Chapter 2
The callousness in his voice shattered something inside me. I don’t know how I left his
chambers.
I stumbled through the pack grounds, Liam’s words echoed in my mind: “I’ve loved Sarah since we were pups.‘
Since you were pups? But you swore you’d never mark anyone but me. Seven years ago, you stood beneath my cottage window night after night, telling me to trust you, to be yours. You took me to every sacred site in pack territory, whispering promises of eternal love. Did you think of Sarah then, when you first discovered our fated mate bond?
Every loving memory morphed into a blade, twisting inside me. And the person wielding
the knife… was my destined mate.
The moon rose full and bright, casting silver light across the territory.
–
My fingers instinctively curled around my mother’s ring – a habit born from years of seeking comfort in her last gift to me. The ring on my finger grew colder still, almost burning with its chill.
My mother’s last words echoed in my memory: “This ring will protect you, my darling. It will bless you and your fated mate together, forever.”
‘Are you lying to me, Mother?‘
The sky opened up, unleashing a torrential downpour as if the Moon Goddess herself wept for my broken bond.
I don’t know how long I stood there, numb and defeated. Suddenly, I caught his scent on the wind – pine and winter, now tainted with honeysuckle. A pair of strong arms wrapped
around me from behind.
“What are you doing out here in the storm? You’ll catch sickness!” His voice carried the authority of an Alpha heir, but there was worry underneath.
I looked up to see Liam’s concerned face, his golden Alpha eyes scanning me. He pulled me
closing, trying to shield me from the rain with his larger frame, “Comedy inside, You’re freezing”
I wanted nothing more than to rewind time, to pretend none of this had ever happman, 198 Instead, I shoved him away, my wolf snarling beneath my skwe
“How dare you show your face here? Leave me alonet” My gokee carried the ran pan of a rejected mate.
dt tears streamed down my face as my wolf clawed at my insides, desperate to other attack or submit. The rain couldn’t compare to the icy emptiness where our mate wind weed
to be.
It was the first time I’d ever challenged him, my wolf fighting against years of ingrated
submission.
He flinched, his Alpha presence wavering for a moment. His golden eyes flickered with confusion and hurt, the scent of his distress heavy in the air.
Seeing him like that fueled my anger. My hand connected with his face before I could stop myself, his Alpha instincts kicked in, and he grabbed my wrists, pulling me into a crushing
embrace.
The familiar scent of pine and winter wind that used to comfort me now made my stomach túrn – it was tainted with Sarah’s honeysuckle perfume.
“Aria, please don’t be angry. I’m so sorry, so sorry…” he murmured, his voice thick with
unshed tears.
The storm raged around us, and for the first time in seven years, I felt his iron control slip, his wolf pushing close to the surface.
His apology, laced with genuine pain, should have softened the frozen knot in my chest. But the lingering scent of Sarah’s marking ceremony on his skin only made it worse.
I couldn’t bear another second of his voice, his scent, his presence –
My feet carried me run back to my cottage, I collapsed onto my bed, too exhausted to fight grief anymore, too drained to even cry.And I drifted off to a restless sleep.
[Chapter 2
In my dreams, I saw the man I fell in love with. He wore the ceremonial white robes of an Alpha heir, looking at me with such sincerity that it hurt. “Trust me, Aria,” he whispered. “When I take over as Alpha, I’ll change everything. I promise, you’ll never have to hide in the shadows again.”
His ears had turned red then, a rare show of vulnerability from a future Alpha. Seven years of believing those empty promises, of letting my wolf bond deeper with his.
–
But the scene shifted, and his eyes turned cold, gleaming Alpha red as he stood beside
rah. “Please don’t interfere. We’ve completed the mate bond. You’re just an Omega – I don’t love you anymore, Aria.”
His words tore my heart to shreds, until a soft knock at my door pulled me from the nightmare, leaving behind only the familiar ache of betrayal and the ghost of his red–tinted
gaze.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
