AUBREY

I can't breathe as Knox's hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me away from the dungeons. The guards step aside without question—they don't dare challenge their Alpha King. But it's not his authority that has my heart hammering against my ribs. It's what he said moments ago, the words that still echo in my ears like a prayer I never dared hope to hear.

His Luna.

He called me his Luna.

My wolf stirs for the first time in days, her voice a whisper of desperate hope. "He doesn't hate us," she murmurs, and I feel the truth of it in the way Knox's touch sends warmth up my arm. "There's no hatred in him. Only concern."

The familiar scent of cedar and storm rain that always clings to Knox fills my senses as he leads me through the castle corridors. I steal glances at his profile—the sharp line of his jaw, the way his dark hair falls across his forehead. For a moment, the weight of everything I've done, every lie I've told, lifts from my shoulders.

Maybe there's still a chance. Maybe he's willing to hear me out, to let me explain why I made the choices I did. Maybe love can overcome the betrayal that stands between us.

Without another word, Knox leads me toward the stables. A carriage waits there, and he helps me inside without explanation. His touch is careful and distant, but not cruel.

As the carriage starts moving, I recognize the familiar road through the forest. My heart starts racing—not with fear, but with something dangerously close to hope. I know this path. It leads to the place where Knox once proposed to me.

My belief grows stronger with each turn of the wheels.

He's taking me back there, I think, my breath catching. He wants to start over. He wants to fix this.

The carriage rolls to a stop, and Knox exits first before extending his hand to help me down. I take it, savoring the warmth of his palm against mine, the way his fingers don't immediately pull away. The clearing looks exactly as it did that night—moonlight filtering through ancient oaks, wildflowers scattered across the moss like fallen stars.

Knox turns to face me, and for a heartbeat, I see him—the man who once loved me. The one who held me close and swore we'd rule side by side.

But then, his expression shifts. It hardens into something cold, final... devastating.

"I brought you here because this is where it began," he says, his voice calm but distant. "And this is where it needs to end."

The hope in my chest withers like frost-bitten flowers.

"Knox, please," I whisper, stepping toward him. "Just give me another chance. I swear—"

"There's nothing to swear, Aubrey," he cuts in, lifting a hand to silence me. "Nothing can change the facts. You were sent here by Jax to help destroy us... and you did."

Each word hits me like a physical blow. My wolf whimpers and retreats deeper into my consciousness, unable to bear the pain radiating from our mate.

"I, Knox Grey, Alpha King of the Midnight Kingdom, reject you, Aubrey Houston, as my mate and Luna."

The words slice through me like silver blades, tearing apart every bond we've ever shared. The mating bond that I've felt growing stronger each day snaps with an audible crack that echoes through the clearing.

Pain beyond description floods my system—not just emotional, but physical agony that drops me to my knees.

My wolf's anguished howl reverberates through my mind before she disappears entirely, retreating so deep into my consciousness that I can't feel her at all. The emptiness she leaves behind is suffocating.

"I never want to see you again," Knox continues, his voice hollow. "You're banished from the Midnight Kingdom. If you set foot on our lands after tonight, it will be considered an act of war."

I kneel there in the dirt, silent tears streaming down my cheeks as everything I've ever wanted crumbles to ash around me. This is what I deserve. This is the price of my betrayal, my lies, my foolish hope that love could conquer the darkness I've brought into his life.

Knox turns and walks back to the carriage without another word. The sound of wheels on gravel fades into the distance, leaving me alone under the stars that once witnessed our love.

I don't know how long I kneel there, broken and hollow. Eventually, my legs grow numb, and I force myself to stand. There's nothing left for me here. Nothing left anywhere.

I stumble through the forest, following no particular path, letting my feet carry me wherever they will. Branches tear at my clothes and scratch my skin, but I barely feel them. The physical pain is nothing compared to the gaping wound where my heart used to be.

When I finally emerge from the treeline, I'm on a road I don't recognize. The moon has moved significantly across the sky—I must have wandered for hours. I keep walking, one foot in front of the other, because stopping means thinking, and thinking means feeling the full weight of what I've lost.

A figure steps out of the shadows ahead of me, and my blood turns to ice.

"Hello, darling," Jax says, his storm-gray eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "You look like you could use a friend."