Selene’s POV ~
I felt dread creeping along my spine, no... I would never allow this, he could not know it was . I had to do sothing, anything, my mind kept chanting the sa desperate words like a broken mantra: I have to get out, I have to leave, I cannot let him see through .
But the man in front of was hell-bent on keeping in place, his grip so tight around that I could not move even an inch, it was like he was terrified that if he loosened his hold, even for a breath, I would vanish into thin air.
And perhaps he was right, because that was all I wanted, to escape his iron grasp, to slip free, to vanish from here and be rid of these cursed chains that bound not only my body but my very power.
I was planning, thinking of ways, searching for a chance to get out from here, when suddenly a jolt ran down my spine, and I froze.
His warm and trembling breath was against , brushing so close along my bare neck that it made my skin burn. His entire face was pressed into the crook of my neck as if he wanted to disappear inside .
But that was not what shook .
It was the tears.
His tears.
Hot drops sliding down onto my shoulder, falling silently, breaking against my skin. My heart lurched, and my breath caught. Was he... crying? Why?
The question slamd into and sent a tumbling ache to the very core of my heart. I wanted to be a statue; I wanted to be cold, unshaken, untouchable.
I wanted to be the kind of person who could laugh in the face of his tears, the kind who would never break under the weight of a bond I never asked for. But the truth... the truth was unbearable.
I felt him. Every single piece of him. His despair bled into , his agony carved itself into my bones, and his fear and his hope—yes, even that fragile, desperate hope—all of it crashed over like a tidal wave.
I could not stop it, could not shut it out, it was inside , clawing at , as if I were living his despair as my own.
And still, one question echoed louder than everything else. Why?
Why now? Why this pain, this despair, this sudden crumbling of walls he himself had built around his heart? Why did he have to break here, in front of , when I was barely holding together my own shattered pieces?
Was it because the mate bond finally showed him the truth? Was it guilt, was it regret, or was it so pitiful attempt at atonent for everything they had done to ? Did he finally realize just how wrong they had been?
But the truth was even crueler...what if I had never been their mate? What if I had only ever been Alpha Eirik’s daughter, nothing more? Would they have shed a single tear for ? Would they have felt even an ounce of this so-called despair if I had not belonged to them?
The answer was cruel and crystal clear.
No.
And the clarity hardened sothing inside . My mind, my heart, all the chaotic emotions that had been crashing through the mate bond—I blocked them out, slamd the door shut, because I dared not accept it.
I could not. I would not. I refused to take in a love that was built on conditions, a love that existed only because of a bond neither of us chose.
If I ever found love in this broken world, I wanted it to be real.
I wanted it to be mine.
Love for who I am, not for what I am. Not for my status, not for my bloodline, not because fate tied to soone’s soul.
"Selene..." His voice cracked, broken, nothing like the powerful Alpha he was supposed to be, nothing like the man who once made tremble with fear.
His lips brushed against my neck as though clinging to the last warmth he could find. "Please... please co back to us. Don’t shut out, don’t do this... I beg you."
His grip tightened, trembling now, desperate, as if his body alone could chain to him. "I know we were wrong. I know we hurt you. But give us a chance...just one chance, and I will make it right. I will fix everything. I swear I will. Please... don’t turn away from ."
His words spilled against my skin like a fever, frantic and restless, the kind of pleading that made even my bones ache to hear. I felt his chest heaving against mine and felt the way his breath hitched each ti he forced out another vow.
"Selene... don’t leave. Don’t leave like this. I cannot bear it. I can’t..." His voice broke entirely, shattering into a choked sound that could only be called grief.
And yet... I stood there like stone.
I let his tears fall.
I let his desperate pleas sink into the silence.
I gave him nothing.
My body was there, trapped in his arms, but my soul was far away, unreachable. I heard everything, every broken syllable, but I did not respond. I was a statue carved of ice, staring into the void, refusing to give him even the rcy of a word.
The silence cut him deeper than any rejection. I could feel it—how his desperation twisted tighter, how his fear bled through the bond.
He shook slightly, as though trying to jolt into responding, into saying sothing. His voice cracked again, louder this ti and more frantic.
"Say sothing! Please—anything! Even if you curse , even if you hate ... just don’t stay silent. Selene, please... I can’t take this silence. Tell ... tell you feel it too, this bond, this pull, this..."
Finally, I turned my head slowly. My voice when it ca was steady and rciless, each word sharp enough to dig a wound that would never heal.
"Don’t push to hate you more than I already do, Aeron."
His breath caught like I had driven a blade through his chest. His hands faltered, shaking, as if my words had ripped the ground out from under him.
"I would rather burn alone in the ashes of my own heart than let my love be built on your guilt."
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