Chapter 6: Breaking Point

The cabin was dark when I arrived, my breath misting in the cold night air. Our sanctuary. The place where Kaden had promised me everything just days ago.

Now it felt like a graveyard for dead dreams.

I pushed open the door and found him already there, pacing like a caged animal. He turned when I entered, relief flooding his features.

“Aria. Thank the Goddess.” He moved toward me, but stopped when he saw my expression. “What’s wrong?”

I almost laughed. What’s wrong? As if he didn’t know. As if the entire world wasn’t crumbling around us.

“Tell me about your day,” I said quietly. “Tell me about your tour with Seraphina.”

He ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident. “It was torture. My father insisted I play the gracious host. I had no choice.”

“You always have a choice.” I stayed by the door, maintaining distance. “You just keep choosing wrong.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fair?” Now I did laugh, the sound bitter. “Nothing about this is fair, Kaden. She thinks she’s marrying you. She spent an hour today describing your wedding, your children, and your future together. And you, what? You just smiled and showed her the territory like none of that matters?”

“I was being polite!” His voice rose. “What did you want me to do? Tell her to leave in front of my father and Alpha Blackthorn? Start a diplomatic incident that could endanger the entire pack?”

“I wanted you to tell me!” The words exploded out. “I wanted you to warn me that she was coming. That your father is negotiating your engagement behind your back. That I’d have to serve her while she plans my nightmare!”

Kaden’s face crumpled. “I didn’t know about the engagement. I swear to you, I didn’t know until this morning. My father ambushed me with it.”

“And what did you say? When he told you?”

Silence. Heavy and damning.

“I asked for time,” he finally admitted. “To get to know her before any announcements were made.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut. “To get to know her.”

“I had to say something! He was pushing for an immediate announcement. I bought us three weeks, Aria. Three weeks to figure this out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out!” I was shaking now, rage and fear warring inside me. “Your father threatened to kill me. Last night, after you promised me everything, he told you that if you don’t choose Seraphina, I will die. And you, what? You asked for time to get to know your future wife?”

Kaden went white. “How did you… You heard that?”

“I was still in your room. In the servant’s passage.” My voice broke. “I heard everything. How I’m a distraction. How am I going to get you killed like your uncle? How I’ll disappear if you don’t do what he wants.”

“Oh, God.” He sank onto the old bench, head in his hands. “Aria, I was going to tell you. I just needed to think, to plan…”

“To plan what? My funeral?” Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “Tell me the truth, Kaden. Right now. If it comes down to it, if your father forces your hand in three weeks, who do you choose? Me or her?”

He looked up, anguish written across his face. “You. Always you.”

“Even if it means your pack suffers? Even if it means losing allies, political isolation, everything your father warned you about?”

His hesitation was answer enough.

“You can’t promise that,” I said softly. “Because you don’t know. You want to choose me, but when you’re standing in front of your pack, with your father’s expectations and your uncle’s death haunting you, you’ll do what you think is right for Shadowpine.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” I moved closer now, needing him to really see me. “Kaden, I’ve spent six months being your secret. Six months hiding and sneaking and pretending I’m nothing to you. I’ve done it because you asked me to wait, to trust you, to believe that love would be enough.”

“It is enough.”

“No.” The word came out firm, final. “It’s not. Love without courage is just pretty words. And you’re not brave enough to choose me when it costs you something.”

“That’s not fair!” He stood, his own anger flaring. “You’re asking me to choose between you and my entire pack. Between my mate and my duty. Do you have any idea how impossible that is?”

“Then maybe I’m not your mate.” The words tasted like poison. “Maybe the Moon Goddess made a mistake.”

“Don’t say that.” He reached for me, but I stepped back. “Don’t you dare say that. You are my mate. My fated mate. Nothing changes that.”

“Everything changes that. Fate doesn’t mean anything if you’re too scared to claim it.”

The door suddenly burst open. Maya stood there, breathing hard, her eyes wild with panic.

“You need to leave. Both of you. Now.”

My heart stopped. “What happened?”

“Alpha Marcus knows you’re here. Someone saw you coming to the cabin.” She grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the door. “He’s sending warriors. They’ll be here in minutes.”

Kaden went rigid, his Alpha instincts kicking in. “How many?”

“Ten. Maybe more.” Maya looked at me, desperation in her eyes. “Aria, if they find you here with him, Marcus will use it as justification to exile you immediately. Or worse.”

“Let them come.” Kaden’s voice was hard. “I’ll tell my father this ends now. That I’m choosing Aria, consequences be damned.”

For one beautiful moment, I let myself believe him. Let me imagine him standing up to Alpha Marcus, claiming me publicly, damn the consequences.

