Pain from the mate bond

Laura

“I cannot accept this—” His gaze swept over me from head to toe, and I flinched at the disgust that flashed across his face. After a brief pause, he finished coldly, “...her as my Luna.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. I instinctively curled my shoulders inward, as though making myself smaller might somehow spare me from the humiliation of being looked at that way.

Just moments ago, I had been the happiest woman in the world. The Moon Goddess had given me a mate but now, I understood what a cruel joke fate could be because that same man was standing in front of me looking as though being tied to me was his worst nightmare.

Beside him, Leslie’s lips curled in a wide smile, her face beaming with satisfaction. Leslie stepped closer to him, her hand tightening around his arm.

“Sister,” Leslie said sweetly, though the smug satisfaction in her eyes ruined the effect. “Gerald will have to reject you because he belongs with me. You would know that if you spent less time hiding away with your medicine books.” She wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste before tightening her hold on Gerald's arm. “We were supposed to finalize everything tonight. Our packs were about to sign a new alliance contract, and by the end of the evening, Gerald and I were meant to announce our engagement.”

The words knocked the breath from my lungs. It felt as though an invisible hand had reached into my chest, wrapped itself around my heart, and squeezed. Hard. The pain that followed wasn't physical. It was worse. The kind that hollowed a person out from the inside.

Gerald and Leslie were going to announce their engagement tonight?

My gaze darted from Leslie to Father, then Mother, and finally Gerald. I waited, hoped, prayed that one of them would laugh and tell me Leslie was lying. That this was all some terrible misunderstanding. Nobody did. Father looked grim. Gerald remained silent. And Mother... Mother wasn't saying anything at all. She looked strangely detached from the conversation, her eyes lowered and her face unreadable, as though she had already accepted whatever outcome awaited us.

A cold feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Leslie wasn't lying. Every single one of them knew. Everyone except me. Of course. It was always everyone except me.

I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. How could this be happening? Why did every good thing seem to find its way to Leslie while every terrible thing found me?

My entire life had been a string of disappointments, humiliations, and broken hopes. Whenever something good appeared on the horizon, it somehow ended up belonging to my sister instead. The attention. The praise. The future. And now, apparently, even my mate.

A fresh wave of nausea rolled through me. How could the Moon Goddess bind me to a man who was supposed to belong to Leslie?

One of the reasons I had allowed myself to hope tonight was because of the sacredness of the mate bond. Mates weren't ordinary couples. They were chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. The bond wasn't something that could simply be discarded because someone disliked the outcome.

Rejecting a mate carried devastating consequences. Every wolf knew the stories. In all of werewolf history, only five wolves had attempted it, and only two survived the sacrifices demanded afterward. Even then, entire families had been wiped out, packs had fallen, and hundreds had died.

Yet as I stared at Gerald's face, a terrifying realization settled over me. He knew all of that. He knew the risks, the consequences, and the destruction rejection could bring. And somehow, he still looked willing to take them.

“Sister, you have to accept it,” Leslie continued in a tone that seemed as though she was talking about the weather, “I cannot let you have the man I’ve already planned my future with.”

I dropped my eyes to the ground and forced myself to speak, “I understand,”

“Circumstances have changed, Leslie,” Father said calmly. “We may have planned for you and Gerald, but the Moon Goddess appears to have other ideas. She has decided that Gerald and your sister, Laura are the better match.”

“Father—” Leslie immediately protested, horror flashing across her face.

Ignoring her, Father turned to Gerald with a broad smile. “Nothing really has to change, Alpha Gerald. The contract can remain exactly as it is. The alliance still benefits both our packs.” He gestured toward me as though I were nothing more than a bargaining chip. “The only difference is that you'll be leaving with a different daughter. Isn't this a perfect solution?”

Father spread his arms wide and let out a booming laugh. The sound echoed awkwardly through the room. No one joined in. Slowly, his laughter faded. The silence that followed was far more unsettling.

Gerald's face had somehow grown even colder. His expression looked capable of freezing an entire lake, and the way his jaw tightened made it clear he found nothing about this situation amusing.

“You call this the perfect solution?” Gerald asked, his voice laced with disbelief. “I was promised one daughter. I have no intention of leaving with the other.”

“Alpha Gerald,” Father said smoothly, “this contract is as beneficial to your pack as it is to mine. Besides, my daughters are twins. There isn't much difference between them.”

The lie was so blatant it almost stole my breath. Father knew there was a world of difference between Leslie and me, and judging by the look on Gerald's face, he knew it too.

A dark glare settled on Gerald’s face, sharp enough to cut through steel. Whatever amusement Father had hoped to find in the situation, Gerald clearly wasn't sharing it.

"I am willing to accept whatever consequences come with rejecting Laura."

At first, it was only a sharp ache in the center of my chest. Then it began to spread, slow and relentless, like liquid fire coursing through my veins.

It crawled through my chest, down my arms, across my stomach, and into my legs, burning everything in its path. Each second was worse than the last until it felt as though my entire body had been set ablaze from the inside out.

A piercing scream ripped from my throat. My knees buckled and I doubled over, clutching at my chest as though I could somehow stop the agony consuming me.

A grunt sounded across the room. I looked up through the haze of pain.

Gerald had staggered backward. One hand was pressed against his chest, his face pale and strained as he fought against the same fire tearing through me.