Sera's POV
I threw my phone across the room and watched it shatter against the wall.
"No!" The word ripped from my throat. "I won't do it! I won't reject the mate bond!"
"Sera, wait—" Darius reached for me, but I jerked away.
"Don't touch me!" My whole body shook with rage and terror. "This is your fault! All of it! If you hadn't been such a coward three years ago, none of this would be happening!"
He flinched like I'd slapped him. "You're right. But please, let me help—"
"Help?" I laughed bitterly. "You want to help? Then tell me why Vivian thinks killing our mate bond will give her power!"
Luna Margaret stepped between us, her face grave. "Because it will. The prophecy says a child born of a broken bond will have special abilities. But if the bond is rejected—truly severed—while the child is still young, those powers transfer to whoever breaks the bond."
My knees went weak. "So if I reject Darius..."
"Vivian gets Kai's powers," Margaret finished quietly. "And with that kind of magic, she could destroy every pack in the region."
"Then I'll find another way." I started pacing, my mind racing. "I'll track them down. I'll fight them. I'll—"
"You'll die," Darius said flatly. "Sera, Vivian has an army of rogues working for her. Even if you're stronger now, you can't fight them all alone."
"Then what do you suggest?" I spun to face him. "Let her kill you? Because that's what will happen if I reject the bond. You're already dying!"
Darius met my eyes, and something in his expression made my heart stop. "Then that's the price I'll pay. For my son. For you."
"No." The word came out as a whisper. "No, you don't get to play hero now. You don't get to sacrifice yourself after everything you did!"
"I'm not trying to be a hero." He moved closer, and this time I didn't pull away. "I'm trying to fix my biggest mistake. Three years ago, I chose pride over love. I chose the pack over you. I let Vivian manipulate me into thinking we were mates when my wolf was screaming that you were the one." His voice cracked. "I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me. So if dying means Kai lives, then I die. Simple as that."
Tears burned my eyes. I hated that I still cared. Hated that part of me wanted to forgive him.
"There has to be another way," I said desperately.
Beta Thomas cleared his throat. "Actually... there might be."
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"What do you mean?" Darius demanded.
"The prophecy says the bond must be 'broken,' right?" Thomas pulled out his phone and started scrolling. "But it doesn't specify how. What if... what if we fake the rejection?"
"That's impossible," Margaret said. "The mate bond is sacred. You can't fake that kind of magic."
"But we could try to make Vivian think we did." Thomas's eyes lit up. "We perform a fake rejection ceremony in front of witnesses she trusts. Make it look real. Then when she brings Kai to claim his powers—"
"We attack," I finished, hope flaring in my chest. "We get Kai back before she realizes it was a trick."
Darius shook his head. "It won't work. Vivian's too smart. She'll test the bond somehow. She'll know if it's still intact."
"Not if we're far apart," Margaret said slowly, her mind clearly working. "The mate bond grows weaker with distance. If Sera performs the rejection and then immediately leaves the territory, Vivian won't be able to sense the bond from outside pack lands."
I grabbed her arm. "Would that actually work?"
"Maybe. It's risky, but—"
The door burst open again. A young wolf stumbled in, bleeding from a cut on his forehead.
"Alpha!" he gasped. "We have a problem! There's—there's something at the border!"
We all ran outside. What I saw made my blood freeze.
At the edge of pack territory, a massive screen had been set up. And on it, playing on loop, was a video.
Of Kai.
My baby sat in a dark room, crying for me. "Mama! Want Mama!"
I screamed and tried to run toward it, but Darius caught me. "It's not real! He's not there—it's just a recording!"
"Let me go!" I fought against his grip. "That's my son! That's my baby!"
"Look!" Thomas pointed at the screen.
The video changed. Now it showed Vivian holding Kai on her lap. He was still crying, reaching for the camera. For me.
"Hello again, Sera," Vivian's voice boomed from speakers. "In case you're thinking of playing games, here's some motivation. You have twenty-four hours to reject your mate bond in front of the entire pack, or I start hurting your son." She smiled sweetly at the camera. "I won't kill him—he's too valuable. But I can make him hurt. I can make him scream. And it will be your fault for not doing what I asked."
She held up her hand, and claws extended from her fingertips. She brought them close to Kai's face.
"Tick tock, Sera. Twenty-four hours."
The screen went black.
I collapsed in Darius's arms, sobbing. Around us, the entire pack had gathered to watch. They'd all seen the video. They all knew what was at stake.
"We'll get him back," Darius promised, holding me tight. "I swear on my life, we'll get him back."
"Alpha Darius!" Another warrior ran up to us. "We just received a package at the gate!"
"What kind of package?"
The warrior's face was white with horror. "A box. With... with a child's toy inside. And a note."
He handed Darius a crumpled piece of paper. Darius read it, and I watched all color drain from his face.
"What?" I grabbed the note from him. "What does it say?"
Three words, written in blood:
"I'M WATCHING EVERYTHING"
I looked around at the gathered pack members. At their shocked faces. Their worried expressions.
One of them was a traitor.
One of them was working for Vivian.
And we had no idea who.