He said he wanted me, but He also wanted the throne. But I just wanted him.
Carl was the weakest Lycan in the North, a wolf with no howl and no hope. I loved him anyway. I was the high school teacher who held his hand in the dark, promising him that he was enough.
But for Carl, "enough" was a death sentence.
When the Silver Queen Selene, offered him an arranged marriage, a crown in exchange for his soul, he didn't hesitate. He told himself it was for us. He told himself that with her power, he could finally protect his true mate.
He wanted more. More strength, more status, more of everything I couldn't give him.
While he was busy playing King in a cold palace, I was left in the silence of an empty classroom, my feelings ignored, my bond shattering under the weight of his greed. He thought I'd wait forever in the shadows of his royal life. He thought he could have the Queen's power and the Teacher's heart.
He was wrong.
The image of our future didn't just break; it burned. And as the smoke clears, Caleb is about to learn the final lesson: You can have the world, but you can't have me
The scent of expensive cedar and predatory power hit the hallway before he did. It was a smell that didn't belong in a public high school, it belonged in the marble halls of the Lunar Court.
Jess didn't look up from her desk. She kept her red pen moving, marking a C+ on a senior essay. Her heart, once a wild thing that hammered for him, now felt like a stone in her chest. Cold. Heavy. Still
"Jess."
His voice had changed. It was deeper now, vibrating with the borrowed strength of the Queen's bloodline.
"The school is locked, Carl," she said, her voice terrifyingly calm. "And you have a coronation to prepare for."
Carl stepped into the fluorescent light of the classroom. He looked magnificent. His shoulders were broader, his eyes a piercing, unnatural gold. The weak, stuttering Lycan she had loved was gone, replaced by a king built on a foundation of broken promises.
"I came to tell you that the arrangements are finished," Carl said, stepping closer. "The Queen has granted me a private estate on the edge of the city. You won't have to work anymore. You'll have everything, Jess. More clothes, more security, more…. everything."
Jess finally looked up. The fluorescent lights flickered, casting a sickly pale glow over her tired face. "More of everything except a husband who can walk through the front door?"
Carl flinched. "It's an arranged marriage, Jess. A political necessity. The Queen wields the power I need to protect you. She gets my presence at court, but you… you have my heart."
"My feelings were ignored for months while you chased this, Carl," Jess whispered, her voice cracking as the image of their future burned in her mind. "I watched you walk down that aisle on the news. I watched you kiss her hand for the cameras. You wanted more power. You wanted more status. And you thought I'd be happy with the scraps left over?"
"I'm doing this for us!" Carl roared, his new power rattling the windows of the classroom.
"No," Jess stood up, leaning her hands on the desk. "You did it for you. Because being 'just Carl' wasn't enough for you. But being 'just Jess' is finally enough for me. I'm not your secret, Carl. And I'm certainly not your mate anymore."
Carl thought she was joking when she said she wasn't His Mate anymore, He was too concerned about proving His point rather than seeing Her pains. Carl left seeing how angry she was, promising Himself to come back later when she was much more approachable. But He never realized what His Weak wife was about to do. Seeing that Carl left without looking back, she came to the realization and conclusion about the decision that has been lingering in her heart since She saw the Announcement on the Television.
She reached up and did the unthinkable. She gripped the invisible, shimmering tether of the mate-bond, the one he had let fray and rot and severed it. She afterwards felt the surge of her own "more." More freedom. More passion for a life that didn't involve waiting in the dark.
"I'm out, Carl. Go back to your Queen. She bought you. You're hers now."