Chapter 3

Selene's POV

Marcus stood so fast his chair scraped against the floor.

"What did you just say?"

His voice was loud enough that the servants near the kitchen door flinched. I locked my jaw to keep my voice from shaking.

"I said I'm not marrying Derek." I kept my voice flat. "I want the engagement canceled."

Derek's mouth opened. For a full second, he just stared at me. Then the mask slid back on. He rounded the table, brow furrowed, lips pressed together — the picture of a worried fiancé. "Selene, hey." He reached for my arm. "It's okay. This is normal. Pre-wedding nerves happen to everyone-"

"Don't." The word came out sharp enough to make him pull his hand back. "Don't explain me to other people like I'm not sitting right here."

For a moment, just a flash, Derek's eyes went cold. Then his face smoothed back to concerned fiance.

I looked at Vera. She sat perfectly still, a glass of white wine untouched in front of her. Her face showed nothing. But her knuckles had gone white around the stem.

"Derek and Vera are fated mates," I said. "They've been cheating behind my back. This entire time. And they're planning to—"

"Enough!"

Claudia cut in. She set down her napkin and folded her hands on the table, looking concerned.

"Selene, sweetheart." She gave me that warm smile of hers, the one that never reached her eyes. "I understand you are nervous before a wedding. But accusing your own stepsister of something this serious, without a shred of evidence?" She shook her head. "It's hurtful. And honestly, it's a little concerning."

On cue, Vera's eyes filled with tears. Her lower lip trembled. "Selene, how could you say that? Derek is practically my brother. I would never — I can't even —"

She pressed a hand to her chest and looked down at the table, the picture of a wounded innocent.

The performance was flawless. It always had been. I'd just never been in the audience before.

Marcus's palm hit the table. "That's enough, Selene. You have no proof. You're embarrassing yourself and insulting this family."

I looked around the room. Marcus's face was red. Claudia hadn't stopped smiling. Derek hovered behind me looking worried. Vera sniffled into her napkin. The servants had backed into the kitchen doorway, eyes down.

He was right. I had no evidence.

Everything I knew — the yacht, the champagne, the confession, Derek's hands binding my ankles — all of it existed only in a life that hadn't happened yet. In this timeline, Derek was still the devoted fiancé. Vera was still the quiet stepsister. Claudia was still the concerned stepmother.

I had nothing but memories from a future no one else had lived.

I swallowed the rage. Forced my breathing to slow down.

Regroup. Don't push what you can't prove. Not yet.

"Fine," I said. "Forget the reason. I just don't want to marry him. That should be enough."

Claudia tilted her head. "Changing your mind every other day. First you publicly reject your fated mate, now you want to throw away your chosen mate too?" She turned to Marcus with a look of practiced helplessness. "What will the other packs think? We've already sent two hundred invitations."

"She has a point," Marcus said. His jaw was tight. "This wedding will happen, Selene. I won't have you embarrass this family again."

"Dad, just listen to me—"

"I said no." His voice was final. The Alpha voice. The one he rarely used at the dinner table.

I clenched my teeth.

Marcus folded his arms. "Unless you can get Jaxon's forgiveness. If your fated mate takes you back, that's a real reason to cancel." He paused. "A fated bond outranks a chosen one. Nobody could argue with that."

He pointed a finger at me. "But if he won't have you, this conversation is over."

Jaxon.

I swallowed hard. Just hearing the name made my chest tight.

Jaxon was the strongest Alpha in the territory, known to be ruthless. The man I'd publicly rejected. People had been whispering about what I did to him for months.

Get his forgiveness now? I was not sure about that.

But the Moon Goddess's words echoed in my head: Follow the path that fate laid out for you.

Fate. Fated mate. Jaxon.

Maybe this was what she meant.

I looked at Marcus. Something settled in my chest. Not courage. Something colder. More practical.

"Okay," I said.

His eyebrows lifted. So did Derek's.

"I'll go find Jaxon tomorrow." My voice didn't shake. "I'll get his forgiveness."

The silence stretched for three full seconds.

Marcus held my gaze for a long moment. Searching for something — maybe the old Selene, the one who would have folded by now. He didn't find her.

He sat down. "Good."

"Fine," I said. I pushed my chair back and stood. "Now excuse me."

Mia grabbed my wrist as I passed her. She looked up at me with wide eyes. Confused. Worried. Searching.

I squeezed her hand once. Trust me.

Then I walked out of the dining room without looking back.

Third Person POV

Midnight.

In the upstairs guest room, Derek leaned against the windowsill while Vera paced in front of him, biting her thumbnail.

"Don't worry. She doesn't know anything."

Vera sat on the edge of the bed. Her hands were still shaking. "She said fated mates, Derek. She said it right to our faces."

Derek folded his arms. "If she had proof, she would've shown it at the table. She didn't. She backed down the second your mother pushed back."

"What if she goes to Jaxon? What if she actually—"

Derek laughed. It was a short, sharp sound. "Goes to Jaxon? Selene? The same Selene who stood up at the Mating Ball and told every Alpha in attendance that she didn't want her fated mate? Who said that if Jaxon ever marked her, it would be by force?"

Vera picked at a thread on the duvet. "He could still forgive her."

"He won't." Derek shook his head. "That wasn't a private disagreement. That was a public humiliation. People are still talking about it."

A rejection didn't break the mate bond. It was just words — she'd refused him out loud, in front of everyone who mattered, and that was it. But being publicly rejected had humiliated Jaxon in a way that didn't wash off. The whispers had followed him to every Council meeting, every pack event. Several months later, people were still laughing behind his back.

Jaxon was ruthless. Cold. Unforgiving. He didn't eat his pride for anyone.

"And even if by some miracle she got in front of him," Derek continued, "Selene's been terrified of Jaxon because of his reputation even before she found out they were fated mates. That's half the reason she agreed to reject him publicly — I barely had to push her. A woman that scared of a man doesn't march up to his front door and ask for forgiveness."

Derek pulled Vera closer. "Trust me. In a few days, she'll give up. The wedding will happen. And after that — everything that's hers becomes ours."

Vera pressed her face into his chest. His hand stroked her hair.

They had nothing to worry about.