I couldn't move.
Crystal glittered around my feet. Wine soaked into my shoes. And inside my chest, something was clawing to get out.
"Go to him." A voice in my head, my wolf, apparently. When had that happened? "Go to our mate."
Our mate was standing on that platform like I didn't exist.
"Aria!" Thorne grabbed my arm. His face was pale. "Did you just…"
"I need to go."
"You're bleeding."
I looked down. Blood mixed with wine on my hands. I'd cut myself on the crystal and hadn't even felt it.
I yanked free and ran.
Not toward the platform. Away. Away from those golden eyes and the horrible pulling in my chest that felt like being ripped apart.
I made it to the trees before my legs gave out.
My back hit bark and I slid down, gasping. The bond stretched between us like a wire pulled too tight. Every instinct screamed at me to go back, to find him, to make him look at me again.
I dug my nails into my palms.
"Stop," I whispered.
"Mate,"my wolf whimpered. Not angry anymore. Desperate. *Why doesn't he want us?*
I knew why. I had seen it in his eyes, that flash of calculation before the coldness.
I was nothing. He was everything.
Simple math.
The wolf in my head howled, and the sound made my chest physically ache.
"Aria Thornwood."
I looked up.
A man stood there, older, harder, wearing a Beta's formal clothes. His eyes swept over me, taking in my servant's dress, my bleeding hands, my position on the ground.
His lip curled.
"The Alpha King requests your presence."
My wolf perked up. "Yes."
I stayed put. "Why?"
His eyebrows rose. "That's not your concern. Come. Now."
Everything I'd learned said obey. Authority got violent when you didn't.
But something new was rising in me.
"No."
He actually laughed. "You don't refuse the Alpha King. You come when summoned, or…"
"Or what?" I pushed to my feet. "You'll drag me? Try it."
His expression darkened, but he didn't move. Something held him back maybe the fresh mate bond, maybe orders from Kael. Either way, he didn't touch me.
"You're making a mistake," he said.
"Probably."
He stared at me another moment, then turned and left.
I slumped against the tree.
What had I just done?
"Stood up for us,"my wolf said.
"I just refused the Alpha King."
*Good.*
I laughed, but it sounded broken.
The bond twisted sharply.
He was coming.
I should have run.
Instead I sat there, feeling him get closer. The bond was like a compass, I knew exactly where he was.
My wolf paced. Nervous. Excited. Furious.
Then he was there.
Kael Darkridge emerged from the trees, and the sight of him stopped my breath. He was bigger up close. More real. The power that had pressed against the whole ceremony was now focused entirely on me.
His golden eyes locked onto mine.
The bond "sang",
My wolf threw herself against my ribs, desperate to shift, to go to him. I dug my nails into my palms and stayed exactly where I was.
"You refused to come." His voice was cold. Precise.
"You looked away."
Something flickered across his face. "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. Your wolf just emerged and she's going insane." He moved closer. "I can feel it."
So he felt it too. Good.
"What do you want?" I asked.
He stopped five feet away. "We need to talk."
"About what?"
His jaw clenched. "Don't be difficult."
"I'm asking a question. The bond you don't want? Or the fact that you dismissed me in front of everyone?"
"This situation is complicated."
"It's not complicated. You don't want me. So reject me and we both move on."
The word "reject" hit him hard. I saw it in how his shoulders tensed, the flash in his eyes.
"It's not that simple," he said tightly.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm the Alpha King. Every decision affects thousands of lives." He seemed to be choosing words carefully. "A mate bond is unexpected. The timing is terrible."
"Unexpected."Like I was a scheduling problem.
"Then reject me," I said again. "Problem solved."
"I can't just…"He stopped. Studied me. "Do you understand what a rejection would do? To your wolf? You just shifted. It could kill you."
"I've been dying slowly my whole life. At least this would be fast."
Pain flashed across his face before he locked it down.
"You don't mean that."
"You don't know what I mean. You don't know anything about me."
"I know you're an omega from Shadowmoon. I know you couldn't shift until today." He paused. "I know you deserve better than this."
