Chapter Five: A Lover’s Betrayal
The world blurred at the edges.
Selene felt as if she were watching everything happen from outside her own body. The murmurs of the gathered pack members, the condemning gazes of the elders, the chilling silence of Kieran—all of it felt distant, like an echo of a nightmare she couldn’t wake from.
But this wasn’t a nightmare.
This was real.
Her body still ached from the shock of their mate bond being revealed, her wolf still howling inside her, desperately trying to hold on to something that was already slipping away. The bond hadn’t been completed, hadn’t been sealed with a mark, but it existed—an invisible tether between her and Kieran, one that should have been sacred.
Should have been forever.
And yet, here she stood, being cast aside like she meant nothing.
“You will leave by sunrise.”
The words still rang in her ears, spoken by Alpha Aldric himself, the man who had raised her. She had spent her whole life trying to prove that she belonged in this pack. That she was worthy of being called family.
But none of that mattered.
Not anymore.
Her breath came in short, shallow bursts as she turned to the one person who could stop this.
The one person who could fight for her.
Kieran.
He stood a few feet away, his golden eyes unreadable, his jaw tight, his broad shoulders tense beneath the weight of what was happening. He hadn’t said a word.
Not when they had called their bond a mistake.
Not when the elders had condemned her.
Not when his father had sentenced her to exile.
And that silence was the deepest betrayal of all.
Selene took a shaky step forward, her voice barely above a whisper. “Say something.”
Kieran’s gaze flickered—something raw, something painful flashing across his features. But then it was gone, replaced by cold resolve.
“There’s nothing to say.”
A sharp pain twisted in her chest. “That’s not true.”
Kieran clenched his fists at his sides. “Selene, don’t—”
“Don’t what?” Her voice trembled, but there was steel beneath it now. “Don’t ask you to fight for me? Don’t ask you to tell them that the Moon Goddess didn’t make a mistake? That this bond—our bond—is real?”
Kieran flinched as if the words physically hurt him. “You don’t understand.”
Selene let out a bitter laugh, a sound she barely recognized. “Then make me understand.”
He said nothing.
The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Then Elder Vaughn stepped forward, his gray eyes sharp and calculating. “You have been given your orders, Kieran,” he said smoothly. “You will be Alpha by dawn. This girl is nothing but a distraction. One that you must eliminate.”
Selene’s stomach twisted. Girl. Not even her name. Just something to be removed, erased.
Kieran’s breathing grew heavier, his entire body rigid. “I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
Vaughn smirked. “No one needs to lay a hand on her. You only need to do what must be done.”
Selene didn’t understand—not at first.
But then Vaughn spoke again, and the ground beneath her feet seemed to crack open.
“Reject her.”
The words slammed into her.
She staggered back as if she had been physically struck, her entire body going cold.
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
Kieran’s expression darkened, his throat working as if he were swallowing broken glass.
“I already rejected her.” His voice was hoarse, strained. “It should be enough.”
“An Alpha’s rejection must be absolute,” Vaughn countered. “Do it properly. Here. Now.”
Selene shook her head, panic clawing at her chest. “Kieran, don’t do this.”
He looked at her then, really looked at her, and she saw it.
The war inside him.
She had always known him—better than anyone. And what she saw in his eyes wasn’t cruelty. It wasn’t indifference.
It was agony.
He didn’t want to do this.
But he would.
Because he was Kieran Blackwood—the perfect son, the rightful Alpha, the one who had always chosen duty over himself.
Selene felt something inside her shatter.
“I, Kieran Blackwood…” His voice cracked, and for a second, she thought—hoped—that he wouldn’t do it.
But then his golden eyes hardened, his jaw clenched, and he forced the words out.
“…reject you, Selene Nightshade, as my mate.”
The world stopped.
A sharp, unbearable pain tore through her soul. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before—a ripping, searing agony that consumed her from the inside out.
Selene let out a strangled gasp, her knees buckling.
Her wolf screamed inside her, the bond unraveling violently, severed at its core.
She could feel it—the pull between them breaking, the warmth of their connection turning to ice.
And yet, beneath the pain, beneath the devastation, she felt something else.
A whisper of something that had always lurked in the shadows of her heart.
Fury.
Because in that moment, she understood.
He had chosen them over her.
Not fate. Not the Moon Goddess. Not the bond that should have made them unstoppable.
He had chosen his title. His duty. His place in the pack.
And he had left her with nothing.
Selene’s body trembled as she forced herself to stand.
She met Kieran’s gaze, ignoring the guilt in his eyes, ignoring the way his hands were shaking.
If he expected her to beg, to crumble at his feet—he was wrong.
Something inside her had died tonight.
And something else had been born in its place.
She lifted her chin, her voice steady despite the storm inside her. “I, Selene Nightshade, accept your rejection.”
The last thread of their bond snapped.
Kieran sucked in a sharp breath, his own pain visible now, but she didn’t care.
Because she would never let him see her break.
Vaughn gave a satisfied nod. “It is done.”
Selene turned away, not sparing Kieran another glance.
She would not cry.
She would not shatter.
She would leave.
And she would never look back.
Because if Kieran Blackwood could throw her away like she was nothing—then she would become something he could never ignore.
She would become his greatest regret.
And one day, he would understand.
She was never meant to be forgotten.
She was meant to be feared.