Kira's POV
I ran.
Didn't care where I was going. Just needed to get away from the Council chamber, from Sebastian's cold eyes, from Rowan's confusing words that sounded like love but felt like torture.
My feet carried me through hallways I didn't recognize. Past wolves who stared. Past doors and windows and portraits of dead Alphas who probably never made mistakes like mine.
Finally, I found it. A massive door carved with wolves and moons. I pushed it open and stumbled inside.
A library.
Rows and rows of books stretched toward a ceiling so high I couldn't see it. The smell of old paper and leather surrounded me. It was quiet. Peaceful. Safe.
I collapsed into a chair, breathing hard, the white ceremonial robes pooling around me.
Two hours. I had two hours until the ceremony. Two hours until Rowan marked me and the bond woke up and everything changed forever.
But I didn't understand. Didn't know what I was walking into.
Rhys said the bond would explode. That dormant bonds woke up ten times stronger. But how? Why?
I needed answers.
I stood and started searching the shelves. Books on pack history. Books on alpha lineage. Books on
There.
The Sacred Bond: A Complete Guide to Wolf Mating Rituals.
I grabbed it. Sat back down. Started reading.
The first chapters were basic. Things I already knew. Fated mates were rareonly one in a thousand wolves found theirs. The bond was instant, powerful, undeniable. It connected souls, made two wolves into one unit.
I skipped ahead. Found the chapter on rejection rituals.
And my blood turned to ice.
A rejection of the mate bond requires three components for completion:
First, the spoken words of rejection. The rejecting party must clearly state their refusal of the bond in the presence of their mate.
I'd done that. In the forest. Seven years ago.
Second, the physical severing. The rejecting party must use a consecrated ritual blade to cut the bond a symbolic act that represents the permanent separation of souls.
My hands started shaking.
I hadn't done this. Hadn't even known about it.
Third, the acceptance. The rejected mate must accept the rejection, releasing their claim on the bond. Without this acceptance, the bond merely becomes dormant rather than destroyed.
No. No no no.
Important: A dormant bond is NOT the same as a severed bond. A dormant bond remains intact, waiting. It can be reactivated through proximity, strong emotion, or most powerfully through the mating bite.
The book slipped from my fingers.
All this time. Seven years. I thought I'd destroyed our bond. Thought I'd freed us both.
But I'd only put it to sleep.
And tonight
Tonight Rowan was going to wake it up.
Found the loophole, did you?
I jumped so hard I almost fell out of the chair.
Rowan stood between two bookshelves, watching me. How long had he been there? How much had he seen?
You I couldn't form words. You knew.
Of course I knew. He moved closer, casual and predatory all at once. Did you really think I wouldn't research every aspect of rejection? That I wouldn't look for a way to undo what you did?
You knew the bond wasn't broken.
I knew you didn't complete the ritual, yes. He stopped a few feet away. You spoke the words. But you ran before doing the rest. Didn't use the blade. Didn't wait for my acceptance.
You never told me
Why would I? His smile was sharp. You were so eager to leave. So desperate to escape me. I watched you perform half a ritual and run away thinking you'd freed yourself. He laughed. It was almost funny. In a devastating kind of way.
I stood up. The ceremonial robes made me feel ridiculous. Like playing dressup while my world crumbled.
So all this time
All this time, our bond was dormant. Waiting. He tilted his head. I could feel it sometimes. Faint. Like an echo. I'd dream about you and wake up knowing you were thinking about me too.
I wasn't
Liar. The word was soft but cutting. You thought about me every day for seven years. I felt it. Through the bond. Every moment of regret. Every flash of guilt. Every time you touched that necklace I gave you.
Heat flooded my face. How did you know about the necklace?
Because the bond told me. He stepped closer. A dormant bond isn't dead, Kira. It's sleeping. And even sleeping bonds whisper. I've felt you all these years. Known you were out there. Known you never forgot me.
If you knew, why didn't you
Come find you? Force you back? He laughed bitterly. Pride, maybe. Or stupidity. I told myself I didn't care. That I was better off without the mate who rejected me. That I'd moved on.
But you didn't.
No. The admission seemed to hurt him. I didn't move on. I just got angrier. Built walls. Became someone else. And when I discovered your sanctuary sat on my family's land? His smile turned cruel. I saw my chance. Not to destroy you. To reclaim you.
I backed up until I hit the bookshelf. This whole thing the eviction, the deal, the ceremony you planned it all?
I planned to get you here. To give you a choice that wasn't really a choice. He followed me. Accept the bond or lose everything. This time, I made sure you'd choose me.
That's not love. That's manipulation.
It's survival. He was so close now I could feel his heat. Seven years ago, you broke me. Rejection sickness nearly killed me. Then my family died while I was too weak to protect them. I became Alpha King while still shattered from what you did.
I didn't know
You didn't care! The words exploded out of him. You chose yourself. Your dreams. Your future. You didn't care what happened to the mate you left behind.
