Kaelen's breathing grows rougher. The bond keeps pulling at him violently. Every instinct in his body screams mate, mine, protect her, touch her.

But Kaelen looks sick. His jaw clenches hard enough to crack.

"No," he mutters, almost to himself.

The silver flames behind him surge again. The High Elder steps forward carefully. "My King… the Moon Goddess has spoken."

Kaelen turns sharply. "I know what happened."

The elder lowers his gaze immediately. Nobody misses the edge in Kaelen's voice.

Anastasia's fingers curl tighter around the railing.

Years. She spends years loving this man. Years accepting scraps of affection and moments that mean more to her than they mean to him.

And now the universe itself ties their souls together—and Kaelen looks ready to tear his own apart.

His wolf surges again violently. One of the royal guards step toward Anastasia on instinct. Kaelen snap his head toward the man, a lethal growl exploding from his chest. The guard backs away immediately.

Kaelen's eyes snap back toward Anastasia again.

That contradiction terrifies the crowd. His wolf wants her badly enough to kill for her already. Kaelen himself looks like he wants to burn the entire ceremony down.

Anastasia swallows slowly. The bond lets her feel fragments of him. Shock. Rage. Claustrophobic panic.

Not over having a mate. Over having her.

That nearly stops her heart.

Kaelen suddenly moves.

One second he stands before the altar. The next he crosses the arena stairs toward Anastasia with predatory speed. The crowd parts instantly.

Anastasia forces herself not to step back. Kaelen stops directly in front of her. Too close.

The bond pulses violently between them. His wolf reacts immediately; his breathing deepens and his pupils sharpen. Every instinct in his body recognizes her instantly.

The man wearing the crown still looks furious about it.

Up close, Anastasia sees the denial clearly now. 

Kaelen stares down at her. "Why you?"

The words land softly. That makes them crueler.

Anastasia goes very still. Around them, nobody dares speak.

Kaelen drags one hand through his dark hair harshly, like he physically cannot process what is happening. "This makes no sense."

Anastasia's throat tightens. The bond burns hotter. Her wolf still wants to reach for him despite everything. Pathetic.

Kaelen looks away briefly toward the watching nobles, toward the thousands of eyes fixed on them. Then back at her. 

The entire territory watches their new king stand before his fated mate looking like he wants to rip the connection out of his own chest. 

His gray eyes sweep across the arena. Across the nobles. The council. The warriors. The royal bloodlines already whispering behind their hands.

Kaelen straightens slowly. The king returns—cold, controlled, terrifyingly distant.

His wolf snarls inside the bond hard enough to make his shoulders tense. Kaelen ignores it.

"This bond is a mistake."

The words crack across the arena. Several wolves flinch instinctively.

Anastasia stops breathing, like something split open quietly inside her ribs.

The elder pales. "Your Majesty, rejecting a divinely formed mate bond during coronation rites is forbidden under moon law."

Kaelen's jaw tightens. "I reject Anastasia Vale as my mate."

The world goes silent. 

Pain detonates through Anastasia's body so hard her vision blacks out for a second. Her wolf screams inside her head—not words, but agony. Pure animal devastation.

Anastasia staggers backward. The silver mark beneath her wrist cracks like shattered glass beneath her skin. Gasps ripple through the crowd.

Kaelen's wolf explodes forward instantly. A savage growl tears from his throat; his instincts know exactly what he has done.

Too late. Kaelen forces the words out anyway, cold, public, and merciless.

"I reject her as future Luna of Black Hollow."

The bond tears. Anastasia feels it. She drops to her knees. Blood spills from her mouth onto the stone.

Inside her mind, her wolf is herself howling, screaming, dying. The sound becomes unbearable. Anastasia presses one shaking hand against the ground to stop from collapsing completely.

Kaelen goes still. For one fractured second, genuine shock flashes across his face. He does not expect the rejection to hit this hard.

The problem is, the Moon Goddess does not care what he expects.

Silver fractures spread slowly beneath Anastasia's skin, glowing faintly along her throat and arms like cracked moonlight trapped under flesh. Blood keeps dripping from her lips.

Nobody moves. Nobody helps. The former king's daughter kneels in front of the entire territory while her soul bond tears itself apart publicly, and Black Hollow watches in silence.

Kaelen takes one involuntary step toward her, his wolf surging violently at the scent of her blood.

Mine. Protect her. Fix this.

Kaelen's face twists briefly from the force of the instinct, then hardens again.

He forces himself to stop moving. That hurts worse than the rejection.

Anasta liftsias her head slowly. Blood stains her mouth, her silver-blue eyes locking onto his.

For years, she spends every piece of herself loving this man carefully, quietly, patiently. Now he stands above her wearing a crown while she breaks apart beneath it, and somehow, she still wants him to choose her.

The realization disgusts her.

Anastasia swallows another mouthful of blood. Her voice comes out raw. "You don't have to look so relieved."

Kaelen's expression flickers briefly—guilt, then gone. The entire arena notices.

Rejecting a mate is rare. Rejecting one publicly during a coronation is monstrous. Rejecting the former king's daughter while she coughs blood onto sacred stone becomes something worse.

The High Elder steps forward sharply. "My King, stop this now. Reclaim the bond before the backlash becomes irreversible."

Kaelen's wolf practically loses control at the words *reclaim the bond*. His breathing roughens instantly, his eyes remaining fixed on Anastasia's blood.

But Kaelen answers coldly. "No."

The word lands like another blade. Anastasia's wolf lets out one final broken scream inside her head, then goes silent. Completely silent.

Anastasia freezes. 

No. No, no, no.

For the first time in her entire life, she cannot feel her wolf. The emptiness nearly destroys her on the spot.

Her body folds forward violently, and blood splatters across the black stone. The crowd erupts.

Kaelen moves instinctively this time. He catches her before her head hits the ground.

The second he touches her, the damaged bond lashes through both of them. Kaelen inhales sharply like he has been stabbed. Anastasia feels it too; even broken, the bond still wants him.

Her body shakes uncontrollably. Kaelen grips her shoulders tighter, his wolf flooding the surface immediately at the contact. Possessive panic bleeds through the bond hard enough to suffocate.

"Anastasia."

Her eyes lift toward him weakly. She sees it now—the horror finally arriving. Not because he hurts her, but because everyone sees him do it.

That realization kills the last soft thing left inside her.

Anastasia forces herself backward out of his arms. Kaelen tightens his grip automatically.

She looks at him. Really looks at him. The king. The man she spends years worshipping. The man who chooses pride over her while his wolf tears itself apart trying to reach her.

Pathetic. Both of them.

Anastasia pulls free anyway, the effort nearly making her collapse again. Blood runs slowly down her chin. The silver fractures beneath her skin spread farther.

The crowd parts instinctively as she rises unsteadily to her feet. No one dares touch her. No one dares stop her.

Kaelen watches her like something inside him is beginning to understand the scale of what he has done. Too late.

Anastasia wipes the blood from her mouth with shaking fingers. Then she looks directly at her new king in front of the entire territory and says nothing at all.

That silence wounds him more visibly than hatred ever could.