.Chapter 18
Simone
“Was this your plan all along?” I spat, anger and betrayal fighting for first place in my heart.
Heartbreak was there too, slowly taking over my entire being. How could I have been so fucking dumb? How had I let him lie to me? Let him take my virginity? Let him make me fall for him when this was all just some sick game?
“Toy with me until your fucker of a son sends his dogs for me?”
He looked as if I’d kicked him in the guts, lifting a hand and approaching me with wild eyes. “No,
Simone. You don’t understand…”
“Damn right I don’t!” I snarled, backing away from him. The sight of his face, the concern in his expression, made my entire being ache. “I trusted you. I gave you everything, Kane, even when my mind told me how insane this was. I fell-”
I stopped myself before I could finish that sentence and admit how deep this had gone, how completely I’d fallen for the lie he’d been selling me.
“Was I only a pawn in your sick game?” I demanded, my voice cracking despite my best efforts to
sound strong.
“No!” He looked desperate now, his hands reaching toward me before dropping back to his sides when I flinched away. “No, that’s absolutely not true, but I can’t explain-Simone, you need to leave,
now.”
Can’t explain? Can’t fucking explain?! The man who’d just spent the nights and days worshipping my body, who’d given me his promise ring, who’d made me believe we had a future together, couldn’t explain why his son’s guards were here to drag me back to that psychopath and he was the one turning me in?
I laughed bitterly, the sound harsh and broken in the night air. “I’ve been such a fool.” I shook my head, feeling utterly stupid. “But not anymore. You might be my mate, Kane, but from now on, you mean nothing to me. You are nothing.”
“Mate?” he whispered, his eyes going wide as they darted between mine. “As in fated mate?”
Did he truly not know? Lycans didn’t have fated mates the way wolves did? There were obviously still many things I didn’t know about them, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. I just needed to sever the bond connecting us and then I’d be on my fucking way, far away from here. From him.
I knew how to take care of myself. I didn’t need him, I tried to convince myself, even though my
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Chapter 18
Claim
wolf was already howling with agony inside my head, wanting us to just go to him and forget about
the world.
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Not when it was clear this had all been a setup from the beginning.
“Not for long,” I said, my voice deadly calm despite the chaos raging inside me. “I, Simone Ryker, reject you, Kane, as my fated mate. Don’t you fucking dare follow me.”
The words felt like acid coming out of my mouth, burning through my throat and chest as I spoke them. The mate bond fought against the rejection, sending waves of agony through my entire body that made me want to drop to my knees and scream.
But I pushed through it. I had to.
I yanked his mother’s ring off my finger and shoved it hard into his chest, right over his heart. “You
can keep your damn ring. I don’t need it, just like I don’t need you.”
The impact of my rejection hit him like a physical blow. His face went white, his eyes wide with
shock and pain, and then he dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest where I’d pressed the ring.
“S-Simone,” he gasped, but I was already turning away.
I ran through the woods and up the mountain, my feet carrying me automatically toward home
even as my heart shattered with every step. The familiar prickling of magic on my skin as I reached
the mountain made me feel safe for the first time since this nightmare had started. This was my
territory, my home.
As I climbed higher, the magic grew stronger, welcoming me back. The ancient spells that protected Shadowed Moon Mountain recognized me as belonging here, and I felt some of my
strength return as I left the valley behind.
I didn’t look back at the part of myself I’d left kneeling on the ground. I couldn’t. Because if I did, I’d
see the devastation on Kane’s face and I might actually believe that his pain was real. That what
we’d shared had been real.
And I couldn’t afford to believe in fairy tales anymore, not when the wolves were at my door and
my people needed me to be strong.
The rejection was tearing through my body like wildfire, my wolf whimpering and clawing at my mind, begging me to go back. To fix this. To stop fighting what we both knew was right.
But my human side was stronger. It had to be.
I’d made my choice. I’d chosen my pack, my people, my duty over a man who’d proven he couldn’t
be trusted. Over a fantasy that had never been real in the first place.
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Chapter 18
Even if it killed me.
Clan
The mountain path grew steeper as I climbed, my legs burning from the exertion and the emotional trauma of what I’d just done. My wolf was growing quieter as the distance increased, the bond stretching thin and painful between us. Soon it would break completely, and I’d be free of whatever spell he’d cast over me. Free to focus on what really mattered-saving my people from
his psychotic son.
I just had to keep climbing. Keep moving. Keep breathing despite the fact that every breath felt like swallowing broken glass.
Behind me, I could hear the sounds of a fight breaking out in the valley below. Shouts, growls, the clash of bodies hitting trees. Part of me wanted to turn back, to make sure Kane was okay despite everything, but I forced myself to keep moving forward.
He’d made his choice when he’d lied to me, when he’d used me. Now I was making mine.
I was going home, back to my pack, my family, my real life, and I was never looking back. Even if leaving him behind felt like ripping out my own heart and leaving it bleeding in the dirt.
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