Chapter 2
1105 Words
The pain didn’t come all at once.
It started as a flicker—sharp, like a needle pricking the center of my chest—then bloomed outward in burning waves. I staggered back a step, my hand flying to my heart as if I could physically hold the breaking pieces together. The room spun. Voices blurred into a distant roar.
Kai’s words echoed in my skull, cold and final.
*I reject you, Evelyn Harper, as my mate.*
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. His face was a mask of stone, jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle ticking beneath his skin. Those gray eyes—eyes that moments ago had widened with the same shock I felt when the bond snapped—now held nothing but icy resolve.
Around us, the pack erupted in chaos.
Gasps. Whispers. Someone let out a choked sob—maybe Lila. I couldn’t tell. All I could feel was the bond tearing, thread by agonizing thread. It wasn’t just emotional. It was physical. Like someone had reached inside my ribcage and was slowly ripping out everything that made me whole.
My knees buckled.
Strong hands caught me before I hit the floor—Lila’s. “Evie, breathe,” she whispered fiercely in my ear, pulling me upright. “Just breathe.”
But I couldn’t.
Because even through the pain, that scent still lingered.
His scent.
Pine and dark chocolate and storm clouds. It wrapped around me like a cruel embrace, reminding me of what I’d felt for those brief, glorious seconds. The pull. The certainty. The overwhelming rightness of it.
He was supposed to be mine.
And now he never would be.
“Why?” The word escaped me, broken and raw, before I could stop it. My voice carried in the sudden hush that fell over the hall.
Kai’s gaze flickered—just for an instant. Something unreadable flashed across his face. Regret? Anger? Pity?
Then it was gone.
“You’re wolfless,” he said, voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “An omega with no strength, no power. The Silver Moon Pack needs a Luna who can stand beside me in battle, not hide behind me.”
Each word landed like a slap.
Victoria stepped closer to his side, her red lips curving into a satisfied smile. She placed a manicured hand on his arm—possessive, triumphant. “Kai’s right,” she said sweetly, loud enough for the front rows to hear. “We can’t afford weakness at the top. Not with rogues pressing our borders.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the warriors near the front. A few elders nodded gravely. They didn’t even look at me.
I felt Lila tense beside me, her grip tightening. “Don’t listen to them,” she hissed. “They’re wrong. You’re—”
But her words faded as another wave of pain crashed over me. I pressed my lips together to keep from crying out. Rejected mates could survive this—some did—but the bond was new, fragile. The severing felt like dying.
Kai turned away first.
He turned his back on me, on the bond, on everything the Moon Goddess had just given us, and walked toward the dais where the elders waited. Victoria followed, her hips swaying, head held high like she’d already won.
The crowd parted for them.
No one stopped him.
No one defended me.
I stood there in the middle of the circle, moonlight pouring over me like a spotlight on my humiliation, while the man destined to love me walked away without looking back.
Lila dragged me toward the side door, away from staring eyes. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
The cool night air hit my face as we stumbled onto the back porch. I gulped it in, desperate for anything to ease the burning in my chest. Tears finally spilled over, hot and silent.
“How could he do that?” I whispered, more to myself than to Lila. “The bond… he felt it. I saw it in his eyes.”
Lila’s face was thunderous. “Because he’s an arrogant i***t who listens to that snake Victoria more than his own wolf. Everyone knows she’s been whispering in his ear for years, telling him she’s the perfect Luna.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering even though the night was warm. “But the Goddess chose me.”
“I know, Evie.” Lila pulled me into a hug, her red curls tickling my cheek. “I know.”
We stayed like that for a long minute, the sounds of celebration leaking through the walls—music starting up again, laughter, as if nothing world-shattering had just happened.
Then a new scent drifted on the breeze.
That same pine-chocolate-storm scent, stronger now.
Footsteps approached from the shadows.
My heart stuttered.
Kai stepped into the moonlight at the edge of the porch, alone. His broad frame filled the space, hands shoved deep in his pockets. For the first time tonight, he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Evelyn,” he said quietly.
The sound of my name on his lips sent a fresh jolt through the fraying bond. Pain. Longing. Anger.
I straightened, wiping my face. “What do you want?” My voice came out steadier than I felt.
He hesitated. His wolf must be raging inside him—I could see it in the tension of his shoulders, the way his fists clenched. Rejecting a mate went against every instinct we had.
“I…” He swallowed hard. “This is for the good of the pack.”
That was it.
No apology. No explanation beyond what he’d already said publicly.
Just those empty words.
Something inside me hardened.
I lifted my chin. “Then go back to your pack, Alpha. I’m sure Victoria is waiting.”
For a second, his mask slipped. Raw conflict twisted his features—his wolf fighting him.
Then he turned and disappeared into the darkness without another word.
Lila watched him go, eyes narrowed. “He’s going to regret this,” she muttered. “Mark my words.”
But as I stood there, feeling the bond bleed out of me drop by drop, all I could think was one terrifying, impossible truth.
Three weeks ago, after the pack run under the last full moon… Kai and I had been alone in the woods.
Just once.
Just long enough.
And now, as the rejection pain pulsed in time with my heartbeat, a new fear took root.
What if I was already carrying his child?
- Writer
