Chapter 2

In our third year together, Rex brought back a moonstone from the full moon ceremony and gave it to me.

Lilia burst in, jabbed a finger in my face, and screamed:

"You're nothing but a woman using my brother to climb the ranks. You think you deserve a keepsake from him?"

She smashed the moonstone against my forehead.

Before the stone even struck, the mate bond had already sent a warning to Rex. His face went white, and the black wolf howled inside his mindscape:

"Wendy is in danger!

"Go protect her!"

But when he arrived, the first person he shielded was still Lilia.

"Her wolf is unstable. Don't hold it against her."

I pressed my hand to my bleeding forehead and stared at the moonstone shattered across the floor.

No one noticed that while Rex was making excuses for Lilia, she quietly bent down and tucked one of the bloodstained fragments into the pouch at her waist.

As though it wasn't evidence of what she'd done to me, but a trophy worth keeping.

On the day of the Spring Hunt Festival, I roasted a snow hare, hoping to share it with Rex.

When Lilia came to the bonfire, she didn't make a scene right away.

She studied the position of the coals for a long time, then glanced down to estimate the distance between me and the grill.

She waited until I reached for the hare before slamming into the grill.

The scalding coals landed squarely on my legs.

My werewolf healing stopped the burns from worsening almost at once, but the blackened, blistered flesh still left me shaking with pain.

Far away, the mate bond drove a sharp pain through Rex's chest.

When he arrived, the black wolf kept urging him to check my wounds, but all he did was brush the ash off Lilia's hands.

"She couldn't control her wolf. It wasn't on purpose."

I was in too much pain to speak.

Lilia stood behind him, her head bowed to hide the smile that hadn't quite faded from her lips.

The worst time was on the anniversary of my parents' death.

Lilia slashed their portrait with her claws and laughed.

"Good riddance!

"You're next!"

My silver wolf slammed against my mindscape with a furious roar, nearly forcing me into a full shift right there.

Rex's black wolf was howling too.

"She's insulting our mate!

"Throw her out!"

But Rex still held me back.

"Don't provoke Lilia. She can't control herself right now."

While he blocked my view, Lilia secretly tore a small piece from the lower right corner of the portrait, where the hem of my mother's dress appeared, and slipped it into her sleeve.

She thought no one had seen.

But the memory crystal by the window, used to record ceremonial proceedings, had captured every move.

Every single time, Rex could sense my pain through the bond.

But he chose, again and again, to ignore the warnings from the mate bond and the protests of his black wolf.

Even now, he still had Lilia in his arms.

"Wendy, if you really loved me, you wouldn't force me to make this kind of choice."

I looked down at the shattered wreath and the extinguished sacred fire, and suddenly, everything felt absurd.

"I gave you seven years.

"For seven years, your black wolf urged you to complete the mark, and you chose to put it off every single time.

"Today is the deadline.

"Me, or her?"

Lilia burrowed into his arms.

"Rex, please don't leave me..."

Rex was silent for a long time.

His body was still facing me, but his arms around Lilia didn't loosen.

Finally, he answered in a cold voice, "If that's how you want it, then we're done."

My silver wolf let out a long, keening wail.

It was a cry of absolute despair over this fated bond.

I was done waiting.

I turned to Healer Martha.

"Please witness my rejection."

Silence fell over the crowd.

Once both parties completed the formal rejection, the mate bond granted by the Moon Goddess would shatter completely.

Even though we had never completed the mark on each other's necks, our souls would still endure a pain close to being torn apart.

But according to the pack's ancient laws, even after the bond was severed, a faint echo would remain from seven years of shared memory between two wolves.

This echo was imperceptible in daily life. Only when one wolf faced complete dissolution would it produce a final, mournful resonance.

Healer Martha nodded gravely.

I stood in front of Rex, but the words wouldn't come.

In those few seconds, seven years of memories tumbled through my mind.

In the snow forest when I was eighteen, the first time he reached out his hand.

The first full moon surge, when he stood outside my door and soothed me in a low voice all through the night.

And then the countless full moons that followed, when I curled up in bed alone, enduring my silver wolf's longing for her mate.

Every time, I told myself to hold on a little longer.

Until he secured his position.

Until Lilia got better.

Until the next full moon.

But seven years passed, and all I ever got was another "just a little longer."

Tears fell without warning.

My silver wolf asked me sadly, "Are we really giving him up?"

I closed my eyes.

"Yes.

"We can't keep living like this."

I opened my eyes and spoke the oath, word by word:

"I, Wendy Hart, reject you, Rex Blackwood, as my mate."

Rex stumbled back a step.

His hand shot up as if to stop me.

The black wolf screamed in his mindscape:

"Grab her!

"Tell her we don't accept!"

But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lilia clutching her head again.

Lilia's shoulders shook, but through the gaps between her fingers, her eyes were locked on him.

Rex's raised hand froze in midair.

As the oath left my lips, silvery threads of soul energy emerged from my chest.

Agony ripped through my heart.

I stumbled forward a step, instinctively reaching for Rex.

But just before my fingertips brushed his sleeve, I slowly pulled back.

After choosing to let go, I shouldn't seek comfort from him again.

My silver wolf let out an agonized wail in my mindscape, then closed her eyes.

Rex let out a pained groan.

His black wolf fought desperately to stop him from accepting, howling with despair:

"You can't agree!

"She's our fated mate!

"You'll destroy us!"

Veins bulged at Rex's temples.

He looked at me for a long time.

But when Lilia whimpered again, he clamped down on his black wolf's will one final time.

Through gritted teeth, he spoke the formal response in full:

"I, Rex Blackwood, accept your rejection."

The soul threads snapped.

Rex and I dropped to our knees at the same time.

From that moment on, I could no longer sense his emotions through the bond.

And he no longer had the ability to sense when I was in danger.

I braced myself against the altar and stood, then turned to face the pack.

"The mating ceremony is canceled.

"From this day forward, Alpha Rex and I are no longer mates."

Lilia leaned close to Rex's ear and whispered something.

Rex endured the searing pain of the rejection, picked Lilia up, and carried her away.

Before he reached the edge of the altar, his steps faltered briefly.

But he never looked back.

After the crowd dispersed, I returned alone to the cabin we had built together and started packing.

Before long, a new recording appeared on the pack's communication crystal.

The background was the Moonlight Hot Spring, a place only the Alpha and his official mate were allowed to enter.

Lilia held up a glass of fruit wine, her arms wrapped tightly around Rex's neck.

Rex leaned against the edge of the spring, shirtless. He looked exhausted, the pain from the rejection still etched between his brows.

But Lilia smiled smugly at the crystal.

"To my brother's freedom.

"He finally doesn't have to put up with that woman who thought she could be Luna."