(Zander's POV)
I can feel her running.
The broken mate bond shouldn't work anymore. I shattered it completely in front of everyone. But somehow, I still sense Aria moving through the forest—her fear, her pain, her rage bleeding through the connection like poison in my veins.
I press my hand against my chest where the bond used to sit warm and golden. Now it feels like shattered glass grinding into my heart with every breath.
"Alpha Prime." My head guard, Marcus, jogs up beside me. "We've lost her trail. She's moving too fast for a normal omega."
Because she's not normal. I knew that the second our bond snapped into place at the ceremony. The power that flooded through our connection was unlike anything I'd ever felt. Ancient. Dangerous. Everything my advisors warned me about.
Everything I was too weak to accept.
"Keep searching," I order. "She can't have gone far."
Marcus hesitates. "Sir, with respect... you rejected her. Why are we hunting her down?"
Because rejecting her was the biggest mistake of my life.
Because the moment I spoke those words, I felt something inside me break that had nothing to do with the mate bond.
Because I'm a coward who chose duty over the one person fate made for me.
"Just find her," I snap.
Marcus bows and disappears back into the trees.
I stand alone in the darkness, feeling the ghost of Aria's presence through our ruined bond. She's stopped running. I sense her pain like it's my own—sharp and endless and absolutely deserved.
"You fool," I mutter to myself. "You absolute fool."
A voice cuts through the darkness behind me. "Having regrets already, Alpha Prime?"
I turn to find Morrigan Vale emerging from the shadows. My chief advisor looks perfect as always—not a hair out of place despite the chaos at the temple. Her dark eyes glitter with something I can't read.
"This doesn't concern you, Morrigan."
"Everything concerning you concerns me." She moves closer, studying my face. "I warned you what would happen if you accepted an omega from a disgraced bloodline. The other Alphas would see it as weakness."
"I know what you said." The words taste bitter.
"Then why do you look like you're mourning?" Morrigan's voice softens, almost gentle. "You did the right thing, Zander. You protected your position, your realm, your future. A mate is just one person. You're responsible for thousands."
She's right. I know she's right. I've been telling myself the same thing since I was seventeen and my father died, leaving me to rule a realm I wasn't ready for.
But if she's right, why does it feel like I just ripped my own heart out?
"The girl had power," I say quietly. "When the bond formed, I felt it. Something ancient."
Morrigan goes very still. "What kind of power?"
"I don't know. But it scared me." I meet her eyes. "Nothing scares me, Morrigan. Nothing except—"
"Except losing control," she finishes. "Which is exactly why you rejected her. Power you can't control is power that will destroy you."
Before I can respond, pain explodes through my chest. I gasp and stumble backward. The broken bond flares to life—except it doesn't feel broken anymore. It feels wrong. Twisted. Like something is growing in the space where our connection used to be.
"Zander!" Morrigan grabs my arm. "What's wrong?"
The pain spreads from my chest down my arms. I look at my hands and my blood runs cold.
Shadows are moving under my skin. Black tendrils writhing beneath the surface like living things.
"What is this?" I choke out.
Morrigan's face goes pale. "No. It can't be."
"What can't be?" The shadows spread further up my arms. They don't hurt, but they feel wrong. Foreign. Like something invading my body.
"There's an old curse," Morrigan says slowly. "One I thought was just a legend. It's said that an Alpha who rejects his true mate will be consumed by darkness unless the bond is restored."
Ice floods my veins. "You never mentioned this before."
"Because I didn't think it was real!" She stares at the shadows crawling up my neck. "The curse was supposedly created by ancient omegas—powerful ones who wanted to punish Alphas for treating mates as disposable."
The irony hits me like a punch to the gut. I rejected Aria to avoid looking weak. Now I'm being literally consumed by darkness because of it.
"How do I stop it?" I demand.
Morrigan won't meet my eyes. "According to legend, only the rejected mate can break the curse. She has to willingly forgive you and restore the bond."
I think of Aria's face when I rejected her. The way she looked at me with hope and trust right before I destroyed her. The sound she made when the bond shattered—like something dying.
"She'll never forgive me," I whisper.
"Then you'll die," Morrigan says bluntly. "And the curse will spread to your entire realm, killing everyone connected to your bloodline."
The shadows reach my jaw. I can feel them trying to crawl toward my eyes.
"How long do I have?"
"Based on the legends? Weeks. Maybe months if you're strong." Morrigan grips my shoulders. "You need to find her, Zander. You need to make her understand that this is bigger than both of you."
I almost laugh. "You want me to tell the girl I publicly humiliated that she has to save me? That she has to forgive the man who called her weak and worthless?"
"I want you to survive," Morrigan says fiercely. "Whatever it takes."
The shadows retreat slowly back into my chest, leaving my skin clear again. But I can still feel them there, waiting. Growing.
Through the ruined bond, I sense Aria again. She's with someone now. Someone whose presence feels warm and protective around her.
Jealousy burns through me, sharp and possessive.
She's mine. The bond might be broken, but she's still mine.
Except she's not. I gave up any claim to her the moment I rejected her.
"Find her," I tell Morrigan. "Use every resource we have. I need to talk to her."
"And say what?"
I stare into the darkness where Aria disappeared. "That I made a mistake. That I was wrong. That I'm sorry."
"Will she believe you?"
"Probably not." The shadows pulse inside my chest like a second heartbeat. "But I have to try."
Morrigan nods and walks away to organize the search. I'm alone again with the curse spreading through my body and the ghost of a mate bond I destroyed.
Somewhere in the forest, Aria is learning to live without me.
I'm learning that I can't live without her.
And the darkness growing inside me is making sure I won't have to learn for long.
Through the broken bond, I feel something shift in Aria's emotions. Her fear fades, replaced by something harder. Angrier.
She's not going to forgive me. She's going to let me die.
And I deserve every second of suffering that's coming.
But my people don't deserve to die because of my mistakes. I have to find a way to make this right.
Even if it means getting on my knees and begging the girl I rejected to save my worthless life.
The shadows pulse again, stronger this time.
I don't have much time.