Kade POV
I woke up screaming.
The pain hit first—like someone was ripping my chest open from the inside. Then came the memories. Raven's violet eyes. Her rejection. The mate bond tearing apart.
"Hold him down!" My father's voice barked orders. "Get the pack doctor. Now!"
Hands pressed on my shoulders, keeping me pinned to my bed. I fought against them, my wolf howling in agony. He wanted out. Wanted to hunt. Wanted to find our mate and fix what we'd broken.
"Mate," I gasped. "Need... need her..."
"Your mate rejected you." My father's face appeared above me, cold and disapproving. "Because you were too weak to control the situation. Now you're paying the price."
Weak. Everything always came back to that word with him.
The pack doctor—an older wolf named Samuel—pushed past my father. He checked my pulse, pulled back my eyelids, listened to my breathing.
"The rejection is killing him," Samuel said quietly. "Slowly. His wolf can't accept it. If this continues for more than a few days, his heart will give out."
"Then fix it," my father demanded.
"I can't. Only the female can reverse a rejection. She has to accept the bond willingly, or..." Samuel trailed off, but the meaning was clear.
Or I'd die.
"Then we bring her back," my father said. "By force if necessary."
"She crossed the border." Beta Marcus—my best friend since childhood—spoke from the doorway. "She's in neutral territory now. We can't touch her without breaking pack law."
My father's fist slammed into the wall. "That little bitch. She planned this. Probably had that shadow wolf bloodline hidden all along, waiting for the perfect moment to humiliate this family."
"She didn't plan anything," I croaked out. My throat felt like sandpaper. "She didn't even know she had a wolf. She was as surprised as anyone."
"Defending her now? After she rejected you in front of the entire pack?" My father leaned close, his eyes flashing Alpha gold. "You're weak, Kade. Just like I always feared. Your mother made you soft."
Don't mention Mom. He knew that was a line he shouldn't cross.
"My mother died giving birth to me," I said through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare use her against me."
"She died because she was weak. And she passed that weakness to you." He straightened, dismissing me like I was nothing. "I'm calling the Council. We'll petition for Raven's return on grounds of mate bond law. They can't refuse an Alpha's claim to his fated mate."
"She rejected me," I repeated. "That's her right under Moon Goddess law."
"Rights can be overturned. Especially for a female with no pack, no family, no protection." My father smiled, and it made my stomach turn. "She's vulnerable now. That makes her ours to claim."
The wrongness of it hit me like cold water. He was talking about forcing Raven back. Forcing her to accept a bond with someone she hated. Someone who'd made her life hell.
Someone like me.
"No," I said.
Everyone in the room went still.
"What did you say?" My father's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"I said no. You're not dragging her back here. You're not forcing anything." I pushed myself up despite the pain screaming through my body. "I rejected her first. For years. Every cruel word, every time I made her cry, every moment I made her feel worthless—that was me rejecting her before the bond even formed."
"You didn't know she was your mate—"
"But I knew she was a person!" The words exploded out of me. "I knew she was suffering, and I made it worse because you taught me that hurting people made me strong. You were wrong. You've been wrong about everything."
My father's hand moved so fast I didn't see it coming. The slap knocked me back onto the bed, splitting my lip. Blood filled my mouth.
"You don't talk to me that way," he snarled. "I'm your Alpha. Your father. You will obey me."
"Not this time."
The room went silent. Beta Marcus's eyes widened. Samuel the doctor looked terrified.
My father's face went dangerously calm—the look he got right before he destroyed someone. "Then you're no son of mine. From this moment, you are stripped of your heir status. You will not inherit this pack. You will not lead our people. You are nothing."
The words should have hurt. Should have devastated me. But all I felt was relief.
"Good," I said. "Because I don't want to be anything like you."
My father turned and walked out, slamming the door hard enough to crack the frame. The others followed quickly, leaving me alone with Beta Marcus.
"You've just destroyed your entire future," Marcus said quietly. "Everything you've worked for. Everything you were supposed to be."
"I know." I lay back, staring at the ceiling. The pain in my chest was getting worse. "But at least I'm not destroying hers anymore."
