Chapter 89: Someone Who Can Give Him What He Needs

Lia

"I was provoked. I was pushed past my limits…"

"I know." Seraphina's voice was soothing, sympathetic. "I know you didn't mean to hurt him. But that's exactly what scares them. If you can lose control completely without meaning to, what happens next time? What if next time you kill someone?"

The words landed like physical blows because they echoed my own worst fears.

"I came here to offer you something," Seraphina said softly. "A way out of this that doesn't end in your death or exile."

I laughed bitterly. "Let me guess. I graciously accept you as second Luna and fade into the background like a good little broken mate."

"No." Seraphina's tone was patient, understanding. "I'm offering to help you disappear. Really disappear, not exile where packs can track you, but gone completely. A new identity, a new life, somewhere far from pack politics and danger."

I stared at her, trying to read her expression through the small window. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I care about you. And because..." Seraphina looked away, as if gathering courage. "Because I love Kai. I always have. And I can't watch him destroy himself trying to save a bond that's already broken."

There it was. The truth beneath all the sweet words and concerned expressions.

She wanted Kai. I had probably wanted him all along, since long before I'd arrived as an inconvenient treaty bride. And now she was offering me an escape route that would conveniently clear the way for her to step into my place.

"You think the bond is broken?" My voice was barely above a whisper.

"Isn't it?" Seraphina's question was gentle but ruthless. "You attacked him, Lia. Nearly killed him. The mate bond is supposed to make that impossible, a wolf can't hurt their true mate, not like that. The fact that you could..." She let the implication hang in the air.

Maybe the bond had never been real. Maybe I'd been forcing something that was never meant to be.

"If you love him," Seraphina continued softly, "truly love him, then you'll let him go. Let him find happiness with someone who can give him what he needs. Someone stable. Someone who won't put him in impossible positions, who won't force him to choose between his mate and his pack."

Every word was like a knife between my ribs, carefully placed to cause maximum damage.

Because she was right, wasn't she? I was forcing Kai to choose. My presence, my unstable power, my very existence was tearing his world apart.

"Think about it," Seraphina said, her hand still pressed against the door as if she wished she could reach through and comfort me. "I'll give you until tomorrow. But Lia... the Eastern Pack arrives in three days. Kai needs to show unity, strength. He needs..." She swallowed hard, as if the words pained her. "He needs a Luna who won't break under pressure. And we both know that's not you anymore."

The observation window slid shut, leaving me alone with her poisonous words echoing in my head.

A Luna who won't break under pressure.

Someone who can give him what he needs.

A bond that's already broken.

I sank to the floor, chains pulling taut, and stared at the concrete ceiling. Every instinct screamed that Seraphina was manipulating me, using my guilt and self-doubt as weapons. Viktor's warning echoed in my memory, don't trust her.

But what if she was right?

What if the kindest thing, the most loving thing, was to let Kai go? To disappear and give him a chance at the stable, uncomplicated life he deserved?

The bond pulsed faintly, weakened by distance and silver but still there. Still connecting us. And through it, I could feel Kai's determination, his refusal to give up on me.

But for how long? How long before his loyalty to me destroyed everything he'd built? How many more wolves would die because of our doomed bond?

I pressed my palm flat against the cold concrete, wishing I could reach through stone and distance to touch him one more time. To tell him I was sorry. That I'd never meant for any of this to happen. That loving him had been the easiest and most destructive thing I'd ever done.

Tomorrow, Seraphina had said. I had until tomorrow to decide.

But in my heart, in the deepest part of me that I didn't want to acknowledge, I think I'd already made my choice.

Sometimes loving someone meant letting them go.

Even if it killed you.

Especially if it killed you.