Selina’s POV
I should’ve known better. The icy night air bit into my skin as I crossed the courtyard, the gravel crunching beneath my boots. My fingers clutched my phone so tightly that the plastic casing dug into my palm. The words on the screen were burned into my mind.
“Meet me in the courtyard. We need to talk.”
I’d been waiting for those words for days, desperate for an explanation, some reassurance that the distance between us was nothing but paranoia. That the man I’d given my heart, soul, and body to wasn’t about to shatter me.
But deep down, my instincts screamed otherwise.
Everything about Lucas had changed. The coldness in his gaze, the restless energy coiled beneath his arrogant composure, and the clipped tones of his voice whenever we spoke. And then there were the rumours. Nasty little whispers slithered through the pack about how the future Alpha of the Blackwood Pack was expected to mate with someone of power and prestige. Someone worthy of his name.
I’d ignored them, clinging to the intensity of our bond because Lucas was mine. I’d felt it in my bones, in the savage way his lips claimed mine, the possessive growl in his throat when he’d pull me close like he couldn’t bear to be without me.
But now…
I stopped in the middle of the courtyard, breathless, my chest tight with a mix of anxiety and hope. Shadows stretched across the stone pathways, the silence too heavy, too oppressive.
“Lucas?” My voice echoed in the darkness, sharp and trembling.
He emerged from the shadows like a nightmare given form. All dark, predatory grace and icy command. His suit was tailored to perfection, the kind of luxury that reeked of power. And his expression… cold, detached, so unlike the man I’d once known.
“What’s going on?” I forced my voice to remain steady, even as panic twisted my insides. “You’ve been avoiding me for days. If something’s wrong, just tell me.”
His gaze swept over me, a flicker of something raw and pained flashing in his eyes before it was smothered by iron resolve.
“Selina, this—” he gestured between us, his voice low and hard. “—was a mistake.”
It felt like the ground split open beneath me. My mouth went dry, my heart hammering painfully against my ribcage. “What… what are you talking about?”
He clenched his jaw, eyes as cold as the night itself. “I should’ve ended this sooner. I can’t… I won’t be with you.”
The words crashed over me like a tsunami, each syllable sharp enough to bleed. “Why?” My voice cracked, the single word a desperate, wounded plea. “Lucas, we’re—”
“Mates?” he cut me off, his laugh cruel and jagged. “You think that matters? You were a distraction, Selina. A reckless indulgence I should’ve never allowed myself. My father made that very clear.”
My breath hitched. “Your father?”
“Yes. And the pack. The elders. Everyone who actually understands what it means to be Alpha. You think I can throw everything away for some… childish obsession?”
Obsession. That’s what he called it. The nights spent tangled in each other’s arms. The confessions whispered in the dark. The promises I stupidly believed.
I lifted my chin, refusing to let him see me break. “You’re lying.”
His eyes narrowed, the hardness returning. “No, Selina. I’m choosing my duty over a pathetic fling.”
The words were knives, cutting me to pieces, my soul shredded under the weight of his betrayal. My wolf howled in agony, the bond between us straining until it threatened to snap.
I took a shaky step back, the air thick and burning in my lungs. “So that’s it? You’re just throwing me away because some power-hungry old men think I’m not good enough?”
His silence was the worst betrayal of all.
“Get out of here, Selina.” His voice was as cold as his eyes. “And don’t ever come back.”
“Did you lie about your feelings for me, too? Why? Why did you make me believe you loved me? You took my virginity, and that meant nothing to you?”
“I wanted to see what it felt like,” he snaps, eyes blazing with mockery. “What it felt like to be with a mate. The pull, the pleasure. But you? As my Luna?” He laughs, a harsh, grating sound that rips through me. “You’re not fit to stand by my side. You never were.”
The world spins, my breath torn from me by the brutality of his words. “So… I meant nothing to you?”
“Less than nothing,” he growls, his gaze locked on mine, daring me to break. “Just a distraction. A curiosity. That’s all.”
Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of these people. “You’re lying.” The words tremble as they leave me, but the fire in me refuses to die. “You cared. I felt it.”
His eyes narrow, his hands clenching into fists. And then he steps forward, grabbing my arm and shoving me backward with enough force to send me stumbling. “Get it through your head, Selina,” he spits. “Whatever you thought we had was never there; it was all in your head. Get out, leave this pack and never come back.”
I stared at him, my chest aching as if my heart had been ripped from my body. I wanted to scream, to rage, to claw my way through his defenses until he admitted this was all some twisted lie.
But I saw it in his eyes. The truth. He was pushing me away. For good. The elders started laughing with approval. Their laughter echoed in my ears, and it felt like someone had just twisted a dagger in my heart.
The pain was blinding, but pride was a merciless shield. Without another word, I turned and walked away, my footsteps echoing through the courtyard like a death march.
I didn’t dare look back.
