Rowan's POV
The mate bond was screaming.
Rowan stood at the back of the great hall and felt it tearing through her chest like something alive and wounded. Cade had just walked through the doors and every single wolf in the room turned to look at him. Three hundred bodies shifting. Three hundred sets of eyes fixed on the Alpha who commanded them all.
He looked like he was carved from stone. His ceremonial robes hung from his shoulders in flowing silver fabric. The crown on his head caught the light and threw it back across the hall like he was made of stars. His jaw was tight. His eyes were scanning the crowd and she knew, she absolutely knew, that he was looking for her.
When his gaze reached the back of the hall, when his eyes found her standing alone in her gray dress, his entire body went rigid.
The bond twisted.
Rowan gasped and pressed her hand against her chest. It felt like someone had reached inside her ribcage and was squeezing her heart. She could feel Cade's conflict through the connection. Could feel his wolf clawing at him, demanding that he stop this. Demanding that he claim her instead of Victoria.
But he didn't stop walking.
Harper stood beside her with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't say anything but Rowan could feel her friend's tension. Harper had come specifically to make sure Rowan didn't run before the ceremony started. Make sure she saw this all the way through.
The massive doors at the opposite end of the hall opened.
Victoria entered and the entire room went silent.
She was wearing white. Not just white but the kind of white that seemed to glow under the lights. Her dress was fitted and expensive and made of fabric that Rowan didn't have a name for. Her hair was down and styled in waves that must have taken hours. Her makeup was perfect. Everything about her screamed power and money and belonging.
She looked like a Luna.
Rowan looked down at her gray dress and felt something inside her shrivel up and die.
Victoria walked down the center aisle toward Cade with a smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. Rowan had spent enough time being invisible to notice things that other people missed. She noticed the way Victoria's eyes kept darting to the council members sitting in the front row. The way her expression shifted slightly when she looked at different people. Like she was performing. Like this entire moment was a show that she'd practiced.
But nobody else seemed to notice. The pack was mesmerized. They were watching their Alpha finally choose a mate worthy of his status. They were watching the beginning of a new era for the Stone Pack.
Rowan was watching a man destroy the only real thing he'd ever felt.
Cade reached out and took Victoria's hand. The bond contracted in Rowan's chest so violently that she almost cried out. She could feel his wolf's rage through their connection. Could feel the animal inside him fighting against what his human brain was making him do.
The ceremony moved forward with ancient words and ritual bows. The pack elder stepped forward with the Luna crown. It was smaller than the Alpha crown but just as intricate. Silver and moonstone designed to honor the woman who stood beside the pack's leader.
The bond pulled tighter. Rowan's hands were shaking now. She could see Cade's hands shaking too. He took the crown from the elder and turned to face Victoria.
For one second, just one, his eyes found Rowan again across the crowd.
In that moment, she saw everything. His regret. His certainty. His desperate hope that she would understand why he was doing this. That she would forgive him for choosing power instead of the bond between them.
She didn't think she could forgive him for anything.
Cade lifted the crown and held it above Victoria's head.
The mate bond in Rowan's chest began to burn.
It wasn't a gentle burn. It wasn't the kind of burning that meant passion or connection. It was the burn of something being twisted. The burn of something sacred being corrupted. As Cade lowered the crown, as it got closer to Victoria's skin, the bond between him and Rowan began to transform into something else entirely.
It was still there. Still connecting them. But it was wrong now. Fractured. Like something that had been whole was being forced into a shape that didn't fit.
The crown touched Victoria's head.
The bond screamed and Rowan's knees nearly buckled. She had to grab onto Harper's arm to stay standing. Every nerve in her body was on fire. The connection that had felt like promise three weeks ago now felt like punishment. Like being tied to someone who was actively choosing to hurt you.
The entire hall erupted in cheers.
Wolves were howling in celebration. The pack was happy. Their Alpha had made the right choice. He'd chosen a Luna who would bring power and resources and prestige to the Stone Pack. They didn't understand what they were celebrating. They didn't feel the way the bond between Cade and Rowan was poisoning itself.
Rowan tried to breathe. Tried to think past the pain. But it was like drowning. Like being pulled under water and not being able to find the surface.
Then Cade stepped toward Victoria and smiled.
Not a real smile. A mask. Rowan could see the difference because she'd been wearing masks her whole life. But the pack couldn't see it. They saw their Alpha showing affection to his new Luna. They saw a moment of connection between two powerful people.
Rowan saw betrayal.
Cade leaned down and kissed Victoria in front of three hundred wolves.
And the mate bond broke.
Not completely. Like Harper had said, you couldn't break something supernatural. But it shattered into pieces. It twisted and warped and became a constant reminder that Rowan had believed in something that wasn't real. The kiss felt like a knife. Like every touch of his lips against Victoria's was another wound opening inside Rowan's chest.
She could feel everything through the bond. His lips touching hers. His hands on her waist. The way he was performing intimacy that he didn't actually feel. And underneath it all, she could feel his wolf dying. Could feel the animal inside him shutting down because it couldn't watch him do this.
The bond had been screaming before. Now it was just numb.
Rowan's stomach rolled.
The great hall was spinning. The wolves were cheering but the sound was distorted. Like she was underwater. Like she was drowning. The bond between her and Cade was pulling her in two different directions at once. Part of her was still connected to him. Still tied to him through something supernatural that wouldn't break.
And the other part of her wanted to escape that connection forever.
She turned and ran.
Nobody noticed her leaving. Nobody was paying attention to the girl in the gray dress stumbling toward the exit. Everyone's eyes were on Cade and Victoria. On the new Luna with her crown and her perfect smile and her hands on the Alpha's chest.
Rowan made it to the hallway outside the great hall before her stomach gave out. She barely made it to the bathroom before she was on her knees vomiting. Her entire body was shaking. The bond was burning and twisting and making her feel like she was being torn apart from the inside out.
Harper found her and pulled her hair back. Held her while she got sick. Didn't say any judgmental words or I told you so. Just stayed with her while Rowan's world fell apart.
When she finally finished, when her body had nothing left to give, Harper helped her to her feet and led her to the basement bathroom where they could be alone.
"I need to leave," Rowan whispered.
"I know."
"Tonight. Right now. I need to get away from him and this pack and this bond before it kills me."
Harper squeezed her hand. "Okay. Let's figure it out. We'll pack your stuff. I'll give you money. We'll make a plan."
But before they could move, before they could take a single step away from the great hall, Rowan felt something impossible through the fractured mate bond.
Cade had stopped kissing Victoria.
He was moving away from her. He was looking around the great hall. He was searching for someone. The moment he realized she was gone, the moment he understood that Rowan had left, the pain that exploded through the bond was so intense that it brought Rowan to her knees again.
His scream was silent but she heard it anyway.
Through the bond, she heard him realize what he'd just done.
Through the bond, she felt him understand that he'd destroyed the one thing that mattered.
And most terrifying of all, she felt him start to move. Felt him push away from Victoria. Felt him head toward the exit of the great hall.
He was coming to find her.