I walked through the dense forest, looking around warily at the shifting shadows for fear that someone would see me.
As a wolf orphan at the very bottom of the pack hierarchy, being caught out here would mean trouble.
But the risk was always worth it.
For three years, ever since I turned eighteen, I had been meeting my fated mate, Ashen Draven, in secret at an abandoned thatch house at the edge of the eastern woods.
He was the pack’s golden boy, the rumored future leader, and a royal.
A girl like me didn’t belong in his world, yet he always told me I was the only one in his life.
I believed him completely.
I smiled sheepishly to myself as I walked on.
A note had appeared under my door yesterday night, written in his handwriting: MEET ME AT THE HOUSE TONIGHT.
I knew exactly what it meant.
After three years of hiding in the dark, he was finally going to mark me as his mate and claim me before the entire pack.
It was everything I had been looking forward to, the moment that would change my life forever.
Before long, the dilapidated thatch house appeared through the thick trees.
I quickened my steps, my heart filled with anticipation.
As I moved closer, the wooden door opened, and Ashen himself stepped outside into the moonlight.
I smiled at him instantly, teasing him.
“Did you really want to see me so badly?”
He didn’t say anything.
He just stood there, his face half-hidden in the shadows.
Then he began to walk toward me slowly, his boots crushing the dry leaves under his feet.
It was only when he was a few feet away from me that I saw his face.
The loving look he usually gave me was completely gone.
His eyes were full of such hatred that it made my heart sink.
“I, Ashen Draven,” he called out in a blank voice, “reject you, Selah, as my mate.”
“What?” The smile faded from my face instantly.
A sudden, violent agony ripped through my soul as our mate bond shattered into a million pieces.
The pain was so intense, so suffocating, that my legs instantly gave out.
I collapsed onto the dirty floor of the clearing, right outside the place I trusted most in the world.
“Ashen,” I gasped.
“Why? Please, tell me why. What did I do wrong?”
He looked down at me, but his silver eyes remained blank.
He didn’t offer a hand to help me up.
He didn’t show a single ounce of mercy.
“You need to die,” Ashen muttered.
“I’m sorry. It has to be this way.”
That was when I noticed the glint of a dagger in his hand.
Before I could even attempt to scramble backward, he lunged forward, towering over me.
And then he plunged the dagger straight into my heart.
The pain was even worse than the mate bond shattering.
It stole the last bit of air from my lungs.
Blood began to spread on my chest, soaking into my dress and the cold earth.
I stared up helplessly, but my mate did not look away as the life drained out of me.
“Ashen…” I whispered, the name slipping from my lips as a final, broken breath.
Then my heart stopped forever.