The artificial bond

The artificial bond
Elena's world tilted. "What did you just say?"
"The mate bond between you and Harrison," David said urgently. "It was manufactured. Created artificially through blood magic and ritual. You were never fated mates."
"That's impossible," Elena breathed, but her mind was already racing. The speed of the bond snapping into place. How young they'd been. The way it had felt almost too perfect, too overwhelming.
"Elijah discovered it three years ago," David continued. "That's what started the whole conspiracy. He found records in the Original Pack archives showing that certain bloodlines, including the Steele line, were being manipulated. Mates were being assigned rather than fated. The Moon Goddess was playing matchmaker with specific wolves to create specific outcomes."
"Why?" Elena demanded.
"To prevent the Original Pack bloodlines from reuniting naturally," David said. "To keep certain genetic combinations from occurring. Harrison's bloodline carries one half of the Original Pack magic. Your bloodline carries the other."
Elena froze. "I'm human-born. I don't have any special bloodline."
"You were told you were human-born," David corrected. "But your biological mother wasn't human, Elena. She was a wolf from one of the three founding families of the Original Pack. She gave you up at birth to hide you from the Moon Goddess's manipulation, but it didn't work. The Goddess found you anyway and bound you to Harrison before your heritage could manifest naturally."
"This is insane," Elena said, backing away. "You're lying. You have to be."
"I have proof," David said, reaching into his jacket. He pulled out a worn leather journal. "Elijah's research. I found it hidden in his quarters after he died. He documented everything, every manipulation, every artificial bond, every bloodline the Moon Goddess was trying to control."
Elena took the journal with shaking hands. She opened it to a random page and saw her own name written there in Elijah's distinctive handwriting.
Elena Morrison - Born Elena Blackwood. Daughter of Rachel Blackwood (Original Pack, Lunar Line) and unknown father. Placed with human family at six months old. Mate bond artificially created with Harrison Steele at age 18 to prevent natural mate bond from forming with—
The rest was blacked out, redacted so thoroughly Elena couldn't read it.
"Who was I supposed to be mated with?" Elena asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Elijah never found out," David said. "That information was sealed by the Moon Goddess herself. But he knew it was someone important. Someone who would have created a threat to her power structure."
Elena flipped through more pages, seeing names she recognized. Pack members across the world, all marked as having artificial bonds. Thomas Reed. Sarah Chen. Even Marcus Steele's bond with Harrison's mother had been manufactured.
"How many?" she asked.
"At least forty percent of all mate bonds in the last century," David said. "Maybe more. Elijah believed the Moon Goddess stopped trusting natural selection after the Original Pack fell. She started engineering bonds to prevent another uprising."
"And Lucas?" Elena's heart clenched. "What about my son?"
"Lucas is why the conspiracy targeted your family," David said gently. "He shouldn't exist, Elena. A child born from an artificial bond should be magically sterile, unable to access pack magic. But Lucas isn't just magical, he's extraordinarily powerful. That means something went wrong with your artificial bond. Or something went very right, depending on your perspective."
Elena felt like she was drowning. Everything she'd believed about her life, her marriage, her identity, all of it was built on lies.
"Harrison doesn't know," she said. It wasn't a question.
"No," David confirmed. "Elijah never told him. He was going to, during the ritual at the monastery, but he died before he could reveal everything. Harrison still believes your bond was natural. Fated."
"Why are you telling me this?" Elena demanded. "What do you gain?"
"The truth," David said simply. "Elena, the conspiracy wasn't wrong about everything. The mate bond system is corrupt. It does steal free will. But Elijah's solution, destroying it all, that would have caused more harm than good. I want reform, not revolution. And that starts with you."
"How?"
"Fail the Moon Goddess's test," David said. "On purpose. Refuse to accept the bond's restoration. Force her to acknowledge that artificial bonds are unjust. Become the first Luna in history to choose freedom over fate."
"I'd lose everything," Elena said. "Lucas, my home, my pack."
"You'd lose a life built on lies," David countered. "But you'd gain the truth. And you'd inspire every other wolf trapped in an artificial bond to question their reality. You'd start the real revolution, the peaceful one."
Elena's hands were shaking so hard she nearly dropped the journal. "I need to talk to Harrison. He deserves to know."
"No," David said sharply. "Not yet. If Harrison learns the truth now, he'll confront the Moon Goddess. He'll demand answers. And she'll kill him for it. She can't allow an Alpha to openly challenge her authority, not with the supernatural world already questioning the mate bond system."
"Then what do I do?"
"You investigate," David said. "You use these twenty-eight days to find proof beyond Elijah's journal. You build an airtight case. And on the twenty-eighth day, when the Moon Goddess asks if you want the bond restored, you present your evidence and demand she answer for her crimes."
It was insane. Suicidal. But it was also the first thing that had made sense since the bond broke.
"Isabella," Elena said suddenly. "If she's the traitor, she knows about the artificial bonds too. She might have been trying to help by offering me a way out."
"Isabella wants chaos," David corrected. "She was never bonded because the Moon Goddess deemed her bloodline too unstable. Now she's bitter and dangerous. She's not helping you, Elena. She's using you to hurt the pack."
"Prove it," Elena challenged. "Show me evidence that Isabella is the traitor."
David hesitated. "I can't. Not concrete evidence. But my instincts—"
"Your instincts aren't enough to condemn someone," Elena interrupted. She was thinking fast now, pieces clicking into place. "If you really have been investigating, you'd have more than suspicions. Unless you're lying about everything."
David's face hardened. "You don't trust me."
"I don't trust anyone right now," Elena said. She held up the journal. "Can I keep this?"
"It's yours," David said. "But be careful who you show it to. That information is dangerous. People have died for knowing less."