Chapter 42

Luka’s POV

The next day, I felt better and eager to cut the bond with Declan, knowing that my wolf was awake. I wanted to be done with him. Once this bond was cut, maybe he would leave. That thought drove me faster across the lawns and toward town, as well as Declan’s apartment.

I wasn’t that far down the path toward town when Declan stepped out from behind a large tree. With fitted jeans, a tight white T-shirt that looked ready to burst, and his hair combed back. He raised a brow and stepped toward me. I matched his step with one back. He wasn’t getting me in trouble with Caleb again.

“Did you finally come to your senses and decide to come home with me?” Declan said, folding his arms over his broad chest. If this was his attempt at seduction. I was not impressed. I wanted to laugh in his face.

“That is not going to happen, so give it a rest.”

“How dare you talk to me like that?” Declan’s arms dropped to his sides. Hands fisting. Anger flashed across his face.

Declan didn’t scare me anymore. He was only a nuisance. I took a fighting stand, and he noted it, lifting his chin.

“I'm here to break the mate bond. Once and for all.”

He laughed out loud. “It will not work, you know that.”

I pulled in a breath. “I reject you as a person and as a mate. I want nothing to do with you ever again.”

My wolf stirred, feeling the pull of the bond begin to unravel. Nala growled. Pig

Declan must have felt a shift because he growled low and bared his teeth at me. “How is this possible?”

“My wolf is awake, and she doesn’t like you.” I stepped closer to Declan. “Now say the stupid words so this can be over.” Anger was growing under my skin and the strange mark on my wrist heated.

“Never.”

“This is so dumb. You don’t even like me. Just say the words,” I was yelling at him when Caleb arrived.

I bit my bottom lip. Crap. I wanted the bond broken with Delcan so I could see if there really was a bond between me and Cabel that I just wasn’t feeling because of this jerk face. I needed time to see how the bond felt with Caleb without him hovering over me.

Caleb gripped my wrist and yanked me away from Declan. “What are you doing with him?” he said, his face pinched with irritation. He squeezed my wrist painfully. I could feel tendent stretching.

“I wanted to break the bond.”

“You should have told me.” Anger was in his tone.

“Let go of me.” I tried to pull my wrist free. “You were sleeping.”

He squeezed harder. I felt a pop, and a sharp pain shot to my elbow. I bit back a cry.

Caleb’s numb expression rocked me back to the Long Lake Pack and all the times I had been dragged out to the whipping post by Declan or the guards to be punished.

My wolf growled low, and I ripped my wrist away. I shifted right in front of both men. I snapped my jaw at both of them and ran for the woods.

Caleb’s POV

Shit. I didn’t mean to do that. Shit, shit, shit. I swallowed hard, brain working fast. How could I fix this?

Luka cried out, her expression half anticipation, half dread. She clenched her hand until her nail entered her palm. Blood seeped from it. Her scent of roses and vanilla, which was always intoxicating to me, changed to a bitter smell that burned my nostrils.

She yanked her hand away from me. And shifted to her wolf. Her wolf growled at me and Declan. Snapping her teeth at us, then ran off.

Declan’s eyes were wide with awe. Luka’s wolf was a beautiful pure white with brown eyes and a pink nose. The air hummed around her.

As she ran off, Declan clapped. “She is beautiful and pissed.” He sighed wistfully. “She will be an excellent match for me now.”

That comment sent a positive roar through my mind from my wolf. Mine. I fought the urge to shift and rip Declan’s head off. Starting a war wasn’t a good idea, with the elders going behind my back.

Must get to our mate, complained Logan in my mind. I was done with Declan and his pack.

“You have a choice between two options: either accept rejection or be exiled from the pack.”

“You can’t do that,” Declan ground out.

“I can and I will if you don’t let this mate business with Luka go.” I stood toe to toe with Declan. I had two inches on him. Though Declan had twenty or thirty pounds on me. I knew I was the better fighter.

“I have my men visiting your pack as we speak, looking for stolen artifacts that have gone missing for years. I was informed that they had been seen in your mansion.”

“That is a lie.”

“Choice, lose your pack or accept rejection.” I saw Luka’s wolf sitting at the edge of the forest. Declan turned to where I was looking.

He yelled into the night. “I reject you as a mate.” As soon as the words were uttered, Luka’s wolf howled long and low into the air. Declan hissed with pain and dropped to one knee. He growled, stood, and walked off. “I am going back to my pack.”

As soon as Declan was gone. I walked toward Luka’s wolf, stripping off my shirt. Luka shifted back and hopped behind a tree. When I got close, I tossed the shirt at her. She put it on hesitantly and stepped out.

The sun kissed her skin, causing it to become a rosy pink. I wanted to reach out and touch her. But I didn’t. Did she feel the bond now that Declan’s was gone? Mine, Logan cried.

I felt ashamed and looked away. “I’m sorry I grabbed you like that. I didn’t mean to hurt you… It’s… hard to see you with him.”

“Caleb―”

“No, it is never okay to put hands on someone out of anger or fear.”

She placed her hand on my arm, and I was grateful for the contact even though I didn’t deserve her comfort.

“What do you have to fear?”

I locked my gaze with hers. “You.”

“This is so confusing.” She walked toward the forest.

“Luka. Don’t go.”

She turned, tears in her eyes. “You made me leave. You believed Olivia anytime she said anything. You said we had a bond.”

“We do. Don’t you feel it?”

She shook her head, brown hair catching in the breeze. She clutched my shirt over her heart. Her voice was soft. “How can someone feel this… connection. This sweetness, this warmth for someone and treating them like you did and Delcan?” Tears ran down her cheeks.

I didn’t like being grouped with Delcan. But it was a fair question. I turned away from her. My gaze fell upon the mansion and all the groundkeepers working, unable to look at her for what I was about to say.

“You say you can feel the bond. Do you want to reject it? Do you want me to reject you so that you can have a life of your choosing?” I was going to be sick. To have waited this long for a fated mate and to have it not work out felt like my heart was being torn from my chest.

Delicate fingers laced with mine. Luka’s head rested on my shoulder. “I don’t want to reject the bond. Nor do I want you to reject me. It is hard to understand how people who are meant to love each other can cause so much pain.”

I brought Luka’s hand to my lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. The connection between us laced together thoroughly in a second of a heartbeat. She sighed beside me.

“Luka, will you be my Luna?”

I glanced down at her. She searched my face for something. “I can try. Though there is a lot I must learn.”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, keeping her close to my side, and we walked back to the house.