Daemon's POV
The mirror explodes under my fist.
Blood drips from my knuckles, but I barely feel it. All I feel is her—Kira's pain shooting through the half-broken bond like lightning through my veins. She's hurting. Badly. And I can't reach her.
THREE DAYS! my wolf roars. She's been gone for THREE DAYS and you're still here!
"I'm tracking her!" I shout back at him, at myself, at the empty room. "I know where she is!"
Then GO GET HER!
"I CAN'T!" The words tear out of me. "She crossed into the Shadow Lands. Rogue territory. If I cross that boundary without permission, it's an act of war."
I don't care about war! I care about our MATE!
My wolf has been like this since Kira rejected us—completely feral, refusing to obey, fighting me for control every second. I'm an Alpha. Wolves are supposed to submit to me, especially my own wolf. But he's treating me like the enemy.
Because to him, I am.
Another wave of Kira's pain crashes through the bond. I double over, clutching my chest. It feels like someone's burning a hole through my ribs from the inside.
"Daemon?" Cain's voice comes from the doorway. "What the hell happened in here?"
I look around. My room is destroyed—furniture overturned, walls dented from where I punched them, shattered glass everywhere. When did I do all this? I don't even remember.
"Get out," I growl.
"Not happening." Cain steps over the debris and grabs my bleeding hand. "You need stitches."
"I need Kira."
"Yeah, well, she made it pretty clear she doesn't need you." Cain's voice is blunt, but not unkind. He's been my best friend since we were kids—the only person who can tell me the truth without me wanting to rip his throat out.
"The bond is killing her," I say, and my voice cracks. "I can feel it, Cain. Every hour she gets weaker. The rejection won't complete because I won't accept it, but it won't settle either because she won't take it back. It's stuck, and it's draining her life."
Cain's expression shifts to concern. "How long does she have?"
"I don't know. Weeks? Maybe less?" I sink onto what's left of my bed. "And I can't even go after her because she's in the Shadow Lands and my father will—"
"Your father is an asshole," Cain interrupts. "Since when do you care what he thinks?"
"Since he threatened to declare war on the rogues if I cross that boundary," I snap. "Hundreds of wolves would die, Cain. Including Kira, probably. The rogues would kill her before I could reach her just to spite us."
"So what's your plan? Sit here and feel her die through the bond?"
I don't have an answer.
A knock on the door makes us both tense. "Daemon?" Stella's syrupy voice makes my wolf snarl. "Darling, can we talk?"
"No," I call back.
She opens the door anyway. Of course she does. Stella never could take no for an answer.
"Oh my." She surveys the destruction with wide eyes. "Having a little tantrum, are we?"
"Get. Out." I put Alpha command behind the words, but Stella just smiles.
"Don't be silly. We need to discuss our engagement." She picks her way through the mess, her perfect hair and perfect dress completely out of place in my destroyed room. "Now that the... unpleasantness with Kira is over, we can move forward with the ceremony."
"What part of 'she's my mate' don't you understand?" I stand up, and Cain wisely moves between us. "The engagement is over, Stella. It was always a political arrangement. I never wanted to marry you."
"But you don't have a mate anymore," Stella says sweetly. "She rejected you. Everyone saw it. It's done."
"It's not done!" The shout echoes through the room. "The rejection doesn't work unless I accept it, and I'm NOT accepting it!"
"Why not?" Stella's mask slips, showing the anger underneath. "She's worthless! She's nothing! You could have me—beautiful, powerful, from a good family—and you're obsessing over HER?"
"Because she's my MATE!" I'm in her face now, and Stella actually steps back. "The Moon Goddess chose her for me, not you. And yes, she rejected me. Because I spent eight years making her life hell. Because I was a cruel bastard who deserved exactly what I got."
"So accept the rejection and move on," Stella hisses. "Let her die and—"
My hand is around her throat before I realize I've moved. Cain is shouting, trying to pull me back, but my wolf is in control and he wants blood.
"If you EVER," I growl, my voice not quite human, "wish death on my mate again, I will rip out your throat. Do you understand me?"
Stella nods frantically, her face turning red.
I drop her and she collapses, coughing. Cain drags me backward while Stella scrambles out of the room.
"You need to get control," Cain says urgently. "Daemon, you almost killed her."
"Good," my wolf snarls through my mouth.
"NOT good!" Cain shakes me. "That's Stella Ashwood. Her father is your father's Beta. You can't just—"
"I don't CARE!" I roar. "Don't you get it? Nothing matters except Kira. The pack, politics, my father's plans—NOTHING. She's dying, Cain. My mate is dying, and it's my fault."
