Thunder's True Mate

Chapter 6: A Mate Bond Refused

Mistress.

The word echoed in Daisy's small bedroom long after Charles stopped talking.

She sat propped against the pillows, still pale from fever. Charles occupied the chair beside her bed, forearms on his knees, golden eyes fixed on her as if he could will her to agree.

“Well?" he asked at last. “You've heard what my parents decided. You know what I'm offering. What do you think?"

Daisy watched his face. Once she had looked at him and seen her only escape from this house. Now she saw a future Alpha calculating losses.

“I've thought about it," she said quietly.

Relief flickered across his features. “Good. I knew when you calmed down, you'd see I'm giving you the only path left. Rosalie will be Luna in name, you will be the one I truly—"

“I refuse," Daisy cut in.

He blinked. “What?"

“I won't be your mistress," she said, voice flat but steady. “If you can't have me as your Luna, then cut the mate bond and let me go."

Silence dropped between them like a stone.

“You can't be serious," Charles said. “Daisy, this isn't the time for pride."

“It isn't pride," she answered. “It's the only thing I still own."

He straightened, temper flashing. “Listen to yourself. You walked into that ballroom torn and covered in blood. You heard what they whispered. Your reputation is ruined. No other Alpha will take you. I am the one still willing to keep you. As my mistress you'll have a home, protection, me. Without me, what do you have?"

“Myself," Daisy said. “And a little dignity."

“Dignity will not shield you," he snapped. “If you insist on this—on severing the bond, on walking away—you don't just hurt yourself. You hurt Thunder Storm. You hurt me. Do you know what the elders will say if they learn my fated mate rejected me? They'll mock us in every council hall."

“So your fear is that you'll be laughed at," Daisy said softly.

“My fear," Charles shot back, “is that you'll burn two packs just to prove you're not weak. I am trying to protect you and Thunder Storm at the same time. This is the only way left."

“Then protect Thunder Storm," she replied. “Marry Rosalie. I won't stop you."

He stared. “You…won't?"

“You're an Alpha," Daisy said. “Your pack comes first. If choosing Rosalie saves your name, do it. I won't beg you to fight them."

Something like relief crossed his face, then hardened into suspicion. “If you understand that, then why cling to this nonsense about 'not being a mistress'? Stay at my side in the way that's still possible. No one else will ever have that place."

“Because that place is in a shadow," she said. “You in the light with your Luna, me behind a door no one can open without your permission. I lived that once in this house. I won't live it again."

“You would rather throw everything away?" he demanded. “Our bond, your chance to leave Green Forest, the future we could still have—just to avoid a word?"

“I would rather be alone," Daisy replied, “than live as your shame."

That hit. He recoiled as if she'd struck him.

“You don't mean that," he said, voice rough. “You've loved me since you were a child. You wanted to stand beside me more than anything. You're saying this because you're hurt and cornered."

“I am hurt," she said. “But for once I'm not confused. I know what you're willing to give me, and what you are not."

His fingers dug into the wood of the chair. “Severing a mate bond isn't a threat to fling around. It can cripple a wolf. It can kill a weaker one. You would risk that? To keep from feeling a tug under your skin?"

Daisy swallowed. “I know it will hurt. I know it will leave scars. But staying as your hidden lover would cut deeper and longer. At least this way, the wound is honest."

In his mind she had always been gentle, ready to bend so others would not break. The girl in front of him, eyes dark and unshaken, did not fit that picture at all.

Our mate would cut us, his wolf snarled inside him, stunned. She would tear the gift the Goddess gave.

She won't, Charles told himself. She's feverish. She doesn't understand.

Out loud he said, “No. I won't do it. I won't sever the bond. I won't let you throw your life and our alliance away because you're angry."

“Then you're choosing for both of us," Daisy said.

“I'm choosing what's best," he insisted. “For you, for me, for the packs. When you've rested, you'll see that. You'll realize I'm offering you more than anyone else ever will."

“The only thing you're offering," she murmured, “is the chance to live in your shadow."

He flinched again, then pushed to his feet.

“Enough," Charles said curtly. “Rest. Stop talking about cutting the bond. I forbid it. We'll speak again when you're thinking clearly."

He hesitated at the door, as if there were an apology he ought to give. In the end he said nothing, closing it quietly behind him.

There was no lock this time. And still, Daisy felt caged.

***

By afternoon, a warrior knocked on her door. “The Alpha wants you in his study."

Daisy's legs were weak as she followed him through the corridor, but her mind was clear. Whatever her father wanted, it was not to ask if she was all right.

Alpha Green stood behind his desk when she entered, Thunder Storm's wax‑sealed letter open in front of him.

“Thunder Storm has decided," he said without preamble. “The engagement between you and Charles is dissolved. The marriage will proceed with Rosalie instead. For the sake of both packs, you will accept this quietly."

The words still hurt, but they did not surprise her. “I accept it," Daisy said. “I won't block the alliance."

Some of the tension left his shoulders. Then she added, “On one condition."

His gaze sharpened. “What condition?"

“Before Charles marries Rosalie, the mate bond between us must be formally severed."

For a moment he simply stared. “Absolutely not," Alpha Green snapped. “Severing a mate bond can cripple a wolf. You would risk Charles's strength – Thunder Storm's future – because you don't like feeling a pull toward him?"

“You just told me I'm no longer his bride," she replied. “If he marries my sister while the Moon Goddess still ties us together, that insults me and the bond itself."

He slammed his hand on the desk. “And when people hear you rejected Thunder Storm's heir? They will mock him, not you. They will say he wasn't enough for his own mate. You would stain both packs just to soothe your pride?"

“You mean I refuse to live as his mistress," Daisy said. “You'd rather your daughter be a hidden lover than admit he cast her aside."

“If you were his mistress, you would still live under their protection," he shot back. “No other Alpha will want you now. This is the best future you can hope for and you spit on it."

“Is that truly what you want for me?" she asked. “To be a man's secret for the rest of my life?"

“I want this pack safe," Alpha Green said coldly. “If bending your neck buys Thunder Storm's favor, then yes. You will forget this talk of severing the bond. You will not mention it again. Go back to your room. Stay there until the wedding is over."

Daisy left without bowing.

In the corridor she paused by a narrow window. Beyond the forest, the dark line of Thunder Storm's mountains cut the sky.

Her wolf paced inside her chest. They will never choose us, it whispered. Not him. Not Father.

“No," Daisy murmured. “So I'll choose myself."

The mate bond still pulsed faintly under her skin, tugging her toward a man who had already moved on. Each beat hurt.

One day, she promised silently, that thread will be gone.

Whether anyone agrees or not, I'll be the one to cut it.