Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

THERON

I crack my eyes open, feeling a bone-deep chill radiating through my entire body. My teeth chatter and my mouth is dry.

I look around the chaotic mess in the office—files strewn about, furniture overturned, and me in the center of it all, sprawled flat on the cold marble floor.

How long have I been here?

My throat feels like it's choking. I try to sit up, but a sharp pain explodes in my back. My vision blurs.

I remember a rogue attack, and shots being fired while I drove.

Things feel jumbled in my mind. My memories are fragmented, and their edges are sharp.

As the buzzing fades in my head, the frantic whimpers of my wolf are all I can hear—a desperate plea for help. My link to the pack feels like it’s about to snap .

Suddenly, a memory pierces through the fog—a tear-streaked face, jolting me upright.

“When were you going to tell me about your mating ceremony?”

Seren!

Her eyes were filled with hurt and betrayal. Her words were cold with finality, more determined than I’ve ever heard her.

My heart pounds in my ears.

Damn it! She knows—about us being mates, about Vanessa.

You’re no longer mates. She rejected you. A strange voice rings out in my head.

No. There has to be a way to explain this to her. She’s human; maybe she doesn’t understand the politics at play here. Choosing Vanessa is logical—it keeps things uncomplicated. Maybe I underestimated Seren. But she can’t leave me. She has to take it all back.

My calls to her cellphone go straight to voicemail. My home security is clueless about her whereabouts.

As a last resort, I call Ella, my hands unsteady on the phone.

“She isn’t home yet.” Ella’s voice sounds clipped. “She left first thing this morning for Blackwood headquarters for an interview.”

My heart sinks. Seren should have been back at the estate by now. I’m about to hang up when Ella adds, “Why? What happened? Did she not get the job?”

I let out a harsh breath, my mind racing. What if she went home and no one noticed? The thought makes my chest feel tight, a tiny spark of hope flickering inside me. “Ella, go to her room and check if anything seems out of place. ”

There’s a pause. “Okay, sure. I’ll call you back in five minutes.”

“No, Ella. Now.”

The silence on the line feels endless. I hear her footsteps, and the urgency missing in them.

Ella’s voice comes through again, her breath ragged. “No luck, Theron. She’s not back. Everything seems to be in order. Did something happen in your office?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, voices ringing in my head. “No, Ella, nothing happened. It’s nothing.”

But it’s not nothing. It’s everything.

“I, Seren Smith, reject you, Theron Blackwood, as my fated mate.”

The memory of those poisonous words hits me hard. She could’ve screamed at me. Cursed me out. Why did she say something so vicious?

Frustration burns in my chest, and I slam the receiver back on the desk phone. The sound echoes in the silence.

“Nothing happened to her,” I whisper, trying to convince myself.

With a surge of anger, I rip the wire from its socket and throw the phone across the room. The crash of plastic hitting the wall echoes in the silent office.

Where is she?

I storm out of the office, my pulse pounding in my ears. Spotting an employee near reception, I bark, “Send Luke to me, now!”

My trusted friend walks in a few minutes later, his injured arm in a sling .

He stops short, taking in the overturned furniture and scattered files. “Whoa! What the…” Something crunches under his foot.

I rake a hand through my hair, trying to stay calm. “Luke, listen. I need you to drop everything and find Seren. She’s angry with me, and I don’t know where she’s gone. She…”

Luke’s eyes narrow slightly, concern etched on his face. “Calm down, Theron. Tell me what happened first. And where’s your cellphone? I tried calling you, but it was off. Your mind-link is walled off, too. Everyone is?—”

“Fuck everyone else!” I snap. I can’t waste time. “Just find Seren. Check the surveillance footage, flights, trains, cabs, buses—everything. She…” I look around for the clock, and find it cracked on the floor. “What’s the time right now?”

“Almost four.”

She left at noon.

A cold dread coils in my stomach, tightening with each second. Why didn’t she go straight home? What has she been doing for four hours?

My wolf roars in my head. For the first time in my life, his anger is directed at me. And it’s intense.

“Theron?” Luke snaps his fingers in front of my face, pulling me back. I feel a sting behind my eyes, a burn I haven’t felt since I was thirteen. Damn it!

“She rejected me.” I somehow manage to whisper those words as guilt floods my insides.

It’s all my fault.

Luke studies me for a moment, his expression softening. I brace myself for a speech, the “I told you so” that’s bound to come.

Instead, he nods, a firm resolve in his eyes. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her. I’ll get on it right away.” He squeezes my shoulder, a reassuring gesture, before heading toward the door. “And Theron? Go home. Your wolf needs rest, and so do you.”

“No. I’m coming with you to the packhouse. But Luke…”

“I know. I’ll be discreet.”

Within the next few minutes, a search party is set up and sent to scour the entire pack territory. Seren’s steps are traced from when she walked out of the headquarters until she got into a cab outside one of the parks. That footage is blurry and there isn’t any sign of her after that. She never went home.

I spend the evening locked inside the room with the team checking different locations. Ten screens glow with surveillance footage, every phone notification makes me jump, and people murmur as they exchange notes.

Every single sound grates on my nerves, but I can’t leave. I want to be the first to know when they find her.

It’s almost eleven at night when I find my breathing getting shallower. It gets so claustrophobic I step outside.

The cold wind rushing over the balcony makes me shiver, but my head feels lighter. The sky is dark, with only the thinnest crescent moon visible.