Then reality crashed back.

“And then what?” I asked quietly. “You defy your father before you even have the Alpha power. He strips you of the heir position. Name someone else. You lose everything, and I still end up with nothing because you won’t be Alpha anymore.”

“I don’t care about being Alpha!”

“Yes, you do!” I was crying now, and couldn’t stop the tears anymore. “You’ve trained your whole life for this. It’s who you are. And I won’t let you throw that away for me, because eventually you’ll resent me for it. Eventually, you’ll look at me and see everything you sacrificed, and you’ll hate me.”

“I could never hate you.”

“You’d hate yourself. And that’s worse.” I turned to Maya. “Is the path to the border clear?”

“If you go now, yes. But Aria…”

“I’m leaving.” The decision crystallised, cold and clear. “Tonight. I’m not staying here to be killed or watch him marry someone else.”

“No.” Kaden grabbed my shoulders. “No, you’re not leaving. We’ll figure this out. I’ll talk to my father, I’ll make him understand…”

“He’ll never understand!” I shoved him away. “And I can’t do this anymore, Kaden. I can’t keep waiting for you to be brave enough to choose me. I can’t keep breaking my own heart hoping you’ll suddenly become someone you’re not.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying goodbye.” The words shattered something inside me. “I’m saying I love you, but I love myself more. And staying here, watching you marry her, letting your father threaten my life, that’s not love. That’s just slow suicide.”

“Aria, please.” He was begging now, tears in his own eyes. “Don’t go. Not like this. Give me the three weeks. Let me take the Alpha power and then I can protect you. Then I’ll have the authority to…”

“In three weeks, I’ll be dead or you’ll be engaged to Seraphina Blackthorn.” I backed toward the door, Maya steadying me. “Either way, we’re finished.”

“I won’t let you go.”

“You don’t have a choice.” I looked at him one last time, memorising his face. “You know what the worst part is? I think you really do love me. I think in your perfect world where you could have everything, you’d choose me every time. But we don’t live in that world. We live in this one, where loving me costs you too much.”

“Nothing costs too much if it means keeping you.”

“Then prove it.” I challenged. “Come with me right now. Leave Shadowpine. Walk away from the Alpha ceremony, from your father, from all of it. Choose me over duty.”

His silence was deafening.

“That’s what I thought.” I turned away before he could see me completely break. “Goodbye, Kaden.”

“Wait!” He lunged forward. “At least tell me where you’re going. Let me know you’re safe.”

“No. Because you’ll come after me, and then we’ll just do this all over again.” I looked at Maya. “Let’s go.”

We ran into the forest, taking the hidden paths Maya had scouted earlier. Behind us, I heard Kaden shouting my name, heard the sound of warriors arriving at the cabin.

“Keep moving,” Maya urged. “We have maybe ten minutes before they track our scent.”

My chest felt like it was caving in. The mate bond, already damaged from rejection, was screaming in protest at the distance growing between us. Every step away from Kaden felt like walking through fire.

“It hurts,” I gasped, stumbling.

“I know. But you’re strong enough to survive it.” Maya caught me, kept me moving. “You’re strong enough to survive anything.”

We reached the border just as dawn broke. The invisible line that separated Shadowpine territory from the wilderness beyond. Once I crossed it, I’d be rogue. Packless. Vulnerable.

But I’d be free.

“Last chance to change your mind,” Maya said softly.

I thought about Kaden back at the cabin. About Alpha Marcus’s threats. About Seraphina’s cruel smile. About three more weeks of torture followed by either death or heartbreak.

“I’m done changing my mind for other people.” I stepped across the border. “From now on, I choose myself.”

The bond with Shadowpine Pack was severed completely. For the second time in my life, I felt a connection rip away, leaving me hollow and alone.

But this time, I’d chosen it.

This time, I’d walked away with my head high.

Behind us, warriors burst from the treeline. Kaden was with them, his face desperate.

“Aria!” He stopped at the border, unable to cross without declaring war. “Don’t do this! Please!”

I looked at him across that invisible line. The boy I’d loved. The man who’d loved me back but not enough.

“Be happy, Kaden.” My voice was steady despite the tears. “Marry Seraphina. Become the Alpha your father wants you to be. Forget about me.”

“I’ll never forget you.”

“Then let that be your punishment.” I turned my back on him, on Shadowpine, on everything I’d known. “Come on, Maya. We have a long walk ahead of us.”

As we disappeared into the forest, I didn’t look back.

I couldn’t.

Because if I did, I’d see him standing at the border, watching me leave, doing nothing to stop me.

And that would break me more than rejection ever could.