Kira's POV
Tell me everything. Right now.
Elena's voice cut through the silence like a blade. She stood between me and the door, arms crossed, blocking my escape.
Not that I had anywhere to run.
Elena, I need to
You need to sit down and explain. Her eyes flashed. Seven years we've been friends. Seven years you've worked yourself half to death at this sanctuary. And now I find out it's because you rejected your fated mate? She pointed at the letter on my desk. The mate who's now taking everything from you? No. You don't get to run. Talk.
My wolf whimpered inside me. She'd been weak ever since the rejection a constant reminder of what I'd done. What I'd broken.
It's complicated, I said.
Then uncomplicate it. Elena grabbed my arm and pulled me to the chair. Sit. Start from the beginning. And don't you dare lie to me.
I sat. The wolf pup slept peacefully in her blanket beside me, completely unaware that her world was ending too.
Lucky her.
His name is Rowan Blackwood, I started. My voice sounded strange saying his name out loud after seven years of silence. I met him at an interpack gathering when I was twenty-two.
The same year you went to university, Elena said.
Three weeks before I was supposed to leave. I closed my eyes, remembering. I didn't want to go to the gathering. I was busy packing, planning my new life. But my mother insisted. Said it was important to maintain pack connections.
And?
And the moment I walked into that gathering, I felt him. My chest ached with the memory. The mate bond isn't like they describe in stories, Elena. It's not gentle or sweet. It's like lightning striking your soul. Painful and perfect and terrifying all at once.
I opened my eyes. Elena had sat down across from me, listening intently.
I looked across the room, and there he was. Tall. Dark hair. Green eyes that saw right through me. I swallowed hard. He felt it too. I could tell. He started walking toward me, and I panicked.
Why?
Because I knew. The words came faster now, seven years of guilt pouring out. I knew if he reached me, if he touched me, if he said the words... everything would change. My scholarship. My dreams. My plan to save wolves and make a difference. All of it would disappear.
So you ran, Elena guessed.
So I ran. Shame burned through me. I ran out of that gathering like a coward. Hid in my car. Drove home. Locked myself in my room.
But he found you.
I nodded. The next day. He showed up at my house with flowers. Roses, because somehow he knew they were my favorite. He was so nervous. So sweet. Tears blurred my vision. He said, 'I'm Rowan. I think you're my mate. And I'd really like to get to know you.'
Elena's expression softened. What did you do?
I invited him in. I laughed bitterly. For six days, we were inseparable. He'd pick me up every morning. We'd walk in the forest. Talk for hours. He told me about his pack, his family. He was the third son not important, not destined for power. Just a wolf who loved the wilderness and wanted to make his pack better.
You fell in love with him, Elena said quietly.
Completely. The admission hurt. He was everything I didn't know I wanted. Kind. Funny. Strong but gentle. He supported my dreams. When I told him about the scholarship, about wanting to study wolves and build a sanctuary, he said he'd wait. Said we could make it work.
Then why
Because I was scared! The words burst out of me. The bond was too strong, Elena. Too intense. Every time he touched me, every time he looked at me, I felt myself disappearing into it. Into him. And I thought I stopped, choking on the truth. I thought if I accepted the bond, I'd lose myself. Become just someone's mate instead of Kira. The girl who saves wolves. The girl with dreams.
Elena reached across and gripped my hand. Oh, honey.
On the sixth day, my scholarship acceptance letter arrived. Final confirmation. I had to leave in a week. I could barely speak through the tightness in my throat. Rowan was so happy for me. He said we'd figure it out. Long distance at first, then maybe he could move closer to the university. He had it all planned out.
But you didn't believe him.
I didn't believe me. I wiped my eyes angrily. I thought I'd get weak. Homesick. That I'd give up my dream to come back to him. So I decided to end it before it began.
The rejection ritual, Elena whispered.
I nodded. I asked him to meet me in the forest where we first walked together. He thought My voice broke. He thought I was going to accept the bond officially. He brought me a necklace. A silver wolf. Said it belonged to his mother.
Kira
I still have it. The confession felt like ripping open a wound. In my desk drawer. I've never been able to throw it away.
Elena's eyes widened. You kept it? After rejecting him?
I know it's sick. But I I couldn't explain. He gave it to me, and his hands were shaking. He was so nervous. So hopeful. And I just... I took it and said the words.
What words?
The rejection ritual flashed through my memory like a nightmare I couldn't escape.
I, Kira Thorne, reject you, Rowan Blackwood, as my fated mate. I sever our bond. I release you from any claim on me. I choose to walk my path alone.
The office felt cold suddenly.
What did he do? Elena asked.
He fell. The image haunted me. Just dropped to his knees like I'd stabbed him. Because I had. Rejection isn't just emotional for wolves it's physical. It tears the bond apart. Hurts both people.
But you more?
No. I shook my head. Him more. Always him more. Because I knew it was coming. I prepared. But he Tears spilled down my cheeks. He looked at me with these broken eyes and asked why. Just one word. Why.
