"The bond is breaking?" Maya gasped, the pain in her chest growing sharper.
Elara's smile was cold as moonlight. "Not yet. But it's weakening. Your rejection is tearing it apart."
The black wolf snarled, lunging toward Elara. With a casual wave of her hand, she froze him in place.
"Such anger," she said, clicking her tongue. "Not very Alpha-like, is it?"
"Let him go," Maya demanded, surprising herself with her protectiveness.
"As you wish." Elara lowered her hand, and the wolf dropped to the ground. "But remember, I'm offering you freedom. Think about it, Maya."
With those words, she melted back into the darkness of the forest.
The wolf's body began to shift, bones cracking and fur receding. Maya turned away, giving Liam privacy during the painful transformation. When she looked back, he was kneeling on the forest floor, wearing only torn shorts, his chest heaving.
"Are you alright?" Caleb asked Maya, ignoring Liam completely.
"I'm fine," Maya said, though the burning in her chest hadn't stopped.
"You should go, Caleb," she added, her eyes fixed on Liam.
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Caleb protested.
"He won't hurt me." Maya wasn't sure how she knew this, but she did, with bone-deep certainty.
Caleb looked between them, jaw tight. "Fine. But I'll be close if you need me."
After Caleb disappeared into the trees, an uncomfortable silence fell. Liam slowly stood, his dark eyes never leaving Maya's face.
"You were going to go with him to break our bond," he finally said, his voice rough from the shift.
Maya lifted her chin. "Maybe I was."
"You have no idea what you're messing with." Liam stepped closer, and Maya's heart sped up. "Elara is dangerous. She was banished for a reason."
"So everyone keeps saying, but nobody will tell me why!"
"Because she killed a mated pair trying to 'free' them from their bond." Liam's eyes flashed gold. "Is that what you want? To die just to get away from me?"
Maya flinched. "I just want a choice."
"We don't get to choose our mates," Liam snapped. "That's not how it works."
"Well, it should!" Maya's hands balled into fists. "Why would fate tie me to someone who represents everything I hate?"
Pain flickered across Liam's face before his expression hardened again. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know enough," Maya shot back. "I've watched you bully weaker wolves for years. You think being Alpha's son gives you the right to push everyone around."
"Is that what you think?" Liam laughed bitterly. "That I enjoy hurting people?"
"Don't you? You gave Caleb a black eye just for practicing alpha moves!"
Liam's jaw tightened. "Did he tell you why I did that?"
"Does it matter? Violence is never—"
"He was practicing on Tyler," Liam cut in. "The same kid you saw me 'bullying.' Caleb had him pinned down, twisting his arm."
Maya blinked, confused. "What? No, Caleb wouldn't—"
"You see what you want to see, Maya." Liam shook his head. "You decided long ago I was the villain, so that's all you'll ever see."
Maya opened her mouth to argue, but something in Liam's eyes stopped her. Behind the anger, she glimpsed genuine hurt.
"If I'm so awful," he continued, his voice softer now, "why does the mate bond exist between us at all? Did you ever think about that?"
Maya hadn't. The question knocked her off balance.
"The universe doesn't make mistakes," Liam said. "The mate bond is sacred. Rejecting it hurts both of us."
As if to prove his point, the moonstone flared again. Maya gasped as pain shot through her chest. At the same moment, Liam winced, pressing a hand to his heart.
"You feel it too," she whispered.
"Every second since you rejected me." His dark eyes fixed on hers. "It feels like dying."
For the first time, Maya truly looked at Liam—not the bully she'd built up in her mind, but the boy in front of her. His shoulders were broad, his face handsome despite the pain etching his features. Under the moonlight, she could see scars crisscrossing his back.
"What happened to you?" she asked softly, nodding at the scars.
Liam stiffened. "Training with my father."
"That's not training," Maya said, horror creeping into her voice. "That's abuse."
"It's how Alphas are made." Liam's voice was flat. "Strength through pain."
Something shifted in Maya's understanding. The puzzle pieces of Liam's behavior began to rearrange themselves.
"Is that why you act the way you do?" she asked. "Because your father taught you that strength means hurting others?"
"I don't hurt others," Liam said sharply. "I prepare them. The world outside our pack isn't kind, Maya. Better they learn to defend themselves here than die out there."
