Chapter 290

Caitlin's POV

It was a bluff sort of I did have a GPS tracker that part was true but it was in my car, not on my person.

And my supervisor would not actually send military personnel. They would just file a missing person report with local authorities.

But these werewolves did not need to know that Landon and Luna exchanged a look.

"We can work with that timeline," Landon said. "Four hours is enough time to figure this out."

"Figure out what?" I demanded. "You can't make me forget what I saw, you can't erase my memory."

Though even as I said it, I wondered if they could. They could turn into wolves. Who knew what else they were capable of?

The door opened again and a young man entered.

He was tall, probably over six feet broad shoulders, dark hair, sharp features and the coldest eyes I had ever seen. He looked at me and something flickered across his face.

Something I could not identify.

Then it was gone, replaced by that cold, blank expression.

"Leave us," he said to Luna and Landon.

"Alex-" Luna started.

"I said leave." The young man Alex repeated his voice was hard commanding.

Luna and Landon hesitated but then they left, closing the door behind them. Alex stood there for a long moment, just staring at me.

It made me deeply uncomfortable.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I need to tell you something," Alex said, his voice strained. Like the words were being forced out. "And you're not going to understand it but I need to say it anyway."

"Okay," I said warily.

Alex took a breath.

"I, Alex Blackwood, future Alpha of the Shadow Fang Pack, reject you as my mate. I sever the bond between us. I release you from any claim I might have had on you."

I stared at him and none of those words made any sense. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

Alex's face twisted with actual, physical pain. His hand went to his chest like something was hurting him there.

"I reject the mate bond," he tried again, his voice coming out strangled. "I reject-"

He stopped, gasping.

"Are you okay?" I asked, starting to get up.

"Don't," Alex said sharply. "Don't come near me."

"You're clearly in pain," I said. "Let me call the doctor."

"No," Alex ground out. "I just need to-"

He tried again. "I reject-"

But he could not finish the sentence he stumbled backward, his breathing labored.

"I don't understand what's happening," I said.

"Neither do I," Alex admitted, then he turned and left the room abruptly.

I sat there, completely confused.

What was a mate bond? Why was he trying to reject it? And why did it seem to be causing him physical pain to do so?

The door opened again and Luna came back in alone.

She looked worried. "I'm sorry about that," she said. "Alex is... going through something difficult right now."

"What's a mate bond?" I asked directly.

Luna sat down in the chair beside my bed.

"For werewolves, a mate is a life partner," She explained. "Chosen by fate, not by us when two mates meet, they feel a bond. A connection. It's powerful and undeniable."

"And Alex thinks I'm his mate?" I guessed.

Luna nodded. "He knows you are the bond that appeared when he saw you."

"But I'm human," I said.

"Yes," Luna confirmed. "Which is why he's trying to reject it. Because he doesn't think a human can be a proper mate for the future Alpha."

I processed this information.

"So let me get this straight," I said.

"I accidentally witnessed werewolves existing. Got attacked by rogue werewolves and was rescued and brought here. And now the future Alpha claims I'm his destined mate but he doesn't want me because I'm human. Is that about right?"

"That's accurate," Luna said.

I started laughing. It was a slightly hysterical laughter but I could not help it. This was absolutely insane.

"I just want to go home," I said when I stopped laughing. "I want to forget any of this ever happened."

"I wish we could let you do that," Luna said gently. "But you know our secret now. We can't just let you leave."

"Why not?" I demanded.

"I won't tell anyone. Who would believe me anyway? If I went to the police and said I was attacked by werewolves, they'd think I was crazy."

"Maybe," Luna said.

"But you're a scientist and an archaeologist. You deal in evidence and proof. What if you decided to find proof that we exist?"

"I wouldn't," I insisted.

"Can you promise that?" Luna challenged gently.

"Can you honestly say that your scientific curiosity wouldn't eventually win out? That you wouldn't try to prove what you saw?"

I wanted to say yes but she was right. I was a scientist, evidence and proof were literally my job. And this would be the discovery of a lifetime.

Proof that werewolves existed It would change everything we knew about human evolution, genetics, biology.

"Please," Luna said.