Chapter 2 Broken bonds

Kieran

The moon mocked me.

I stood at my father's... no, *my* office window, staring at the silver orb that had just destroyed years of careful planning. My fingers clenched around the crystal tumbler, whiskey burning untouched at the bottom. The mate pull throbbed in my chest like an open wound, each pulse a reminder of *her*.

Luna Martinez. The pack runt. My mate.

"You had no choice," Selene murmured, lounging on the leather sofa, every inch the future Luna she was supposed to be. "The Northern and Silver Creek packs need this alliance. One little witch can't destroy generations of pack tradition."

Before I could respond, Marcus burst through the door without knocking, his usual composure shattered. The fury rolling off him filled the room with the scent of storm clouds and rage.

"Out," he growled at Selene, his beta authority crackling in the air.

Selene rose gracefully, though I caught the flash of anger in her eyes. "I'll leave you two to talk, darling," she purred, touching my arm as she passed. The contact felt wrong, like oil on water.

The door hadn't fully closed before Marcus rounded on me. "Have you lost your fucking mind?"

"Watch yourself, Beta," I warned, though the title felt hollow after fifteen years of friendship.

"No, you watch yourself," Marcus snarled, closing the distance between us. "You just rejected your mate. Your *mate*, Kieran. Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The mate pull twisted sharply, as if emphasizing his words. Somewhere in the territory, Luna was hurting. My wolf clawed at my insides, desperate to go to her.

"I did what was necessary," I ground out, knuckles white around the tumbler.

"Necessary?" Marcus barked a harsh laugh. "I've spent twenty years searching for my mate. Twenty years, Kieran. And you just threw yours away like she was nothing."

"She's not nothing," I snapped, then immediately regretted the admission.

"No, she's not," Marcus said quietly. "I saw her tonight. That white wolf... there's old magic there. Power. But more importantly, she's your *mate*. Sacred. Chosen by the moon itself."

I downed the whiskey in one burning gulp. "The pack needs-"

"The pack needs a strong Alpha," Marcus cut in. "And you're stronger with her. You know that. I can already feel the pack bonds straining."

He was right. The gossamer threads that connected me to each pack member felt stretched thin, vibrating with uncertainty. The rejection had weakened everything.

"The Northern alliance-"

"Fuck the Northern alliance!" Marcus slammed his hand on my desk. "Your father raised you to be a politician, but he's gone, Kieran. And you're not just rejecting Luna – you're rejecting yourself. Your wolf. Everything an Alpha should be."

The truth in his words cut deep. I turned back to the window, unable to meet his gaze. "I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Marcus's voice softened slightly. "I felt it too, you know. When she transformed. The whole pack did. That kind of power... it's meant to complement yours. To make you both stronger."

A howl pierced the night – high, lonely, full of pain. My wolf surged forward so violently I had to grip the window frame to stay upright.

"Listen to her," Marcus pleaded. "Really listen. That's your mate suffering. And for what? Politics? Your father's plans?"

"Get out," I whispered, my voice raw.

"Kieran-"

"That's an order, Beta."

Marcus was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was heavy with disappointment. "Your father wanted you to be a strong Alpha. But strength isn't just about making hard choices. Sometimes it's about making the right ones."

He left, closing the door quietly behind him. The soft click felt more damning than if he'd slammed it.

Another howl split the night. My legs gave out, and I slid down the wall, the mate pull a physical agony in my chest. My wolf was crying, mourning what we'd thrown away. The whiskey couldn't burn away the taste of her name on my tongue.

Luna. Mine. Not mine.

The moon continued its silent judgment as pack bonds stretched thinner with each of her cries. I'd chosen duty over destiny, politics over passion. Now I had to live with the consequences.

Even if they destroyed us both.

The elders were waiting. I could feel their impatience humming through the pack bonds, but I couldn't bring myself to move from the floor. Not yet. Not while Luna's howls still echoed through the territory, each one a dagger to my chest.

A knock at the door. Different this time – lighter, hesitant.

"Alpha?" It was Sarah, the youngest of the pack healers. Her scent carried worry and... fear? "I'm sorry to disturb you, but... it's about Luna."

My head snapped up. "What about her?"

"She's..." Sarah swallowed audibly. "The rejection is affecting her differently than we expected. Her magic... it's doing something strange to the forest."

I forced myself to my feet, ignoring how my wolf snarled at the movement away from Luna's direction. "Explain."

"The moonflowers are blooming out of season. All of them. Everywhere she runs, they're bursting open. And the herbs in her garden... they're growing and dying in cycles, like they're breathing. Elder Rebecca says she's never seen anything like it."

