Selene Point of view.
The sky was slowly changing from black to deep blue when I finally made it back to the estate mansion. I was still wrapped in a blanket.
It was 6am. the rogue attack had ended over an hour ago, but my body was still shaking with leftover energy. My wolf was still prowling restlessly beneath my skin.
I was in my office standing by the window, staring out at the forest line where the rogues had attacked. But my gaze wasn't really focusing on the trees or the brightening sky.
My mind was lost in thought replaying the moment when Kade launched himself at that rogue Alpha without hesitation.
I barely knew him. Two days. That's all it had been since that disastrous dinner when the mate bond snapped into place and destroyed any semblance of peace I had. Just two days, and yet when I saw him getting injured by that rogue alpha, In that second I lost complete control making me tore through the rogue alpha like he was nothing.
It was like I cared deeply for him, just like how I would care for someone I have known for years.
The thought should have terrified me. Instead, it just made me tired.
"This is the mate bond," I whispered to my reflection in the glass. "That's all it is. Chemical. Biological. Not real."
I pressed my forehead against the cool glass window, trying to calm myself until a sudden knock came through my office door.
Every nerve in my body went on high alert. I knew who it was before I turned around.
It was kade.
"Alpha Whitmore?" His voice came through the door, rough with exhaustion. "I know you're in there. I can... I can sense you."
The mate bond. Of course he could sense me Just as I could sense him. I could feel his presence like a physical touch even through wood and distance.
I should have told him to leave.... I should have use my Alpha voice and command him away from my office.... Away from this dangerous edge we both found our selfs in.
But instead, I found myself walking to the door.
My hand hovered over the handle for few a seconds while I fought with myself. This was madness. Marcus might come looking for me with updates about the rogue pursuit. I can't risk anyone seeing him here in my private office or they will start thinking otherwise.
But my hands was already turning the lock, pulling the door open... rebelling against my commands.
Kade stood in the hallway, still wrapped in the blanket from the battle, dried blood marking his shoulder where the medics had stitched his wound. His green eyes were haunted...desperately fixed on me with an intensity that made my breath catch.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
Every instinct screamed at me to refuse, to close the door in his face and pretend this moment never happen.
But I stepped aside instead, letting him enter.
He moved past me into the office, and the brief moment when our bodies were close enough to almost touch sent electricity crackling through the air. The mate bond PULLED, demanding we close that small distance.
I shut the door. Locked it.
The sound echoed in the room, heavy and final.
"There's nothing to discuss," I said, moving to put my desk between us. Creating distance. "You should be with Luna. She's probably worried about you."
"I don't care about Luna right now." His words were harsh, blunt. "I need to talk to you about what happened..."
"Nothing happened."
"EVERYTHING happened!" His voice rose, raw with emotion. "You felt it that night. At the dinner. I know you did. The mate bond...."
"Don't." The word came out sharp like broken glass. "Don't say it out loud."
"Why not? It's the truth." He moved closer to the desk, his green eyes boring into mine. "You're my mate, Selene. The Moon Goddess chose you for me, and me for you. We both know it. We both feel it every second we're near each other."
My hands clenched at my sides, with my nails digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood. "You're dating my daughter."
"I KNOW!" The anguish in his voice nearly broke me. "Don't you think I know? Don't you think that fact tortures me every single moment? That I hate myself for feeling this way, for wanting you when I should want her?"
I turned away, unable to bear the raw emotion in his face. "Then control it....Control your wolf. You're a Beta...act like one."
"I've TRIED!" His footsteps moved closer, and I could feel him behind me now, close enough that his scent wrapped around me like a physical embrace. "I've tried everything. I barely sleep because when I do, I dream of you. I can't eat because nothing tastes right anymore. My wolf paces constantly, demanding I find you, claim you, complete the bond. And tonight—God, tonight when you were fighting..."
I closed my eyes against the memory. fighting against the way my own wolf was responded to his distress.
