POV: Damon
The mate bond feels like a knife twisting in my chest.
I stand there, watching Aria run into the trees, and my wolf is tearing me apart from the inside. Every cell in my body screams at me to chase her. To bring her back. To fall on my knees and beg her to accept me.
But I don't move.
"Damon?" Vivian's hand touches my arm, and I flinch. Her touch burns wrong now, like my skin knows she doesn't belong there.
Around us, the pack stares. Two hundred wolves, all watching their future Alpha fall apart. I can't let them see weakness. Father taught me better than that.
"Everyone dismissed," Alpha Rowan's voice booms across the clearing. "This spectacle is over. Damon's engagement to Vivian remains unchanged."
The pack members shift back to human form, grabbing clothes and whispering. I hear every word even though they think they're being quiet.
"Did you see her wolf? That wasn't normal."
"The future Alpha rejected his true mate. The Moon Goddess won't be happy."
"Poor Vivian. This must be humiliating."
My father grabs my shoulder hard enough to bruise. "My office. Now."
I follow him to the pack house, Vivian trailing behind us. Each step away from Aria makes the bond pull tighter. My wolf claws at my insides, howling that we're going the wrong direction. That our mate needs us.
She's not my mate, I tell my wolf firmly. She's nobody.
But even I don't believe that anymore.
Father's office smells like leather and old wood. He slams the door and rounds on me. "What was that?"
"A mistake," I say, keeping my voice flat. "The bond is wrong."
"Obviously it's wrong!" Father's face turns red. "That girl is weak. Late bloomer. Probably defective. You cannot possibly be fated to her."
Vivian sits in the chair by Father's desk, crying quietly. She looks beautiful even when she cries—perfect tears sliding down perfect cheeks. I've known her my whole life. We've been engaged for four years. This should be easy.
So why does my wolf want to rip out of my skin and run back to Aria?
"The mating ceremony with Vivian happens in three months as planned," Father says. "We'll tell the pack this was a false bond. Some kind of magical interference."
"People felt it," I say quietly. "Everyone there felt the bond snap into place. You can't lie about that."
"Watch me." Father leans against his desk. "Your mother was weak too. Soft. Look where that got her—killed by rogues because she couldn't defend herself properly."
The mention of Mom makes my chest tight. I was twelve when she died. Twelve when Father sat me down and explained that weakness gets you killed. That sentiment is dangerous. That I needed to be hard as stone if I wanted to survive as Alpha.
I learned that lesson well. Maybe too well.
"Aria rejected the bond first," Vivian says suddenly. Her voice sounds strange—almost eager. "Everyone heard her. She doesn't want Damon either."
"Exactly," Father says. "So there's no problem. The bond will fade. Damon continues with his engagement. Life goes on."
But I can still feel Aria through the bond. Her emotions hit me in waves—sadness, anger, and something else. Something that feels like relief mixed with grief.
She really doesn't want me.
The thought should make this easier. Instead, it makes everything worse.
"What if the bond doesn't fade?" I ask.
Father's eyes go cold. "Then you learn to ignore it. You're going to be Alpha, Damon. That means putting the pack first. Always. Your personal feelings don't matter."
My personal feelings. Like the mate bond is just some small inconvenience instead of a force of nature trying to tear me in two.
"Go home," Father says. "Get some rest. Tomorrow we announce that the bond was a mistake and everything continues as normal."
Vivian stands up and takes my hand. Her fingers feel wrong laced through mine. "We'll get through this together," she whispers.
I let her lead me out of the office, but my mind is still in the clearing. Still watching Aria run away. Still feeling the exact moment her heart broke when I called her worthless.
I've called her worse things over the years. So why does this time feel different?
Because you're her mate, my wolf snarls. And you just rejected her in front of everyone. You broke her.
Good, I think back viciously. She needs to be broken. She needs to understand her place.
But the words feel hollow now.
Vivian and I walk to my house at the edge of pack territory. It's huge—five bedrooms for just me because I'm the Alpha's son. Aria lives in a storage room. I know because I've heard her sister mock her about it.
