Kayden stepped back, face still expressionless. "Control yourself," he said, voice cold as winter water. "You are Finn's fiancée."
The words struck like ice water dumped over my head.
Fiancée. Finn's fiancée.
Not his.
Never his.
"But..." My voice trembled. "But we... we're..."
"Mr. Blackwood." Elder Drake approached with deference. "Your timing is fortunate. Regarding your brother's death, we've identified the killer. This woman, Layla Gray. The evidence is conclusive—"
"I didn't!" I cut him off, whirling toward Kayden, voice breaking with desperation. "Kayden, you know me. You know I would never kill anyone! Please, tell them..."
Kayden looked at me. Those silver eyes held not a flicker of warmth.
"I don't know you," he said. "Layla Gray. I know nothing about you."
Something shattered in my chest.
"How could you not know?" The thought that he alone could prove my innocence nearly crushed me. I screamed it out, the secret tearing free. "Kayden Blackwood! We're fated mates!"
The entire Sacred Ground fell silent.
Sharp intakes of breath rippled through the crowd—shock, disbelief, fury. Every eye turned to Kayden, waiting.
And I watched him too, heart hammering, suspended between hope and terror.
Kayden remained silent for several seconds. Those seconds stretched like centuries.
Then he spoke.
"Fated mates?" He repeated the words, mouth curving into something cruel. "A biological impulse?"
Scattered laughter broke out.
Kayden's gaze dropped to my face, cold enough to freeze blood.
"The Luna of Silver Moon Pack could never be someone like you," he said, each word precise as a blade. "Whatever existed between us was only ever a mistake."
"I, Kayden Blackwood, witnessed by the Moon Goddess and before all members of Silver Moon Pack, officially declare—I reject Layla Gray as my mate."
In that instant, I felt it.
Agony tore through my soul.
The bond—the bond I'd believed would connect us forever—convulsed violently. It screamed, wailed, and clawed desperately at the other end. But the other end offered only icy rejection, merciless denial.
"Ahh—!"
A scream ripped from my throat. I clutched my chest, feeling as if someone had torn it open with bare hands, ripped out my heart, hurled it to the ground, and ground it to dust.
I collapsed, body wracked with tremors.
Pain.
Such unbearable pain.