"You're dying, Kade. Without the mate bond completed, you'll be dead in a week. Maybe less."
"Then I die." I closed my eyes. "It's what I deserve anyway."
Marcus was quiet for a long moment. Then: "There might be another way."
I looked at him. "What way?"
"If you can get her to forgive you—really forgive you, not just accept the bond—your wolf might survive. The Moon Goddess sometimes allows rejected bonds to reform if both parties genuinely want it."
"She'll never forgive me. Why would she?" The memories hit me like punches. Raven at age ten, crying after I dumped her books in the mud. Raven at fifteen, running away after I called her pathetic in front of the whole school. Raven yesterday morning, flinching when I threw that rock at her back. "I was a monster to her, Marcus. For years. There's no forgiveness for what I did."
"Then you die." Marcus stood, heading for the door. "But if you really want to make things right, you could try actually earning it. Instead of just giving up because it's easier."
He left before I could respond.
I spent the next three days in bed, getting weaker. My wolf was silent now—not fighting, not pushing, just... fading. Like he'd accepted that this was how we'd end.
Celeste visited once. She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed, her perfect face showing no sympathy.
"I hope you're happy," she said coldly. "You've embarrassed me in front of the entire pack. Everyone knows my fiancé was mated to my defective sister and got rejected. Do you know what they're saying about me?"
"I'm dying," I said flatly. "And you're worried about gossip?"
"You should have controlled her. Should have forced her to accept before she could reject." Celeste's eyes flashed with anger. "But no. You let her walk away. You let her ruin everything."
"Get out."
"Gladly. I've already accepted a marriage proposal from Alpha Reed of the Clearwater Pack. Someone who actually knows how to be a leader." She smiled cruelly. "Don't worry. I'll make sure everyone knows you weren't good enough for me. That'll be my parting gift to you."
She left, and I felt... nothing. No heartbreak. No jealousy. Just emptiness.
On the fourth day, Samuel came to check on me. His face was grim.
"Your heart is failing," he said simply. "I'd give you three more days. Four if you're lucky."
"Good to know." I tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough. Blood speckled my hand.
"There's someone here to see you. Says it's urgent."
"I don't want visitors—"
The door opened, and a stranger walked in. He was tall, well-dressed, with dark hair and sharp green eyes that assessed everything instantly.
"Kade Thornwell," he said. His voice was smooth, controlled. "My name is Darius Hunt. Alpha of Haven City Pack."
My body went rigid. "Where is she?"
"Your rejected mate? Safe. Under my protection. Which is why I'm here." Darius pulled up a chair, sitting like he owned the room. "I have a proposition for you."
"I'm not interested in—"
"Raven doesn't know I'm here. If she did, she'd probably try to stop me." Darius leaned forward. "But I believe in second chances. And I believe you deserve to know the truth before you die."
"What truth?"
"That she's crying herself to sleep every night. That the rejection is hurting her just as much as it's hurting you. That despite everything you did to her, some part of her still feels that mate bond pulling." He paused. "And that she's terrified of what that means."
My heart—my failing, dying heart—suddenly beat faster. "She's... she's hurting?"
"Of course she's hurting. You're her mate. The bond doesn't care about logic or past abuse. It just is." Darius stood. "So here's my proposition: Come to Haven City. Apologize properly. Not because you're dying. Not because you want something from her. But because she deserves to hear that you understand exactly how much you hurt her."
"And then?"
"Then the choice is hers. Accept you or don't. Forgive you or don't. But at least you'll have tried to make it right."
He handed me a card with an address.
"You have three days left," Darius said. "Use them wisely."
He walked out, leaving me holding the card and a choice I never thought I'd have: die with regrets, or die trying to fix them.
I pulled myself out of bed.
My wolf stirred—barely alive, but stirring.
Mate, he whispered. Try. For mate.
I grabbed my phone and booked the next bus to Haven City.
If I was going to die anyway, I'd die doing the one thing I should have done years ago: telling Raven Ashford that she deserved better than me.
Even if that better future didn't include me at all.