Chapter 3 ：The Bond I Never Wanted

[Kai's POV]

I shouldn't have touched her.

I'm standing beside Liri's hospital bed now, watching her sleep peacefully under the soft white sheets, but my mind won't stop replaying the heat of Sera's skin under my thumb.

I force myself to focus on Liri instead. She looks fragile lying there, her dark hair spread across the pillow. This woman suffered for me. She was taken because of me. She endured years of captivity while I searched desperately for her.

I owe her everything. I love her.

Liri's eyelids flutter. She wakes, her gaze finding mine immediately. "Kai," she whispers. "You're here."

"Of course." I reach for her hand. It feels small and delicate in mine.

Nothing like the way Sera's body had responded when I—

Stop.

It means nothing, it was only my body reacting.

"The doctors want to keep you another night," I tell Liri gently. "Just to be safe."

She nods, her eyes filling with tears. "I missed you so much."

The words should mean something. They should fill the hollow space inside me.

They don't.

My wolf snarls again, pushing images into my head. Sera's mouth. The curve of her throat. The way her hips would fit perfectly against mine if I just-

”She's ours.” my wolf insists furiously.

I shut him down harder this time.

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The Council chamber feels suffocating.

Elder Corvin sits at the head of the table.  My mother, Renata, stands near the window with her arms crossed.

"Alpha Kai," Corvin begins. "A Luna must have her wolf."

Thorne adds, his tone sharp. "Ravenhold has always been the strongest pack in the territory. We cannot afford weakness now."

I don't respond immediately. My jaw clenches.

"Sera's wolf is gone," my mother says coldly. "Whatever caused it, the result is the same. She cannot fulfill her duties as Luna. The pack needs strength, not sentiment."

"She served loyally for three years," I counter, my voice harder than I intend.

"And now she is wolfless." Ashford's eyes are merciless. "You know what that means, Alpha."

The word liability makes my hands curl into fists.

"The bond must be dissolved," Corvin says firmly. "And you must take Liri as your Luna. The pack has waited long enough."

My mother moves closer, her voice dropping. "Kai, I know this is difficult. But you are Alpha first. Your personal feelings cannot come before the pack's survival."

I stare at the floor, my mind a storm of conflicting instincts.

Sera's face flashes through my thoughts. The way she had looked at me in the archive room, her eyes wide and vulnerable. The way her body had responded to mine even as she tried to hide it.

I can't be weak. I built Ravenhold into the most powerful pack in the region, and I did it by never allowing personal weakness to compromise my decisions.

"I'll handle it," I say finally, my voice flat.

My mother's expression softens slightly. "You're doing the right thing."

I don't answer.

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I was eight years old when my father taught me what it meant to be Alpha.

"Strength is everything, Kai," he had said, his hand heavy on my shoulder. "The pack follows strength. They need to know their Alpha is unbreakable. Any weakness, any hesitation, and you lose them."

When my father died, I was nineteen. The pack was in chaos. Rival Alphas circled like vultures, waiting for us to collapse.

I crushed them all.

I expanded our territory. I forged alliances. I made Ravenhold feared and respected across every pack in the Concord.

And I did it by never allowing weakness.

But now my wolf won't stop pushing images into my mind.

Sera beneath me, her legs wrapped around my waist. Her soft lips parted breathlessly while she begs for more. My hands gripping her hips, holding her in place.

The images are so vivid I can almost feel her skin under my hands. The way she would taste. The sounds she would make.

My body responds instantly, heat flooding through me.

I snarl at my wolf. "Stop."

"You want her just as much as I do," he shoots back. "I can feel it. Your body knows she's ours. Why do you keep denying it?"

It wasn’t love. I tell myself. It was just my body betraying me.

I block him out completely.

Sera is still in the archive room when I find her again.

She looks up when I enter, her expression guarded. Wary.

I stop a few feet away from her, my hands clenched at my sides.

She's wearing a simple gray dress that does nothing to hide her curves. Her long hair falls loose around her shoulders. She looks tired. Fragile. Beautiful.

I want more.

I want Sera twisted beneath me on the archive table, her dress shoved up past her hips, her pale thighs clamped tight around my waist as I drive into her. I can practically hear the breathless, broken little whimpers she’d make into my mouth as I took her, hot and slick and entirely consumed by me.

I force myself to stay still.

"Luna," I begin, my voice rougher than I intend.

Her eyes meet mine, and for a moment I forget how to breathe.

God, she's stunning.

My gaze drops to her mouth.  I want to taste her again.

No.

I force the thoughts away, but my body won't cooperate.

My hands ache to touch her.

But I can't.

I won't.

"You don't have a wolf," I say finally, my voice cold.

She flinches like I've struck her. "I know," she whispers.

"The pack needs a strong Luna."

Her eyes fill with tears, but she doesn't look away.

"I'm sorry," I continue, forcing the words out. "I, Alpha Kai Draven of Ravenhold Pack, reject you, Sera, as my Luna and mate."