第4章

I braced against the long table, black blood dripping onto the floor.

Adrian looked at me.

For the first time, real fear showed in his eyes.

He took a step toward me.

An absurd little hope even sparked in me.

Maybe this time, he would steady me first.

Vivian cried out for him.

"I can't feel my hand."

The hall dissolved into chaos.

Someone called for physicians.

Someone evacuated the ordinary members.

Someone asked if I had deliberately sabotaged Vivian's reinstatement ceremony.

I could barely hear any of it.

The wolfsbane locked my mind inside a pitch-black forest.

Two teams of physicians arrived at once, pushing antidote into my veins and Vivian's.

The lead physician looked at Adrian.

"The drugs can hold their bodies for now, but both of their wolves are collapsing.

"Your Alpha power can enter only one of their minds first. Wait any longer, and both of them may lose the ability to shift forever."

Adrian stood between me and Vivian.

I looked at him.

My mate bond with him still held. If he was willing, he wouldn't even need to cross to my side.

Vivian clutched his sleeve, shaking as she sobbed.

Adrian closed his eyes briefly.

Then he finally spoke.

"Vivian first."

His answer settled between us.

The last small voice inside me went out.

His psychic strength passed over me and forced open a temporary channel into Vivian's mind.

To concentrate his power, he even sealed off the mate channel to me himself.

My chest hollowed out.

My legs gave, and I sank to the floor.

The pack members' mind-links skimmed past the edges of my consciousness.

Not one of them truly belonged to me.

Someone said that after eight years, I still wouldn't let Vivian go.

Someone said a woman without a wolf never deserved to be Luna in the first place.

As the physicians lifted me onto a stretcher, Adrian was holding Vivian, calling her name over and over.

He turned, saw my hands covered in blood, and his body stiffened.

But he didn't pull out of her mind.

"I'll have Marcus go with you to the medical center."

I looked up at him.

He avoided my eyes.

Vivian buried her face in his chest.

He added, "Her reinstatement ceremony is tomorrow. Nothing can go wrong."

I suddenly laughed.

Eight years ago, nothing could be allowed to happen to my wolf.

Yet he chose to protect her standing first.

Eight years later, I was coughing up black blood from wolfsbane again.

And he chose to protect her ceremony first.

When the ambulances arrived, two medical teams took us away separately.

Adrian climbed in after Vivian.

Before the doors closed, he finally turned and called my name.

I didn't answer.

I didn't want to hear it anymore.

The other ambulance carried me to the medical center.

When I woke, the room smelled of antiseptic and nothing else.

Wolfsbane residue kept every bone in my body aching.

The nurse said my nerve responses were weak and I needed further observation.

She also said Adrian had called many times, asking whether I was awake.

I didn't take the calls.

I opened Black Pine Pack's official registry.

Then, word by word, I entered:

I, Elena Ward, reject Adrian Cross as my fated mate.

From this day on, I no longer accept his protection, his commands, or his rights as my mate.

I pressed confirm.

It felt as if an invisible hand had torn my chest open.

Blood welled from the corner of my lips.

Deep inside me, my wolf, silent for eight years, let out a faint, mournful cry.

Just before the mate bond dissolved completely, I felt one last surge of agony from the other end.

It was the first time Adrian had felt what it meant to be abandoned by his mate.

I changed out of the hospital gown and left that place for good.