The bond that burns
904 Words
The silence in the Trial Hall shattered with a single word.
“Rejected.”
Auren’s breath caught. Her heart didn’t just sink—it snapped. All eyes turned to her as Kael Fenric stood on the dais, tall, composed, and merciless.
“I reject the mate bond,” he said again, louder this time.
“No,” she whispered. Her voice barely made a sound. “You can’t…”
But he already had.
The sacred bond, newly flared to life in her chest, sizzled—then scorched. Pain radiated through her ribs like wildfire. Her legs buckled, and she fell to one knee on the cold marble floor.
Gasps echoed from the crowd. Whispers. Murmurs of “She’s the one?” and “The Outcast?”
Kael didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch.
Auren forced herself to her feet, eyes blazing despite the burn in her chest. “You felt it too.”
His jaw clenched. “I did.”
“Then why—?”
“Because you are not the mate the Moon intended for me,” he said, his voice clipped. “You are a mistake.”
The air left her lungs.
She blinked, once, twice—then backed away, trembling but refusing to fall again. “You don’t get to call the Moon wrong.”
“I don’t have to.” His eyes turned cold steel. “I know what I need. And it’s not you.”
The word landed like a strike.
She spun, ignoring the stares, the pity, the judgment. Her fingers curled into fists. She would not cry—not here, not for him.
Auren walked out of the hall.
Hours passed in a blur. She found herself outside the ancient stone gates of Ebonveil, her head pounding, her soul aching like something had been flayed from her.
Elira, a young pack healer from the crowd, followed her out and handed her a cloak.
“I’m sorry,” she said gently. “What he did… it wasn’t right.”
Auren didn’t answer.
“I saw the bond hit you both. It was real.”
Auren finally turned to her, eyes wet but fierce. “Then why do I feel like I’m dying alone?”
Elira sighed. “Because rejection breaks more than hearts.”
She returned to Dawnmoor before the moon rose, her steps hollow, her mind spiraling. She didn’t sleep that night.
Instead, she stood barefoot in the stream behind her cabin, moonlight glinting off her skin. Her hands trembled as she whispered to the sky.
“Why me? Why again?”
The water rippled. The trees rustled.
But the Moon did not answer.
Not yet.
The next day, the pain didn’t fade—it sharpened. Her wolf, once dormant, stirred inside her. Not speaking, but growling. Angry. Hungry.
She pressed her hand against her chest. “You’re awake now, aren’t you?”
A low, dark thrum pulsed in her blood.
That night, the nightmares began.
Fire. Howling. Kael, kneeling in a pool of blood.
She woke screaming.
The Moon above her window was full—but something was wrong. It looked fractured as if it had cracked through the center.
Auren ran outside, barefoot again, panting. She looked up and saw it:
The Moon was bleeding.
A flash of gold light ripped through her head, and a voice—echoing, ancient—spoke within her:
“The bond must break for the seal to tear. You were chosen not for love… but for war.”
She collapsed.
When she woke, Elira was at her side again, pressing a cool cloth to her head.
“You were burning up,” she whispered. “I had to soak you to stop the fever.”
“I saw something,” Auren croaked. “The Moon. It cracked.”
“You’ve been having visions since he rejected you, haven’t you?”
Auren stiffened. “How do you know that?”
Elira hesitated. “Because you’re not the first. But you might be the last.”
Auren sat up. Her heart pounded.
“I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”
“You’re becoming who you were meant to be.”
Later that day, a message arrived.
Not by letter.
But by howl.
Three wolves from Ebonveil approached her cabin, their stances guarded.
“The Alpha requests your presence,” one of them said.
She stared at him. “Kael?”
The wolf gave a stiff nod. “He’s… unwell.”
Auren laughed bitterly. “Good.”
“This isn’t a request.”
Auren narrowed her eyes. Her pulse raced—not from fear, but from rage. “Tell your Alpha he doesn’t get to summon me like a servant.”
“He believes you’ve cursed him.”
She froze.
“What?”
“He can’t sleep. He sees your face in every mirror. The bond won’t break.”
“I didn’t curse him.”
“Maybe not. But the Moon did.”
That night, she stood at the edge of the border between Ebonveil and Dawnmoor, staring into the shadows of the pack that tried to erase her.
Elira stood beside her. “Are you sure?”
“No.” Auren exhaled, then lifted her chin. “But I’m not walking back into his world as a girl he left behind.”
She stepped into Ebonveil’s territory.
“I’m walking in as the woman he never saw coming.”
- Writer