Almost kind. Almost.
"Better than what? Better than you?"
"Yes."
The bond flared hot and vicious. My wolf whimpered.
"Then we agree," I said flatly. "Reject me and find someone worthy."
He moved fast, suddenly right there, close enough that I could feel heat coming off him.
"Don't put words in my mouth."
The bond was screaming. My wolf was losing it. And underneath his control, I could feel his wolf too, just as wild.
"Then what do you want?" I asked.
He stared at me. For a second, I thought he might actually answer.
Then he stepped back. The mask returned.
"I need time to figure this out."
"Time."
"Yes."
"How much time?"
"I don't know."
I laughed bitterly. "So I just wait while you decide if I'm worth the inconvenience?"
"That's not.."
"That's exactly what you're asking." I stood. "I've spent eighteen years being nothing. I'm not doing it anymore. Not even for you."
I started past him.
His hand caught my wrist. The contact was electric.
"Don't go," he said quietly.
I looked at his hand. Then his face.
"Give me a reason to stay."
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Genuinely conflicted.
But he said nothing.
I pulled free. He let me.
"That's what I thought."
I walked away. Every step felt like walking through glass. The bond pulled and "hurt". My wolf screamed at me to go back.
But I kept walking.
Behind me, I heard him say my name.
Just once.
"Aria."
I didn't turn around.
I couldn't.
I made it back to my room somehow.
The grounds were chaos, I could hear it. Rumors spreading. Wolves talking.
I sat on my cot and stared at nothing.
My wolf was quiet now. Subdued. Grieving.
"We should have stayed."
"He didn't want us."
"He wants us. He's just scared."
"Same thing."
She didn't argue.
A knock. Thorne pushed the door open.
"What happened?"
"I shifted." The words felt strange. "I have a wolf."
His expression transformed. "That's amazing.."
"The Alpha King is my mate."
Thorne went still.
"He felt it. Looked at me. Turned away."
"Aria.."
He wants time to figure things out" i laughed. "Like I am a problem "
Thorne sat beside me. Didn't speak for a long moment.
Then: "What will you do?"
Good question.
The bond was still there, tight in my chest. I could feel Kael even now, back at the ceremony, probably pretending this never happened.
I could wait. Accept being his secret shame.
Or I could leave.
But leaving meant being a rogue. And rogues didn't last long, hunted by packs, vulnerable to everything. The bond might snap from the distance, killing me anyway. Or Kael might come after me, and I didn't know which was worse.
"I don't know," I admitted.
It was the truth. For the first time in my life, I had a choice. And I had no idea what to do with it.
"You could stay," Thorne said carefully. "Give him that time he asked for."
"And if he decides I'm not worth it?"
"Then you leave. But at least you'll know."
I looked at him. "You think I should wait."
"I think you should do what keeps you alive." His expression was serious. "The bond is fresh. Running now, with your wolf this new… Aria, it could kill you."
He was right. I hated that he was right.
"So I just… what? Pretend today didn't happen?"
"No. You make him work for it." Thorne's mouth curved slightly. "You're not nothing anymore. You have a wolf. You have leverage. Make him prove he's worth your time."
I almost laughed. "I'm an omega."
"You're the Alpha King's mate. That makes you the most powerful female in this realm whether he acknowledges it or not."
I hadn't thought of it like that.
The bond pulsed in my chest. Still there. Still waiting.
"How long do I give him?" I asked.
"As long as you can stand it. But Aria?" Thorne met my eyes. "The second he hurts you again, you run. And I'll help you."
I nodded slowly.
Not running. Not yet.
But not waiting forever either.
Outside, the ceremony continued. Speeches. Politics. Normal.
Inside, everything had changed.
I looked at the moon through my window.
Kael Darkridge wanted time to figure things out.
Fine.
He could have his time.
But the clock was ticking.
And if the Alpha King thought I'd wait forever while he decided whether I was worth the trouble, he was about to learn something important:
I'd survived eighteen years of nothing.
I could survive his rejection too.
The question was whether he could survive mine.