Matthew POV
“I’d rather die free than live as claimed by someone like you.”
Her words tore through me.
I stood frozen, staring at the woman I was supposed to call mine—should have called mine with pride. The weight of her stare, the pain in her voice, the way she stood tall even though I knew she was breaking, it was too much.
The words I never thought I’d say hovered on my tongue.
“I reject you.”
But I couldn’t say them.
The moment I tried, my throat closed up. My chest ached like something sacred inside me would shatter if I let her go. I couldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t.
Instead, I reached for her, hands trembling, and gripped her shoulders, gently but firmly. Her skin was warm beneath my fingers, her breaths short and uneven.
“You don’t get to leave,” I said, my voice breaking. “Not after everything. Not after the hell we’ve both been through.”
Tears slipped from her eyes as she looked at me, no longer just angry, but devastated. She opened her mouth to speak, but a sob choked her, and she collapsed to her knees right there in front of me.
I dropped with her, holding her as her body trembled in my arms. She wasn’t yelling anymore. She wasn’t fighting. She was just hurting. And it gutted me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sorry for every time I failed to see you.”
She didn’t respond.
I didn’t know what else to do—so I lifted her in my arms, just like I had after she collapsed in the training field. She didn’t fight me this time. She just let her head rest against my chest, tears soaking into my shirt.
I carried her to the healer’s den. My feet moved fast, but my heart lagged behind, trying to catch up with all the damage I’d done.
The healer looked up from her table as I burst through the door.
“She needs rest,” I said urgently. “The bond—it’s too much.”
The healer nodded, gesturing toward the spare bed. I laid Aria down carefully, brushing the hair from her face. Her lips moved like she wanted to say something—but nothing came.
The door slammed open behind me.
Elias.
His eyes burned as he stepped inside. He didn’t hesitate. He walked straight up and stood between me and Aria like he had every right to.
“You don’t deserve her,” he said sharply. “You never did.”
I saw red. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, claws itching, fur rising.
“She’s mine,” I growled.
“She’s not your possession,” Elias snapped. “You don’t get to hurt her and then play hero.”
“You think I don’t know what I’ve done? You think I don’t hate myself for it?”
“Then let her go.”
“I can’t!” My voice shook the walls. “The bond—it’s inside me. She’s inside me!”
Elias stepped closer, his face inches from mine. “That’s the problem. You want her because you’re bonded—not because you love her.”
My wolf surged forward. But before either of us could move—Aria screamed.
“Stop!”
Her voice cracked like thunder.
“I’m not a prize!” she shouted. “I’m not in a fight! I’m not some object you two get to tear apart to prove who’s stronger!”
We both turned toward her.
And then—something shifted.
Her body trembled, her eyes glowing silver. Not the dull shimmer of the bond—this was different. Brighter. Fiercer. Divine.
A pulse of energy rippled from her skin, pushing both of us back. She sat up slowly, her chest rising and falling in deep, ragged breaths. A light—silver and soft—wrapped around her like a second skin.
The healer gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
“I’ve only seen it once,” she whispered. “Decades ago. It was a myth. A whisper in prophecy.”
Elias stepped back, stunned. I couldn’t move.
“She’s not just a Luna,” the healer whispered.
“She’s the Moon’s chosen.”
The room spun.
Aria stared at her glowing hands in shock. Her lips trembled, but she said nothing. She didn't even understand what was happening.
And then—another voice broke the silence.
Cold. Calculated. Venomous.
My father.
He stepped out of the shadows in the hallway, flanked by two of his elite guards.
He looked at Aria like she was something dangerous. Something that needed to be extinguished.
“So,” he said, voice calm but deadly, “this is what the Moon’s been hiding in plain sight.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Then we’ll kill her,” he said flatly, “before she fulfills that prophecy.”