Callister's POV
My wolf is screaming inside me, clawing at my chest, begging me to take back the rejection.
MATE! he howls. Our mate! Why did you hurt her? Go to her! Fix this!
But I can't move. Can't breathe. Can't do anything except watch Rowena's small silver-white wolf stumble away from the ceremony grounds, broken and dying.
The golden mate bond between us is shredded now—just torn pieces floating in my chest like glass shards. Each piece cuts deeper than the last.
"Callister?" Seraphine's voice pulls me back. Her hand slides into mine, warm and possessive. "Are you okay?"
No. I'm not okay. I just rejected my fated mate in front of three hundred wolves.
But I nod anyway. "I'm fine."
Seraphine smiles and presses closer. The pack is watching us, waiting to see what I'll do next. I'm supposed to be strong. Supposed to show them I made the right choice.
So I pull Seraphine against my side and raise my voice. "Tomorrow, I'll announce my engagement to Seraphine Cortez. She's the mate I choose—powerful, worthy, everything a Luna should be."
The pack erupts in cheers. Some wolves howl their approval. Others clap. My father—Dashiell—nods at me from across the ceremony grounds, his expression satisfied.
I did it. I chose power over the mate bond.
So why does it feel like I'm dying inside?
Because we ARE dying! my wolf snarls. You killed our mate! You broke the most sacred bond!
I shove him down deep, refusing to listen. This isn't about what I want. It's about what's best for the pack. For my future.
That's what Father explained last night when he pulled me aside before the ceremony.
Twenty-four hours earlier...
"Callister, we need to talk." Father's voice was serious as he led me into his private study. "Sit down."
I sat, confused. "What's wrong?"
"It's about Rowena." He poured himself a drink, his movements careful. "I've discovered something... troubling about her bloodline."
My heart jumped. "What do you mean?"
"She's not just any wolf, son. She carries Hartwell blood. Do you know what that means?"
I shook my head.
"The Hartwells were Lycan-blooded. Ancient bloodline. Powerful." Father's eyes met mine. "If Rowena ever shifts, she won't be a regular wolf. She'll have Lycan potential."
"But Lycans killed her parents—"
"Exactly." Father leaned forward. "The Alpha Council fears Lycan blood. They see it as a threat to werewolf purity. If you mate with Rowena—if she's your chosen mate—the Council will destroy us both. They'll strip you of your Alpha heir status. They'll exile our entire family."
Fear shot through me. "But I promised her. When we were kids, I said—"
"You were children playing pretend!" Father's voice hardened. "You're twenty-one now, about to take over as Alpha. You need to think about the pack's future, not childhood promises to a girl who couldn't even shift."
"She might shift tonight—"
"And if she does, you'll reject her." It wasn't a suggestion. It was an order. "The mate bond might snap into place during the ceremony. If it does, you reject her immediately. Publicly. Make it clear you don't want her."
My wolf growled inside me. Never. We'd never reject our mate.
But Father wasn't finished. "I've already arranged your engagement to Seraphine Cortez. Her father sits on the Alpha Council. That alliance will secure your position as Alpha and give our pack protection."
"This isn't right—"
"This is survival." Father's hand gripped my shoulder hard. "Choose, Callister. Your childhood friend, or your pack. Love, or power. You can't have both."
I didn't sleep that night. I paced my room, my wolf raging inside me, torn between the promise I made to Rowena and my duty as future Alpha.
By morning, I'd made my choice.
Power. I chose power.
Now, standing at the ceremony with Seraphine at my side and Rowena's broken form disappearing into the darkness, I wonder if I chose wrong.
My wolf thinks I did. He's gone silent inside me—not fighting anymore, just... empty. Like I killed part of him when I rejected our mate.
"She's running toward the Forbidden Woods!" someone shouts.
My head snaps up. Through the crowd, I see Rowena's silver-white wolf racing toward the dark tree line that marks the border between our territory and Lycan land.
Fear spikes through me. "Someone stop her!"
But no one moves. The pack wolves just watch her go, some laughing, some shaking their heads.
"Let her go," Father says quietly beside me. "It's better this way. The rejection poison will kill her within days anyway. If she wants to die in the Forbidden Woods instead, that's her choice."
"You can't be serious—" I start to pull away from Seraphine, my wolf suddenly screaming at me to chase Rowena, to bring her back, to fix this.
Father's grip on my arm stops me. "You made your choice, Callister. Don't waste it on regret. Rowena is no longer your concern."
I watch helplessly as Rowena's silver form disappears into the dark woods. The mate bond—what's left of it—stretches thin and finally snaps completely.
The pain drops me to my knees.
Seraphine gasps. "Callister!"
"I'm fine," I lie, even though my chest feels like it's caving in. The bond breaking completely is worse than the rejection. It's final. Permanent.
My wolf whimpers. What have we done?
Father helps me stand, his expression unreadable. "The pain will fade. You did what you had to do."
But three hours later, I'm in my room, and the pain hasn't faded. It's gotten worse.
I can feel something wrong through the destroyed bond—like Rowena's in danger. Like she's dying faster than she should be.
She's in the Forbidden Woods, my wolf reminds me miserably. With rogues. And Lycans. And she's weak from rejection poison.
I try to ignore it. Try to sleep. But every time I close my eyes, I see her face—the hope in her violet eyes when she realized I was her mate, and then the devastation when I rejected her.
Around midnight, I give up on sleep and pace my room.
That's when Father bursts through my door without knocking.
"We have a problem," he says, his face pale.
"What?"
"One of our scouts just reported back from the border." Father's hands clench into fists. "Rowena's scent was tracked deep into Lycan territory. She crossed into the King's personal hunting grounds."
Ice floods my veins. "Thorne Obsidian's territory?"
"Yes." Father runs a hand through his hair. "If the Lycan King finds her—if he realizes she carries Hartwell blood—"
"He'll kill her." My wolf surges forward in panic. "He killed her parents. He'll finish what he started."
"Most likely. Though there's something else." Father hesitates. "The scout said he caught another scent mixed with hers. A male scent. Lycan."
My blood runs cold. "Someone already found her?"
"It appears so."
I'm moving before I think, grabbing my jacket, heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Father demands.
"To find her. To bring her back—"
"Absolutely not!" Father blocks my path. "You rejected her, Callister. Publicly. If you go chasing after her now, you'll look weak. The pack will question your leadership."
"I don't care—"
"You should care!" Father's eyes flash amber. "Besides, it's too late. If she's already deep in Lycan territory, she's either dead or..." He trails off.
"Or what?"
Father's expression turns grim. "Or she's been claimed by someone much more dangerous than you."
Before I can ask what he means, a howl splits the night.
It's not a wolf howl. It's deeper, older, more powerful. A Lycan howl that makes every wolf in our territory freeze in instinctive fear.
And underneath that howl, I hear something that makes my heart stop.
A second howl—smaller, newer, but harmonizing perfectly with the first.
Rowena's wolf.
She's howling with a Lycan.
Father's face goes white. "No. That's impossible."
"What? What's impossible?"
"That howl pattern." Father grabs my shoulders, his eyes wide with something that looks like terror. "That's a mating howl, Callister. A Lycan just claimed Rowena as his mate."
The world tilts sideways.
"Who?" I demand. "Which Lycan?"
Father's voice shakes when he answers.
"Based on the power in that howl? Only one Lycan is that strong." He meets my eyes. "Thorne Obsidian. The Lycan King just claimed your rejected mate."