Page 119 of Fated
His hands shook as he reached for her, wrapping his pinky around hers. A gesture they’d used so many times to stay connected. One that now felt like his only lifeline. He needed herto feel it. To feel the connection, therightness, between them. He needed her to hold on.
“You can’t give up,”Orion urged.“Prove it to her.”
“Let me come with you.” He scrambled, grip on her pinky tightening. “I don’t even need to pack. We can go right now.” He pulled their hands up and pressed them against his heart, eyes never leaving hers. “We can talk on the way. Or Ryker and Jace can ride with us. It will be so good to be back home with you. I’ll help with Cian’s alpha ceremony, and then we can help Cian and Lyric plan their mating ceremony.”
He leaned forward, forehead touching hers. “We’ll keep working on us. And when you’re ready, we’ll come back here. Mated and marked. We’ll take our place as the next Alpha and Luna of Bloodstone.”
Lena’s silence crushed him. He could barely hear her breathing. He lifted his head to meet her eyes. Her steady gaze driving home the truth he didn’t want to face.
This can’t be happening.
His legs gave out, the bond flaring painfully in his chest. “I love you. Not because of the bond. Because of you.” His voice dissolved into raw pleading. “Pleasedon’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.”
LENA
A crack split through Lena’s chest as she gazed into Kai’s face, heartbeat faltering before resuming with agonizing intensity. She kneeled in front of him, wrapping a trembling hand around his. The rough texture of the stone patio beneath her knees ground into her skin. A physical manifestation of the pain reverberating between them.
Her voice broke as she whispered, “I’m sorry. I love you, too… I’m so sorry.”
The words felt like a betrayal, a cruel twist of the knife she’d already plunged into his heart. As she looked into his eyes, she saw the desperation, the fear, thelove.
It was the love that nearly undid her, that made her want to retract her words and flee, but she knew she couldn’t. In that moment, Lena realized that leaving Bloodstone wasn’t enough.
Because Kai would never lethergo.
Ava would never lethimgo.
And the more they all held on, the more heartbreak it would bring.
Lena recalled the promise she made to herself the night they’d returned to Moonshadow:I won’t sacrifice myself to save him.
I have to sever the bond.The thought echoed in her mind like a death knell.
Elara erupted into a cacophony of panic and despair.“No, no, no, Lena! Please, don’t do this!” Then she called to Kai’s wolf: “Orion! Orion, help me!”
Lena felt her wolf’s terror and desperation, a panicked spiral threatening to consume them both. The sound of Kai’s laboredbreathing was a brutal reminder of the pain she was causing him. She tried to block out Elara’s cries, but they pierced her mind like a thousand needles.
“My mate!Don’t take my mate away,please!”
Steeling herself, Lena spoke the words she knew would change everything. “I, Lena, daughter of Alpha Raelen of the Moonshadow pack, reject you, Kai, Alpha-heir of the Bloodstone pack, as my mate.” The rejection words tasted like ash, bitter on her tongue.
As she spoke, Lena felt the bond between them begin to fray, like the threads of a rope unraveling. Each strand that snapped sent a searing pain through her body, as if layers of her skin were being peeled away in slow, excruciating strips. The sensation radiated outward from her sternum, each thread’s separation leaving raw, exposed nerves in its wake.
Elara’s wails grew louder, more frantic, as the wolf thrashed in Lena’s mind, fighting violently against what was happening.“Orion, please! Don’t let me go!”
Lena steeled herself, knowing she had to see this through. She had to cut herself free, no matter how much it destroyed her.
KAI
Orion’s anguished howl erupted in Kai’s mind, a raw, guttural cry that shook him to his core.“Elara! Elara, no!”
The sound of his own broken breathing filled his ears as he pressed his forehead to Lena’s, his sobs tearing through him like a storm. “I…can’t. I… please…” he pleaded, head shaking with every word. “Don’t do this to us. I love you, Lena. You’remine. Forever.”
Lena’s hands tightened around his, her fingers tracing soothing circles on the backs.
Orion rattled in his skull, screaming at Kai to hold onto his mate.“No, Kai! Please! Don’t let her go!”
Lena’s voice cut through the chaos. “Please, Kai, set us free. Release us from this pain.”
