The RejectionDante's POV
"Downstairs. Now."
Dante didn't look at Elara as he pushed past her in the hallway. He couldn't. If he looked at her tear-stained face, at those wounded amber eyes that had gazed at him with devotion for six years, he might lose his nerve.
And he needed to end this. Tonight.
His wolf snarled inside him, confused and agitated. Dante shoved it down ruthlessly. The wolf didn't understand what Dante had finally figured out—that the Moon Goddess had made a terrible mistake binding him to Elara Frost.
He descended the marble staircase of their mansion two steps at a time, his heart pounding with something that felt dangerously like panic. Behind him, he heard Elara's soft footsteps. Hesitant. Always so hesitant, like she was afraid of taking up too much space in her own home.
That was the problem, wasn't it? She was too soft. Too gentle. Too human.
A Luna needed to be strong. Powerful. Someone who could stand beside an Alpha and command respect.
Selena understood that. Selena, with her confident smile and the way pack members actually listened when she spoke. Selena, who made Dante's chest burn with something he'd never felt before—
The mate bond. The real one.
Dante reached his office and went straight to his desk, pulling out the folder he'd prepared three days ago. His hands shook slightly as he opened it. Inside lay the rejection papers, already signed with his bold signature at the bottom.
Six years of marriage, reduced to a legal document.
Elara entered the office slowly, closing the door behind her. She'd wiped her tears, but her face was pale and her hands trembled as she hugged herself.
"Dante, what's happening? Why was Selena in our bed? Why did Kieran call her—" Her voice cracked. "Why did he call her Mommy?"
Dante forced himself to meet her eyes. To be cold. Clinical. The way an Alpha should be when making hard decisions.
"Because that's what she is now," he said flatly. "Kieran's mother. My Luna. My true mate."
The words hung in the air like poison. Elara swayed slightly, gripping the back of a chair for support.
"What are you talking about? I'm your mate. We've been bonded for six years. I gave you a son—"
"A mistake." Dante slid the folder across the desk toward her. "All of it. A mistake I should have corrected years ago."
"That's not true." Elara's voice rose, desperate and breaking. "You marked me. We made vows. We have Kieran—"
"I never felt it!" The words exploded from Dante before he could stop them. "The bond everyone talks about. The connection that's supposed to burn through your soul. The pull that makes you crazy for your mate." He laughed bitterly. "I felt nothing, Elara. Nothing except duty and the pressure from my pack to produce an heir."
She flinched like he'd slapped her. "You're lying. You held me. You told me you—"
"I said what needed to be said." Dante's voice turned ice cold, even as something inside him screamed to stop. "You were convenient. Young enough to give me healthy children. Pretty enough that the pack didn't question the match. But there was never any real connection between us."
"Then why now?" Elara whispered. "Why are you doing this now?"
"Because three weeks ago, I finally felt it." Dante's chest tightened at the memory. "Selena came to discuss pack business, and when our hands touched, it hit me like lightning. The mate bond. The real one. Everything I was supposed to feel for you, I feel for her."
Tears streamed down Elara's face now. "So that's it? Six years of marriage, of me standing beside you, of nearly dying when I gave birth to your son—none of that matters?"
"It was appreciated." Dante picked up a pen, needing something to do with his hands. "You fulfilled your purpose. But Selena is my true mate. The Moon Goddess has corrected her mistake."
"The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes!" Elara's voice cracked with anguish. "Dante, please. Think about Kieran. Think about our family—"
"I am thinking about Kieran." Dante's jaw tightened. "He needs a strong Luna as his mother. Someone who can teach him about power and leadership. Not someone who cries every time pack politics get difficult."
The cruel words tasted like ash in his mouth, but he forced them out anyway. This had to be clean. Complete. No room for Elara to hope.
"Sign the papers," Dante said, pushing them closer. "I've already arranged everything. You'll receive a settlement—enough money to live comfortably. You can go anywhere you want. Start over."
"And Kieran?" Elara's hands shook as she picked up the papers, scanning them with growing horror. "What about my son?"
"He stays with me." Dante stood, walking to the window so he wouldn't have to see her face. "He's the Shadowpine heir. He belongs here, with his pack. With a proper Luna to raise him."
"I'm his mother!"
"Biologically, yes." Dante's voice was merciless now. "But Kieran already loves Selena more. You've seen it yourself. He runs to her when he's hurt. Calls her name when he wakes from nightmares. She's been more of a mother to him than you ever were."
The sound Elara made was barely human—a wounded animal cry that made Dante's wolf howl in distress. He crushed the feeling ruthlessly.
"You have until tomorrow morning to pack your things and leave pack lands," Dante continued, his back still to her. "If you fight this, I'll make sure you never see Kieran again. If you go quietly, I'll allow supervised visits twice a year."
"Twice a year?" Elara's voice was hollow. "You're taking my son and giving me twice a year?"
"Be grateful I'm offering that much." Dante finally turned to face her. "You have no wolf, Elara. No pack. No power. You can't fight me on this. Sign the papers and make it easy on both of us."
Elara stared at him like she'd never seen him before. Like he was a monster she'd somehow shared a bed with for six years without noticing.
Maybe she was right.
"I loved you," she whispered. "I gave you everything. Every piece of myself. I almost died bringing Kieran into this world, and you want to take him from me?"
"Yes."
The single word fell between them like an executioner's blade.
Elara's hands trembled as she set the papers back on the desk. For a moment, Dante thought she might refuse. Might fight.
Then her shoulders straightened. Her chin lifted. And something in her eyes changed—the softness burning away to leave something harder behind.
"Fine," she said quietly. "I'll sign. I'll leave. I'll let you have your perfect life with your perfect mate and my son."
Relief and something uncomfortably like regret flooded through Dante. "It's for the best—"
"But answer me one question first." Elara's amber eyes locked onto his, and Dante was startled by the steel in them. "If you never felt the bond with me, if our entire marriage was a lie, then why do you look so miserable right now?"
Dante opened his mouth to respond, but no words came.
Because she was right. He did feel miserable. Hollow. Like he was tearing out his own heart and couldn't understand why it hurt so much when he supposedly felt nothing for her.
"That's what I thought." Elara picked up the pen with shaking hands. "I'll sign your papers, Dante. I'll leave your pack. But someday you're going to realize what you threw away. And when that day comes, when you're begging me to come back—"
She signed her name in quick, angry strokes.
"I'll laugh in your face."
Elara dropped the pen and walked toward the door. Dante's wolf screamed at him to stop her, to take back everything he'd said, but he stood frozen.
This was right. This was necessary. Selena was his true mate.
So why did it feel like he was making the worst mistake of his life?
Elara paused at the door, her hand on the handle. When she spoke, her voice was eerily calm.
"One more thing, Dante. That bond you feel with Selena—the one that feels so real, so powerful?" She looked back at him with eyes that seemed to see right through him. "My grandmother was a witch. She taught me enough to recognize dark magic when I see it."
Dante's blood ran cold. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you might want to ask your true mate why she smells like wolfsbane and black candles." Elara smiled, and it was the saddest thing Dante had ever seen. "But you won't. Because you don't actually want the truth. You just want an excuse to abandon me without feeling guilty."
She opened the door.
"Goodbye, Dante. I hope she's worth it."
Then she was gone, leaving Dante alone in his office with signed rejection papers and a creeping sense of dread he couldn't explain.
His phone buzzed. A text from Selena: Is it done? Can I come over?
Dante stared at the message, and for the first time in weeks, his wolf didn't surge with warmth at the thought of her.
Instead, it howled like something precious had just been ripped away.
Something he'd never get back.