02 Going Hime

Sera

Pregnant. Elara was pregnant with Kane's child.

I didn't remember deciding to go to his office but suddenly I was there, shoving the door open so hard it slammed against the wall. Kane looked up from his desk, startled.

"Is it true?"

He went completely still. "Is what true?"

"Don't. Don't make me say it when you already know what I'm asking."

The silence stretched out. Then he said, very quietly, "Yes."

The room tilted sideways.

"She's pregnant." I heard myself say it out loud. "Elara's pregnant with your child and you didn't think to fucking tell me?"

"The pack needs an heir, Sera. We tried for three years and nothing happened. I had to make a choice."

"So you fucked her."

"I did what was necessary for the pack's future."

He wasn't even trying to deny it. Wasn't even pretending this was anything other than exactly what it looked like.

I stared at him. This was Kane. My mate. The man I'd run away with four years ago because I thought we'd found something real.

"When did it start?"

He didn't answer.

"How long have you been sleeping with her, Kane?"

"About a year ago."

A year. An entire year of him being inside her while I waited. All those nights he said he was handling pack business, all those times I saw them together and he told me I was paranoid. Twelve months of lying to my face.

"You should have told me."

"You would have left."

"Of course I would have left! You were fucking someone else!"

"I was doing my duty as Alpha. The pack needs stability. They need an heir. You couldn't provide that, so I found someone who could." He said it like it was reasonable. Like I should understand.

"Don't." My voice came out rough. "Don't stand there and act like this was about duty. You wanted to fuck her from the second she walked into this pack, I saw it. So don't try to feed me this bullshit story about pack needs and heirs when we both know you just wanted her."

Kane's expression shifted. "Sera—"

"How long were you planning to keep this going? How long were you going to string me along while you built a life with her?"

"This doesn't have to change what we have." He reached across the desk toward me. "You're still my mate. We can make this work if you'd just—"

"Then reject the bond."

His hand froze. "What?"

"If you give a single shit about me, reject the bond. Let me go."

"I'm not doing that."

"Why not? You already replaced me. Just make it official."

"Sera, you're upset and you're not thinking straight. Tomorrow we can sit down and discuss—"

"I, Sera Valdris, reject you, Kane Ashford, as my mate."

Kane's face went white. His eyes widened slightly at my last name but I didn't give him time to think about it.

"Stop." His voice came out strangled. "Sera, stop, you can't—"

"I reject this bond and everything that came with it."

"It doesn't work like that. You know it doesn't. Both parties have to consent or nothing happens. I'm not agreeing to this."

"Then I'll tear it out myself."

Something started happening. I could feel the mate bond between us beginning to shake loose. Silver light leaked from my skin and his, getting brighter. This wasn't supposed to be possible. You needed both people to agree or the bond stayed locked in place. But I was shoving everything I had into ripping this thing out of me and I could feel it starting to work.

Kane felt it too. His breathing went ragged. "Sera, stop, you need to stop this right now—"

"Say it. Tell me you accept or I'm going to rip this fucking bond apart and it's going to hurt both of us."

The light got brighter. My whole body felt like it was on fire, like my skin was going to split open from the inside.

"I can't—Sera, please don't do this—"

"SAY IT!"

"I accept!" His voice broke. "I accept the rejection!"

The bond tore.

It felt like someone reached into my chest and ripped everything out. Every nerve in my body caught fire at the same time. I was screaming and Kane was screaming and the light was so bright I couldn't see, could only feel the pain of something vital being destroyed.

Then it stopped.

I was on the floor. There was a burning sensation across my collarbone and when I touched it I could feel raised skin. A scar where the bond used to be.

The bond was gone. The space where it used to sit was just empty now, and the emptiness hurt worse than the breaking had.

Kane was slumped against his desk, breathing hard, staring at me.

I pushed myself up. Everything hurt but I could stand.

"Sera, what did you—what was that name—"

"I'm done."

I walked to the door.

"Wait. Where are you going? Sera, that name you said—"

I stopped but I didn't turn around. "Home."

Then I left. Kane started shouting behind me, asking about my last name, demanding I come back and explain. I didn't stop walking.

Out of his office. Out of the pack house. Into the cold.

The scar burned but I kept moving. Away from Kane and Elara and the pack that had watched me try for three years and done nothing.

I walked until I couldn't see the pack house anymore. Until the screaming in my head got quieter.

Then I pulled out my phone and made the call.

My father answered on the second ring.

"Sera."

I closed my eyes. "I'm coming home."

There was a pause. "The three years are up anyway. Time to honor our agreement."

"I know."

"I'm sorry about your mate." He didn't sound sorry. "But we had a deal."

"I know."

"Come home. We'll discuss the arrangements when you arrive."

He hung up.

I stood there in the dark with the phone in my hand and the scar burning on my collarbone.

Three years ago I'd made a bet with my father. Give me three years to make it work with my fated mate, and if it didn't work out, I'd come home and marry whoever he'd arranged for me. Some alpha up north. I'd never met the man, didn't even know his name. My father needed the alliance and I'd been so sure Kane was worth it.

Three years to prove love mattered more than duty.

Turns out I was wrong.

Now I had to go home and marry a stranger.

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