Kian’s POV
"What's going on here?"
I stepped outside, my eyes immediately locking onto the scene in front of me.
Danielle standing tall with a smirk on her lips, while two figures knelt on the cold ground before her.
Aria and her friend, Lila.
My brows furrowed. What the hell was this?
Danielle turned, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she sauntered toward me.
“Just handling some disrespect,” she said, her tone sweet but laced with satisfaction. “They were talking badly about you, Kian. Especially her.” She pointed at Aria, as if she were nothing more than an insect under her shoe. “I was making sure they learned their lesson.”
Aria kept her head down, silent.
Lila, on the other hand, scoffed. “That’s not what happened.”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I didn’t have time for this. My ascension as the Alpha of this pack will happen in a few days, and I had enough responsibilities weighing on me. The last thing I needed was a petty dispute between servants.
I turned to Danielle. “Let them go. This isn’t worth your time.”
Before Danielle could protest, Aria finally lifted her head—and the moment our eyes met, the world around me shifted. It hit me like a goddamn hurricane.
My chest tightened. A force unlike anything I’d ever felt before wrapped around me, pulling me toward her, making my wolf stir in a way it never had before.
No.
I clenched my fists.
This can’t be happening.
A weakling. A servant. My mate?
The bond snapped into place, solid and undeniable, but I fought against it with everything I had.
The Moon Goddess must be joking.
I felt my lip curl before I even realized I was sneering as the word “Mate” left Aria’s lips. The sheer absurdity of it made me laugh, cold and bitter.
Danielle stiffened and her eyes went round with rage.
"You…" My voice was laced with disbelief. "You're my mate?"
Aria flinched. I saw the flicker of hope in her eyes—the hope that I would accept her, that I would pull her into my arms and cherish the bond we now shared.
But that would never happen. I was going to be Alpha. An Alpha couldn’t have a weak mate.
I stepped closer, my voice lowering into something sharp enough to cut. “I reject you.”
The words tasted like venom on my tongue, but I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t.
Aria’s face paled, and for a brief second, I thought she was going to collapse. But she didn’t. She just stared at me, her entire body trembling, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
Something twisted in my chest, something I refused to acknowledge.
I turned away. “Danielle, let them—”
A smooth, taunting voice cut through the air.
“If he doesn’t want you… maybe I do.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
That voice.
I turned sharply, my heart slamming against my ribs as my gaze landed on the figure leaning casually against the doorway.
Dark eyes. Sharp smirk. An aura that radiated danger.
Lucian.
My body tensed as his smirk widened.
“Well, well,” he drawled, his gaze flicking to Aria before settling back on me. “You don’t seem happy to see me, Kian. Didn’t you miss me?”
I could hear the amusement in his voice, the way he was relishing every second of this moment.
I growled, my hands clenching into fists.
“What the hell are you doing here, Lucian?”