CHAPTER 4

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‎Neither Kaelen nor I said anything for a long time. His eyes roamed over me as if he was trying to figure something out. Perhaps he was internally asking himself why he was here.Peter’s hand clenched tighter around my wrist as he pulled me forward.“She’s ready for you now,” he said. I almost scoffed at how airy his voice was with such fake pride for me.Kaelen didn’t respond to him. His gaze flickered over to where Peter’s hand held mine, and something dangerous flashed in his eyes. It was there for only a split second, but I caught it.“Let her go,” he commanded my father flatly.Peter hesitated, then he dropped my wrist as if it burned him.With a tilt of his head, Kaelen gestured at me as he told me, “Come with me.”As he led me out of the door, I really hoped I wouldn’t have to return to the house. The rain drizzled slightly over us, but not enough for us to run for shelter.He led me through the pack grounds in silence, his hands in his pockets as if this was his pack and he owned everything in it. You would think he wasn’t the alpha of another pack entirely.The air was cool and crisp, almost as if it was trying hard to slice the tension between us. Walking beside him felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, and his next words could either be a push to my death or a pull to save me.“You felt it,” he finally said, breaking the silence but not looking at me.I didn’t need him to explain what he meant by that. All those nights of feeling what he wa feeling. Of course he knew I felt it too.“I did,” I replied.“Everything,” he said, waiting for my confirmation.“Everything,” I answered.“And the pull?” He asked.“It gets stronger every day,” I confessed.He finally stopped walking, making me stop in my tracks as well. We were alone now, deep in the trees. He turned toward me as his eyes burned with something between frustration and need.“I don’t understand it,” he growled. “The bond should have broken the first time I rejected you.”“I know,” I whispered in response. “But it didn’t.”I didn’t want to have to tell him, but I hoped he would understand that this was probably the will of the goddess. She didn’t want us separated. Not like this.“It just got worse,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “It got unbearable.”I blinked back the tears that burned in my eyes. His fists clenched at his sides.“I have torn my house apart. I haven’t slept. I can’t even eat without choking on the scent of you filling my head. It’s like you’re everywhere. And the more I try to reject you again in my thoughts, the bond—”“Got stronger,” I finished it for him.“Maybe it’s not meant to be broken,” I said, daring to step closer.“Or maybe it’s a curse,” he said so harshly that I flinched.“I can’t lead with someone like you by my side,” he said. “You’re too weak to be a luna. You can barely even stand on your own, and your father still treats you like a child. And of course we cannot forget what your father did to mine.”I turned my face away like he had just slapped me.“I don’t want a luna who cowers in corners when there’s something hard. I don’t want a luna who’s okay with being abused by her father and kept in the basement. You barely even fought to get out.”I snapped my head at him, shocked that he knew about it.“Don’t think I’m stupid, Seraphina. Of course I knew. I’m not a child. You barely cover your bruises well, and you wince in pain when you make certain movements. If you’re too weak to stand up against your own father, then how can you—”“That’s not fair! How am I supposed to—”“I need a warrior by my side,” he interrupted in return.I felt my throat closing up as the truth started to hit me and I realized he wasn’t here to take me to his pack like I had allowed myself to believe.“So, that’s it?” I asked. “You’re going to reject me again?”He nodded once, and I could feel my heart breaking before he said the words.“I, Alpha Kaelen of Crimson Wood Pack, reject you, Seraphina as my mate.”We stood in silence as the bond didn’t weaken. Instead, it surged.My heart slammed in response. As if he felt the same thing, his eyes widened and I saw his pupils dilate.He swayed forward like something unseen had yanked him toward me. I felt it as well. It was a pull, almost as if gravity had paused its work. His breath hitched and his eyes dropped to my mouth.He leaned in, so close.I felt the heat of his body and the storm in his eyes as he fought with himself internally while our lips almost brushed.He pulled back sharply, his breath ragged.“This is wrong. You are wrong.”“Don’t leave me here. Please!” I begged as he turned around and started to walk off, but he didn’t care to stop.“Kaelen, please don’t—”“I won’t be returning,” he said over his shoulder, not giving me a look. “Not even if the goddess comes down to earth and begs me to.”And just like that, he was gone.~When I was back at the house, Peter was waiting for me. As if he knew what had happened and could read it from my face, his face flushed with fury that made the walls around us tremble.“You let it happen again!” He screamed at me, shoving me so hard that I hit the table in the middle of the living room. “You’ve humiliated me again!”“I didn’t mean to—”Like always, he didn’t listen.“Do you enjoy this?! You enjoy waiting me lose everything? Is this your revenge? You want power over me?! Fine. I’ll give you power!”He dragged me down to the basement. The ritual circle was already drawn. The symbols were darker this time, more dangerous. There was something so wrong in the air now.“I’ll awaken whatever darkness sleeps in you,” he said. “And you’ll thank me for it.”He began to chant. The silver was tighter around my wrist, burning and sizzling. The blood on my chest burned. The air thickened with pressure until I thought I’d shatter.And then something snapped.“GET AWAY FROM ME!” I screamed out, and it sounded like something strange had woken up within me. The dim bulb hanging off the ceiling shattered, and I watched my father fly into the wall behind him.I pulled my arms and pulled myself free from the leather he had bound me in. I panted as I looked at the damage I had done. Peter was struggling to stand up, and I knew that was the chance I had.“Seraphina!” He called after me, but I didn’t listen.I was out of the basement in no time, rushing out of the house and into the woods until I was out of the pack borders and now running on uncharted and unclaimed land.I didn’t know how long I ran, but I continued to go until my legs and my lungs gave out at the same time and I found myself on the ground, panting.“You look like a mess.”I gasped and turned around to find an unfamiliar man standing there with his hands on his waist, his head tilted as he took a good look at me.And maybe I should have stayed back. Maybe I should have run all the way to Kaelen’s pack to beg him to let me stay.Because this mystery man would be the beginning of my problems.

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