"When that rogue Alpha targeted you," Kade continued, his voice dropping to a whisper, "I didn't think. I didn't plan. Every instinct I had screamed at me to protect you. I would have died to keep you safe, Selene. Gladly. Without hesitation."
"Don't say that." My voice cracked despite my attempts to keep it steady. "Don't you dare say things like that."
"Why not? It's the truth." He moved even closer, and I felt the heat of him at my back. Not touching—not quite—but close enough that the mate bond sang between us. "You would have done the same for me. You DID do the same. I saw how you saved me from that rogue and how you fought when I got injured. That wasn't just an Alpha protecting a pack ally. That was..."
"Stop...just stop" I said as I spun to face him, and the movement brought us inches apart. Too close. Far too close.
But he didn't step back. Neither did I.
We stood there, trapped in each other's gravity, the mate bond pulling so hard I could barely breathe through it.
"You feel it too," he said softly. His eyes searched my face, seeing too much, understanding too much. "Admit it."
"No." But the word had no strength behind it.
"Admit it," he pressed. "Tell me the truth. Tell me you feel this bond the same way I do.
"It doesn't matter what I feel..."
"It matters to ME." His hand lifted, hovering near my face, not quite touching but so close I could feel the warmth radiating from his palm. "Please, Selene. I need to know I'm not going insane. That this isn't just me destroying everything for something that's one-sided."
"Yes." The admission tore from my throat like a confession. "Yes, I feel it. Every moment is torture. Being near you, being away from you and it all hurts. The mate bond pulls at me constantly, demanding I acknowledge you, claim you, complete what the Moon Goddess started. My wolf hasn't been this alive since my husband died, and I hate it. I hate feeling this way when I shouldn't, wanting you when I can't have you."
Tears burned in my eyes—tears I hadn't cried since the darkest days after my mate's death. An Alpha crying was rare.
An Alpha crying in front of a Beta was unthinkable.
But I couldn't stop them.
"Then why are we fighting this?" Kade's voice was gentle now, full of tenderness. "If we both feel it, if the bond is real..."
"Because I love my daughter more than I love myself." The words came out broken, desperate. More than I love anything. Luna is my world, Kade. She's everything good I've ever created. And I will NOT destroy her happiness for my own selfish desires."
"It's not selfish to want your mate..."
"It IS when your mate is dating your daughter!" I stepped back, putting distance between us before I did something irrevocable. "Don't you understand? There's no scenario where we accept this bond without devastating her. None."
Kade's jaw clenched, emotions warring across his face. "We can never acknowledge this bond. Not ever. You're with Luna, and that's how it has to stay."
"I don't love Luna anymore." The words hung in the air between us like a grenade. "I tried. God knows I tried to make myself feel something real for her. But my wolf rejects her. It has always rejected her. For two years I've been acting, pretending, trying to force something that was never there. And now I know why....because I was waiting for you."
The words hit me like a physical blow. "No."
"Yes." He moved closer again, relentless. "That's the truth, Selene. I can't love her. Not the way she deserves. Not when every cell in my body knows you're the one meant for me."
"Then end things with her gently," I said firmly, even as my heart screamed in protest. "But not because of me. Because it's the right thing to do. Because she deserves someone who can love her completely."
"And us?" His green eyes held mine, desperate for something I couldn't give. "What about us?"
The question I'd been dreading.
"There is no 'us.'" Each word felt like swallowing glass. "There can never be an 'us.' Even if you end things with Luna....especially if you end things with Luna—we can't be together. Can you imagine what that would do to her? Finding out her mother and her ex-boyfriend are mates? That we were drawn to each other while she was still with you?"
"We haven't done anything wrong..."
"It doesn't matter!" My Alpha voice emerged, sharp and commanding. "Perception matters. Feelings matter. Luna would be destroyed, Kade. Utterly destroyed. And I won't do that to her. I won't."
Silence fell between us, heavy with everything we couldn't have, couldn't say, or couldn't be.
Then Kade moved.
His hand lifted slowly, giving me time to pull away, to stop him, to maintain the distance we desperately needed.
But I didn't move.