For one suspended second, the world is nothing but the sound of my wolf roaring through my blood.
Mate.
The word echoes violently, shattering every wall I've built inside myself for eighteen years. It pulses in my bones, hot and demanding, as if the bond has claws and it's trying to rip its way out of me.
"No," I rasp, dragging air into my lungs. "No, this isn't, this can't, "
Kade is already moving.
I see him shove past two elders, ignoring their startled protests. His eyes, those cold storm-grey eyes, lock onto me like I'm the only person left on the earth. Something hunger-like flickers in them, too fierce, too primal.
And too late.
My wolf thrums in my chest, pushing forward, stretching inside me as if wanting to run toward him.
I shove her back with everything I have.
"No. Stay. Down," I whisper through clenched teeth.
She snarls at me, indignant.
"He is our mate."
"He is your mistake," I snap.
Her answering growl vibrates through my ribs.
Below, Sera has turned, confusion rippling across her perfect face as she watches her fiancé storm through the crowd, toward the balcony. Toward me.
My heart slams into my throat.
Move. Move now.
I stagger to my feet, gripping the balcony railing for balance. My bones feel… unfinished. Like I'm half-shifted, half-human, held together by moonlight and panic.
Footsteps pound up the stairs.
"Aurora!"
Not Leah.
Not a servant.
Not even Sera.
Kade.
The sound of my name in his voice, low, rough, shaking, nearly brings me to my knees for a different reason.
The mate pull yanks at me, a physical force, a magnetic drag. I grit my teeth and force my legs to move.
Run.
I sprint down the hallway, my vision flickering at the edges as my wolf tries to take over. The world smells sharp and overwhelming, like pine, sweat, raw instinct, and moonlight. Every scent is sharper, every sound louder.
Behind me, Kade is fast. Too fast.
"Rory, stop!"
Rory.
He hasn't called me that since we were children, before everyone decided I wasn't worth a name with softness in it.
"No!" I shout over my shoulder. "Stay away from me!"
"You know I can't!"
His footsteps are almost on top of mine. My lungs burn. My legs feel wrong, too light, too heavy, too everything. My wolf is trying to shift and I'm fighting her tooth and nail.
At the end of the hall, I skid around the corner,
And slam into a wall of muscle.
I bounce back, stars exploding behind my eyelids.
"Aurora?"
My father's voice. Cold, clipped.
He grabs my arm too tightly, fingers digging into my skin. "What in the Goddess' name do you think you're doing? And why are you, "
He stops speaking.
Because Kade storms into view behind me, chest rising sharply, eyes locked onto me like a starving predator who's finally found prey.
And though my father has not yet put the pieces together… Kade already has.
"Alden." Kade's voice is strained. "Move."
My father straightens, confused. "Future Alpha, what's going, "
"I said move."
The power in his tone isn't loud, but it's undeniable. It's a command sharpened by instinct, dominance, and something feral boiling just beneath the surface.
My father's hand drops from my arm instantly.
His gaze darts between the two of us, my trembling body, Kade's darkened eyes, the electricity thick between us.
"No," Father whispers. "No. Absolutely not. This, this is not possible."
Sera's voice slices through the moment like a blade.
"Kade?" she calls sharply from behind him. "What's happening? Why did you run off, "
Her steps slow as she comes into view. Her eyes flick to me… then to Kade… then to the narrow space between us.
Her jaw tightens.
"Kade?" she says again, this time quieter. "Tell me it's not what it looks like."
Kade doesn't look away from me. "Aurora is, "
"Don't," I cut in, voice cracking. "Don't you dare say it."
Kade swallows hard. Pain flickers across his face, raw and real.
"She's my mate."
The hallway freezes.
Sera's face goes bloodless. My father recoils as if struck. Two passing omegas stop breathing entirely.
My stomach twists.
I truly, honestly didn't think this moment could get any worse.
My mother arrives then, her heels clicking sharply on the stone floor. "What is all this noise? Guests are, "
She stops when she sees the tableau: me trembling, Kade standing too close, Sera frozen, Father pale.
Her eyes sharpen.
"What is going on?"
No one answers.
So Kade does something I never expected, not in a thousand years.
He steps between me and everyone else. Protective. Instinctive.
Claiming.
Mother's lips part in shock. "Kade. Move away from her."
"I can't." His voice is hoarse, breaking at the edges. "She's my mate. The bond activated. I felt it."
Mother's eyes snap to me. Disgust flares in them like a flame.
"Aurora," she breathes, as if my name tastes sour. "What did you do?"
The old hurt slices through me. Sharp. Familiar.
"I didn't do anything," I whisper.
"You must have, "
"No." Kade's voice cracks like thunder. "This isn't something she forced."
"She is wolfless," Father argues. "This is impossible."
"I'm not wolfless," I say quietly.
All eyes swing to me.
"My wolf awakened tonight."
A ripple of shock flashes through the room.
Sera stares at me like she's seeing a ghost. Her perfect composure fractures, fear bleeding into her gaze.
"No," she whispers. "No, you can't be. You're lying. You're doing something to him, "
Kade snaps.
"Sera, stop."
She flinches. No one has ever used that tone with her before.
He turns to me again. "Aurora, Rory, are you hurt? Your shift, are you in pain? I should take you to, "
"Don't touch me."
He freezes mid-step.
The bond pulses painfully between us at my rejection. I feel it like a tear inside my chest, tearing something raw open.
His expression crumples for a heartbeat.
"Aurora," he says softly. "Please."
I swallow hard.
"You are engaged to my sister. You made my life miserable for years. And now, now fate wants to tie me to you?"
I shake my head, barely holding myself together.
"No. I won't accept this. I won't accept you."
Sera's expression slowly shifts into horrified triumph, hope that this nightmare will dissolve if I push hard enough.
But Kade…
Kade looks gutted.
And then furious.
"Aurora," he says slowly, voice low and shaking, "you don't get to reject me."
"Oh?" I whisper. "Watch me."
The bond lashes painfully between us. My wolf snarls inside, clawing at my insides, outraged, confused, hurting.
Kade's breath shudders.
"You don't know what you're doing," he says, voice cracking. "The bond will tear you apart. It will tear me apart."
"Good," I hiss.
Something breaks in his eyes.
He steps forward, and the power radiating off him hits like heat from a wildfire.
"Don't walk away from me."
The command in his voice tightens around my spine, a pull I am biologically wired to obey. My knees wobble.
My wolf whimpers.
But I grit my teeth and force the words out:
"You don't get to command me anymore."
He stares at me, stunned.
So I do the only thing I can.
I turn and run.
Behind me, Kade growls, an animal sound ripped from deep inside him. The sound echoes through the hallway, through the pack house, through my bones.
The chase has begun.