That's not fair
Fair? He slammed his hand against the bookshelf behind me. I flinched. You want to talk about fair? Fine. Is it fair that I spent three years wishing I was dead? Is it fair that my wolf nearly went feral from the pain? Is it fair that I can't trust anyone because the one person who was supposed to love me unconditionally threw me away?
Tears streamed down my face. I was scared. I was twenty-two and terrified of losing myself
So you lost me instead. His eyes were wet too. You lost us. And for what? A sanctuary you built out of guilt? A life spent trying to prove rejecting me was worth it?
It wasn't worth it, I sobbed. Nothing was worth losing you. I know that now. I've known it for seven years.
Then why didn't you come back? His voice broke. Why didn't you find me? Fix it? Try?
Because I thought the bond was broken! I thought I'd destroyed it permanently and you'd moved on and I stopped. I thought you hated me.
I do hate you. He touched my face. Gentle despite everything. I hate you so much. But I also
He stopped. Pulled his hand away.
What? I whispered. You also what?
Tonight, he said instead of answering. Tonight when I mark you, the bond will wake up. Everything we should have had over seven years will hit at once. Every emotion. Every connection. Every piece of love and hate and need.
Rhys told me it would be intense.
It'll be agony. Rowan's expression was raw. For both of us. Because we're not ready. We don't have trust or understanding or any foundation. We just have seven years of pain and a bond that's been starving.
Can we I swallowed hard. Can we wait? Build that foundation first?
No. He shook his head. Because every day we wait, the bond gets hungrier. More desperate. If we don't complete it soon, it'll drive us both insane.
So we're trapped.
We've always been trapped. He stepped back. From the moment we met, our souls recognized each other. You tried to fight it. Tried to run. But fate doesn't let go that easily.
I slid down the bookshelf until I was sitting on the floor. The white robes spread around me like a puddle.
I can't do this, I whispered. I'm not strong enough.
You don't have a choice. Rowan crouched in front of me. In ninety minutes, you'll walk into that ceremony. The pack will watch. I'll mark you. The bond will wake up. And you'll feel everything.
What if I can't handle it?
Then you'll break. His honesty was brutal. The bond will break you down and rebuild you. That's what dormant bonds do when they wake they remake both mates into what they should have been all along.
And what's that?
Together. The word was soft. Painful. We should have been together seven years ago. Should have built our bond slowly, naturally. But you rejected it. So now it'll happen all at once. Violently. Whether we're ready or not.
I buried my face in my hands. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If I could go back
But you can't. He stood. None of us can go back. We can only move forward. And forward means tonight. The ceremony. The mark. The bond.
He walked toward the library door.
Rowan, I called.
He stopped but didn't turn around.
After tonight, after the bond wakes up will you still hate me?
Silence stretched between us.
Then: I don't know. The bond might change how I feel. Might make the hate impossible. Might amplify it. I won't know until it happens.
And if it makes you hate me more?
Then we'll be bonded mates who hate each other. He looked back at me. Which is what you deserve, isn't it? To be trapped with someone you destroyed? To feel their pain every day? To know you can never escape what you did?
The cruelty of it broke something in me.
Yes, I whispered. It's exactly what I deserve.
Something flickered in his expression. Regret? Sympathy?
Then it was gone.
One hour, he said. Get yourself together. Put on a brave face. Because in one hour, you're walking down that aisle. You're accepting my mark. And you're becoming my mate.
And if I refuse? If I run right now?
His smile was sad. Then the bond will hunt you. Pull you back. Make every moment away from me agony. Because dormant bonds don't die, Kira. They just wait. And ours has waited long enough.
He left.
I sat on the library floor in a dead woman's dress and let myself cry.
Because he was right. All of it.
I'd made this choice seven years ago when I performed half a rejection. Made it again when I accepted his deal. Made it every day I spent carrying his necklace and thinking about him.
The bond had always been there. Waiting. Hungry. Patient.
And tonight it would consume me.
Tonight I'd feel everything Rowan felt. All the love he was denying. All the hate he'd nurtured. All the pain I'd caused.
Tonight I'd be remade into what I should have been seven years ago: his mate.
Whether I survived it was anyone's guess.
I pulled myself up. Wiped my face. Looked at my reflection in a dark window.
The queen stared back. But her eyes were terrified.
One hour.
One hour until everything changed.
One hour until I faced the consequences of the biggest mistake of my life.
I touched the silver wolf necklace hidden under the ceremonial robes. Rowan's gift. The one I'd carried for seven years like a secret.
The bond had always known.
Had always been pulling me back to him.
And tonight, I'd finally stop running.
Even if the landing destroyed me.
My phone buzzed one last time. Elena: I love you. Whatever happens, you're not alone.
But I was alone.
Because in one hour, I'd be standing in front of a pack that hated me, accepting a mark from a male who hated me, waking a bond that would show me exactly how much damage I'd done.
And there was no one who could save me from that.
Not even myself.
I walked toward the library door. Toward my fate. Toward the ceremony that would either be my salvation or my complete destruction.
The sun was setting.
Time was up.
And the bond was waiting.