"Stay with me tonight?" Vivian asks at my door. Her eyes are still wet with tears. "I don't want to be alone."
I should say yes. Should prove to everyone—to myself—that nothing has changed.
"I need space," I say instead.
Hurt flashes across Vivian's face. "Because of her? Damon, you don't actually feel anything for that girl, do you?"
"No," I lie. "I just need time to think."
Vivian leaves, and I'm finally alone.
The house feels too big. Too quiet. I can still feel Aria through the bond—she's somewhere on pack lands, probably hiding. Her emotions are chaos.
I pour myself a drink and sit on the couch. My hands shake. Since when do my hands shake?
The bond pulls at me. Whispers that I should go to her. That I should apologize. That I should—
My phone rings. Father's name flashes on the screen.
"The Winters family just contacted me," he says without greeting. "They want Aria removed from their home immediately. Apparently she came back, packed her things, and her mother started screaming at her. Marcus says she's too much of an embarrassment to keep around after today's scene."
Something dark and furious rises in my chest. "Where will she go?"
"Who cares? She's not pack's problem anymore." Father sounds almost happy. "Without a mate and with her family disowning her, she has no reason to stay. She'll probably leave Crimson Ridge tonight. Problem solved."
He hangs up.
I stare at my phone, Father's words echoing in my head.
She's leaving.
My mate is leaving.
And I should be relieved. This is what I wanted—her gone, the bond broken, my life back to normal.
So why do I feel like I'm dying?
My wolf goes absolutely feral. Images flash through my mind—Aria alone in rogue territory. Aria hurt. Aria captured by enemies who would love to torture an Alpha's rejected mate for information.
Before I can think it through, I'm out the door and running.
I shift mid-stride, my wolf taking over. We race through pack lands, following Aria's scent. It leads to the border, to the fence that marks where pack territory ends and the dangerous outside world begins.
And there she is.
Aria stands at the fence with a backpack, her hand on the latch. She's really doing it. Really leaving.
I shift back to human form. "Aria, wait."
She spins around, and her eyes are red from crying. When she sees me, her face goes hard.
"What do you want, Damon? Haven't you hurt me enough for one day?"
"You can't leave," I say. The words come out desperate, and I hate how weak I sound.
"Watch me." She turns back to the fence.
"It's not safe out there. Rogues will—"
"I'll take my chances with rogues over staying here." She looks at me over her shoulder. "At least they'll kill me quick. You've been killing me slowly for years."
Her words hit like bullets. Because she's right.
Every cruel comment. Every public humiliation. Every time I made her feel small and worthless. I did that. I broke her piece by piece.
"Aria, I—" I don't know what to say. Sorry feels too small.
"Save it." She opens the gate. "You rejected me. I rejected you. We're done."
She steps through the fence, and the mate bond screams in protest. Pain explodes through my chest so intense I actually stumble.
Aria gasps too, grabbing the fence post. She feels it. The bond fighting our rejection.
"This is what you wanted," she says, but her voice shakes. "So let me go."
I should. I should let her walk away and never look back.
But then I smell it—blood. Fresh blood. And it's coming from beyond the fence.
Three massive wolves step out of the shadows. Rogues. Their eyes glow red in the darkness, and they're staring right at Aria.
"Well, well," one of them says, shifting to human form. He's huge and scarred and grinning like a predator. "An unmated she-wolf crossing into our territory. And she smells like Alpha blood too. Today's our lucky day, boys."
Aria backs up against the fence, and I see real fear on her face for the first time.
The rogue Alpha looks at me through the fence and laughs. "Don't worry, Crimson Ridge trash. We'll take real good care of your little friend. She'll make a nice prize."
He lunges for Aria.
And every rational thought in my head disappears.
I shift and hit the fence at full speed. The metal tears under my weight. My wolf doesn't care that we're outnumbered. Doesn't care that attacking rogues could start a war.
All that matters is protecting our mate.
The rogue Alpha's claws are inches from Aria when I slam into him. We hit the ground in a tangle of teeth and fur.
But there are three of them and only one of me.
And Aria, who just got her wolf yesterday, is standing frozen in shock as two more rogues circle her.
This is about to get very bad.