The world seemed to shrink to the space between us.
Across the courtyard, Alpha Kael stood frozen on the stone steps, his dark eyes locked on mine like he couldn't look away even if he wanted to.
The bond pulsed again, fierce and desperate, sending heat racing beneath my skin. My wolf surged forward with a broken cry, clawing toward him, aching for the touch we had been denied.
Mate.
The word no longer sounded like a blessing.
It sounded like a wound that refused to close.
I should have looked away.
I should have bowed my head and remembered my place.
But I couldn't move.
Not when the bond tugged at me like invisible chains, pulling me toward him, begging for something I no longer had the right to want.
A flicker of something crossed his face too fast for anyone else to notice.
Regret.
The realization hit me like a sudden breath of air after drowning.
He felt it.
The bond hadn't spared him either.
For a heartbeat, hope rose before I could stop it. Stupid, fragile hope that whispered maybe he would take it back. Maybe he would fix what he had broken.
Then a tall woman stepped beside him.
Her dress was deep crimson, embroidered with silver thread. Her posture was perfect, her chin lifted with quiet confidence. She didn't look at the servants or the warriors or the elders.
She looked at him.
And he didn't step away.
The bond twisted violently, agony ripping through my chest so sharp I gasped. My hand flew to my heart as my wolf cried out in raw, wounded despair.
No.
No, no, no.
The woman slipped her arm through his.
The world tilted.
"Alpha," she said softly, loud enough for the courtyard to hear. "The council is waiting."
Her voice was smooth, elegant. The voice of someone who belonged beside him.
Not a servant girl.
Not a mistake.
Something inside me cracked.
Kael didn't move at first. His gaze stayed on mine, heavy and conflicted. The air between us thickened, charged with words he would never say.
Then, slowly… he turned away.
The bond snapped like a whip inside my chest.
It didn't break.
It didn't disappear.
It simply tore.
I staggered back a step, breath shaking as the pain spread through me in relentless waves. My wolf retreated deep inside, curling into herself as if trying to hide from the damage.
This was worse than the rejection.
Seeing him choose someone else while the bond still lived between us.
The courtyard blurred through a veil of tears I refused to let fall.
Servants moved around me again. Voices returned. Life continued.
But mine had stopped.
A quiet laugh drifted from a group of maids nearby.
"I heard the Alpha will choose Lady Selene as Luna soon."
"Of course he will. She's perfect for him."
"Unlike the rejected one…"
Their whispers faded into the roaring in my ears.
Lady Selene.
The name echoed like a final verdict.
My chest tightened, but something new stirred beneath the pain.
Not hope.
Not grief.
Something colder.
Because for the first time since the rejection, the bond didn't ache with longing.
It burned with something sharper.
Something stronger.
Something that felt dangerously close to anger.
I lifted my head slowly, staring at the empty stone steps where Kael had stood moments ago.
The mate bond might refuse to die.
But the girl who loved him?
She was beginning to.