ARIA'S POV
Go back! Go back!
Luna's voice was a constant scream in my head as I crashed through the forest. My silver wolf form blurred between trees, paws pounding earth, chest heaving.
But no matter how fast I ran, I couldn't escape it.
The bond.
It pulled at me like a rope around my soul, tightening with every step. Demanding I return. Commanding me to go back to my mate.
He's not my mate! I snarled at Luna.
THE MOON GODDESS SAYS HE IS!
The Moon Goddess is WRONG!
But even as I thought it, I felt the bond pulse with truth. Felt Kade's emotions bleeding into mine through that golden connection—his panic, his desperate need to follow, his wolf Shadow roaring at him to chase.
Why wasn't he chasing?
Because he's giving us space, Luna whimpered. Because he knows we need time to—
I don't need TIME! I need this bond GONE!
The pain was getting worse. My chest felt like someone was crushing it from the inside. My lungs couldn't get enough air. My wolf form flickered, unstable.
I pushed harder, faster, until—
The cliff.
The Silverpaw memorial grounds rose before me—stone markers in a clearing, overlooking the valley where my pack's territory used to be.
I skidded to a stop at the edge, panting, my wolf form shaking.
Too far, Luna gasped. We've gone too far. The separation pain—
She was right.
The pain hit like a sledgehammer to the chest. My vision blurred. My legs buckled.
I shifted back to human form without meaning to, collapsing onto the stone ground.
"No," I gasped, clutching my chest. "No, I can fight this. I can—"
Through the bond, I felt Kade stagger. Felt him collapse somewhere in the fortress—feeling my pain as his own.
The realization made me want to scream.
We were connected. Truly, completely, unavoidably connected.
Hurting myself hurt him. Running from him hurt us both.
The bond wouldn't let us separate.
We were prisoners together.
I dragged myself to the nearest memorial stone—my father's. The carved letters blurred through my tears:
ALPHA MARCUS SILVERPAW
BELOVED LEADER, FATHER, MATE
MAY THE MOON GODDESS GUIDE YOU HOME
"I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered, pressing my forehead against the cold stone. "I failed. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him."
The bond pulsed—Kade's relief that I was alive warring with his guilt that I was in pain.
Feel his guilt, Luna said softly. It's real. He's drowning in it.
"I don't care!" I screamed at the sky. At the full moon hanging overhead like a mocking witness. "I don't care if he feels guilty! Guilt doesn't bring back the dead!"
The moon offered no answers. Just cold, silver light.
The same light that blessed our bond, Luna whispered.
"Blessed?" I laughed bitterly. "This is a curse! The cruelest curse the Moon Goddess could have given me!"
But even as I said it, I felt the truth through the bond: Kade felt the same way. Felt cursed. Felt trapped.
Felt like fate had punished him by giving him a mate he could never deserve.
We're the same, Luna realized. Both of us trapped. Both of us suffering. Both of us bound to something we never wanted.
"I'm nothing like him," I said, but the words felt hollow.
Because through the bond, I could feel Kade's emotions as clearly as my own. Could feel that underneath his Alpha strength and brutal control, he was just as broken as I was.
Just as haunted.
The separation pain intensified. My vision started to blur.
We have to go back, Luna begged. Aria, please. This pain will kill us.
"Good."
It will kill HIM too!
"I said GOOD!"
But I didn't mean it. The bond wouldn't let me mean it.
Because some terrible, traitorous part of me felt terror at the thought of Kade dying.
Not satisfaction. Not justice.
Fear.
I screamed at the moon—raw, primal, all my rage and grief and betrayal poured into one sound.
And somewhere in the fortress, through our bond, Kade screamed with me.
I felt his anguish mirror mine. Felt him experience every emotion I was drowning in.
We were sharing this pain. This horror. This impossible situation.
Together.
Stop, Kade's voice somehow echoed through the bond. Not words—just desperate emotion. Please stop hurting yourself. Please.
"Why do you care?" I shouted into the darkness. "Why would you care if I die?"
The bond pulsed with his answer: Because you're mine. My mate. My other half. And losing you would destroy what's left of me.
The honesty in those feelings shattered something inside me.
I looked down at the mating mark on my shoulder—black wolf and silver moon glowing faintly in the moonlight.
It was beautiful.
It was terrible.
It was undeniable.
My hand found the small knife in my boot—the blade I always carried. Silver, like my father's.
I pressed it against the mark.
The bond flared in immediate alarm. From miles away, I felt Kade's sudden terror.
Don't! Luna screamed. Please don't! It will kill us both!
"Then we both die," I said. "Better that than this."
The knife bit into my skin.
Pain exploded—not just from the cut, but through the bond. I felt Kade's agony as clearly as my own. Felt him collapse in his office, feeling every slice like I was cutting into his flesh instead of mine.
Blood ran down my arm. The mating mark's glow flickered.
STOP! Kade's voice—his actual voice—echoed through the bond. Aria, please STOP! You're killing us both!
But I didn't stop.
Couldn't stop.
Because if I stopped, I'd have to accept this bond. Accept him. Accept that fate had bound me to my father's killer forever.
I pressed the knife deeper—
And through the bond, Kade screamed.
The sound hit me like a physical blow. Not through my ears—through my soul. Through the connection I was trying to sever.
His pain crashed over me in waves. His terror. His desperate, primal need for me to stop hurting myself because I was hurting him.
My hand froze.
Because I suddenly felt it—truly felt it—through the bond:
Kade's pain wasn't just physical. It was emotional. He felt every cut like I was carving into his soul, not just his skin.
Because we were one now. One life. One fate.
Bound together until death.
The knife slipped from my trembling fingers and clattered on stone.
I stared at my blood-soaked shoulder, at the mating mark still glowing beneath the cuts, and the horrible truth crashed over me:
I couldn't remove it. Couldn't escape it. Couldn't fight it without killing us both.
The Moon Goddess had made sure of that.
"Why?" I whispered to the sky. "Why would you do this to me? Why would you bind me to the man who destroyed my life?"
The moon offered no answer.
Just cold, silver light—the same light that had sealed my fate.
Exhaustion pulled at me. Blood loss. Separation pain. Emotional devastation.
It was too much.
My vision blurred. The world tilted sideways.
The last thing I felt before darkness claimed me was Kade's panic through the bond—raw and desperate and terrified.
I'm coming, his voice echoed in my fading consciousness. Hold on, Aria. I'm coming. Just please hold on.
I wanted to tell him not to bother.
Wanted to tell him I'd rather die alone than let him save me.
But the darkness swallowed the words before I could form them.
And in that darkness, one final thought whispered through my dying consciousness:
What if the Moon Goddess didn't bind us to punish us?
What if she bound us because we're the only ones who can save each other?
Then even that thought faded.
And I fell into nothing.