What If Luca Never Forgave Him?
Five Years After the Claiming
I stand before Luca's cage—yes, cage—and feel nothing but emptiness.
"Your dinner," I say, sliding the tray through the slot.
He doesn't look at me. Hasn't looked at me in five years.
"Luca—"
"Don't." His voice is hollow. "Just... don't."
The bond between us is twisted, corrupted. Instead of love, it's filled with his hatred, my desperation, mutual misery.
I tried everything. Gave him freedom—he ran. Gave him choices—he chose escape. Gave him time—he never softened.
So now he lives here. In comfort, but captivity. Fed, sheltered, but imprisoned.
And I'm alone. Mated but utterly alone.
"I love you," I whisper.
"You don't know what love is." He finally looks at me, eyes dead. "Love doesn't cage. Love doesn't force. Love doesn't steal."
"I was trying to protect you—"
"You were trying to own me." He turns away. "And you succeeded. I'm yours. Permanently. Forever trapped with a monster I hate."
The words pierce me. Five years, and they still hurt.
"I'm sorry," I say for the thousandth time.
"Sorry doesn't fix this. Nothing fixes this." His voice breaks. "You destroyed me, Rian. Took everything I was and broke it. And for what? So you wouldn't be alone?"
"So you wouldn't die—"
"Death would've been kinder."
I leave before he can see me cry.
In my room—our room that he's never shared—I break down. This isn't what I wanted. This hell isn't what I envisioned.
I wanted love. Got hatred.
I wanted partnership. Got captivity.
I wanted forever. Got endless suffering.
Damon finds me hours later.
"This can't continue," he says. "You're both dying. The bond is killing you."
"I won't let him go."
"Then you'll both perish. Is that what Marcus would've wanted? For you to become this?"
Marcus. I've become everything he'd hate. The monster I swore never to be.
"What do I do?" I ask helplessly.
"Let him go. Break the bond if you have to. Set him free."
"It'll kill me."
"You're already dead. Both of you." Damon grips my shoulder. "Make the right choice. Finally."
The Next Day
I stand before Luca's cage with a witch—one who can break mate bonds.
"What's this?" Luca asks suspiciously.
"Freedom. Real freedom." I meet his eyes. "I'm breaking the bond. Setting you free."
"Why now? After five years?"
"Because Damon's right. I'm killing us both. And I love you too much to keep destroying you." Tears stream down my face. "I'm sorry. For everything. For the claiming, the force, the cage. All of it."
"This won't fix what you did."
"I know. But maybe you can heal. Find happiness. Live." I nod to the witch. "Do it."
The spell is agony. The bond—even twisted and corrupted—tears away painfully.
When it's done, Luca gasps in relief. Five years of constant pain suddenly gone.
"You're free," I tell him. "Go. Live. Forget me."
He stares at me—seeing me, really seeing me, for the first time in years.
"You're really letting me go."
"I should've let you go five years ago." I unlock the cage. "I'm sorry I didn't."
Luca stands, walks past me, stops at the door.
"Rian?"
"Yeah?"
"In another life, maybe we could've been happy. If you'd asked instead of forced."
"In another life," I agree.
He leaves. I collapse.
Thirty Days Later
The bond's absence is killing me. Slowly. Painfully.
I welcome it. Deserve it.
Damon finds me barely conscious.
"Rian, you need to eat—"
"Let me die. It's what I deserve."
"He wouldn't want—"
"He hates me. He's free. That's what matters." I close my eyes. "I just want to sleep."
"Then sleep," Damon says sadly. "Rest, my friend."
I do. And don't wake up.
They bury me next to Marcus. Alone. Unmated.
The Alpha who forced love and died unloved.
This is the world where Luca never forgave. Where force never became choice. Where the story ended in tragedy.