Dante's POV
I can't breathe.
My chest feels like someone's crushing it with a stone fist. Every breath is a battle. Every heartbeat stutters and stops before lurching forward again. Sweat pours down my face as I claw at my shirt, trying to rip it open, trying to make the pain stop.
"Alpha King!" My healer, Old Marion, rushes into my chamber with three assistants behind her. "What's happening? Your heart—it keeps stopping!"
"Fix it!" I snarl, but the words come out weak. Broken.
She presses her hands to my chest, her healing magic flowing into me. But nothing happens. The pain doesn't stop. My heart stutters again—one beat, two beats, then nothing for five terrible seconds before it starts again.
"I don't understand." Marion's face is white with fear. "Your heart is healthy. Strong. There's no disease, no poison. But it's like something is controlling it. Like it's not beating on its own anymore."
That's impossible.
I'm the Alpha King. The most powerful wolf in the territories. Nothing and no one controls me.
My heart stops again. This time for ten seconds.
I see darkness creeping at the edges of my vision. Feel death reaching for me with cold fingers. Then my heart kicks back to life with a painful thump that makes me gasp.
"Get the Moon Priestess," I choke out. "Now."
Marion runs.
I lie on my bed, fighting to stay conscious. What's happening to me? This started three hours ago—right after I woke from a nightmare about violet eyes and silver hair. About a girl I rejected two days ago.
Elara Moonwyn.
I shove the thought away. She doesn't matter. She was never meant to be my Luna. The daughter of traitors who killed my father doesn't deserve—
My heart stops completely.
Five seconds. Ten. Fifteen.
I'm dying.
Twenty seconds.
My vision goes black.
Then my heart slams back to life so hard I arch off the bed, screaming.
The Moon Priestess bursts through my door, her silver robes flying behind her. She takes one look at me and her face drains of all color.
"Oh no," she whispers. "Oh no, no, no. What have you done?"
"What are you talking about?" I gasp. "Fix this!"
She stumbles to my bedside, her hands shaking as she touches my chest. Her magic flows into me—not healing magic, but something different. Reading magic. Seeing magic.
Her eyes go wide with horror.
"The bond," she breathes. "You rejected a Starborn mate."
"A what?"
"Starborn! The ancient bloodline that came before the Moon Goddess herself!" She backs away from me like I'm cursed. "The Moonwyn family—they weren't just wolves. They descended from cosmic beings who created our world. And you—" She chokes on the words. "You rejected one."
None of this makes sense. "Elara Moonwyn is weak. She has barely any power. She's the daughter of—"
"She was SEALED!" The priestess's voice cracks. "Her mother sealed her power at birth to protect her from people like you! People who would fear what she could become!"
My heart stops again. Thirty seconds this time.
When it starts, I can barely speak. "What does this have to do with my heart?"
The priestess looks at me with something like pity. "When you reject a fated mate, the bond breaks. But when you reject a Starborn mate, the bond transforms. It becomes a cosmic punishment." She touches my chest where the mate mark used to glow. Now there's nothing but smooth skin. "Your life is tied to hers now. If her heart breaks because of you, yours stops. If she suffers, you suffer tenfold. If she dies—"
"I die," I finish, the words tasting like ash.
"The universe is teaching you the cost of scorning sacred bonds." The priestess's voice is cold. "And there's more. Your rejection triggered something. It broke the seal on her power. Right now, wherever she is, Elara Moonwyn is awakening to her true nature."
Impossible. I saw her collapse at the ceremony. Saw her broken and dying.
"She's probably dead already," I say, but even as the words leave my mouth, my heart stutters in protest.
The priestess shakes her head slowly. "If she were dead, you'd be dead. The fact that you're still breathing means she's alive. But Alpha King—" She leans close, her ancient eyes boring into mine. "There's a prophecy. When the Moon is rejected, the Stars will claim their daughter back, and all wolves will kneel or burn. You didn't just reject your mate. You triggered the end of everything we know."
Before I can respond, pain explodes in my head.
Visions slam into me like a physical attack. I see Elara standing in a temple of white stone, glowing with power that makes the sun look dim. I see her eyes—no longer just violet, but filled with swirling galaxies. I see her raise her hand, and entire packs fall to their knees.
I see myself, broken and bleeding, begging at her feet while she looks down at me with cold indifference.
I see kingdoms burning.
The vision releases me, and I collapse back on the bed, shaking.
"What was that?"
"Your punishment includes visions of what's coming." The priestess stands. "Every time she thinks of you, every time she remembers what you did, you'll see glimpses of the future. You'll watch her rise while you suffer."
"Where is she?" I demand. "I need to find her. I need to—"
"To what? Apologize?" The priestess laughs bitterly. "You banished her, Alpha King. Lord Marcus delivered your order three hours ago. She's probably already gone."
My blood turns to ice. "I gave no such order."
"Marcus said it came from you. That the Moonwyn bloodline was to be removed from the territories immediately."
Rage explodes through me. Marcus. That snake moved without my permission.
But would I have stopped him? If he'd asked first, would I have said no?
The honest answer makes me hate myself.
My heart stops again. This time for a full minute.
When it finally restarts, I know what I have to do. I have to find Elara. I have to fix this before—
Another vision hits me.
Elara stands in the Forbidden Veilwood, her hand touching a crystal pillar. The moment she makes contact, power explodes outward in a wave that I feel even through the vision. The rejection mark on her chest burns away, replaced by a symbol that glows with starlight.
She throws her head back and screams, and in that scream, I hear power that could shatter worlds.
Then she looks directly at me—even though I'm just watching through a vision, even though I'm miles away—and she smiles.
It's not a kind smile.
"Did you really think you could throw me away and suffer no consequences?" Her voice echoes in my head. "You wanted to be free of me, Alpha King. Congratulations. You're free. Free to watch me become everything you feared. Free to suffer as I rise. And free to die knowing that you did this to yourself."
The vision shatters.
I'm back in my chamber, gasping for air. The priestess is gone. Marion hovers nearby, wringing her hands.
"Prepare my horse," I order, forcing myself to sit up even though my chest screams in protest. "I'm going to the Veilwood."
"Alpha King, no one survives the Veilwood! It's forbidden for a reason!"
"She's in there." I stand on shaking legs. "And if she dies, I die. So I'm going."
But deep down, I know the truth.
I'm not going to save her.
I'm going because I'm terrified of what she's becoming.
And somewhere in that cursed forest, Elara Moonwyn is awakening to a power that will make me regret ever speaking those rejection words.
My heart stops again.
This time, it doesn't restart for two full minutes.
And when it finally does, I hear her voice one more time, cold and clear:
"Beg all you want, Alpha King. Your suffering has only just begun."