CHAPTER 4
1031 Words
Three days passed like a heartbeat and yet, every second felt like thunder pounding in Amelia's chest.
She barely slept.
Barely breathed.
Every time her mind went still, the memory returned Jayden’s cold green eyes, the snarl in his voice when he rejected her, and the way Lyra laughed beside him like it was all a cruel joke.
And now, he was coming here.
To this palace.
To her.
“Why would he even bother?” Amelia asked aloud, pacing the edge of the royal garden.
The air was crisp, kissed with pine and snow, but her skin burned. She didn’t notice the frost biting her fingers or the thin shawl slipping off her shoulders.
Ryder stood across from her, arms crossed, watching her quietly. He’d been doing that a lot lately watching, studying her like she was something fragile he wasn’t sure how to hold without breaking.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. “But I know men like him. Entitled. Proud. And dangerous when ignored.”
Amelia scoffed. “He rejected me. In front of the whole pack. I begged him to just talk to me to listen and he laughed.”
She stopped walking. Her voice cracked.
“I was nothing to him, Ryder. Nothing.”
Ryder walked closer, slow and careful. His gaze softened.
“You’re not nothing,” he said.
Amelia turned away. “You don’t have to lie.”
“I don’t lie,” he replied, voice quiet but steady. “Not to you.”
She swallowed hard, blinking against the sting in her eyes.
“I wish the mate bond didn’t hurt so much,” she whispered.
Ryder didn’t speak for a moment. Then, gently, he said, “It’s not the bond, Amelia. It’s your heart. You cared. That’s what hurts.”
When the royal gates opened the next morning, Amelia felt it in her bones.
Even before she saw the black carriages rolling in guarded by armored wolves with the Silverbird crest she felt him.
Jayden.
Her mate who wasn’t.
Her heart twisted in ways she didn’t want to name. She hated that her body still reacted to him, that her wolf still stirred, even if her soul recoiled.
Ryder stood beside her at the top of the palace steps, towering and unreadable. His fingers brushed hers barely a touch but it grounded her.
“I’m here,” he said.
Amelia nodded once. Her throat was dry.
The carriage door opened and there he was.
Jayden stepped down like he owned the ground beneath him. Golden brown hair perfectly styled, cloak lined with wolf fur, that arrogant smile stretched across his too handsome face.
She wanted to scream.
Or throw something.
Or run.
Instead, she stood still.
And when Jayden’s eyes met hers, something flickered in them, shock. Want. Regret.
“Amelia,” he breathed, like her name alone was enough to unlock something in him.
But she didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t speak.
Ryder stepped forward, cool and commanding. “You asked for an audience. Speak quickly.”
Jayden’s gaze didn’t leave Amelia.
“I came to fix what I broke.”
She laughed before she could stop herself. Sharp. Bitter.
“Fix?” she said, voice rising. “You broke me, Jayden. And now you want to fix me like I’m a torn shirt?”
His smile faltered. “I didn’t understand back then. I was confused. Shocked. I—”
“You chose Lyra,” she spat. “You chose your pride. You chose humiliation. Don’t pretend it was anything else.”
Jayden took a step toward her.
Ryder’s growl rumbled low and deadly.
“That’s far enough,” he warned.
Jayden’s eyes narrowed. “She was mine first.”
Ryder stepped between them. “She’s not yours now.”
Jayden’s fists clenched. “The bond is still there”
“She’s my mate,” Ryder growled. “And I don’t share.”
The air turned sharp. Dangerous.
Guards shifted. Wolves inched forward.
But Amelia stepped between them.
She looked Jayden in the eye, her voice cold and clear.
“I mourned you,” she said. “I cried every night, wondering what I did wrong. Wondering why I wasn’t enough.”
Jayden opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
“But I’m done mourning. You didn’t break me. You freed me. And I thank the Moon Goddess every day that you let me go.”
Jayden stared, stunned.
She turned to Ryder.
And for the first time, she didn’t feel small beside him.
He looked down at her like she was something divine.
Something powerful.
And she felt it, too.
Strength pulsing beneath her skin. Fire that didn’t come from anger, but from worth.
She faced Jayden one last time.
“I’m not the omega you threw away anymore.”
Then she walked inside.
With Ryder beside her.
And didn’t look back.
Later that night, Amelia sat by the window in her chambers, wrapped in silence. The moon hung high above, casting silver light across the marble floors.
Ryder knocked once, then entered.
“You were incredible today,” he said, his voice low.
She didn’t look at him. “I almost lost it.”
“But you didn’t.”
She glanced up at him. “Why are you so patient with me?”
He walked closer. “Because I see who you are. Even when you don’t.”
Amelia’s breath hitched.
He knelt in front of her.
Took her hand.
“You don’t have to be ready,” he said gently. “Not now. Not ever. But I will wait. For as long as it takes.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek. Ryder caught it with his thumb.
“Do you regret it?” she whispered.
“What?”
“Claiming me.”
He didn’t answer with words.
Instead, he leaned forward slowly, carefully and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.
Soft.
Reverent.
“I regret every year I spent without you,” he said.
And for the first time, Amelia let herself believe..
That maybe this bond could be more than pain.
Maybe it could be home.
- Writer