What did you tell him?
That I had dreams bigger than being someone's mate. That I needed to save wolves, not play house with one. I hated myself for those words. Had hated myself every day since. He just stared at me. Then he put the necklace in my hand, closed my fingers around it, and walked away.
And you left for university.
The next morning. I looked at Elena. I thought I'd made the right choice. I told myself that over and over. Got my doctorate. Built this sanctuary. Saved hundreds of wolves. Proved I could make a difference.
But?
But none of it filled the hole. I pressed my hand to my chest where the bond used to be. There's this emptiness inside me that never went away. Like something vital is missing. And it is. I rejected my other half.
Did you ever try to contact him?
How could I? I gestured helplessly. I destroyed him. Then I heard the news three years later. His father, the old Alpha, and both his older brothers were killed in a coordinated attack. Rowan the third son nobody expected to matter became Alpha King overnight.
And he changed, Elena said, understanding dawning.
Everyone says so. The kind, gentle wolf became hard. Cold. Ruthless. He crushed the packs responsible for his family's death without mercy. Then he started consolidating power. Making enemies submit or destroying them. Now he's the most powerful alpha in the Northern Territories.
I picked up the letter again.
And he owns my land.
You think this is revenge, Elena said. You think he orchestrated this to hurt you.
What else could it be? I laughed bitterly. The deed to this land was 'mysteriously' illegal? After seven years? Right when I've finally built something worth taking? He set this up, Elena. He waited until I had something to lose. Then he took it.
Or maybe it's a coincidence
There are no coincidences with mate bonds. I stood up, pacing. Even rejected bonds leave traces. He's known where I am this whole time. What I'm doing. And now
Now he's using it against you.
Now he's destroying me the way I destroyed him. I stopped pacing. Fair is fair.
Elena stood too. So what are you going to do? Just let him take everything?
What choice do I have?
Fight! Elena's eyes blazed. Get lawyers. Contact the human authorities. Go to the media
Pack law beats human law. I cut her off. Always. If I try to fight him legally, he'll crush me. If I go public, I'll expose the entire shifter community. That's a death sentence.
Then what? Elena grabbed my shoulders. You're just giving up?
No. The word came out stronger than I felt. I'm going to do the one thing I swore I'd never do.
What's that?
I looked out the window at the sunrise painting the sky gold and pink. At the sanctuary I built from nothing. At the wolves who depended on me.
Then I looked at my best friend and said the words that terrified me most.
I'm going to Silverpeak. To the Royal Pack territory. I took a shaky breath. I'm going to face Rowan Blackwood and beg him for mercy.
Elena's face went pale. Kira, you can't. If he hates you if he wants revenge walking into his territory is suicide.
I know.
He's the Alpha King. He could kill you just for showing up.
I know.
Then why
Because I have to try! The desperation finally broke through. For the wolves. For this sanctuary. For everything I sacrificed him for. I have to at least try to save it.
And if he says no? Elena asked quietly. If he takes everything anyway?
I thought about that. About losing the sanctuary. About facing the mate I rejected and seeing hatred in eyes that once looked at me with love.
About the possibility that some wounds cut too deep to ever heal.
Then at least I'll know I fought for what matters. I picked up my phone. I'll leave tomorrow morning. It's a six hour drive to Silverpeak.
I'm coming with you.
No. I shook my head. If this goes wrong if he decides to punish me I won't let you get caught in it.
Kira
Please. I grabbed her hand. Stay here. Take care of the pup. Take care of all of them. If I don't come back
Don't. Elena's voice cracked. Don't say that.
If I don't come back, you'll take over the sanctuary. Keep fighting for them. Promise me.
She pulled me into a tight hug. You'll come back. You have to.
But we both knew she was lying.
I pulled away and started toward the door. I had twenty-four hours to prepare myself for the hardest thing I'd ever done.
Harder than the rejection.
Harder than seven years of regret.
I had to face the wolf I destroyed and beg him not to destroy me in return.
Kira? Elena's voice stopped me at the door.
I turned.
Her eyes were wet with tears. What if he still loves you? What if that's why he's doing this? To force you to come to him?
The question hit me like a physical blow.
I thought about it. About the possibility that somewhere under the cold Alpha King was the gentle wolf who gave me roses. Who offered to wait. Who looked at me like I was his whole world.
Then I thought about the formal, cruel letter on my desk. The sixty-day eviction. The calculated way he was taking everything I built.
If he still loved me, I said quietly, this would hurt less.
I walked out before Elena could see me break completely.
Tomorrow, I'd drive to Silverpeak.
Tomorrow, I'd enter the wolf's den.
Tomorrow, I'd face the mate bond I shattered and pray there was still mercy left in the heart I broke.
But tonight, I had to figure out how to survive seeing Rowan Blackwood's face again without falling apart.
Because the truth I hadn't told Elena the secret I barely admitted to myself was simple and terrifying:
I never stopped loving him.
And that was going to make begging for his mercy the cruellest torture of all.