The mate pull tugged sharply, as if trying to draw me to witness this phenomenon myself. I dug my claws into my palms again, using the pain to focus.

"Keep watching her," I ordered, hating myself for the words. "But don't approach. That's an order for the whole pack."

"Yes, Alpha." Sarah paused at the door. "But... she's in pain. We can all feel it."

*I can feel it more than any of you*, I wanted to shout. Instead, I straightened my shoulders. "The council is waiting."

The walk to the council chamber felt longer than ever. Pack members scurried out of my way, their eyes downcast, their submission tinged with uncertainty. They could sense the wrongness, the way the rejection had corrupted what should have been a night of celebration.

Selene waited outside the council doors, her silver dress gleaming like a battle standard. "There you are, darling. I was beginning to worry." She reached for my arm, but I stepped away, unable to bear her touch while Luna's pain sang through my blood.

"Not now, Selene."

"But-"

"I said not now." My voice carried the Alpha command without meaning to, making her flinch.

Inside, the council chamber felt like a tomb. Five elders, five judges, their faces carved from stone. My father's empty seat at the head of the table made my chest tight in a different way than the mate's pull.

"Alpha Kieran." Elder Rebecca spoke first, her ancient voice carrying the weight of tradition. "The pack bonds grow weaker with each passing hour. Explain yourself."

I stood before them, shoulders back, chin high. Every inch the Alpha they needed me to be. Every inch the son my father had raised. Every inch a liar.

"The pack's needs come first," I recited, the words tasting like ash. "The alliance with the Northern Pack is crucial for our survival."

"The pack's needs?" Elder Rebecca's laugh was brittle as dead leaves. "Look around you, young Alpha. Look what your choice has already wrought."

She gestured to the windows, and for the first time, I noticed the strange light filtering through. The moon's usual silver glow had taken on a reddish tinge, as if reflecting Luna's wolf eyes. Or perhaps reflecting her pain.

"This is temporary," I insisted, but my words sounded hollow even to my own ears.

"Like these are temporary?" Elder James thrust a handful of reports across the table. Pack incident reports, their pages still warm from the printer. My fingers shook slightly as I picked them up.

Sector 3: All vegetation growing at accelerated rates

Sector 7: Pack bonds unstable, younger wolves reporting physical discomfort

Sector 9: Wildlife behaving erratically, drawn to areas of recent Luna Martinez sightings

"She's just one wolf," I growled, but the mate pull flared at my lies. "Small. Weak. She can't-"

A commotion outside interrupted me. The council chamber doors burst open, and Marcus strode in again, his face grim.

"You need to see this," he said, not bothering with titles or formalities. "All of you."

The scene at the pack borders stunned even me into silence. Where Luna had fled into the forest, a path of moonflowers stretched as far as the eye could see, their petals glowing with an inner light. But it wasn't just the flowers. The trees themselves seemed to bend toward her trail, as if drawn by her passage. And the air... it crackled with ancient magic, power that called to my wolf like a siren's song.

"Still think she's weak?" Marcus muttered, low enough that only I could hear.

Elder Rebecca touched one of the moonflowers, and it chimed softly, releasing a shower of luminescent pollen. "In all my years," she whispered, "I've never seen such power. The old magic... it awakens at her touch."

"The Northern Pack brings warriors," Elder Sarah spoke up, her young voice carrying clearly in the night air. "But she brings magic we'd thought was lost to time. Which is truly more valuable to our survival?"

The mate pull surged again, and this time I couldn't hide my physical reaction. I doubled over, claws extending involuntarily. Through the haze of pain, I heard Selene's sharp intake of breath.

"Kieran?" Her hand touched my shoulder, and my wolf nearly snapped at her. Wrong touch. Wrong scent. Wrong mate.

"Don't," I managed to growl.

Another howl split the night, closer this time. The moonflowers trembled in response, their glow intensifying. And beneath our feet, I swore I could feel the earth itself pulse in rhythm with Luna's cries.

"The choice is made," I forced out, straightening despite the agony. "The alliance stands."

"Then may the Moon Mother have mercy on us all," Elder Rebecca sighed. "Because you've just rejected not only your mate, but perhaps the most powerful wolf our pack has seen in generations."

I turned away from their judgmental stares, from Marcus's disappointment, from Selene's calculating gaze. But I couldn't turn away from the mate pull. From the knowledge that with every step Luna took away from us, she took something vital with her. Something that belonged to me - to us - by the moon's own choice.

The night stretched ahead, dark and endless, filled with the song of her pain and the answering chorus of a forest awakening to her power. And somewhere in the darkness, a white wolf ran, leaving magic in her wake and taking my heart with her, whether I admitted it or not.