Selene's POV
He turned. Ice in his eyes.
"Selene Hart of Moonveil," he said, voice like a death sentence, "I reject you as my mate."
It was a physical blow. The bond snapped. I screamed and couldn't help it. My wolf howled, begging him not to do this, not to let go.
"Stop, please," I gasped, clutching my chest. The bond tore through me, leaving nothing but pain and empty space. My legs folded, and I hit the floor.
Michael's jaw was stone, but his hands shook.
"Get out," he said, voice hoarse. "Before I change my mind."
I sobbed, cracked open. "You don't mean it. You can't."
He squeezed his eyes shut, voice splintering. "Go."
My wolf whimpered, refusing to let go. But the rejection was final. Every breath hurt, every move was agony but somehow, I got up and left, shattered but moving, because he told me to.
I tripped my way to the door every step felt like it was ripping me apart from the inside out. Right at the threshold, I couldn't help it I glanced back one last time. Michael's back faced me, hunched in on himself, head down like he was already halfway buried.
"Michael…" My voice? Just tatters, barely there.
"Go." He spat it out, voice cracked and ruined.
So I ran.
The forest gobbled me up without a second thought, shadows snatching at my clothes, the night air slapping my tear-streaked cheeks. My chest was still bleeding from the blow an invisible, ugly wound that pulsed with every step. My legs just kept going. Didn't matter where. Didn't care. All I knew was I couldn't show my face in Moonveil again. Couldn't stand the thought of their smirks, their whispers, the way they'd look at me after Michael tossed me out like I was nothing.
Of course, Maren's warning wouldn't quit rattling in my head: If you go with him, you may not come back.
She'd had a point, just… not like this.
Somewhere way out there, the festival drums still rumbled distant, muted thunder. I kept running until even that faded away. Until my wolf's howl inside me shriveled up and died.
Then, out of nowhere, the trees parted. The forbidden forest loomed ahead.
No one in their right mind just waltzed in there. The old stories, spirits, monsters, and curses, old as the moon, everyone knew them. But right then? None of it mattered. Let the monsters come.
I crossed the line, let the darkness swallow me, and left the only life I'd known in the dust.
*********
The forest didn't haunt my dreams anymore, not like that first night, when every crack of a twig felt like a threat. Yeah, it was harsh, no doubt about it, but after weeks of scraping water off bark and cramming my mouth full of those sour, mouth-puckering berries, harshness just ended up being my daily sidekick.
I crouched by the stream, scooping up water so cold it almost burned. My fingers were a mess, purple from berries, nails all jagged and grimy. My reflection wobbled in the water, all hollow eyes and sharp cheeks, a stranger staring back. And then, something made me freeze.
My stomach.
Not flat anymore. First thought? Must be the berries, or maybe it was just all the weird ways I'd been curled up, trying to sleep on roots. But when I pressed my shaky hand to it, reality crashed in with a thunderclap.
Warmth. Not mine. Something alive. A flicker, a heartbeat, so faint, but there.
My throat closed up. "No… no, this can't be." Even as I whispered, something deep in me, the wolf I thought the forest had stolen, twitched awake.
I dropped to my knees, tears streaking down my face without any warning. "Michael's," I gasped, voice wrecked. "He left me with… with this."
What would happen to me in the forest now? I was all alone. There's barely enough for me to survive here. How was I going to bring a child into this world to do same? Why was Micheal so cruel?
At that point, my mind drifted to Maren. I miss my friend so much. What would Maren say about this? I felt so much pain thinking about this.
Michael's betrayal cut me deep. He had left me with a part of him. A part that will always remind me of him no matter how hard I try to forget.
The weeks that passed, I made sure to take good care of myself and the health of my unborn child.
Hand flat against the tiny swell, I made a vow right there, wild and desperate. "You're all I've got now. And I promise. I'll keep you safe."
"You're not Michael's weakness," I whispered, fingers tracing gentle circles over my belly, moonlight spilling across my skin. "You're the reason I'm still standing. My stubborn little spark."
The wind picked up, making the leaves gossip among themselves like the whole forest was leaning in, hanging on every word. Sometimes I thought I could hear someone answering back. Or maybe it was just that tiny flutter inside me soft at first, but growing bolder, a heartbeat pounding louder with every passing day.
By the end of the first moon cycle, I didn't feel like the shattered omega everyone loved to pity. No, I felt like something new. Something wild, on the verge of breaking free.
Yeah, the prophecy still crawled through my thoughts. Michael's rejection stung, sure, and sometimes loneliness pressed down so heavily I could barely breathe.
But that little life inside me? Brighter than all of it. Burning, fierce. I was going to make sure he lived better than the monster his father was.
Jasper.
That's what I started to call him. Not out of weakness, never that, but because he was the end of what I'd been… and the beginning of something else entirely.
"My son," I breathed to the stars. "My Omega."
The forest shivered, and far away, wolves let loose a howl, like even the wild things could sense the world was about to change.