Page 115 of Fated
Worry lines appeared around his mouth. “What is it?”
“I can’t be Luna of Bloodstone.” Her words faltered despite her best efforts to remain composed. A tremor coursed through her body as she spoke the truth aloud, her wolf whimpering in response. “I won’t be coming back after the ceremony.”
The silence that followed was thick, weighted with the implication of her words. The steady tick of a distant clock punctuated the stillness.
Darius stared at her, expression unreadable, but the scent of his distress hit her, sharp and acrid. “What are you saying?”
She forced herself to meet his gaze, hands trembling so badly she had to set the cup down before she spilled its contents. Hermouth had gone dry, tongue sticking to the roof as if her body was physically rejecting the words she needed to say. “I’ve done what I can here, but I can’t… I’m not coming back.”
Darius’s jaw ticked. “Lena, I know things haven’t been easy between you and Kai, but—” He stopped himself, hands clenching into fists on the table. His voice softened, almost pleading. “Kai is worth it, Lena. The bond is worth it.”
She felt the truth of his words resonate through her entire being, the mate bond humming in agreement and sending a wave of longing so strong it made her dizzy. Kai was worth it. The bond, worth everything. Buttheirbond was broken, jagged at its edges, and every moment she held on while he was so torn only cut deeper into her soul. Love wasn’t supposed to feel like this. She couldn’t let it consume them both.
She blinked rapidly, fighting back tears, fingernails leaving crescent marks in her palms. A shudder ran through her as she fought Elara’s urge to flee, to find Kai, to beg him to choose her.
“He is worth it,” she agreed, voice barely above a whisper. “But the male I fell in love with in Moonshadow isn’t the one I’ve seen here. Kai needs healing, Darius. He needs space to find himself, to figure out what he needs—what he wants. I can’t be part of that right now. The bond is only making his pain worse. It’s makingmypain worse.”
Darius’s shoulders sagged as if her words had hollowed him out from the inside. The wooden chair creaked under his shifting weight. For a long moment, he said nothing, gaze fixed on the table where a patch of sunlight illuminated every grain and knot in the wood. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost broken.
“I wanted so badly for him to have everything he deserves, to know what I know—how the love and bond with his fated would complete him, make him the best alpha he could be. I didn’t realize I was taking away his chance to find it on his own.”
His admission was raw, laden with years of regret, striking something deep inside Lena. Maybe, just maybe, this moment would be a turning point for Kai—a chance to find himself without the pressure of the bond or his father’s expectations clouding his path.
“It’s not forever,”Elara insisted. Her presence surged with the fierce certainty that only a wolf could possess.“He will choose us freely. When he’s ready. When his heart is whole again.”
The thought brought a flicker of solace, but it wasn’t enough to fill the vacuum that had formed inside her. Lena couldn’t share her wolf’s certainty, couldn’t risk her heart on maybes. She needed to leave. She couldn’t come back—for both their sakes.
Lena reached across the table, grasping Darius’s hands. “Take care of him. Not as his alpha, but as his father. Let him figure Ava out on his own. Don’t push him, Darius,” she pleaded. “If you force him the way you did at the summit, you’ll only break him further.”
Darius nodded, regret and resolve warring in his expression. “I will. You have my word.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. She hesitated, thumb brushing against the back of his hand. “Be happy, Darius. For your pack. For Kai. For yourself.”
A ghost of a smile, tinged with sadness, crossed the alpha’s features. “You’re remarkable, Lena. Perhaps more than Kai deserves right now, but I’ll hold out hope that Selene will guide you both back to each other, will guide you back here.”
Lena didn’t respond, couldn’t bring herself to. She couldn’t let that hope root inside her because there was no guarantee that Kai would make it through, that he would truly choose her. Instead, she nodded. Her quiet acceptance the only answer she could give.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
KAI
Kai’s night had been restless, his dreams haunted by fractured images of Ava’s accusatory stare and Lena’s distant gaze. Each fragment clawed at his mind and heart, leaving him raw and unsteady. The ache beneath his ribs had become a constant companion, a dull throb that tightened with every breath. When he finally dragged himself out of bed, the sunlight streaming through the cracked window seemed almost cruel, mocking the turmoil that churned inside him.
Kai ran a hand through his hair, the strands falling messily into his eyes. Ava’s voice echoed relentlessly in his mind:“She’s leaving tomorrow. Do you really think she gives a damn about you?”
He wondered if Ava was right. Lena had every reason not to care. He’d resisted her from the start. Pushed her away even after she offered him patience, kindness, and understanding.
Why wouldn’t she leave?Move on with someone who’d give her everything I’d refused?
The bitter fear that she would—and should—move on ripped at his insides, threatening to take root. He paced the room as his mind conjured images that contradicted Ava’s poison.
Lena’s gentleness when she asked about Ava. How she’d been curious without judgment, wanting to understand rather than accuse…
She had every right to hate him for what happened the last night of the summit, yet she hadn’t. She’d given him space to figure it out, even though it hurt her.
The images in his mind shifted to Moonshadow.
The way Lena stood up to her father, defending him when he hadn’t deserved it. As if she’d known instinctively that he needed someone to fight for him in that moment…
