Chapter 3 No.3

Aline POV

The metallic tang of blood coated my throat, thick and choking. I lay on the freezing flagstones, my body trembling not from cold, but from the sheer effort of keeping my heart beating. Kaden loomed over me, his shadow stretching across the damp floor like a grim reaper waiting to collect his due.

"Stop it," he sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "This performance is becoming tedious, Aline. Do you really think vomiting a little blood will make me forget what you did? You killed my heir."

I tried to speak, to deny it again, but a fresh wave of agony rolled through my chest. The necrosis. It felt as if black vines were spreading through my veins, withering everything they touched.

"I... am dying, Kaden," I rasped, my voice barely audible.

He laughed. It was a harsh, barking sound devoid of any warmth. He crouched down, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look into his stormy grey eyes.

"Dying? No. You are surviving, just like a parasite does." His grip tightened, bruising my jaw. "Let me make something clear to you, since you seem to rely on this 'fated bond' as your shield. I never wanted a mate. Especially not a weak, manipulative Omega like you."

His words were precise strikes, aimed to maim.

"My heart, my wolf, my soul-they were claimed three years ago," he hissed, his face inches from mine. "By the woman who dragged my broken body out of the Rogue territory when I was left for dead. Cori saved me. You? You are just a cosmic joke. A trap set by the Moon Goddess to test my loyalty to her."

The air left my lungs. Cori? He thought Cori saved him?

Memories of that night three years ago flashed through my mind-the smell of burning flesh, the weight of a wounded wolf on my small shoulders, the hours I spent dragging a stranger to safety while hiding my scent. I had never told anyone. I thought he knew. I thought his wolf would recognize mine.

But Cori had claimed the credit. And he believed her.

The injustice of it snapped something inside me. Not anger-I was too drained for that-but a cold, hard realization. He would never see me. As long as this bond existed, I was just a prisoner in his narrative of hate. And the bond... it was literally rotting my organs.

If I stayed, I would be dead by the next full moon.

"Get up," he commanded, releasing my chin with a shove. "Clean this mess. I won't have the servants seeing their Luna wallowing in filth."

Luna. The title sounded like a slur coming from his lips.

I didn't reach for the rag. Instead, I planted my hands on the bloody stones. My muscles screamed in protest, my bones felt like brittle glass, but I pushed. I forced my trembling legs to straighten. I stood, swaying, clutching the edge of the rickety wardrobe for support.

I looked him in the eye. For the first time in months, I didn't look at the floor.

"I will leave the Black Moon Pack," I said. My voice was hollow, stripped of emotion.

Kaden blinked, taken aback by my sudden defiance, before a smirk curled his lip. "Is that a threat? Are you going to run to the Elders? Tell them I'm mistreating you?"

"No," I whispered. I took a breath, gathering the last shreds of my spirit. "I am setting us both free."

I straightened my spine, ignoring the searing pain in my chest.

"I, Aline Romero," I began, the ancient words tasting like ash on my tongue, "reject you, Kaden Warren, as my Mate."

The silence that followed was absolute. The air in the small room grew heavy, charged with the static of broken magic.

Kaden's smirk froze. His eyes widened, not with pain, but with sheer, unadulterated shock. An Omega rejecting an Alpha? It was unheard of. It was an insult to his rank, a slap in the face of his authority.

"You dare?" he growled, stepping forward, his Alpha aura flaring hot and suffocating. "You think you can reject me? This is just another game! You want attention? You want me to beg?"

He raised his hand, and for a second, I thought he would strike me. I didn't flinch. I was already broken; he couldn't break dust.

Suddenly, his eyes glazed over. His hand froze in mid-air.

The connection. Someone was mind-linking him.

I watched the rage drain from his face, replaced instantly by a look of frantic concern. The transformation was nauseating.

"Cori?" he said aloud, forgetting I was there. "Calm down. Breathe. I'm coming."

He looked at me then. But he didn't see the woman who had just severed her soul for him. He didn't see the blood on my gown or the death in my eyes. He looked at me like I was an obstacle in his path to something that actually mattered.

"We are not done," he spat, pointing a finger at my face. "Do not think this little stunt gets you off the hook. You stay here until I decide your punishment."

He turned on his heel, his heavy boots thudding against the stone floor as he rushed out the door, chasing the phantom pains of a liar, leaving his true mate to die in the dark.

The door slammed shut.

I stood there for a long moment, listening to his fading footsteps. The bond in my chest gave a final, agonizing throb, then went silent. It wasn't fully broken-he hadn't accepted the rejection-but the damage was done.

I looked at the small, barred window. The moon was hidden behind clouds, but I knew it was there.

"He's wrong," I whispered to the empty room. "We are done."