Chapter Two: The Severed Thread

Asha collapsed against the brick wall, her knees giving out completely.

She hit the cold concrete floor, clutching her chest with both hands. It felt like someone had driven a red-hot blade through her sternum and twisted it. She couldn't breathe. Her lungs seized, pulling in short, ragged gasps as a phantom cold spread out from her core, numbing her fingers and toes.

"Asha? Hey, Asha!"

Trina, one of the senior dancers, rounded the corner holding a stack of clean towels. She dropped them the instant she saw Asha on the floor.

"God, Asha, what’s wrong? Are you having a panic attack?" Trina rushed over, dropping to her knees and taking Asha’s trembling shoulders.

"I... I don't know," Asha choked out, tears burning her eyes. She stared at the empty hallway where the giant stranger in the suit had vanished. "I can't... it hurts, Trina. It hurts so bad."

"Where? Did someone hurt you? Did a customer get back here?" Trina’s eyes went dark, her hand instinctively reaching for the panic button on the wall.

"No," Asha whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. "He... he didn't touch me."

That was the terrifying part. He hadn't laid a single finger on her. He had just spoken those bizarre, arrogant words, I reject you, and it felt like a piece of her soul had been violently ripped out and thrown in the dirt.

It didn't make sense. She was a practical, sensible human. She didn't believe in curses, or ghost pain, or love at first sight. But as she sat on the filthy floor of The Velvet Hide, a hollow, bleeding void sat right where her heart used to be.

Kadence Thornwell.

The name echoed in her head like a stain.

"Come on, get up," Trina said gently, helping Asha to her feet. "You're shock-pale. Go change. I'll cover the rest of your shift with the manager."

Asha nodded dumbly, forcing her legs to move toward the dressing room. She washed her face with cold water, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Her skin was ghastly, her dark eyes wide and haunted.

'Whatever he did to me', Asha thought, gripping the edges of the sink until her knuckles turned white, 'if I ever see that arrogant bastard again, I’ll kill him'.

Outside, the October night air hit Kadence like an icy bucket of water.

He slammed out the back exit into the alleyway, his heart pounding in his throat. He staggered against his sleek black SUV, gripping the roof of the vehicle as he gasped for air.

The rejection had gone through. The bond was severed.

He should have felt relieved. He had cut the tether before the corruption could take root. He had protected his pack from bringing a human stripper into the high seat of the Thornwell line. He had avoided his father's pathetic path.

So why did he feel like he was dying?

A vicious, agonizing ache exploded behind his ribs. His wolf roared in absolute agony, a gut-wrenching, mournful sound that echoed only in his mind. The beast was thrashing against his ribcage, clawing to get out, screaming at him to go back inside, to drag her out of that club, to scent her skin and undo the curse he had just laid upon them both.

YOU FOOL, his wolf snarled, its voice thick with betrayal. YOU BROKE OUR MATE.

"Shut up," Kadence growled out loud, his knuckles bleeding as his claws inadvertently punched through the metal of the car roof. "She’s a human. A stripper. She would have destroyed us."

SHE WAS OURS.

"Kade!"

Ronan burst out of the alley door, his face pale with shock. He skidded to a stop, looking from Kadence’s golden, glowing eyes down to his trembling, clawed hands.

"What the hell happened in there?" Ronan demanded, his voice hushed. "I felt the pressure drop clear across the club. The air in there turned to ice. Did you... did you find a rogue?"

Kadence closed his eyes, forcing his claws to retract. The pain in his chest didn't subside. It settled into a dull, throbbing sickness that made his blood feel like lead.

"No," Kadence said, his voice terrifyingly flat. "I found her."

Ronan froze. "Your mate? In there?"

Kadence didn't answer. He ripped open the driver's side door and shoved himself into the leather seat.

Ronan rounded the car and slammed into the passenger seat, staring at him in utter disbelief. "Kade, answer me. You found your fated mate inside The Velvet Hide? Where is she? Why aren't we bringing her home?"

"I rejected her," Kadence said. He started the engine, the roar of the V8 engine drowning out the agonizing silence in his soul.

Ronan stared at him as if Kadence had just sprouted a second head. "You... you what?"

"You heard me." Kadence threw the car into reverse, tires screeching against the asphalt as he backed out of the alley. "She's a human. Works the pole. I am not bringing Garrison Thornwell's legacy into my pack house. I am not letting history repeat itself."

"Are you insane?!" Ronan shouted, turning in his seat to face him. "Kadence, it's a fated mate bond! The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes! You've been searching for eight years, you have thirty days before the elders strip your rank, and you just rejected the one woman universe made for you?!"

"The Goddess made a mistake!" Kadence roared, his voice cracking with a raw, ugly emotion he hadn't felt since he was twelve years old. He struck the steering wheel with his palm. "I saw what a woman like that did to my mother! I watched my father trade our entire territory for a woman who danced for cash! I will not bow down to a stripper!"

"She's not just a stripper, Kade! She's your Luna!" Ronan snapped, his eyes flashing wolf-yellow in the dark cab. "And you just cut her off with no warning. Do you have any idea what rejection pain does to a human? She doesn't have a wolf to heal her! It could kill her!"

Kadence’s hands froze on the steering wheel.

A sudden, sharp memory flashed in his mind, the way her dark eyes had widened in total, innocent confusion. The way her breath had hitched when he stepped close. She hadn't looked like a scheming enchantress. She had looked like a terrified, proud girl trying to protect herself.

A cold knot of guilt tightened in his stomach, heavy and suffocating.

"She's fine," Kadence muttered, forcing his eyes back to the dark highway leading back to Thornwell territory. "She's human. She'll think it was a weird encounter and move on."

"You pray to God she does," Ronan said softly, looking out the window as the trees blurred past. "Because the elders are meeting tomorrow morning. And when they ask if you found your mate.... what are you going to tell them?"

Kadence gripped the wheel tight enough to crack the leather.

He didn't have an answer.

He had chosen his pride and his trauma over his destiny. But as he drove into the dark estate of the Thornwell pack house, the ghost of her scent, pine needles, crushed lilies, and honey, refused to leave his lungs.