I WON’T FORCE HER

AUTHOR’S POV 

Maera reached for a jar and moved it aside before continuing.

"There are old accounts of damaged bonds reacting under extreme circumstances. Most are little more than stories passed down between generations. A few describe connections that appeared dead but responded when the mates faced danger, shared intense emotions, or came into physical contact after a long separation."

"So it is possible."

"It is possible that something happened between you and Elena. That does not mean the bond has returned."

"What else could it be?"

"I don't know."

The bluntness of her answer irritated him.

"You are supposed to understand these things."

"I understand enough to know when I do not have an answer." Maera folded her hands on the table. "The old accounts are incomplete. Some describe a bond stirring for a moment before disappearing again. Others speak of pain so intense that the wolves involved could barely remain near each other. There are even accounts of emotions passing between two people without the bond ever becoming whole again."

Kaiden's stomach tightened.

"Pain?"

"An unstable connection can be painful. Confusing, too. You might feel emotions that are not entirely your own. You might experience the other person's distress without understanding its cause. And if the connection grows stronger, you may find it difficult to distinguish what belongs to you from what belongs to them."

He remembered the grief that had flooded him when he touched Elena.

It had been so intense that for a moment he had felt as though he were the one she had abandoned.

But she had not abandoned him.

He had sent her away.

"Can it be repaired?" he asked.

Maera studied him.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because if the bond is returning—"

"That isn't what I asked."

Kaiden's fingers curled against his knee.

He had negotiated treaties, commanded warriors, and stared down rival Alphas without lowering his head. Yet this old woman was asking questions he could not answer without confronting parts of himself he had spent years avoiding.

"Because Elena is my mate," he said at last.

Maera's expression hardened.

"She was your mate."

The correction landed like a slap.

Kaiden rose halfway from his chair before forcing himself to remain seated.

"That bond was real."

"Of course it was real. Do you think I am questioning that?" Maera's voice remained calm. "I am questioning what you believe it gives you now."

He stared at her.

She leaned forward slightly.

"Tell me, Alpha. What do you intend to do if this connection is returning?"

Kaiden had imagined several possibilities on the walk there. If the bond could be restored, perhaps the Moon Goddess had given them another chance. Perhaps the rejection could be undone. Perhaps Elena would eventually feel what he felt and understand that their connection had never truly disappeared.

But saying those thoughts aloud suddenly made them sound selfish.

"I would want to know whether she feels it too."

"She already does, according to you."

"Then I would want to know what it means."

"And if she tells you she wants nothing to do with you?"

Kaiden's mouth went dry.

Maera waited.

"Would you respect her decision?" she asked.

He thought of Elena at the ravine, pulling away from him the moment they had recovered their balance.

Don't touch me again.

He had heard the words. He had seen the fear and anger in her face.

Still, some foolish part of him had clung to the hope that the connection between them meant she could not be entirely free of him.

"I would not force her," he said.

"That was not my question."

Kaiden's jaw tightened.

"Yes," he answered finally. "I would respect her decision."

"Then perhaps there is hope for you yet."

The remark irritated him almost as much as it unsettled him.

"Can the connection mean Elena still belongs to me?" he asked.

For the first time since he had entered the room, Maera looked genuinely disappointed.

"No."

The answer was immediate.

Kaiden went still.

Maera rose slowly, leaning one hand against the table.

"A bond may connect two people, Alpha. It does not grant either person ownership of the other. Not before rejection, and certainly not after it."

"I didn't mean—"

"You asked whether she belongs to you. That is exactly what you meant."

He fell silent.

"Even if the connection returns," Maera continued, "it cannot erase the choice you made. It cannot make Elena forget what happened. And it cannot require her to accept you simply because the Moon Goddess once named you mates."

Kaiden felt the familiar resistance rise inside him.

He wanted to explain the pressure from his council. The alliance with the Thorne family. The threats along his borders and the responsibilities he had carried as Alpha. He wanted to tell Maera that the decision had not been simple, that he had believed he was protecting his pack.

But he could already imagine Elena's face if he repeated those explanations to her.

Your excuses haven't changed.

For three years, he had told himself he had made a difficult but necessary choice.

Now he was beginning to understand that the choice had been his, even if others had encouraged it.

And Elena had paid the price.