They say every werewolf girl dreams of the moment her fated mate finds her.
I used to believe that too.
Until tonight.
The veil slipped from my fingers before I realized I was letting it go. It fluttered to the ground in silence, catching on a root by the altar. I didn't reach for it. My hands were numb. My heart? Worse. Hollow. Beating, but wrong. Like it didn't belong in my chest anymore.
The crescent moon above was barely clinging to the sky, its silver light useless against the choking darkness settling in my throat. The sacred grove, once the place I'd imagined myself claiming a future in, now felt like a cage.
A hundred eyes. Silent. Watching.
But only one pair mattered.
Aiden.
He stood tall, too tall, like the gods sculpted him to make sure I'd never forget what I'd lost. His golden eyes didn't shine like they used to. They were dull. Flat. Not even cold, just... gone. As if I meant nothing now. Like I'd never meant anything.
And beside him, curled around his arm like she'd always been there, was her.
Natalia.
I didn't know I could hate someone that quietly.
Then Aiden's voice cut through the grove like a blade: "I reject this bond."
Four words.
They cracked open something inside me I didn't even know I was protecting. My knees locked. My stomach dropped. But I didn't fall. Somehow, I stayed standing, even as my soul staggered backward.
"No" I said, whispered, actually. "You can't…"
He didn't blink. Didn't flinch. His voice stayed flat, merciless.
"The Moon Goddess made a mistake. You're not my mate. She is."
She. Natalia. The girl who I had been so kind to in the past. The girl I thought was my best friend.
Her lips curved. Not quite a smirk. Not quite sympathy. Something in between, something smug enough to make my wolf writhe beneath my skin.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shift. I wanted to tear the world apart with my bare hands.
But all I did was breathe. Shallow. Shaking.
Because the bond didn't break.
It stretched.
A sound rippled through the grove. Whispers. Movement. Unease. Even the Elders shifted where they stood. But no one stopped him.
No one moved.
Not even my father.
I was alone. Standing in dirt and broken promises, wearing the ceremonial white that now felt like a joke. My feet were bare, and the earth beneath them felt like ice. I didn't cry. I didn't fall. I just… stood. Like a ghost watching its own funeral.
And then...
A pull.
Another one.
No. That couldn't be...
"Rae?"
The voice behind me was low. Rough. Familiar in the way a nightmare is. You never forget the ones that shake you to your bones.
I turned, slowly. Too slowly.
Killian.
He wasn't dressed for ceremony. His jacket was unzipped, shirt half untucked, and his hair was a mess, like he'd run here, or fought his way through something. Maybe both.
His eyes, though those were the same. Wild. Dangerous. Focused on me like I was prey and salvation all at once.
"You feel it," he said. Not a question. A knowing.
I opened my mouth. Closed it again. My hands curled at my sides, fingers tingling. My wolf stirred, uncertain. Wounded. But listening.
Because she felt it too.
That pull.
That second bond.
"No," I whispered. "That's not… that's not possible."
His gaze softened, but only a little. He stepped closer, voice lower now, like he didn't want the trees to hear. "He let you go because you were never his. You were always mine."
When his fingers brushed my wrist, I gasped.
It wasn't a spark. It was a surge. Hot. Terrifying. Alive.
The world tilted. My knees buckled.
My wolf howled, raw and loud and furious.
Not just one mate.
Two.
And somehow… they would both ruin me.
From the edge of the grove, behind the thick trunks and twisted shadows, someone was watching.
And I knew...I knew that tonight wasn't the end of anything.
It was only the beginning.