Erik’s gaze swept over the table laden with food, his brow furrowing in disapproval. With a sharp snap of his fingers, he summoned the waiter. “Bring something lighter and a pot of stew,” he ordered, his tone commanding. Then, casting a glance at Gracie, he added, “She’s been dealing with morning sickness. I’m particular about what she eats.”

His smile, warm and indulgent, felt like a branding iron against my heart. Gracie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, scrunching her nose at the spiced honey cake Erik offered her. Beside me, Layla, the Luna of our pack, sat in silence for a long moment before rising. “Erik,” she said, her voice calm but firm, “let’s speak outside.”

His smile faded instantly, and he dropped his fork with a clatter. “Say it here,” he replied, his eyes darting around the table before settling on me.

I pinched my thigh under the table, trying to steady myself. My wolf stirred faintly in the back of my mind, a quiet presence I rarely acknowledged these days. “Mom,” Erik said, his voice laced with mock concern, “you don’t think Elena would cause trouble for me, do you? That’s not likely, right?”

My parents, Alpha Ambrose and Luna Sariyah, remained silent, their eyes filled with sorrow as they watched me. I knew Erik had been waiting for this moment—for me to set him free. Over the years of our strained mate bond, he’d made his disdain for me abundantly clear.

I lowered my head quickly, afraid he might see the tears threatening to fall. “Don’t worry,” I said, my voice steady despite the ache in my chest. “I can sign the papers anytime.”

Layla had insisted on this birthday celebration, perhaps hoping to mend what was broken between us. Instead, it only deepened the wound.

She sighed, her hand gently patting my back. “Elena,” she murmured, her voice soft with concern, “please don’t act impulsively.”

Her touch did little to ease the pain or the humiliation. And Erik, ever impatient, slid the rejection papers toward me. He placed a pen in my hand, his movements hesitant, almost as if he was second-guessing himself.

The back of my hand was red and swollen, a faint trace of blood where I’d bitten down to keep from crying. He frowned slightly, avoiding my eyes. “Sign it,” he whispered, his voice low enough for only me to hear. “Release me, and free yourself too.”

---

Later, Gracie reached out to me, making sure I knew she was back. We hadn’t spoken in years, so when her friend request appeared on my phone, I hesitated before accepting.

A flicker of something—amusement?—crossed my mind, all tied to Erik. I knew Layla had always subtly blamed me for the Hawkins family’s lack of heirs. What she didn’t know was that Erik and I had never fully consummated our bond.

Loving him felt like a betrayal of my own self-respect. I couldn’t bring myself to give him that. So, he’d brought Gracie to humiliate me, even bringing the rejection papers to my birthday celebration.

Those papers were a formality, downloaded from the pack’s official records. How could I sign them? I thought he’d expect me to confront him, to demand why he was treating me this way.

But when the moment came, I surprised even myself. I signed the papers with steady hands, offering him my congratulations before walking away.

Congratulating him? I left without a backward glance, retreating to heal in solitude. If he didn’t care, why did I feel like the one left broken?

I expected him to call, to reach out in the quiet hours of the night. Instead, it was I who felt unsteady, my wolf stirring restlessly in the back of my mind.

On the day the rejection was finalized, I returned to the now-empty house, struck by the sudden return of a long-forgotten loneliness. Panic welled up inside me, unbidden.

I found myself asking about the security code, as if returning home would somehow fix what was broken.

A voice in my mind, clear and unmistakable, whispered: *Elena, I think I might care. But wasn’t I supposed to hate you?*

The thought lingered, persistent and unrelenting. Later, when he chased after me to confess, I acted as though I couldn’t hear him.

With icy resolve, I told him I didn’t love him anymore. I owed him nothing, and I wouldn’t repay any imagined debt.

The summer I nearly drowned during my junior year, it was Beta Timothy Rice who tragically lost his life trying to save me. As a Beta of the pack, his death shook everyone, leaving a void that seemed impossible to fill.

At the memorial service, Erik Hawkins stood rigid, his usually commanding presence diminished. He looked ashen, his broad shoulders slumped under the weight of grief. My mother, Luna Sariyah Bell, clung to Luna Layla Hawkins as they both wept, declaring that from that day forward, we were family. And so, we began living as one.

On those quiet nights when Luna Layla retreated to her room to cry, I’d quietly slip in and hold her, clutching my pillow tightly. She cared for me deeply, often trembling as she gently stroked my head. Her touch was a fragile reminder of the bond we’d formed, one that felt both comforting and suffocating.

