Chapter 5_I reject this bond

“I hear you've been feeding information to my enemies,” I said, my voice low, precise, and deadly. 

The basement was cold, dark, and smelled of damp stone and fear. Chains rattled as the man struggled against his restraints, eyes wide with panic, and sweat running down his face.

“I—I don’t know! I swear! I just…” His words faltered. His courage was already gone, replaced with raw, trembling terror.

“Who do you work for?” I asked, stepping closer, the harsh overhead light cutting across his sweat-streaked features. My shadow fell over him like a blade.

“I… I’m not telling! I swear!” He struggled again, futilely.

I smiled coldly. “You’re going to tell me. One way or another.”

I bent and picked up a spanner from the workbench. Its weight was satisfying in my hand, cold steel against my palm. I ran a finger along the jagged edges, testing it as I studied him.

“Let’s start with something simple,” I said, voice calm. My fingers moved to his hand, gripping it tight. He flinched, trying to pull away, but the chains held him in place.

A click and a sharp, deliberate tug. A scream ripped from him as his finger bent unnaturally beneath my grip. The spanner twisted, metal biting into bone, and tendons stretching in ways nature never intended. He cried out, pleading, begging, tears streaking his filthy face.

“Who do you work for?” I asked again, voice flat, almost bored.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you! It’s Thalos!” he gasped, choking on his own fear.

I did not relent immediately. The spanner twisted again, a sickening sound that echoed off the stone walls. He wailed, body shaking, trying to pull free, but the chains held him fast.

“Your loyalty is… questionable,” I murmured, voice soft, almost intimate. My other hand ran over the hilt of my knife, polished and gleaming in the dim light. “Perhaps a reminder of consequence is in order.”

A twist of the spanner. A scream. A tear ran down his cheek. “I—I’ll tell you everything! I swear! I swear!”

I paused, letting the fear sink in. Let him realize that survival was not in his hands. I ran a cloth across my palm, watching the sweat and blood mingle. My eyes never left his.

“Do you understand what happens to liars?” I asked quietly.

“Yes… yes… please… please…”

I drove the knife into his neck in one clean motion. His scream was cut short, gurgling into silence.

I picked up a cloth and wiped my hand calmly, as if the act had been nothing more than a pen stroke on a ledger. Every detail mattered. Precision mattered.

I grabbed my phone and dialed Rowan.

“I’m leaving the penthouse now,” I said, my voice even, and controlled. “Prepare everything. I’m coming to see my bride.”

“Understood, Alpha,” Rowan replied.

I hung up, straightened, and left the basement behind.

The elevator ride up was silent. My mind had already shifted from violence to calculation, from chaos to control. In my private chambers, I drew a hot bath, letting the water wash away the tension and blood from my skin. Emerging, I dressed in a finely tailored black suit. I was power incarnate, and power had always been my language.

The estate rose from the forest like a sentinel, shadowed and imposing as I arrived. 

I entered the house first.

The doors closed behind me with a heavy finality, the sound echoing through the grand hall. The familiar scent of stone, pine, and power greeted me. This was my territory. My domain. Nothing here moved without my will.

I took my seat, settling into the high-backed chair near the base of the staircase, crossing one leg over the other as servants retreated into silence. Rowan stood a few paces away, hands clasped behind his back, waiting.

“Where is my bride?” I asked calmly.

Upstairs,” Rowan answered. “She's settling in nicely.”

I exhaled slowly. Human. Fragile. Temporary. That was all she was meant to be.

“Go and call her,” I said.

Rowan inclined his head and turned to obey.

Then something restless stirred in my chest, pushing me to go instead. 

“You know what?” I said, rising to my feet. “I’ll go see her myself.”

Rowan paused, surprised for half a second, then nodded. “As you wish, Alpha.”

I stood up, walked to the stairs, and started moving. 

And then I saw her.

My Bride.

She was descending the stairs cautiously, her movements hesitant and her fingers wrapped tightly around the railing. She looked smaller than I had expected and obviously fragile. 

Then her foot slipped.

I moved without thought, reaching for her instinctively.

The moment I touched her, everything changed.

A violent surge tore through me, sharp and overwhelming, as though something ancient had awakened within my blood. My breath caught as heat and power coiled tightly around my chest, my instincts screaming a single, impossible truth.

Mate.

At the same instant, silver light flared at her neck, the mark appearing as though burned into her skin by moonfire itself. I froze, my grip tightening as the reality of it slammed into me.

This was not possible.

She looked up at me, eyes wide with confusion and fear, unaware of the storm ripping through me. I could feel the bond, heavy, demanding, and relentless, anchoring itself into my very soul.

"Why you?" I asked more to myself than her. 

Her eyes, wide and terrified, locked onto mine. And then, in a trembling voice, she whispered, "Why me? You… you asked for me.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. My chest tightened, disbelief roaring through my veins. How could this be? A human. A woman with a past steeped in survival, in fear, in men and money. My mate.

Fury surged, twisting into judgment. The Moon… the goddess… had played a cruel joke. How could she expect this to be right? How could this frail, broken human be tethered to me, bound by blood and instinct and a force I had never sought?

I lifted her slightly, steadying her in my arms, and the intensity of the bond flared again, demanding, pulling, insistent. Every nerve, every instinct, screamed.

“How… how can this be?” I hissed, voice low, full of disbelief and fury. “You… someone like you, be my mate?”

Her lips trembled. “I… I don’t understand…”

“You asked for me,” she repeated, voice trembling but clear. “You… you asked for me. And now… now we’re—”

I recoiled, releasing her hand. Rage, shock, disbelief, and bitter denial coiled in my chest like fire. The bond flared, relentless and undeniable, but I would not yield.

The Moon had made a mistake.

“I… reject this bond.”