CHAPTER 4

The door slammed behind us, and I was only vaguely aware of the sound. Pain pulsed at the edge of my senses, silver still burning through parts of me that hadn't healed yet. But it wasn’t the pain that scared me.

It was him.

Ronan.

He carried me like I weighed nothing, like I was fragile, breakable. That was the problem. I wasn’t supposed to be fragile. I wasn’t supposed to be anything to him.

He set me down on the mattress in my room, eyes scanning me like he expected me to shatter.

“Where’s your first aid kit?” he asked, voice low, edged in something I couldn’t read.

I hesitated.

The air between us tightened.

No. No, I couldn’t let him stay here. Not this close. Not while my magic was faltering, unraveling at the seams like a threadbare veil. I could feel it. My glamour slipping, the disguise that masked my true bloodline flickering like a dying candle.

He couldn’t see me like this.

I turned my head, pointing to the small linen closet across the room.

Ronan rose silently and crossed to the door. He opened it, his broad back tense, and pulled the kit from the top shelf. But when he turned back, he didn’t move. He just stared.

Like he saw something he hadn’t before.

No..something he’d suspected.

And now, he knew.

His voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re… Lycan.”

I froze. My breath caught like ice in my throat.

“No…” I tried, voice shaking. “You don’t—”

But then he was moving closer, the kit forgotten in his hands, his gaze locked on mine like he could see through my soul.

“Don’t lie to me,” he murmured.

His hand reached out, brushing my skin, just a touch.

And the world exploded.

Something in me snapped.

A surge of raw, untethered energy flared beneath my skin, sparking heat through every nerve. My breath hitched. Sweat broke across my forehead. My body reacted like it knew him, recognized him.

My back arched against the mattress, every muscle taut, hungry. Needing.

And Ronan,

His eyes widened, pupils dilating, his nostrils flaring as his wolf surged forward.

He felt it too.

He knew.

“You knew…” I whispered, gasping for air, “You knew about this. Didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer, not right away. His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, his fists clenched at his sides. I could feel his wolf fighting to surface, the animal in him howling to claim me, to mark me.

He took a step closer. Another.

His hand reached for me again,

And then he stopped.

Clenched his jaw.

Backed away like he’d been burned.

“I shouldn’t have come,” he growled, shaking his head like he could dislodge the bond pulling at both of us.

But it was too late.

I saw it now, clear as moonlight.

The way his wolf looked at me.

The way my wolf responded.

Ronan wasn’t just some alpha wandering through my life like a storm.

He was my mate.

My true mate.

I sat up, trembling. “Why?” I asked, voice cracking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ronan turned his back on me, like he couldn’t bear to look. His shoulders were rigid, breath shallow.

“I can’t,” he said quietly.

“Can’t what?”

He whirled on me, eyes flashing. “I can’t take a mate like you.”

His words cut sharper than any blade.

I flinched. “What does that mean?”

“You’re a Lycan,” he said, voice hard now. “A warlock.”

The words landed heavy in the room, like stones dropped in water.

And then I saw it, really saw it.

The way his posture changed. The way his gaze shifted, colder now. Harsher.

He knew. He’d known what I was all along.

And now I knew what he was too.

“You’re not just any wolf,” I said softly. “You’re an alpha.”

His expression darkened.

Alpha. Of course. That authority, that command it wasn’t just presence. It was blood-deep.

“Don’t even think of this,” he said, voice like steel. “This bond. It’s not real.”

“You can feel it,” I whispered, rising slowly, legs unsteady.

He scoffed. “That doesn’t mean it’s right.”

I reached for him, desperate now, hurting in places I didn’t know could ache.

“Why, Ronan? Why would you say that? Why push me away?”

He turned then, and something in his gaze broke.

“You’re not even a complete wolf,” he bit out, venom sharp in every syllable. “You’re… you’re broken. Twisted by magic. I would never take someone as weak as you as my mate.”

I staggered back like he’d struck me.

Weak.

That word… it hit deeper than anything else.

My wolf whimpered inside me, curling in on herself, wounded.

I blinked through the tears gathering in my eyes, refusing to let them fall.

“You don’t mean that,” I said, barely a whisper.

“I do.” His voice cracked slightly, but the rest of him was stone. “Forget about this. Forget about me.”

And with that, he turned and walked out the door.

Not a glance back.

Not even a pause.

The silence left behind was unbearable.

I sank to the floor, clutching my ribs like they could hold me together. My wolf howled softly in my mind, a sound of betrayal and heartbreak.

We had felt it.

So had he.

But Ronan, he’d rather reject a bond forged by fate than accept someone like me.

Someone who wasn’t whole.

–

The bar felt colder now. Or maybe I just couldn’t feel anything anymore.

Two days had passed since Ronan walked away. Since he tore the bond apart with words sharp enough to scar a soul. And I’d been hollow ever since.

I came back to work because I had to. Because sitting alone in my apartment with my wolf grieving and my magic flickering was worse. The walls had started to feel like they were closing in, the silence pressing against my ribs until I couldn’t breathe. At least here, the hum of voices and the clink of glasses gave me something to focus on, even if I wasn’t really hearing any of it.

But I wasn’t really here. I moved through the motions like a ghost, barely breathing, barely alive. My hands trembled when I poured drinks, my vision blurring at the edges. The bond wasn’t just broken, it was a raw, open wound, throbbing with every heartbeat.

Ellie noticed. Of course she did. After I nearly dropped a glass for the third time, she gently guided me to the back booth, her fingers warm against my icy skin. “Sit,” she murmured. “Before you fall.”

So I did.

I curled into the shadows, pressing my back against the worn leather, and let the numbness settle in. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless and wounded, her whines echoing in my skull. The bond hadn’t faded. Not entirely. It hummed like an old song with half the notes missing, a melody that refused to die. She was waiting for something. Or someone.

I didn’t realize he was here until I felt him.

Lucian.

His presence brushed against mine like static. Familiar, but not safe. Never safe. His steps echoed like thunder through the silence in my mind, and my wolf perked up, suddenly alert. She stirred, ears raised, as if sensing something… more.

No. My breath hitched. Not him.

I clenched my fists against the table, my nails biting into my palms as I tried to bury the panic rising in my throat. But my wolf wouldn’t calm. She recognized him. Not as a threat. As something else.

Something dangerous.

“Seliene.” His voice was low, rough, like gravel dragged over my skin.

I didn’t move. Couldn’t. My muscles were tight, coiled, my body still aching from Ronan’s rejection. But Lucian’s voice tugged at something deep in me, something my wolf couldn’t ignore.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze and the moment our eyes met, I knew.

He felt it.

Not the bond. Not exactly.

The hunger.

My wolf responded to him. Not the way she did to Ronan. with devotion, with fire, but with a primal awareness that shook me to my core. Lucian’s wolf was on edge too. I saw it in the way his jaw clenched, the way his fingers flexed at his sides, like he was fighting the urge to reach for me.

“What happened to you?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I almost laughed. Almost cried. The words scraped out of me, raw and broken. “He rejected the bond.”

Lucian’s eyes widened, a flicker of something dark passing through them. Anger? Possession? I couldn’t tell.

And then, before I could stop it, my wolf surged.

Gold flared behind my eyes. My magic, unraveled and wild, flared to the surface, licking at my skin like flames. The air between us crackled, thick with something I didn’t understand.

I looked up at him, heart racing.

“But I think the bond… isn’t done with me.”

Lucian’s breath caught. His wolf was closer now, pressing against his control. I could see it in the way his pupils dilated, the way his chest rose and fell too fast.

And in that moment, I wasn’t sure if I was still mine.

Or if something else was waking up inside me.