Chapter 2
1619 Words
ARIA
By the time I reached the edge of the courtyard, my breathing had evened out enough that I could pretend I wasn't about to collapse. The trees behind me swayed softly, their branches whispering against one another like they had secrets to keep, and for a brief moment, I wanted to stay hidden there forever, out of sight, out of reach, away from the weight of the eyes and the crushing pull of a bond I refused to acknowledge.
"Aria?" Veronica's voice broke through my thoughts, steady, gentle, and threaded with concern. "Where did you go? I've been looking everywhere."
I turned toward her, schooling my face back into something neutral. Her gaze searched mine, reading too much as she always did, and I hated how close I was to unraveling under her eyes. I didn't want her to worry. I didn't want anyone to think I was losing control, so I forced my expression into something carefully calm.
"I just needed air," I whispered. "It was getting overwhelming in there."
Veronica nodded instantly, looping her arm through mine as if she expected my knees to give out at any second. "I'm right here. Come on, let's go back before someone sends a search party."
I let her lead me toward the courtyard again, even though every step felt like walking back into a storm I wasn't prepared for. The moment we stepped through the hedge-lined path and reentered the open space, the noise and the press of the crowd wrapped around me once more. I tried to focus on anything else, faces, flowers, and the steady rise of incense smoke, but all of it blurred when my gaze slid unwillingly toward the far side of the gathering.
Luca stood there, and he wasn't alone.
Maeve stood with him. Maeve, with her long blonde hair and soft features, the girl who once held his attention in high school. She looked devastated, her cheeks streaked with tears, her shoulders trembling. She reached for Luca, and he pulled her into a quiet embrace, resting a hand on her back in comfort.
It shouldn't have affected me or even mattered. But the moment I appeared, Luca’s arms fell away from her. His head turned sharply, his gaze colliding with mine like a physical impact. The vicious, raw, and simmering mate bond flared again beneath my skin, coiling tightly around my chest. I felt my breath catch. His expression shifted, giving the same flicker of recognition of something I didn't want to see.
I tore my gaze away and pretended nothing had happened.
I kept my posture straight, my face blank, my breaths steady, and I slipped back into the crowd beside Veronica as if everything inside me wasn't trembling. My wolf stirred anxiously, drawn to Luca in a way that frightened me, and I had to force myself to breathe through the urge to look at him again.
The speeches continued. Elders stepped forward to honor Adrian's bravery, recounting stories of his leadership, his kindness, and his sacrifice. Luna Martha’s quiet sobs tore through me with every word spoken in her son's memory. I kept my hand in hers, grounding her as best as I could while suffering in silence.
All the while, the bond pulsed relentlessly beneath my skin.
When the ceremony finally ended, I was exhausted from holding myself together, my body stiff from tension, and my spirit stretched thin. I wanted nothing more than to return home, to curl into bed, and to ignore the world until I could breathe again.
But then, Luna Martha approached us, her voice trembling but warm. "Ethan, Katherine... please join us for dinner tonight. I don't want the house to feel empty so soon."
My father nodded before my mother could respond, and that was that. I had no choice but to see Luca again.
-----
The Morgan household felt different the moment we stepped inside. Grief hung heavy in the air, muted and suffocating. Luca sat beside his mother, speaking in a low, soothing tone I had never heard from him before. He wasn't smiling or joking or carrying himself with that old rebellious arrogance. Instead, he looked composed, older, and strangely distant. Every now and then, his eyes flickered with reverence and protectiveness toward Luna Martha, and the sight struck me unexpectedly.
Alpha Rowan barely acknowledged him.
Their cold war was painfully obvious. Alpha Rowan's jaw was rigid, his eyes tight with disapproval and his silence sharp enough to slice through the room. Luca didn't rise to it. He didn't react or look his father's way except when absolutely necessary. When Alpha Rowan asked whether he planned to stay for a while, Luca cut in before his mother could plead.
"I can't stay long," he said calmly. "I have work to do. I'll leave tomorrow morning."