Jonathan's POVBlackwood's place was as predictably sterile as the man himself—high-gloss marble in the foyer, gold accents everywhere, not an ounce of personality in the entire mausoleum. Even the air was cold, like he'd figured out a way to refrigerate the oxygen to chill off his guests before he even had to look at them. I stepped into the atrium with the sort of flourish I knew would make the help anxious, my boots echoing on the stone like gunshots.I didn’t bother to announce myself. If you’re going to insult a man’s hospitality, you may as well let him catch you in the act. I tossed my coat at a startled maid, nearly bowling her over with the force of my disregard, then made a beeline for the grand staircase that split the entrance like the jaws of some ancient beast.The house was full of the usual empty aristocrat chatter, which I cut through with a smile that showed every tooth. I made no detours, didn’t linger to chat with some hollow-eyed diplomat, or exchange thinly veile
Jonathan's POVThe dead have better manners than most people I know.Take this one, for example. She’s lying at my feet, every artery neatly severed, still clutching her pale blue clutch like a debutante waiting for her limo. I’d say “rest in peace,” but she looks more at peace than any living girl I’ve met at Lucas’s parties.The trick is to leave a little color in the cheeks. Too pale, and even the idiots in this city start asking questions. I put her out in the cold where the body will keep. No one will find her until sunrise. There’s enough time. There’s always enough time if you take it.The other trick is never to get sentimental about your food. By the time the sun starts nibbling at the eastern sky, I’m already standing on Lucas’s doorstep, wiping the crimson from my lips with a napkin I stole from his own kitchen. They’re the expensive kind, embossed with the Sterling crest: two griffins, one for pride, the other for cruelty. Old money, old secrets. Lucas has both in spades,
Jonathan’s POVI arrived late in the morning—late enough that the estate was fully awake, yet early enough that no one expected me to come unannounced, uninvited, and entirely unbothered by it. The guards at the gate—those same little lapdogs Lucas trained to bare their teeth at anyone without a Blackwood birthmark—looked unsure the second they saw me.As they should.I didn’t wait for clearance. I didn’t roll down my window or flash a fake smile. I stared at them through the glass until one of them caved and waved me through with the kind of hesitation reserved for wild animals and ticking bombs.Because that’s what I was now.A man wrapped in the skin of something worse.Lucas was by the main doors when I pulled up.Perfect.He didn’t say a word as I stepped out of the car, buttoning my coat with slow, calculated ease, letting the tension stretch between us like barbed wire. His eyes flicked to me, cold and unreadable, but I caught the twitch in his jaw. The way his fingers curled a
Jonathan’s POVThe second those steel gates creaked open, slow and reluctant, like the mansion itself was trying to deny me, I adjusted my collar and stepped forward with the kind of deliberate calm that hides a knife behind its back, because I knew exactly what I was walking into—and I wanted every goddamn second of it.The wolves had kept me waiting at the perimeter, their eyes sharp and suspicious, their noses twitching like bloodhounds trying to sniff out something they couldn’t place. Of course, they couldn’t. That was the point. I wasn’t here to be placed. I was here to unsettle. To unseat. To remind Lucas Blackwood that while he had strength, territory, and dominance—I had her.Selina. My girl. His fucking mate.And if I had to play the devoted boyfriend card all the way to hell to make him squirm, so be it.I walked through the front doors without needing to be escorted—because when a man walks like he owns the place, no one dares tell him otherwise—and there he was.Lucas Bla
Selina’s POVThe call came just as I was settling Damon into his temporary room, the one Lucas had reluctantly offered with clipped words and a stiff nod, like the idea of our presence under his roof still grated at some part of him he couldn’t name or wouldn’t admit to—but that wasn’t my concern right now, because Damon was safe, tucked into blankets that smelled faintly of pine and leather and the subtle musk that clung to the walls of this estate like an invisible warning that we were in wolf territory now.My phone buzzed again, more insistent this time, and I sighed, pulling it from the back pocket of my jeans and staring down at Jonathan’s name flashing across the screen like a brand I no longer wanted to wear.I hesitated. Just for a second. Then I answered.“Selina,” his voice came through sharp, too even, like he was trying to hold back something that had already broken loose beneath the surface, “I went to your penthouse.”I blinked, pressing the phone closer to my ear. “Jon
Grant’s POVThe day passed in fragments. Too many voices. Too many thoughts. Too many fucking emotions clawing at my chest like my ribs were a cage and everything inside me wanted out—wanted to scream, to shift, to destroy.But I didn’t. I paced instead.Around the perimeter. Through the halls. In and out of the training grounds. Anywhere but the east wing, anywhere but the spot I knew she was in. Vera.My mate. My human fucking mate.She hadn’t run. She hadn’t slapped me or screamed or asked what kind of psycho I was for yelling at invisible wolves and fleeing into the forest like some lunatic on the verge of a nervous breakdown. No. She’d followed me to the edge of the estate, arms crossed, lips pressed, and said, You’re not getting rid of me that easily.And just like that, I was fucked, because now I couldn’t get rid of her even if I wanted to.Not that I wanted to.Goddess!I was so far past wanting her I didn’t even know where I was anymore. Every second I spent not touching her