Chapter 4 The Reason

Chapter 3

SERENA POV

I didn't mean to hear it.

If I had known that standing still for just a few seconds longer would shatter everything I loved, I would have run. I would have covered my ears. I would have shifted and disappeared into the forest until my lungs burned and my legs gave out.

But I stayed.

And as much as it destroyed me, I am also glad I did, because hearing their plans was the only reason Jayden was still alive.

I stood frozen in the corridor outside my parents' room, my hand hovering inches from the door. Artemis flickered alert inside me. I could hear my parents' steady heartbeats even through the walls, smell the faint trace of their cologne, and catch the suppressed tension in the air.

Every instinct screamed danger, every fur along my spine bristled. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure they would hear it. Every breath felt shallow, forced, like my chest was being slowly crushed.

Then my name slipped from my mother's lips.

"Serena and that rogue," Luna Lily, my mom said calmly, almost amused. "He truly believes he belongs here."

My breath caught painfully in my throat.

I pressed myself closer to the wall, my pulse racing wildly.

"He's Serena's mate," my father replied flatly. "I've already confirmed it."

Artemis rumbled low in my mind, claws scratching the edges of my thoughts. Our territory, our mate, threatened, I felt a flare of possessiveness so strong it made my chest tighten. "Stay back" I said and she hissed, fierce and warning. "He's ours. No one touches him."

The world tilted.

Mate.

They knew.

My legs trembled, weakness flooding through me, but I forced myself to stay upright. Every instinct screamed at me to burst into the room, to confront them, to defend him, but fear rooted me to the spot.

My muscles twitched with the urge to leap, my heart pounding in time with Artemis' desperate cries. I wanted to protect him, even if my legs wouldn't obey.

"So it's true," my mother continued, her voice smooth and thoughtful. "I suspected as much. She's been softer lately. Smiling. Distracted."

My father scoffed. "She was planning to bring him to us tomorrow. To ask for our approval."

Approval.

The word sliced straight through my chest.

I had imagined it so differently. I had imagined them angry, shouting, resistance but eventually, understanding and accepting him. I had imagined them seeing Jayden for who he truly was. Gentle. Loyal. Good.

I had hoped.

How foolish I had been.

My mother laughed softly. "A rogue who can't even shift. Fate truly has a cruel sense of humor."

"He's useless," my father said coldly. "And dangerous. If the Alpha King ever learns that our daughter's mate is a nobody, our pack will be ruined. We will lose everything. Serena becoming Alpha would be the end of us."

There was a pause.

Then my mother spoke again, her tone slow and deliberate.

"We can't reject him openly," she said. "Not yet."

My heart skipped violently.

"What do you mean?" my father asked.

"We pretend to accept him," she replied smoothly. "Let Serena believe we've softened. Let the rogue believe he's safe."

A chill crawled down my spine.

"And then?" my father asked.

"And then," she said calmly, "we arrange an accident."

My hands flew to my mouth as nausea surged through me.

"We caught him red-handed," she continued, unbothered. "Accuse him of attempting to force himself on one of our pack girls. A crime no one will forgive."

My stomach lurched violently, bile rising in my throat. Artemis snapped violently, raking claws against the inside of my mind, teeth bared, growling with a fury that made my head spin.

Rage, betrayal, protectiveness, it coursed through me as if my veins carried wildfire instead of blood. My wolf wanted to hunt, strike, tear apart anyone who dared threaten our mate.

"No one will question it," my father said slowly, understanding dawning in his voice. "A rogue. No status. No protection."

"Exactly," my mother replied. "We execute him quietly. Cleanly. We look righteous. Serena will be heartbroken, yes, but she'll recover. She always does."

My vision blurred.

They were planning to kill him.

Jayden.

My mate.

Using lies. Using cruelty. Using my trust.

I staggered back, my knees threatening to give out.

Artemis screamed inside me, her voice raw with terror and fury.

They'll kill him, Serena. They'll kill him.

My chest felt like it was caving in. Every breath burned. My hands shook uncontrollably as tears spilled down my face.

I couldn't let that happen.

I wouldn't.

There was only one way to save him.

Only one.

I had to make him leave.

I had to make him hate me.

I had to reject him so completely, so cruelly, that he would never stay. Never look back. Never come near this pack again.

Even if it destroyed him.

Especially if it destroyed me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into the empty hallway, my voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

That was why I rejected him.

That was why I looked into Jayden's eyes and forced those hateful words past my lips. Why I watched the light fade from his gaze. Why I felt the bond tear and bury itself deep inside my chest instead of breaking completely?

That was the moment I chose his life over my heart.

And I don't regret it.

I never will.

Because loving him while keeping him here would have meant his death.

I pushed myself upright, wiping my tears as best as I could. Artemis trembled inside me, wounded but resolute.

We must stay strong, she said quietly. We can't break now.

"Yes," I whispered, my voice hollow. "I know."

And with that, I turned away from everything I loved and faded into the darkness.

************************************************

JAYDEN POV

Pain.

That was all there was.

Pain and silence.

The forest swallowed me as I ran, my feet pounding against the earth, my chest burning, my thoughts spiraling out of control.

I didn't understand.

One moment, she was warm. Gentle. Herself.

The next, she looked at me like I was nothing.

Like I meant nothing.

"I was just curious how mate bonds felt."

The words echoed in my head like a blade, slicing deeper with every repetition.

I stumbled to a stop, gripping a tree trunk as my breathing turned ragged. My hands shook violently.

She lied.

She had to be lying.

Because the Serena I knew wouldn't look at me that way. Wouldn't say those things. Wouldn't destroy me so completely.

Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe I don't know the real her.

Maybe I was just a fool.

A rogue who believed fate cared about him.

I laughed bitterly, the sound broken and hollow.

Pain slammed into my chest without warning. I gasped, dropping to one knee as something inside me twisted violently.

Zion roared inside my mind, his voice no longer weak, no longer restrained.

She broke the bond, he growled. And in doing so, she broke the seal.

"What seal?" I rasped, clutching my chest as fire spread through my veins.

My body convulsed. Bones cracked. Muscles tore and reformed. Power surged through me in a violent wave, raw and uncontrollable.

I screamed as the earth beneath me cracked.

The air shifted.

The world bowed.

Golden light exploded from my body, blinding and fierce, and for the first time in years, no, in my entire life, I felt whole.

Complete.

Free.

I threw my head back and shifted.

The moonlight kissed every leaf, every stone, and I smelled the tension of the forest, every predator and prey around me. Zion's senses flared, brushing against Serena's presence miles away, searching for her, needing her. My Lycan hummed in tandem, alive, aware, ready.

My Lycan emerged massive and powerful, silver-black fur glowing beneath the moonlight, eyes blazing with ancient authority.

Memories flooded back.

The ambush. The betrayal. The seal forced onto me. My exile.

The truth slammed into place.

I wasn't weak.

I was never weak.

I was a Lycan prince.

And she rejected me.

My wolf snarled, rage and heartbreak colliding violently within me.

"She played us," Zion growled. She chose power over us.

I stared up at the moon, my heart hardening, something dark and resolute settling deep in my chest.

"No," I said quietly. "She chose pain."

I rose to my feet, power still humming through my veins, my jaw tightening.

If she thought she had broken me.

She was wrong.

"I'll become stronger," I vowed to the night. "Stronger than anyone who ever looked down on me."

My eyes burned with cold resolve.

"And when I return," I whispered, "they'll regret ever treating me like nothing."

The moon watched silently as I disappeared into the shadows

A rejected mate no longer.

But a king in the making.