Chapter 5

The door slammed shut behind him, and I was alone again. The silence that followed was deafening, pressing against my ears like water. I sat there on the cold floor, my hands still trembling, my heart racing, and the weight of the letter hidden beneath the floorboard burning a hole in my conscience.

But it wasn’t the letter that consumed me now. It was the memory of everything that led to this.

Everything that led to his coldness.

The memory did not come gently and quickly I recalled that time when I was seventeen.

The study had always been my father’s sanctuary and behind it sat my father, Alpha Haralson.

But this day was different. There was no warmth in his eyes, a hard resolve that made my stomach twist with dread.

“You summoned me, Father?” I asked, my voice tentative as I stepped through the heavy oak doors.

He didn’t look up from the papers spread across his desk. “Close the door.” He ordered.

I did as he asked, the click of the latch echoing in the silence. My heart was already pounding, a sense of foreboding settling over me like a shroud.

“Sit.”

I moved to the chair across from him, my hands clasped tightly in my lap. “What is this about? Is something wrong?”

He finally looked up, and his gaze made me want to shrink into myself. “I know about you and Darren.”

My blood went cold. “Father, I can explain....”

“I don’t want explanations.” He stopped me midsentence coldly. “I want you to end it. Immediately.”

I stared at him, my mind struggling to comprehend what he was saying. “End it? Father, Darren is my fated mate. The Moon Goddess chose him for me. I can’t just....”

“You can and you will.” He slammed his fist on the desk, the sound reverberating through the room. “I forbid this bond. I forbid you from seeing him, from speaking to him and from even thinking about him.”

“You can’t do this!” I shot to my feet, my chair scraping against the floor. “The Goddess chose him for me! How can you stand there and tell me to reject my own mate?”

“Because I am your Alpha!” He rose from his chair, his power radiating off him in waves that made my knees buckle. “Because I am your father, and I know what is best for you!”

“You don’t know what’s best for me!” Tears were streaming down my face now, but I didn’t care. “You don’t know what it’s like to feel this bond, to feel this connection! Darren is...”

“Darren is not worthy of you!” His roar shook the walls. “He has no pack, no status and no future. He is nothing but a stray who has managed to catch your eye with his charm and his pretty words.”

“That’s not true!” I screamed back, my fists clenched at my sides. “He is strong. He is kind. He loves me, Father. He truly loves me.”

“And what will his love give you?” My father stepped around the desk, his face twisted with anger. “What will it give this pack? Nothing. He is nothing. And I will not have my daughter, the future Luna of this pack, throw herself away on a man who has nothing to offer.”

“He has everything to offer!” Tears were streaming down my face, my voice breaking. “He is my mate. The Moon Goddess chose him for me. How can you stand there and tell me to reject the one person in this world who was made for me?”

“Because you are my daughter!” His voice cracked. “And as your father and your Alpha, I am telling you that this bond ends now.”

“I won’t do it,” I said, my voice trembling but firm. “I won’t reject him. I can’t. My wolf won’t allow it. She loves him. I love him.”

“You will do as I say!” He grabbed my shoulders, his grip painful. “You will reject him, Lyra. I am not asking you. I am commanding you.”

“And if I refuse?” I met his gaze, my heart pounding. “What will you do to me? Kill me? Banish me like you’re threatening to do to him?”

His eyes flickered with something that might have been pain, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “If you refuse, I will send him away. I will have him exiled from this pack, and he will never be allowed to return. He will wander the wilderness alone, with no pack, no protection, no future. Is that what you want for him?”

“No...” I shook my head, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks. “No, please. Don’t do this.”

“Then you will reject him.” His voice was cold. “You will tell him that you no longer want him. You will break the bond. And you will never speak to him again.”

I collapsed to my knees, sobs tearing through my chest. “You doing it right now, get out and reject him”,

The day I rejected him was the worst day of my life.

I found him at the edge of the forest, his face brightening when he saw me. “Lyra! I was just about to come find you. I have something to show..”

“Stop.” My voice was cold, colder than I had ever heard it. “Don’t come any closer.” I added.

“Lyra? What’s wrong?”, His smile faltered.

I couldn’t meet his eyes. I couldn’t look at him. I knew that if I did, I would break. I would fall apart. I would throw myself into his arms and beg the Moon Goddess to save us from the fate my father had laid before us.

But I couldn’t. I had to protect him. I had to save him. Even if it meant destroying him first.

“I’m rejecting you, Darren.” The words came out, each one laced with the same cold, hollow tone. “The bond was a mistake. I don’t want to be with you. I don’t love you.”

The silence that followed was unbearable. I could feel him staring at me, his heart shattering in his chest. I could feel the bond between us weakening, fraying, tearing.

“Lyra...” His voice was hoarse. “Lyra, I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it.” I forced myself to speak, even as my wolf howled in agony inside me. “You and I have no future. It was just a silly fantasy. I’m not interested in a man who has no pack, no status, nothing to offer. I’m the future Luna, Darren. I need someone worthy of me.”

I heard him step closer, felt the warmth of his body and I nearly broke. “I don’t believe you, Lyra. I can feel you through the bond. You’re in pain. You’re hurting. Whatever this is.....”

“It’s nothing.” I stepped back, finally forcing myself to look at him. The raw hurt in his eyes nearly undid me. “I’ve made my decision. The bond is severed.”

“This isn’t you,” he pleaded, his hands reaching out, but I flinched away from his touch. He flinched as if my actions had physically burned him. “This isn’t the Lyra I know. She would never....”

“Maybe you never knew me at all and I Lyra Haralson reject you.” The moment I said so, the bond snapped.

In that moment, the faint golden thread connecting my soul to his severed with a violence that knocked me to my knees. A silent, primal scream tore through every part of my existence. I heard the same sounds escaping Darren’s throat too, a broken, wounded noise that would haunt my nightmares forever. He dropped to the ground, his hand clutching his chest where his heart was already starting to tear itself apart from the inside.

And through the storm of my own shattered spirit, I forced myself to stand. I forced myself to walk away.

I left him there, on his knees in the dirt, and I never looked back.