I’m still hopeful as I wait for news on Seren.

“We’ve got wolves at every checkpoint.” I startle as Luke approaches from behind me. “But there’s still nothing. No sign of her. ”

I didn’t think I could feel more hollow, but I do. “We just have to keep looking.”

Luke studies me for a moment, then asks, “Maybe she doesn’t want to be found. If she chose such an extreme step…”

“She’ll come back. Blackwood is her home.” I grit my teeth and rub a hand across my face. My energy levels are at an all-time low. “I’ll head home though.” Maybe she’ll return home once her emotions have settled, and it’ll be best if I’m there already, waiting for her.

“Let me drive you,” Luke offers, his voice soft. “Honestly, you look wiped.”

“I’ll be fine,” I insist, waving him off. “Besides, your mate is waiting for you at home.”

Luke looks at me, surprised, but then he nods and backs off.

On my way to the parking lot, I run into Phil.

“Hey man, I heard the alpha and luna are out of town, so how about we hit the bar at the ski resort?” Phil suggests, his voice light.

I remember my father’s words and try to project a facade of calm. “Not tonight, Phil. I’m tired.”

He shrugs, but his eyes follow me as I head to my car. “Alright, man. Some other time, then.”

The drive back home seeps the last remaining bits of my energy, but I still have hope that she’ll come back.

As I approach the estate, my heart sinks. Seren’s window is shut, the room inside dark and empty. The dread in my stomach hardens into a heavy stone.

Her room feels lifeless. The bed is made, the books are in place, and her scent is faint. I blindly tear through her belongings, finding nothing that stands out. A scream builds in my throat, but only a ragged breath escapes.

Stumbling to the cupboards, I pull one of her dresses to my nose, inhaling her scent. Titan whimpers, startled. I collapse on her bed, the softness offering no comfort as I close my eyes.

Seren continues to gently stroke my hair as I stay curled up on the log with my head resting on her legs, tears streaming down my face. Her soft fingers cool down the heat, anger, and shame flowing through me.

“It’s okay, Ron. No one saw,” she whispers, her voice like a lullaby.

“They must be laughing at me. I’m not going back to training ever again,” I sniffle, wiping my tears with her skirt.

“No way, silly! The other trainees left before that last leg began. I was alone on the pack grounds. I swear I’m the only one who saw you.”

I shove my head deeper into her lap, wanting to disappear or run away.

“I think you’re brave, and one day you’ll be the best alpha.”

I look up at her, a small smile tugging at my lips. “Really?” I don’t think she knows what her words mean to me.

“Yeah. You’ll be great, I know it. I wonder what I’ll do when I grow up.”

Wiping my cheeks, I sit up right next to her, our shoulders touching.

“I’ll take care of you, silly. I’ll take you shopping. I’ll get you the best bags and dresses and jewelry. And we’ll also travel. We can go anywhere you want.”

I stay in bed, remembering all the promises I never kept while my wolf howls within me, desperately pleading for answers.

Finally, I force myself to move. I need to find something, anything, that will help me find her. I search her room from top to bottom, opening every drawer, every closet. Nothing. No hidden messages, no clues.

She wouldn’t leave without a note. That’s just not her. She’s too thoughtful and emotional for that. No note means she’s coming back for sure.

That’s when I spot it. Right by the window there is a large bowl with pieces of broken glass and some shiny metal. My eyes widen. It’s the necklace I gave to Seren on her eighteenth birthday. The glass is shattered, but the pieces have been neatly collected.

I stumble out of her room, needing to get away from what I think the broken necklace means.

“Theron, can you hear me?”

My mind-link is faint, but I focus on the urgency in Luke’s voice.

“What?”

“We found security footage that shows Seren going inside a diner around one. She also withdrew cash from one of the ATMs near that diner. ”

A flicker of hope ignites within me.

“She went straight to the airport from there. We have nothing after that.”

Reality hits me. There’s only one reason for taking cash. She doesn’t want to be found, and she isn’t coming back.

The world comes crashing down around me.

It’s all my fault.

Would she come back if I canceled my mating with Vanessa? But I still can’t take Seren as my luna.

The thought has Titan roaring furiously at me. Seeking comfort, I head over to our spot in the garden. Every step closer to it increases the burning feeling in my eyes.

As I finally approach the dirty, moss-laden log, the sight of the blooming lilacs feels like a cruel mockery. The gentle sway of the flowers sends their scent floating in the air. Every inhale reminds me of Seren…and the actions that made her reject me.

I step forward, my hands trembling, and begin to tear at the lilacs. Each rip and snap feels like a release, a momentary balm to the ache in my chest. I tear through them with ferocity, not caring where the broken flowers land.

In a few minutes, all reminders of my mate are shredded and strewn on the ground. My breath comes in ragged gasps, and I fall to my knees amid the chaos, calling my wolf to take over. I need him to run away from here. My human body has no strength left.

Titan’s whimpers echo in my mind, and I know he’s just as weak and miserable as I am .

A rejection from a fated mate is uncommon. Its consequences are far-reaching and incapacitating. It’s why I never told Seren about our connection.

My vision starts fading and I slowly lean against the log. It’s the last familiar thing around me. As I curl up in the fetal position and finally let the tears fall, I feel the phantom touch of soft, tentative fingers gently running through my hair.