The fight drains out of me. I collapse back onto the bed, my head in my hands.
"When I was sixteen," I hear myself say, "my father told me that Alphas lead through fear. That showing mercy is weakness. That the strong survive and the weak deserve what they get." I laugh bitterly. "So when he started mocking Kira's family for having a defective daughter, I joined in. I thought I was being strong."
"You were being a bully," Cain says quietly.
"I was being a monster." I look up at him. "I pushed a ten-year-old girl into a mud puddle and laughed when she cried. I told her she'd be better off dead. I spent eight years making her hate herself, and now—" My voice breaks. "Now she'd rather die than be bonded to me."
"Then accept her rejection," Cain says gently. "Let her go. It's what she wants."
"I can't." The admission hurts. "I've tried. Every hour, I try to say the words. 'I accept your rejection.' Simple, right? But every time I open my mouth, nothing comes out. My wolf won't let me. He'd rather we both die than let her go."
"That's not your wolf," Cain says. "That's you."
He's right. I know he's right.
The door slams open again. My father, Alpha Ryker, stands there with Marcus and Helena Ashwood behind him.
"Daemon." My father's voice is ice. "We need to talk about your behavior."
"Not now," I mutter.
"YES, now." He strides in, and even Cain backs away from the Alpha authority rolling off him. "You attacked Stella Ashwood. You refuse to accept the rejection from that worthless girl. You're making this pack look weak."
"I don't care how the pack looks," I say flatly.
My father's eyes flash red. "Then perhaps you're not fit to be Alpha."
The threat hangs in the air.
"Marcus, Helena," my father continues, "tell my son what you told me."
Marcus steps forward, looking uncomfortable. "We... we want you to accept Kira's rejection. For everyone's sake."
"For everyone's sake?" I repeat slowly. "Your daughter is dying, and you want me to let her?"
"She made her choice," Helena says coldly. "And frankly, this mate bond is an embarrassment to our family. We'd rather she died with dignity than be connected to—" She stops at the look on my face.
"Get out," I say quietly.
"Daemon—" my father starts.
"GET OUT!" The Alpha command explodes from me, strong enough that even my father takes a step back. "All of you. NOW."
They leave. They have no choice—when two Alphas clash, the stronger one wins. And right now, fueled by rage and desperation, I'm stronger.
Cain stays. He always stays.
"You can't keep doing this," he says. "Your father will challenge you if you keep defying him."
"Let him." I stand up, decision crystallizing in my mind. "I'm done playing by his rules. I'm done being the Alpha he wants me to be."
"What are you going to do?"
I look toward the forest, toward the Shadow Lands where Kira is dying. "I'm going to find my mate. I'm going to get down on my knees and beg if I have to. I'm going to prove I'm not the monster she thinks I am."
"And if she still rejects you?"
"Then at least I died trying." I grab a jacket, ignoring Cain's protests. "I'm going to the Shadow Lands."
"That's rogue territory! You can't just—"
"Watch me."
"Your father will call it an act of war!"
"I don't care!" I spin to face him. "Cain, she's my MATE. The other half of my soul. The person the Moon Goddess literally created for me. And I broke her. I destroyed her. The least I can do is try to save her, even if it costs me everything."
Cain stares at me for a long moment. Then he sighs. "You're really going to do this."
"Yes."
"Even though she hates you."
"Especially because she hates me." I head for the door. "She hates me because I earned it. Now I need to earn something better."
"Daemon." Cain's voice stops me. "What if you're too late? What if she's already—"
"Don't." I can't hear it. "Don't finish that sentence."
Through the bond, I feel Kira's pain spike again. Worse than before. She's barely conscious, I realize. Barely holding on.
We're coming, I tell her through the bond, not knowing if she can even hear me. Hold on, Kira. Please. Just hold on.
No response. Just pain and darkness and the terrifying sense that she's slipping away.
I shift into my wolf mid-run, not bothering with the proper rituals or permissions. My father's shouts follow me, along with orders to stop, to come back, to obey.
But I'm done obeying.
The boundary to the Shadow Lands appears—those marked stones that mean death to pack wolves who cross without permission.
I don't hesitate.
I leap across them, into forbidden territory, and the moment my paws touch rogue land, I feel the shift in the bond.
Kira is here. Close. And she's fading fast.
I'm coming, I howl into the night. I'm coming, and nothing will stop me.
Behind me, I hear my father's furious roar: "You're banished! You hear me, Daemon? You cross that line, you're no son of mine!"
I keep running.
Because being his son never mattered as much as being her mate.