Chapter 4 ALMOST HIS, BUT NOT YET

The door slams behind us, but I barely register the sound. Pain pulses at the edge of my senses, silver still burning through parts of me that haven't healed yet. But it isn't the pain that scares me.

It's him.

Ronan.

He carries me like I weigh nothing, like I'm fragile. Breakable. That's the problem. I'm not supposed to be fragile. I'm not supposed to be anything to him.

He sets me down on the mattress in my room, eyes scanning me like he expects me to shatter. "Where's your first aid kit?" he asks, voice low, edged in something I can't read.

I hesitate.

The air between us tightens. No. I can't let him stay here. Not this close. Not while my magic is faltering, unraveling at the seams like a threadbare veil. I can feel it. My glamour slipping. The disguise that masks my true bloodline flickers like a dying candle.

He can't see me like this.

I turn my head, pointing to the small linen closet across the room.

Ronan rises silently and crosses to the door. He opens it, his broad back tense, and pulls the kit from the top shelf. But when he turns back, he doesn't move. He just stares.

Like he sees something he hasn't before.

No... something he's suspected. And now, he knows.

His voice drops to a whisper. "You're... Lycan."

I freeze. My breath catches like ice in my throat. "No..." I try, voice shaking. "You don't-"

But then he's moving closer, the kit forgotten in his hands, his gaze locked on mine like he can see through my soul.

"Don't lie to me," he murmurs. His hand reaches out, brushes my skin. Just a touch.

And the world explodes.

Something in me snaps.

A surge of raw, untethered energy flares beneath my skin, sparking heat through every nerve. My breath hitches. Sweat breaks across my forehead. My body reacts like it knows him. Recognizes him.

My back arches against the mattress, every muscle taut. Hungry. Needing.

And Ronan-

His eyes widen, pupils dilating, nostrils flaring as his wolf surges forward. He feels it too. He knows.

"You knew..." I whisper, gasping for air. "You knew about this. Didn't you?"

He doesn't answer. Not right away. His chest rises just as his fists clenched at his sides. I can feel his wolf fighting to surface, the animal in him howling to claim me. To mark me.

He takes a step closer. Another. His hand reaches for me again, And then he stops. Clenches his jaw. Backs away like he's been burned.

"I shouldn't have come," he growls, shaking his head like he can dislodge the bond pulling at both of us.

But it's too late.

I see it now, clear as moonlight. The way his wolf looks at me. The way my wolf responds.

Ronan isn't just some alpha wandering through my life like a storm.

He's my mate.

My true mate.

I sit up, trembling. "Why?" I ask, voice cracking. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ronan turns his back on me, like he can't bear to look. His shoulders are rigid, breath shallow. "I can't," he says quietly.

"Can't what?"

He whirls on me, eyes flashing. "I can't take a mate like you."

His words cut sharper than any blade.

I flinch. "What does that mean?"

"You're a Lycan," he says, voice hard now. "A warlock."

The words land heavy in the room, like stones dropped in water.

And then I see it. Really see it. The way his posture changes. The way his gaze shifts, colder now. Harsher.

He knows. He's known what I am all along.

And now I know what he is too.

"You're not just any wolf," I say softly. "You're an alpha."

His expression darkens. Alpha. Of course. That authority, that command it isn't just presence. It's blood-deep.

"Don't even think of this," he says, voice like steel. "This bond. It's not real."

"You can feel it," I whisper, rising slowly, legs unsteady.

He scoffs. "That doesn't mean it's right."

I reach for him, desperate now, hurting in places I didn't know could ache.

"Why, Ronan? Why would you say that? Why push me away?"

He turns then, and something in his gaze breaks.

"You're not even a complete wolf," he bites out. "You're... you're broken. Twisted by magic. I would never take someone as weak as you as my mate."

I stagger back like he's struck me.

Weak.

That word hits deeper than anything else.

My wolf whimpers inside me, curling in on herself, wounded.

I blink through the tears gathering in my eyes, refusing to let them fall. "You don't mean that," I say, barely a whisper.

"I do." His voice cracks slightly, but the rest of him is stone. "Forget about this. Forget about me."

And with that, he turns and walks out the door.

Not a glance back. Not even a pause.

The silence he leaves behind is unbearable.

I sink to the floor, clutching my ribs like they can hold me together. My wolf howls softly in my mind, a sound of betrayal and heartbreak.

We felt it. So did he. But Ronan, he'd rather reject a bond forged by fate than accept someone like me. Someone who isn't whole.

-

The bar feels colder now. Or maybe I just can't feel anything anymore.

Two days have passed since Ronan walked away. Since he tore the bond apart with words sharp enough to scar a soul. And I've been hollow ever since.

I come back to work because I have to. Because sitting alone in my apartment with my wolf grieving and my magic flickering is worse.

But I'm not really here. I move through the motions like a ghost, barely breathing, barely alive. My hands tremble when I pour drinks, my vision blurs at the edges. The bond isn't just broken, it's a raw, open wound, throbbing with every heartbeat.

Ellie notices. Of course she does. After I nearly drop a glass for the third time, she gently guides me to the back booth, her fingers warm against my icy skin. "Sit," she murmurs. "Before you fall."

So I do.

I curl into the shadows, pressing my back against the worn leather, and let the numbness settle in. My wolf paces beneath my skin, restless and wounded.

I don't realize he's here until I feel him.

Lucian.

His presence brushes against mine like static. Familiar, but not safe. His steps echo like thunder through the silence in my mind, and my wolf perks up, suddenly alert.

No. My breath hitches. Not him.

I clench my fists against the table, my nails biting into my palms as I try to bury the panic rising in my throat. But my wolf won't calm. She recognizes him. Not as a threat. As something else.

Something dangerous.

"Seliene." His voice is low, rough, like gravel dragged over my skin.

I don't move. My muscles are tight, coiled, my body still aching from Ronan's rejection. But Lucian's voice tugs at something deep in me, something my wolf can't ignore.

Slowly, I lift my gaze and the moment our eyes meet, I know.

He feels it.

Not the bond. Not exactly.

The hunger.

My wolf responds to him. Not the way she does to Ronan, with devotion, with fire, but with a primal awareness that shakes me to my core. Lucian's wolf is on edge too. I see it in the way his jaw clenches, the way his fingers flex at his sides, like he's fighting the urge to reach for me.

"What happened to you?" he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

I almost laugh. Almost cry. The words scrape out of me, raw and broken. "He rejected the bond."

Lucian's eyes widen, a flicker of something dark passing through them. Anger? Possession? I can't tell.

And then, before I can stop it, my wolf surges.

Gold flares behind my eyes. My magic, unraveled and wild, flares to the surface, licking at my skin like flames. The air between us crackles, thick with something I don't understand.

I look up at him, heart racing.

"But I think the bond... isn't done with me."

Lucian's breath catches. His wolf is closer now, pressing against his control. I can see it in the way his pupils dilate.

And in that moment, I'm not sure if I'm still mine.

Or if something else is waking up inside me.