10

The moment that thought surfaced, Zara forced herself to crush it. Impossible.

Last month, the second Declan heard Marina was sick, so he booked a midnight flight overseas without hesitation. He stayed by her side for three sleepless days. Just to make Marina smile, he even bought her a necklace worth billions.

When he returned, he still murmured Marina’s name in his sleep.

Declan loved Marina that deeply how could he possibly not want to reject Zara as his mate?

Declan assumed Zara was only disappointed because she couldn’t get the money. The disgust in his eyes sharpened. He sneered, his Alpha aura thickening like cold smoke.

“Zara, the Jordan Pack isn’t a place you can come and leave whenever you please. Back then, you refused to annul the bond. Now, I won’t let you take my wealth and walk away so easily.”

Zara didn’t understand. Her fingers trembled slightly around the contract.

“This compensation is so you can be with Marina,” she said, voice tight but controlled. “You think it’s not worth it?”

Declan froze for half a second, genuinely baffled.

Marina? What did Marina have to do with this?

Then he understood what Zara meant, she believed this mate rejection was her way of blessing his future with Marina.

The realization made Declan feel both amused and sickened.

So Zara was the one asking to end the bond and take a portion of pack assets, yet she dared to act as if she was sacrificing herself for his happiness?

Just like her mother calculating to the bone.

Declan let out a low, icy laugh. In the next instant, his hand shot out and gripped Zara’s chin, forcing her to look up at him.

His fingers were strong, unyielding, Alpha-dominant.

“Who told you I need to reject you to be with Marina?” he whispered.

The words were sharp enough to cut skin.

Zara stared into the blackness of his eyes, and slowly, something inside her began to freeze over layer by layer, like a lake turning to ice.

Yes.

Declan had never been a man bound by morality, nor by vows, nor by the sacredness of a mate bond.

Whether she stayed with Luna or not had nothing to do with whether he would hold Marina in his arms.

Seeing Zara’s face go pale, Declan assumed her “scheme” had failed. His smile turned crueler, the corners of his lips lifting with contempt.

“Zara,” he said coldly, “stop your pathetic little games. Be good. Do your duty as the Luna of the Jordan Pack, or…”

He yanked his hand back roughly, as if touching her disgusted him.

Then he lifted the rejection contract and slapped it against his palm, the sound echoing in the silent hallway like a judge’s gavel.

“Leave with nothing,” he said. “Think carefully.”

With that, Declan didn’t spare her another glance. He turned and walked away as if she were nothing more than a stain he couldn’t wait to scrub from his life.

Before he descended the stairs, he called out with satisfaction, voice loud enough for the entire pack house to hear.

“Susan. Your work has been excellent lately. Next month, I’m adding four million to your pay.”

Susan’s face lit up so brightly her cheeks flushed red. Her voice was practically singing.

“Thank you, Alpha! Don’t worry, I’ll work even harder. I won’t disappoint you!”

Declan disappeared down the stairs.

Susan still stood there grinning, basking in the reward. Then she turned her head slightly and glanced at Zara briefly, lazily, like a queen acknowledging a fallen servant.

And then she went back to cleaning, humming under her breath.

Zara’s eyes burned. Her entire body felt as if it had been drained of strength. She leaned against the railing, knees giving out, until she sank onto the floor.

She had expected Declan to make things difficult.

She had prepared herself for cruelty.

But she had never imagined he would humiliate her like this so openly, so mercilessly.

He trampled every sacrifice she had made as his Luna.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, he added insult like poison poured into a wound.

In Declan’s heart, Zara wasn’t even worth as much as Susan.

Zara lowered her gaze to the contract in her hand. The paper trembled slightly not from fear, but from the last remnants of her heart trying to break.

Strangely, she felt calm.

Maybe because disappointment had visited her too many times. Maybe because her tears had already dried long ago.

She understood it now.

Declan wasn’t unwilling to pay.

He simply wanted to torture her. He wanted to see her crawl out of his life in shame, in ruin, in despair.

Declan insisted she leave with nothing.

No matter how hard she fought, it would never matter.

And if she didn’t reject the bond?

Then she would remain trapped in this pack house, living day after day in suffering watching him choose Marina again and again, until her soul was stripped bare.

She couldn’t bear it anymore.

Not after losing her pup.

Not after the pain of that blood-soaked car wreck, the emptiness in her womb, the coldness of waking up alone.

 Declan’s words earlier had made one thing clear.

Staying in the Jordan Pack would only destroy her future.

Zara sat there for a long time.

So long the pack house grew quiet.

So long even Susan eventually stopped making noise downstairs.

When she was finally alone in the villa, Zara slowly stood.

She walked into her room, shut the door behind her, and stared at the contract one last time.

Then she took out her phone and called her lawyer.

“I want the contract rewritten,” she said quietly. “Remove everything. I’ll sign whatever it takes.”

Her voice was steady.

Too steady.

As if she had already died once and this was simply the funeral of her love.

The call ended.

Zara placed the phone down and exhaled slowly, as if she had been holding her breath for five years.

She had just turned back toward the bedroom when her phone rang again.

The screen lit up with an unfamiliar number.

Zara hesitated for a heartbeat then answered.

The moment the line connected, a man’s low voice deep, familiar, and dangerous spoke from the other side.

“I heard you’re rejecting your mate bond.”

Zara’s blood turned cold.

The voice belonged to someone she hadn’t heard in years.

Someone she once believed would never return.

“I’m curious,” he continued, voice like velvet wrapped around claws. “Are you interested in coming back?”