Feral Bonds

Sienna stood at the edge of the forest, her breath forming small clouds in the crisp evening air. The fading sunlight cast long shadows over the trees, but she remained still, staring into the vast wilderness. This was the one place she could escape-the one place where no one would whisper behind her back or look at her with pity in their eyes.

It had been three months since Ethan, her fated mate, rejected her.

The memory still burned as though it had happened yesterday. That night under the full moon, when her heart had soared with hope and expectation, was the very night it had been shattered. She remembered the way Ethan had looked at her-detached, cold, and unyielding.

"I cannot accept you," he'd said, his voice devoid of emotion.

The pack had gasped in unison. Fated mates were sacred; they were destiny's design. For an Alpha to reject his mate was unthinkable. Yet Ethan had done it, and without a second thought.

Sienna had stood frozen, her wolf howling in pain. She wanted to scream, to beg, but the words had died in her throat. The moon, once her ally, now seemed cruel, casting its light on her humiliation.

She clenched her fists at the memory. She hadn't begged then, and she wouldn't beg now. Even if the rejection had marked her as an outcast, she would endure.