now.
"And now for those who are courageous enough to challenge the new Alpha, you may show up yourself," said Cohen's father.
Cohen felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest after he saw no one walking to the middle of the ceremonial hall. Just when he was about to smile out of relief, everyone gasped as the beta of his father made his way to the middle of the hall.
"Beta Leo? What do you think you are doing?"
The beta was already holding his sword and with a smirk on his lips.
"You are getting weaker for some reason and because of that, I think that I am far more suitable to become the next Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack, so I hereby challenge your authority."
Right on the spot, both Cohen and Leo pulled their sword, but the Beta was quicker. Before Cohen could unsheathe his sword, the blade of the Beta's sword was now up against his neck.
Cohen let go of his sword that the Beta snatched from his hand and threw it straight to the floor.
"By the rules and custom that our pack follows, you are no longer the Alpha and a member of this pack."
Cohen fell on his knees. He'd be a rogue unless Serra's pack would take him. He looked up to Serra and crawled his way to her.
The she-wolf quickly looked away from the pitiful he-wolf before her eyes.
"Help me, Serra. Please, I need you to help me. I promised that I'd be able to redeem myself and that I would take back what Leo stole from me. J-Just take me, hmm? Baby?"
Serra shook her hand and ruthlessly pushed Cohen off her.
"No. Why would I? You're a sore loser who cannot defend his claim with a wolf getting weaker each day." Serra then stood up straight.
"And oh, we are done. I am breaking up with you."