The Last Howl

Pain.

It wasn’t just emotional—it was physical, a deep, searing agony that twisted through my chest like claws sinking into my soul. My breath came in shallow gasps, my vision blurred, and my wolf, Nyra, howled in anguish inside my mind.

Kieran rejected us.

The words echoed over and over, a brutal reminder of what had just happened. My mate—my fated mate—had looked me in the eyes and thrown me away as if I were nothing.

People were staring. Whispers rippled through the grand hall, but their voices were distant, muffled by the roaring in my ears. My legs trembled, but I refused to fall. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.

I forced my head up, locking eyes with Kieran’s retreating back as he strode toward the exit. He didn’t look back. Not once.

"Selene!"

A familiar voice cut through the haze, and a second later, warm hands gripped my arms. I turned, meeting the worried gaze of my best friend, Maya. Her golden-brown eyes were filled with concern, her dark curls wild from rushing over to me.

“Selene, talk to me,” she whispered urgently. “Are you—”

“I’m fine,” I said, my voice hollow.

Maya’s expression hardened. “No, you’re not.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Every part of me was screaming, Go after him. Demand an answer. Beg if you have to.

But I wouldn’t.

If Kieran had rejected me so easily, then he had already made his decision.

I wouldn’t beg for someone who didn’t want me.

Nyra whimpered in my mind, her pain laced with confusion. He’s ours. He felt the bond. Why? Why would he do this?

I had no answer.

Maya squeezed my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

I barely nodded before she pulled me toward the exit, away from the murmuring voices and pitying stares. I couldn’t handle them right now. I could barely handle myself.

The cool night air hit me as we stepped outside, but it did nothing to ease the burning in my chest. The pain of rejection wasn’t supposed to linger like this. The bond should have started breaking already. But instead, it pulsed—raw, unhealed.

Something was wrong.

The rejection wasn’t taking.

A new kind of fear settled over me.

Why did it still feel like I was bound to Kieran? And why did I have the sinking feeling that this was only the beginning of something much, much worse.