Chapter 117

Chapter 117
Riley’s P.O.V
The day my wolf awakened was the same day my heart broke.
I didn’t think anything could top the way Rhys made me feel in that velvet-draped VIP lounge—his mouth, his hands, his voice etched into my skin like wildfire. But I was wrong. Because the next morning, everything inside me changed.
It started as a hum beneath my skin.
I’d just come out of the shower, still wrapped in a towel, when it hit me—a sharp pulse through my spine, like electricity snapping along my bones. I dropped to my knees with a gasp, my whole body trembling.
Then I heard her.
“I’m here.”
Not a whisper. Not a thought. A voice. Clear and ancient and full of power. My wolf.
She roared inside me, loud and glorious, like she’d been caged too long and was finally free. I gasped as golden heat exploded through my limbs, stretching, cracking, reshaping me.
My towel slipped away as I fell forward, hands slamming into the floor. Bones shifted. Muscles tore and reformed. It wasn’t painless, but it wasn’t agony either. It was transformation. The rawest, realest thing I’d ever felt.
And when it was over, I wasn’t me anymore.
I stood on four legs, panting, powerful, my vision sharper than ever, my senses blazing. I looked down—paws. Ivory white fur with hints of silver glowing under the morning light spilling through my window. I was beautiful. I was wild. I was free.
Then the door slammed open.
“Riley? I felt—” My mom froze, staring at me from the threshold. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide and wet with awe. “Oh my Goddess…”
I stared back at her, stunned. But I wasn’t scared.
Because I could feel her pride. Her love. Her acceptance. She wasn’t horrified. She wasn’t shocked. She stepped into the room slowly, like approaching something sacred.
“You’re magnificent,” she whispered. “Just like I knew you would be.”
I padded toward her, tail swishing. My wolf rumbled deep in my chest—a greeting, a promise.
Then, as naturally as breathing, I shifted back.
Bones reformed. My skin pulled tight. And then I was standing in front of my mother, naked, panting, trembling, but me.
She grabbed the blanket off my bed and wrapped it around me, hugging me tightly.
“You did it,” she whispered, stroking my hair. “You’re finally one of us.”
I buried my face in her shoulder, overwhelmed by it all, how real it was, how right it felt.
But the moment I stepped back, the voice came again.
“Mate.”
I blinked. “What?”
“He’s your mate,” my wolf said. “The one who kissed you like he’d die without you. Rhys.”
My heart stuttered.
Rhys.
Of course. That’s what the pull was. That’s why I’d trusted him, why I’d felt so safe with him even when he’d told me he was dangerous. That’s why his voice alone could shatter me. He wasn’t just any guy. He was mine. My mate.
I laughed. I actually laughed.
“Oh my Goddess, this is perfect,” I whispered, pacing my room in nothing but the blanket, dizzy with adrenaline and joy. “It’s him. It’s really him.”
My wolf purred in agreement. I could feel her love for him too—how she recognized something in him that completed us.
It wasn’t just lust. It was fate. The bond every wolf dreamed of. And he felt it too—I was sure of it. That’s why he couldn’t let go of me. Why he’d kissed me like that. Why he’d stopped, not because he didn’t want me, but because he did—so much that it scared him.
But now… now I knew. And I was going to tell him.
I barely slept that night. My whole body buzzed with excitement, hope, anticipation. When I got to school the next day, it felt like my heart was a drum line in my chest.
I spotted him near the lockers—dark hair tousled, leaning against the wall with that shadowed expression he always wore. He looked up, and for a second—just a second—I saw something flicker in his eyes. Recognition. Longing.
“Rhys!” I rushed toward him, unable to keep the grin off my face. “I have to tell you something. Something important.”
He didn’t smile. Didn’t move. Just stared at me, stone-faced.
I slowed, confused. “Rhys?”
He straightened up, folding his arms, his jaw clenched tight. “Don’t.”
“What?” I blinked, heart thudding faster.
“Don’t say it,” he said coldly. “I already know.”
My stomach dropped. “You… you know?”
“That I’m your mate?” He gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah. I know.”
Relief started to bloom—until he crushed it with his next words.
“I reject you as my mate, Riley.”
The world stopped.
My mouth parted. Air left my lungs. I stared at him, uncomprehending. “What?”
“I reject you,” he said again, each word slicing into me like a blade. “You and I… whatever happened between us? It meant nothing. I don’t want this bond. I don’t want you.”
It felt like being punched in the chest. Over and over.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “You’re lying.”
He shrugged. “Believe what you want.”
“But you—you kissed me—”
“And I regret it,” he said, voice empty. “Don’t come near me again, Riley.”
Then he walked away.
Just like that.
Like I didn’t matter. Like the fire between us had been nothing but smoke.
I didn’t move. Couldn’t. My legs felt like stone. My chest ached so hard I could barely breathe. Everything inside me twisted and tore.
People moved around me. Talked. Laughed. Lived. And I stood there, completely broken.
Tears slipped down my cheeks, hot and silent. I turned and walked out of school, ignoring the stares, the questions, the whispers.
I didn’t stop crying until I got home.
And even then, it was only because I collapsed onto my bed, face buried in my pillow, my heart screaming in ways words couldn’t hold.
My wolf whimpered softly inside me, confused and hurt. “He’s ours,” she said. “Why would he reject us?”
I didn’t have an answer.
All I knew was that the boy I thought was fate—the boy I’d given my heart to before I even knew it—had shattered me in two words.
“I reject you.”
And no matter how strong my wolf was, nothing could protect me from that.