Ember's POV
I woke up to the most beautiful man I'd ever seen leaning over me, and my first instinct was to punch him in the face.
He caught my fist easily. "Easy there. You're safe."
"Where am I?" I tried to sit up, but my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. "Who are you?"
"Kieran Cross. You called me—well, I called you. Then you passed out at a gas station." He stepped back, giving me space. "You're at my sanctuary. You've been unconscious for six hours."
Six hours? Panic shot through me. I looked around wildly—small room, clean bed, window showing late afternoon sun. Not a prison. Not the pack compound. But not safe either, because nowhere was safe.
"I need to leave." I swung my legs off the bed and immediately regretted it. The room spun.
"You're burning with fever." Kieran's voice was gentle but firm. "The rejection bond is eating you alive from the inside. If you leave now, you'll collapse again. Maybe for good this time."
"The rejection is supposed to hurt him, not me!" The words came out angrier than I meant. "That's how it works. The one who gets rejected suffers, not the one who does the rejecting."
Kieran's expression turned sad. "Usually, yes. But your bond is different. Stronger. Ancient bloodline bonds work both ways—rejecting your mate is like rejecting part of yourself."
No. No, that wasn't fair. I'd done everything right. I'd escaped. I'd chosen freedom over fate's cruel joke. Why was I the one dying?
"How do you know about my bloodline?" I asked suspiciously.
"Your wolf's aura when I found you. Lunar fire—pure silver, ancient as the moon itself." He pulled up a chair, sitting where I could see him clearly. "You're not just any late bloomer, Ember. You're one of the original bloodlines. The Moon Goddess's direct children."
I laughed, but it sounded broken. "The original bloodlines died out centuries ago. Everyone knows that."
"Everyone's wrong. They didn't die—they went dormant, hiding until their wolves felt safe enough to emerge." Kieran's eyes were kind. "Your wolf waited eighteen years because she knew emerging in that pack would've made you a target. She was protecting you."
Tears burned my eyes. All those years thinking I was defective, broken, worthless—and my wolf had been there all along, waiting. Protecting me from people who would've used my power against me.
People like Ryder.
"I still hate him," I whispered. "Even if the bond kills me, I won't go back."
"I'm not asking you to." Kieran handed me a glass of water. "But you need to understand what's happening. Ancient bonds can't be rejected cleanly. They're too deep, too primal. You're trying to cut away part of your soul."
"So what am I supposed to do? Accept him? Let fate force me to love the person who tortured me?"
"No. You find a third option." He smiled slightly. "You survive long enough to figure out what you really want, not what the bond wants or what he wants. What you want."
I wanted to never hurt again. To never be invisible or worthless or someone's punching bag. To matter.
"The sanctuary job," I said suddenly, remembering the phone call before I passed out. "You said you needed help."
"I do. But you're in no condition—"
"I need this." I forced myself to sit up straighter, ignoring the way my body screamed in protest. "I need a reason to stay alive that isn't him. I need to matter to someone, to something. Please."
Kieran studied me for a long moment. "You have somewhere to stay?"
"I have three hundred dollars and a car that might not start again."
"The job comes with room and board. Small apartment above the sanctuary. Nothing fancy, but it's yours." He stood up. "Rest tonight. Tomorrow I'll show you around, see if you can handle it."
Relief flooded through me. A place to stay. A purpose. A chance.
"Thank you," I said, and meant it.
"Don't thank me yet. The work is hard, and the wolves who come here are broken in ways that make your story look easy." He headed for the door, then paused. "Oh, and Ember? Your mate's been calling my phone every twenty minutes since I texted him that you're alive. Should I keep ignoring him?"
My stomach twisted. "He knows I'm here?"
"He knows you're with me. Not where." Kieran's expression was unreadable. "But he's desperate. Begging me to let him see you, to tell him you're okay, to—"
"Tell him nothing." My voice came out harder than I expected. "Tell him I'm done. Tell him I'm free. Tell him—"
My phone buzzed. Then again. And again.
I grabbed it from the nightstand where someone had placed it. Seventeen missed calls. Twenty-three text messages. All from the same number.
Ryder.
I opened the messages, hands shaking.
Please just tell me you're alive
I'm sorry
I'm so sorry
The bond is killing you too and it's my fault
Please let me fix this
I'll do anything
Ember please
The last message made my blood run cold:
I'm coming to Lunar City. If you won't accept the bond, at least let me die near you. It's the least I deserve.
I looked up at Kieran, panic clawing at my throat. "When did he send this?"
Kieran checked his own phone, and his face went pale. "Twenty minutes ago. And according to this tracker app your Luna gave me access to—" He met my eyes. "He's already in the city. And he's less than two miles away."