"By terrorizing them?"
"By challenging them!" Liam ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. "You think I enjoy seeing fear in their eyes? You think I want to be like my father?"
The raw honesty in his voice made Maya step back. This wasn't the Liam she thought she knew.
"Then why be like him at all?" she asked.
"Because I don't know any other way to be!" Liam shouted, his composure finally breaking. "Because every time I show weakness, he—"
He cut himself off, turning away from her.
Maya moved closer, drawn by an instinct she couldn't name. "He what, Liam?"
"It doesn't matter," Liam muttered. "You've made up your mind about me."
Maya reached out hesitantly, her fingers brushing his arm. The contact sent warmth spreading through her palm, up her arm, and straight to her heart.
Liam froze at her touch, his eyes meeting hers. The gold had faded, leaving them dark and vulnerable.
"Why did you follow me tonight?" Maya asked softly.
"I felt your pain," he admitted. "Through the bond. I thought you were in danger."
"You were protecting me?"
"It's what mates do." Liam's voice was quiet but intense. "Whether you accept it or not."
For a moment, they stood in silence, connected by her touch and something deeper – the invisible thread of their bond, pulsing between them like a living thing.
"I can't just forget years of seeing you hurt people," Maya finally said, dropping her hand.
"I'm not asking you to forget." Liam's gaze held hers. "I'm asking you to see more than one side of the story. To give our bond a chance."
The moonstone warmed against Maya's skin, but gently this time – not the burning pain from before, but a comforting presence.
"What would that even look like?" she asked. "Me just accepting you as my mate? Becoming the Alpha's perfect daughter-in-law?"
Liam's mouth quirked up at one corner – not quite a smile, but close. "Nothing about you has ever been perfect, Maya. That's what makes you... you."
The almost-compliment caught her off guard.
"All I'm asking," Liam continued, "is that you stop fighting the bond long enough to see if there's something worth saving."
Before Maya could respond, a howl echoed through the forest – not Liam's this time, but one she recognized instantly.
"My father," Liam grimaced. "He's looking for me."
"You should go," Maya said quickly.
Liam hesitated, searching her face. "Will you at least think about what I said?"
Maya nodded slowly. "I'll think about it."
Relief flickered across his features. He turned to leave, then paused, looking back at her over his shoulder.
"For what it's worth, I never wanted to be the person you hate, Maya. I just didn't know how to be anyone else."
With those words hanging in the air between them, he shifted back into his wolf form – a smooth, practiced transition that left a massive black wolf where the boy had stood. The wolf gave Maya one last meaningful look before disappearing into the darkness.
Maya stood alone in the clearing, her mind whirling with new perspectives and questions. The mate bond hummed quietly in her chest, no longer painful but present – a connection she couldn't ignore.
As she turned to head home, a shadow moved at the edge of the clearing. For a moment, she thought Liam had returned. But the figure that stepped into the moonlight wasn't Liam at all.
It was Caleb, his expression unreadable as he emerged from behind a tree.
"How long have you been there?" Maya asked, a chill running down her spine.
"Long enough," Caleb said, his voice strange and cold. "Long enough to see you falling for his lies."
"He wasn't lying," Maya said, suddenly defensive.
Caleb laughed, but there was no humor in it. "So one conversation and you're Team Liam now? After everything he's done?"
"It's not that simple."
"It is that simple." Caleb stepped closer, and for the first time, Maya felt uncomfortable in his presence. "You're letting the mate bond cloud your judgment."
"I'm just trying to understand—"
"There's nothing to understand." Caleb's eyes hardened. "You know who Liam really is. Who his father is. Do you want to be part of that family? That legacy of cruelty?"
The question hit hard. Maya thought of Alpha Marcus, of the scars on Liam's back, of the pain in his eyes when he spoke of his father.
"People can change," she said quietly.
Caleb's expression darkened further. "So that's it? You're choosing him?"
"I'm not choosing anyone right now. I'm just trying to figure things out."
"Well, figure this out," Caleb said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Elara isn't the only one with secrets in these woods. Your precious mate has darker shadows than you can imagine."
With that cryptic warning, Caleb turned and walked away, leaving Maya alone with a growing sense that nothing in her world was what it seemed – not Liam, not Caleb, and maybe not even herself.