Chapter 245 245

Chapter 245 245
Nova's POV

"Explain," I demanded. "Now."
He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't fully understand it myself."
"That's not good enough."
"I know." He took a step toward me, then stopped when I tensed. "The rejection should have severed everything. And in human form, it did. But our wolves..." He shook his head. "I think they never fully let go."
I started pacing, the forest floor soft under my bare feet, my hands clenched and unclenched at my sides.
"This doesn't make sense," I said. "We went through the rejection ritual. Both of us. I felt it break."
"So did I."
"Then how..." I stopped mid-step and pressed my fingers to my temples. "Kia."
I turned my focus inward, reaching for my wolf. She was there, unusually quiet, curled tight in the back of my mind.
What the hell is going on? I demanded. Do you know what he's talking about?
Silence.
Talk to me!
More silence. Then, so quietly I almost missed it: Yes.
My stomach dropped. What do you mean, yes?
She shifted uncomfortably, a sensation like restless movement beneath my skin. You and Caden rejected each other. Your human selves. You severed your bond, but…
But?
Shadow and I... we didn't.
I stopped breathing.
What?
Guilt radiated from her, thick and uncomfortable. We couldn't. We tried, but we couldn't do it. So when you broke the bond, it only broke for you. Your human connection. Not ours.
My legs gave out. I sat down hard on the dirt, pine needles sticking to my palms. The night air cut against my bare skin and I wrapped my arms around myself.
"Oh my god," I whispered.
Caden moved closer but didn't touch me. "Nova?"
I looked up at him, my hands shaking. "The wolves. Our wolves didn't reject each other."
His jaw tightened. "I know."
"You knew?" My voice cracked. "How long have you known?"
"Weeks ago. One minute I was fine, and the next..." He exhaled sharply. "Pain. Brutal and fast, like something was trying to claw its way out of my chest. Shadow went completely berserk, howling about our mate, demanding we stop you from... whatever you were doing."
I stared at him, my hands shaking harder now.
"Emily was there," he continued, his voice rough. "I partially shifted without meaning to. Nearly attacked her before I got control back. Had to order her out of the room for her own safety."
My stomach turned over. "When was this?"
His jaw tightened. "The night you kissed Noah."
The air left my lungs. "You felt that?"
"Every second of it." His eyes were dark, haunted. "That's when I knew the bond hadn't fully broken. Not for our wolves."
I sat there on the cold ground, naked and shaking, trying to process what he'd just told me. The night Noah kissed me. Caden had felt it.
My thoughts scattered in a dozen directions at once.
I didn't know what to make of it. Mortified, maybe. Or angry. Both. Neither. My brain couldn't settle on a single emotion long enough to hold it.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice coming out smaller than I intended. "I had no idea you were..."
"I know you didn't." Caden's voice was steady, no accusation in it. "How could you? We thought the bond was broken."
I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, goosebumps rising on my skin from the night air.
But then something else occurred to me. Something that made my stomach clench.
I'd never felt anything like that. Not once in the months since I'd left Shadowcrest. No sudden pain, no Kia going berserk, no sense that Caden was with someone else.
Which meant...
I looked up at him sharply. Lydia's words from earlier echoed in my head, casual and throwaway at the time but suddenly significant.
Caden and Lila were never intimate after you left.
My mouth went dry.
"So that means you..." I started, then stopped. The words felt too exposed, too revealing of how much I'd been thinking about this without meaning to.
Caden's gaze was steady on my face, patient. Waiting.
I swallowed and forced myself to finish. "So that means you weren't intimate with anyone after I left?"
The question hung between us in the quiet woods. I could hear water trickling over rocks in the creek, the rustle of leaves overhead, my own heartbeat too loud in my ears.
It shouldn't matter. We were divorced, he could sleep with whoever he wanted. But the idea of Caden remaining celibate for months while I'd been gone, of a strong alpha male going through painful ruts alone when he didn't have to, when he could have his pick of any willing partner in the pack...
It didn't make sense.
"No," Caden said quietly. "There wasn't anyone."
I stared at him. "But you... alphas go through ruts. You didn't have to be alone for that."
"I know."
"Then why..."
"There wasn't anyone I wanted badly enough." His voice was honest, almost raw. "And the idea of touching someone else..someone who wasn't you, didn't hold any appeal."
I couldn't look away from him. The moonlight caught the planes of his face, the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands rested loose on his knees like he was forcing himself not to reach for me.
“It must have been painful," I whispered.
"The ruts were hell," he confirmed, his voice rough. "Worse than they'd ever been before. But I took the ordeal as my penance, my punishment for hurting you."
My chest tightened. I'd always assumed... I don't know what I'd assumed. That he'd moved on easily. That Lila or someone else had been there to help him through it. That I'd been the only one suffering while he went about his life unbothered.
"I'm sorry," I said, the words coming out before I could stop them.
"Don't." Caden's voice was sharp. "Don't apologize. You had every right to leave and every right to move on. What happened between me and Shadow, that's not on you."
"But if I'd known..."
"What would you have done differently?" He met my eyes. "Come back? Stayed? You did what you had to do to survive, Nova. I don't blame you for that. I can't.”