Ch. 3 Final Plea

Finley

The morning sun mocks me with its cheerfulness as I stare at the ceiling of the guest cabin. I've barely slept, my eyes raw from crying, my throat sore from where Nova howled most of the night. The mate bond still pulses inside me, an open wound that refuses to heal.

Why? I've asked the Moon Goddess this question a thousand times since last night. Why give me a mate who doesn't want me? What kind of cruel test is this?

But as dawn breaks, a strange clarity settles over me. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes. She doesn't create mate bonds for nothing. There must be a reason Liam is my mate, even if he's fighting it with everything he has.

I push myself up, a new determination taking root. I can't leave Glass Lake without trying one more time. I need to make him understand what he's throwing away – what we could be together. If he still rejects me after that, I can walk away knowing I did everything I could. At least that’s what I tell myself. 

Nova stirs anxiously as I dress, choosing my most flattering jeans and a deep green top that brings out my eyes. “We have to try,” I tell her. “Just once more.”

My phone pings with a text from Mom, asking if I'm feeling better and letting me know they're having breakfast at the main house. I tell her I'll meet them later, then slip out of the cabin while the morning mist still hangs over the lake.

I know where to find Liam this early. Since we were kids, he's always gone to the same spot to think – a small dock on the far side of the lake, away from the main house. Sure enough, as I approach through the trees, I see his silhouette at the end of the weathered wooden platform, skipping stones across the still water.

My heart hammers against my ribs, and Nova presses anxiously against my skin. What if this is a mistake? What if I'm just setting myself up for more heartbreak?

But I force myself forward. I've never been a coward, and I won't start now.

He tenses at the sound of my footsteps on the dock. "Not now, Kaden. I told you, I don't want to—" He turns, the words dying on his lips when he sees me. "Finley."

"Hi." My voice comes out steadier than I expected. "Can we talk?"

His jaw tightens, but he doesn't tell me to leave. I take that as permission and move to stand beside him, not too close, but close enough that the mate bond hums between us.

"I thought you'd be gone by now," he says, turning back to the lake and sending another stone skipping across its surface. Five perfect jumps before it sinks.

"I couldn't leave. Not without..." I take a deep breath. "Not without telling you what I think you're really afraid of."

That gets his attention. His head whips toward me, eyes narrowing. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"Yes, you are." I meet his gaze steadily. "You're afraid of what the mate bond means. Not because you don't want me, but because you're afraid of what happens if you let yourself want me."

"You don't know what you're talking about." His voice is cold, but I see the flash of something in his eyes – uncertainty, maybe, or anger that I'm hitting too close to home.

"Don't I?" I step closer, my courage building. "I know you, Liam. I've known you my whole life. I know how it feels to never quite fit, to wonder if you're good enough. I know what it's like to live in someone else's shadow."

"Is that what this is about?" He laughs, but there's no humor in it. "Poor little Finley, always second to Rhett? Trying to make me your consolation prize?"

His words sting, but I push through. "That's not fair and you know it. This isn't about Rhett or Kaden or anyone else. It's about us. About what the Moon Goddess sees in us, even if we can't see it in ourselves."

"The Moon Goddess." He spits the words like they taste bad. "Tell me, Fin, if she's so all-knowing, why would she mate me to someone I've known my entire life only after I finally found happiness with someone else? What kind of divine plan is that?"

"I don't know," I admit. "But I know she doesn't make mistakes. I know what I felt when you touched me – what we both felt. That wasn't nothing, Liam."

He turns away, but not before I see the conflict in his eyes. I've hit a nerve.

"Maybe the timing seems cruel," I continue, taking another step closer. "But maybe that's the point. Maybe it's not about when it's easy, but about choosing what's right even when it's hard."

"What's right." He repeats my words flatly. "And you think you know what's right for me better than I do?"

"I think the mate bond exists for a reason." My voice softens. "I think we could be amazing together, if you'd just give us a chance."

For a moment – one heartbreaking, hope-filled moment – something shifts in his expression. The hard lines soften, and I see a glimpse of the Liam I've always known beneath the walls he's built. Nova surges forward hopefully, and I feel the bond between us pulse with renewed strength.

Then, like a door slamming shut, his face hardens again.

"Let me make something perfectly clear." His voice is ice, each word precisely chosen to cut. "I don't want you, Finley. Not as a mate, not as anything more than the childhood friend you've always been. And honestly? Even that's in question right now."

He steps closer, eyes cold and hard in a way I've never seen before. "The mate bond is a cruel joke. Do you really think if I had a choice, I would pick you? When I have Ryleigh?"

I flinch, but he doesn't stop.

"Ryleigh is everything you're not. She's soft where you're hard. She's supportive where you're challenging. She makes me feel like a man, not like some project you need to fix." Each word is a calculated dagger. "She's elegant and feminine. Look at you – always trying to be one of the guys, always having to prove something. It's exhausting."

The tears I've been fighting spill over. I can't help it. Nova whimpers, the pain almost physical.

"That's not fair," I whisper.

"Fair?" He laughs, the sound brittle and sharp. "What's not fair is you showing up here, trying to use some mystical bond to force me into something I clearly don't want. What's not fair is you not accepting that I chose someone better for me."

He leans in closer, his scent – the one that used to bring me comfort – now making me nauseous. "Here's the truth, Fin. Even without Ryleigh, I wouldn't want you. We'd never work. You're too much – too stubborn, too wild, too convinced you're right about everything. I'd always be second in your mind, just like you'd always be second in mine."

I step back, physically recoiling from his words. This isn't the Liam I know. This is someone else entirely – someone cruel, someone who knows exactly which insecurities to target.

"You don't mean that," I say, but the conviction in my voice is gone.

"I do." His eyes are unreadable now. "I rejected the bond. I chose my own path. And I need you to get it through your head that I will never choose you. Not in this lifetime or any other. Quit making this harder than it needs to be."

"Harder for you, you mean." The words slip out before I can stop them. "Because this is pretty damn hard for me already."

He ignores my words, the pain they carry, growling instead. "This isn't going to happen. Not now, not ever."

Each word hammers another nail into the coffin of my hopes. I'd come here thinking I could make him see what we could be together, that I could reach the Liam I've always known beneath this new, hardened exterior. But looking at him now, I realize I was wrong.

"Fine." I step back, wrapping my arms around myself. "You've made your choice. I won't bother you again."

I turn to leave, but his voice stops me.

"Fin." My stupid heart melts at the sound of my name on his lips, filling with hope all over again. Only to be crushed with his next words. “Stay away from Ryleigh and me. We’ll do the same for you. It’s for the best… for all of us”

I can’t speak without breaking down, only offering the barest nod. As I walk away, each step feels like moving through quicksand. Nova howls in distress, fighting me every inch of the way. But I keep going, one foot in front of the other, until I reach the shore.

I don't look back, don't let myself see if he's watching me leave. It doesn't matter now. He's made his choice, and it isn't me. Never was.

In the distance, thunder rumbles, a summer storm is rolling in. A perfect excuse to leave Glass Lake behind – maybe forever.

Because one thing is absolutely clear: there's nothing left for me here except heartbreak.