Chapter 5

Selene's POV

The room was quiet again. After my father’s stormy exit and Ethan’s soft smile, I was finally alone.

My hair was still damp at the ends from the bath earlier, and my skin smelled like honey and jasmine. It was peaceful… almost too peaceful.

That was when I remembered my phone.

It was lying face-down on the side table beside a cup of untouched tea. I reached for it, expecting maybe one or two missed calls. But the moment I lit up the screen, my heart skipped.

There were 20 missed calls and two text messages.

All from the same person.

Victor.

My fingers tightened around the phone as my thumb hovered, frozen between reading the texts or tossing the phone back down.

I should have expected this.

With a deep breath, I opened the messages.

"By Alpha command, you are to return to the pack mansion immediately. You belong to your Alpha, Selene. This is not a request. Alpha Victor Roux."

"I’ve given you enough time to throw your silly tantrums. You have to come home."

My breath hitched. The way he used his Alpha tone… that cold voice masked as authority. It didn’t ask. It ordered. And yet, my name on his lips, even written, still made my chest ache in the most pathetic way.

For a moment, I softened.

Goddess, I missed him.

I missed his scent, that strong presence when he walked into a room. I missed how he used to say my name, only when no one was around. I missed how he looked at me once… when I thought I meant something.

But that softness?

It didn’t last long.

Because I remembered the cold dinners. The nights I stayed up waiting. The birthday he forgot. The anniversary he skipped. The silence that stretched between us while he whispered to Camilla in another room.

I sat up, letting the silk blanket fall from my legs, and stared at the phone again.

Victor was calling again. But I pressed the red decline button.

I thought he was going to stop. But he didn't.

My phone rang repeatedly, and I kept declining his calls.

Eventually, I finally answered. "What do you want?”

There was silence on the line. Then his voice—deep, calm, and cold.

“Where are you?”

No hello. No are you okay. Just that commanding, annoyed tone that always made others shrink.

But I wasn’t others anymore.

“For once,” I said, my voice steady, “ask me like a human being, not a command.”

“Selene Roux, you…”

“It’s no longer Selene Roux,” I cut in. Then I said his full name, slowly, every word hitting like a slap. “Victor. Roux.”

He went quiet again. I could feel the tension in his silence.

“It’s none of your business where I am,” I added.

“You’re my Luna,” he replied sharply. “You don’t get to vanish like a rogue in the woods. You swore yourself to me, to my pack…”

“I swore myself to a lie,” I snapped. “I waited four years, Victor. Do you know how many nights I sat waiting for you to come home? Hoping maybe tonight you would look at me like I mattered? Do you know how it felt to see you smile at her? When I would have given everything just for a glance?”

His breath came heavy through the speaker.

“Just come home and we will talk. I even had the chef prepare your favourite food,” he muttered. “I know I've made some mistakes, but…”

“Mistakes?” I let out a laugh, bitter and sharp. “Do you even know me?”

He didn’t answer.

So I kept going.

“Tell me, Victor. What exactly do you know about me as your ‘Luna’?”

There was a noticeable pause, longer than it should have been.

“You… um… you like the colour blue.”

“Wrong.” I closed my eyes. “I like red. You wouldn’t know because I was never important to you.”

“That’s not fair…”

“No, you know what’s not fair? I know everything about you. I know that you scratch your right wrist when you’re nervous. You can’t sleep without the window open. You hate olives. You use the same aftershave your father did because you want to be like him. I learned all of it because I loved you.”

“Selene…”

“But you never saw me.”

Just then, a gentle knock sounded at my door. A maid peeked in, smiling politely as she rolled in a cart.

I looked at the cart and felt my breath catch.

Hot plates. Covered bowls. Warm scents filling the air.

Bread. Meat. Roasted vegetables. Honey glaze.

The maid bowed slightly. “Your brother had the kitchen prepare all your favourite dishes, Luna.”

I was speechless. “Thank you.”

She left quietly.

I lifted the phone again.

“You said the chefs made my favourite dishes.”

“I did.”

“What did they make?”

He hesitated again.

I didn’t say anything. I just waited.

Finally, he muttered, “I… had the chef prepare lamb stew. That thing you used to like.”

I almost smiled.

“You didn’t even try,” I whispered. “All those years, and you couldn’t remember the one food that made me feel like home.”

“Selene, listen…”

“No. I’ve listened enough. I’ve waited enough. I’ve given more than any Luna ever should, and I got nothing in return. Just accept my rejection, Victor.”

He growled low through the phone. “As the Alpha of Nightshade Pack, I say when this bond ends. Not you.”

I stilled.

My heart pounded in my ears. But I said it anyway.

“Then say it.”

“What?”

“Reject me.”

The line went quiet.

“Victor, I’m done. Say the words and let me go.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I do. And I don’t want to hear another word from you until you say them.”

He was breathing harder now. I could imagine him pacing, his jaw clenched, eyes blazing.

Then he spoke, “Fine! I, Alpha Victor Roux of Nightshade Pack, reject you, Selene, as my mate and chosen of the Moon Goddess.”

There it was. Sharp. Final. Cold.

I leaned back, my heart still beating, but something inside me felt… light.

“I accept,” I said. “I accept your rejection, Alpha Victor Roux.”

In that instant, the bond snapped like a thread being cut. I felt it leave me. The pain, the ache, the connection that kept me tied to someone who never truly wanted me.

Victor’s voice dropped lower, hoarse now. “Camilla wasn’t what you think. Things between us were… complicated.”

I shook my head. “You had your chance to explain. But you chose silence. You chose her.”

“I never wanted to hurt you.”

“And yet you did.”

He was quiet again.

“I did have some… feelings for you,” he finally whispered.

I smiled, not out of joy, but because I felt free. “And I loved the idea of you. Not the real you.”

I was about to hang up when I paused.

“One last thing,” I said softly.

“What?”

I looked out the window, the sun sinking behind the mountains.

"I hope you have a happy life with Camilla.”