Luna Martha’s face fell. And though Luca softened his voice when he spoke to her again, his father's expression only grew colder.
Dinner passed slowly, the atmosphere thick with unspoken tension. I barely spoke except when addressed, choosing instead to focus on breathing evenly and avoiding Luca's gaze. But each time his attention drifted toward me, the mate bond tugged painfully, insistently, as if trying to pull me closer to him whether I wanted it or not.
I refused to look at him. I refused to acknowledge the connection humming beneath my ribs.
But fate had other ideas.
-----
After dinner, when the others slipped into different rooms to clean up or talk quietly, I excused myself for a moment of silence. I wandered down the hallway without thinking, my feet moving toward the one place I knew I shouldn't go.
Adrian's room.
I froze in the doorway, staring at the bed dressed neatly with the covers his mother had chosen, his books lined up perfectly on the shelf, and his favorite jacket draped over the chair. Everything inside me tightened painfully.
Memories rose like a tide.
I remembered the way he could make people feel at ease, how he commanded respect without needing to demand it, and how his presence had always been steady and reliable. Those recollections were heavy now, tinged with grief, a reminder of what had been lost rather than what had been cherished. They left me hollow and unsettled, a witness to a life that had been interrupted too soon.
My throat burned.
Luca stood there, leaning lightly against the frame, arms crossed, expression unreadable. His gaze swept over me with something intense, something I didn't want to decipher.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
I swallowed hard. "There's nothing to talk about."
"That's not true," he replied. "You felt it. The bond."
My chest squeezed painfully. Hearing him say it aloud felt like another sharp and disorienting blow.
"I don't want this," I whispered. "I can't want this."
He walked a few steps closer, not invading my space, but close enough that the warmth of his presence reached me, unsettling and familiar in a way that terrified me. "I didn't ask for it either," he said, his voice low and steady. "I'm just acknowledging it."
"I can't do this," I breathed, shaking my head. "I just lost Adrian. I can't stand here in this room and talk about a bond with you."
He didn't flinch, didn't show anger or hurt, or anything resembling vulnerability. He simply nodded once, as if he had prepared himself for this moment since the second our eyes met.
"What do you want to say, Aria?"
My heart twisted. My voice came out flat, numb, and almost foreign. "It means nothing. Whatever the moon goddess is doing... I reject it."
Silence stretched between us.
For a long, heavy moment, Luca only looked at me, his gaze steady, unreadable, and impossibly calm. I braced myself for an argument, for an emotional reaction, for something.
But instead, he said quietly and simply, "I hear you."
Then he turned and walked away, just like that. There was no anger, no pleading, and no visible pain. Only quiet acceptance.
It cut deeper than if he had shouted.
-----
I barely remembered the walk home. My heart felt heavy enough to drag through the floorboards. When I finally reached my room, I collapsed onto the bed, still wearing my black dress, my hair half undone, and my composure shattered.
A soft knock sounded a few minutes later, and my mother's head peeked through the door.
"Aria?" She whispered, stepping inside. "Sweetheart... you were so strong today. You've been strong all week. But you don't have to keep carrying everything. You're not a Luna-in-training anymore. You don't need to hold the whole pack together."
I stared at her blankly, unsure how to respond.
She sat beside me, smoothing my hair gently. "Take time for yourself. Do the things you love. Distract your mind if you need to. You don't have to stay here. You don't have to stay trapped in grief."
Something cracked inside me at her words.
I remembered my old dream, the one I hid because everyone told me my place was beside the Alpha, not in the human world chasing colors, brushes, and creativity. I remembered longing for freedom, for art, for the world beyond our borders.
And I remembered the suffocation of the bond pulling at me today, the whispers the pressure, and the eyes of the pack watching my every move.
I exhaled slowly.
Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed to breathe somewhere else. Maybe I needed to reclaim the life I once imagined.
Suddenly, the idea felt not only possible but necessary.
That night, as rain began to fall softly outside my window, I made my decision.
I was leaving the pack.
- Writer
