REJECTED BOND

MAYA

"I don't know who Sera is! My name is Maya!"

My voice echoed off the walls as Kaden dragged me through the mansion's hallways, his grip on my arm like iron.

Pack members pressed themselves against the walls as we passed, their whispers following us like ghosts.

He kicked open a heavy wooden door and shoved me inside, slamming it behind us.

The lock clicked.

I spun around, my heart pounding.

"You can't just lock me in here."

"I can do whatever I want," he said, his voice cold, "this is my territory, my pack, my home."

"I'm not some prisoner."

"Then tell me the truth," he moved closer, his eyes burning into mine, "who sent you, who's playing this sick game?"

"No one sent me, I already told you."

"Liars always say that."

My hands clenched into fists.

"I'm not lying, I woke up a month ago with no memories, no identity, just this address and a name that isn't even real."

"Show me your shoulder," he said suddenly.

"What, no."

"Your left shoulder, now."

"I already showed you my face, isn't that enough proof I'm not whoever you think I am?"

He crossed the distance between us in two strides, backing me against the desk.

"The birthmark," he said, his voice rough, "Sera had a birthmark on her left shoulder, crescent-shaped, if you're not her, you won't have it."

My breath caught.

I did have a birthmark there; I'd seen it in mirrors my whole life, or at least the month I could remember.

"And if I do have it?" I asked quietly.

"Then we'll know the truth."

His hands reached for my jacket collar, and I tried to push him away.

"Don't touch me."

"Show me, or I'll assume you're hiding something."

I could see the desperation in his eyes, the pain, the need to know.

My hands shook as I slowly unzipped my jacket, letting it fall off my shoulders.

Then I turned around and pulled down the strap of my tank top, exposing my left shoulder blade.

The silence behind me was deafening.

I heard his sharp intake of breath, heard something that sounded like a broken sob.

"No," he whispered, "no, this isn't possible."

I pulled my strap back up and turned to face him.

He'd stumbled backward, his face white as death, his hands shaking.

"It's there, isn't it," I said, "the birthmark."

"The same," his voice cracked, "the same shape, the same spot, everything."

My mind reeled.

"That doesn't mean I'm her; maybe we just both happened to have similar birthmarks."

"Don't," he said sharply, "don't insult my intelligence, that mark is unique, I spent two years tracing it with my fingers, memorizing every curve."

Heat flushed through me at his words, at the intimacy they implied.

"If I am her," I said slowly, "then why can't I remember, why can't I remember you or this place or anything?"

He ran his hands through his hair, pacing the room like a caged wolf.

"I don't know, dark magic, a curse, something went wrong when you died."

"When I died," I repeated, the words tasting like ash, "you keep saying that like it's.normal, like people just come back from the dead."

"In our world, anything is possible if you're willing to pay the price."

I sank into the chair behind me, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me.

"Tell me what happened," I said quietly, "tell me how she died, how I died."

He stopped pacing, his back to me.

"We were mates," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "the bond snapped into place the moment we met, instant, consuming, perfect."

"So what went wrong?"

"Everything," he turned to face me, and I saw tears in his eyes, "there was a threat, another pack wanted war, they threatened to use you against me."

"Use me how?"

"Kidnap you, torture you, kill you slowly while making me watch, 

anything to break me, to make me weak."

My stomach turned.

"So you pushed me away."

"I rejected the mate bond," he said, each word sounding like it was being ripped from his chest, "I told you I didn't want you, that you were weak, that you weren't worthy to be

my Luna."

"You what?"

"I made you hate me," his voice broke, "I destroyed everything we had because I thought it would save your life."

I stared at him, horror and heartbreak warring in my chest.

"But it didn't save her."

"No," he whispered, "the next day, you were found in the woods, poisoned, your body cold, I held you while you took your last breath, I buried you myself."

Tears streamed down his face now, and something in my chest cracked open.

"I rejected you to save you," he said, looking at me with such raw agony it hurt to breathe, "and you died anyway, and it's my fault, all of it is my fault."

I stood up, my own hands shaking.

"If all this is true," I said, "if I really am Sera, then I died because you broke my heart."

He flinched as I'd struck him.

"Yes."

"And now you expect me to what, just accept this, accept you, accept that I'm a dead woman walking around with no memories?"

"I don't expect anything," he said quietly, "I just need to understand how this is possible, how you're standing here breathing when I watched the life leave your eyes."

My mind was fracturing, splitting into a thousand pieces I couldn't put back together.

Was I Maya or was I Sera, was I alive or was I something else entirely?

"I need air," I said, moving toward the door."You can't leave."

"Watch me."

I reached for the handle but it wouldn't turn; locked from the outside.

"Let me out," I demanded.

"Not until we figure this out."

"There's nothing to figure out, you just told me I'm your dead mate who somehow came back to life, what else is there?"

"Everything," he said, "why you came back, who brought you back, what they want in return."

"Maybe no one brought me back, maybe I just didn't die."

"I buried you, I put you in the ground myself."

Before I could respond, the door handle rattled.

A key turned in the lock.

The door swung open.

A woman walked in, her silk robe flowing around her like she owned the place.

She looked exactly like me.

Same face, same build, same everything.

Except her hair was dark where mine was silver, and her eyes were ice blue instead of

gray.

She smiled when she saw me, cold and cruel.

"Kaden, darling," she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness, "why is there a stray in our home?”