Chapter 4 Four

Aidan's POV

I rejected her the moment the door shut.

No hesitation. No ceremony. Just three words and the kind of silence that echoes like a gunshot.

"I reject you."

I didn't even wait for her response. Didn't look back. I left her standing in that stone room, bound in chains, blood drying on her skin, the bond still humming like an unanswered question in my chest.

Because I had to.

Because if I didn't...I'd kill her.

Just like the others.

"She's still not talking," Marcus says, leaning against my office door frame.

"She doesn't need to."

"She won't eat. Won't rest. Pacing the cell like a caged storm."

I glance up from the map spread across my desk. "Let her pace."

Marcus frowns. "Are you sure about that?"

"I rejected her."

He raises a brow. "Did she accept it?"

I pause.

No.

She didn't.

Not out loud.

Not with words.

And the bond...it's still there. Agitated. Alive.

"She will," I say.

"Doesn't seem like the type to bend."

"She'll break."

Marcus chuckles, but there's no humor in it. "You say that like it's a good thing."

"She's dangerous."

"She's your mate."

"I've had three."

"And they're dead," Marcus finishes softly. "I know."

We fall into silence.

I stare down at the map. Red marks for the breach. Blue lines for reinforced patrols. Black pins where the bodies were found. Every time I look at it, the blood on my hands feels fresh.

"She's not staying," I say.

"Not your call anymore, is it?"

I glare at him.

He shrugs. "The bond's there, Aidan. Denying it doesn't make it vanish. And locking her up like a criminal? That's not going to scare her off. It's just going to piss her off."

"She killed one of ours."

"She was running. Fighting for her life. I reviewed the wounds myself. It was defensive. She didn't want a body count."

"She has one."

"So do you."

That shuts me up.

Marcus sighs. "All I'm saying is, you might want to talk to her again before she burns the dungeon down."

I find her sitting cross-legged on the stone floor, back against the wall, arms chained, eyes closed.

But she speaks the second I step in.

"Took you long enough."

I stand by the door. "You haven't accepted the rejection."

She opens one eye. "Why would I?"

"Because it's the only way to survive."

"For you or for me?"

I don't answer.

She grins. "That's what I thought."

"You can't stay here."

"I'm literally chained to the wall. Not going anywhere."

I clench my jaw. "You're not part of this pack. You're not welcome."

"You think that matters to the bond?"

"It should."

"It doesn't."

We stare at each other, tension snapping between us like a live wire.

She tilts her head. "Why are you so scared of it?"

"I'm not afraid."

"Liar."

"I'm protecting you."

She laughs, bitter and wild. "By locking me in a cell?"

"It's safer than being near me."

"Let me guess. You loved them all, and they all died anyway."

I flinch.

She watches me closely. "I'm not them."

"You will be."

"Wrong again."

"You're not invincible, Selene."

"And you're not cursed. You're just terrified."

That hits harder than it should.

I move toward her slowly. Her eyes stay on me, sharp and unyielding.

"You don't know me."

"No," she says. "But I know fear. I know what it looks like when someone builds walls so high they forget what the sky looks like."

I kneel in front of her. "You think you can fix me?"

"No. But I don't need fixing."

Silence stretches.

Then: "Why didn't you scream when I rejected you?"

She shrugs. "Didn't hurt."

"Liar."

"Maybe," she whispers. "But you hurt more."

I stare at her, the curve of her jaw, the fire in her voice, the refusal to bow.

She should hate me.

But she doesn't.

And I hate that part of me wants her not to.

I stand and turn to leave.

She calls out, "You're going to have to make a choice soon, Alpha."

I pause.

"Keep running from the bond," she says, "or face what's coming. Either way, I'm not going anywhere."

Later, I find myself outside the cell again. Watching.

She's asleep this time. Or pretending to be.

There's blood dried at her temple. She hasn't let the pack doctor treat her. Said she doesn't trust needles.

I can't blame her.

But damn if she isn't strong.

No tears. No begging. No submission.

She meets every guard's gaze with defiance.

And still, something about her draws me like a tide I can't fight.

I press a hand to the wall and lean forward.

"She's not like the others," I murmured.

"I know," Marcus says behind me.

I don't turn.

"She doesn't fear me," I whisper.

"Maybe she should."

"Maybe."

We stand there, quiet.

Then Marcus says, "You should read this."

He hands me a slip of parchment. Smells of ash and old blood.

"What is it?"

"It was carved into one of the intruders' skin."

I unfold it. Frown.

It's not a language I know. But the name is there.

Her name.

Selene.

Beneath it: a mark. A symbol I haven't seen in years. A circle split by a fang and a flame.

I got a cold.

"You've seen it before?" Marcus asks.

"Only once."

"Where?"

I fold the paper slowly.

"On the corpse of my first mate."

Marcus goes still.

"And now it's back," I say.

I glance back at the cell.

She's awake.

Watching.

As if she knows.