Erik, a Lycan Prince, transferred to the prestigious private school I attended, thanks to my father, Alpha Ambrose Bell. He became more withdrawn with each passing day, his once commanding aura dimmed by grief. I became his shadow and his caretaker, even when his gaze was filled with hostility. I stubbornly treated him well, though his resentment was a constant presence.

By senior year, Erik had grown rebellious, his towering frame often disappearing to the rooftop to smoke. I’d follow him up there, only to find him pressing a girl against the wall for a kiss. Flustered and with my heart racing, I tried to leave, but he called out to me, his voice dripping with mockery.

“Didn’t you see it all?” He pulled the girl close and pointed at me. “Meet the girl who’s going to be my mate.”

His words were laced with sarcasm, his tone sharp and cutting. “She’s loaded, and my mom is obsessed with her.”

I felt the discomfort seep into every part of me, but I couldn’t just turn and walk away. My wolf stirred uneasily in the back of my mind, a faint whimper escaping her.

That night, Erik barged into my room, his towering frame leaning against the wall as he looked down at me. His presence was overwhelming, even in his human form. “Do you know why I didn’t want to transfer schools at all?”

He confessed he had a crush on Gracie Shaw, a girl from our pack, and had planned to confess his feelings after graduation. “But then my dad died, and now nothing I do feels right.”

The resentment in his eyes haunted my nightmares later. I secretly went to see Gracie, the girl whose smile revealed charming dimples, and whose presence seemed to light up any room she entered. She was everything I wasn’t—radiant, confident, and effortlessly captivating.

As I watched her from afar, I couldn’t help but wonder if Erik had made the right choice in rejecting me. But deep down, I knew his decision wasn’t about me—it was about his pain, his grief, and his inability to move forward. And though it hurt, I couldn’t blame him for it.

I quickly signed the mate bond rejection papers, the weight on my chest finally lifting. Erik snatched the document without so much as a glance in my direction, his Alpha aura sharp and unyielding. Gracie clung to his arm, her presence a stark reminder of where his loyalty now lay. “See you in a month,” he said, his voice cold and detached, and I knew with absolute clarity that this would be the last time I’d see him in this life.

The door slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing in the sudden silence of the private room. The waiter returned after what felt like an eternity, his voice hesitant. “Would you like the extra dish to be served?”

No one answered. My mother, the Luna of our pack, finally broke down into sobs, her composure shattered. My father, Alpha Ambrose Bell, wrapped an arm around her, his presence steady and reassuring as he murmured soothing words. Layla Hawkins, the Luna of Erik’s pack, sat frozen in her seat, her expression one of stunned disbelief, as if she couldn’t quite process what had just unfolded. And me? I felt invisible, caught in the middle of a storm that had been brewing for years.

I stood slowly, my legs trembling but my resolve firm. “No need to serve it. Just bring the check, please.” I paid mechanically, my fingers numb from the cold that seemed to seep into my bones. Was I calm? No, I was just too numb to feel anything else.

I grabbed my coat from the private room, the fabric heavy in my hands, and walked out. The parking garage was quiet, the air thick with the scent of damp concrete. I slid into my car, the leather seat cool against my skin. My eyes burned with unshed tears, but I held them back. What was there to cry about? I had known this was coming for a long time.

It had started the day he proposed to me, out of the blue, at my college graduation. He’d stood there with a bouquet of flowers, his Alpha aura commanding the room, and declared, “Elena White, daughter of Alpha Ambrose Bell, I, Erik Hawkins, Lycan Prince, claim you as my mate.” The words had left me stunned, but before I could process them, he’d whisked me off to finalize the mate bond without any discussion. Everyone had advised him to slow down—a bonding ceremony needed planning, guests needed to be invited, and I deserved more than a rushed affair—but he’d dismissed them all with a single, cutting remark: “If I wait any longer, I might regret this.”

Back then, I’d signed the papers mechanically, feeling dazed as I walked out. His next words had snapped me into clarity. He’d said, “Gracie left for Europe. Are you happy now?” The bitterness in his voice had cut through me, and I’d known then that he resented me. After the bond was sealed, he’d kept his distance. Every time I reached out to him, he’d recoil as if my touch burned him. “I bonded with you. What more do you want?” he’d say, his tone laced with disdain.

For years after that, whenever Layla hinted at wanting pups, I hadn’t known how to respond. Slowly, she’d begun to resent me too. More than once, she’d sighed in front of me, “Our Hawkins family line is going to end with this generation, it seems.”

Now, she and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The bond was broken, the ties severed. And for the first time in years, I felt free.