Page 70 of Fated (The Bonded Legacy #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

LENA

T he cold night air stabbed at Lena’s skin as she stepped out of the dining hall.

She dragged in a breath, but it did nothing to ease the suffocating pressure in her chest. Behind her, the energy of the wolves gathered in the hall faded as she pressed a hand against the doorframe, steadying herself against the first wave of emotion threatening to break free.

She’d told Ryker and Jace she just needed air. Her smile—though strained and brittle—had been enough to stop their protests, but their concern lingered in the way Ryker hesitated, fingers twitching as if he wanted to grab her wrist.

“I’ll be right back,” she’d promised, forcing confidence into her voice . “Go find Cian and grab your stuff for the sleepover. I’ll meet you soon.”

The promise was empty. A lie she couldn’t even convince herself to believe.

Her legs moved on instinct—heavy and mechanical—each step disconnected from conscious thought as the path stretched before her, lined with faint patches of torchlight.

She barely registered the crunch of dirt beneath her boots or the distant rustle of wind through the trees.

The mask she’d worn all evening began to crack as she drifted closer to the tree line.

The strain of pretending weighed heavier with every breath, a dull ache spreading from her chest to her limbs.

“Lena.” Darius’s voice broke through her thoughts, halting her mid-step.

He emerged from the shadows, broad frame bathed in the dim glow of torchlight. His eyes, green and weary, searched hers, and for a fleeting moment, she thought he could see everything—the cracks in her composure, the exhaustion carved deep into her bones.

“Alpha Darius,” she managed, the words trembling despite her best efforts.

He stepped closer, aura commanding but gentle. “I wanted to thank you again for today. For everything you’ve done for Bloodstone. You’ve carried more than I could have asked.”

The words hit like a blow. “It’s...it’s been an honor,” she replied, voice barely above a whisper. Her hand tightened around her jacket until her knuckles whitened. “Bloodstone is...” The words tangled in her throat. “It’s remarkable.”

Darius studied her for a long moment before placing a firm hand on her shoulder. His touch centered her, but it also felt impossibly heavy. “Before you leave tomorrow, come see me. Please.”

She nodded, unable to trust her voice.

His hand lingered, then fell away as he turned back toward the hall. “Get some rest, Lena,” he said over his shoulder, disappearing into the glow of the gathering.

Rest . Her lips twitched with bitter amusement, muscles too tight to form an actual laugh. Her body twitched with nervous energy that wouldn’t allow for rest—not yet.

Lena’s feet moved again, carrying her further into the night. Her thoughts were a tempest, swirling with memories she couldn’t control:

Her and Kai under the stars at the Moonshadow ritual grounds, his lips brushing hers as he’d whispered, “You’re my peace, Lena.” His touch had been reverent, as though she were something sacred. But the stars at Moonshadow weren’t the same as the shadows that haunted her in Bloodstone

A tremor started in her hands, spreading up her arms as the memory shifted, jagged and sharp:

Ava’s laugh, syrupy sweet and loud enough to draw every eye. The way she had leaned into Kai, her hands roaming his chest like she had a right to him. Worse, the way he’d let her.

Her breaths came in sharp, painful gasps as memories struck like individual blows, breaking down her walls:

“Do you trust me?” he’d asked her, hand cradling her cheek as his thumb brushed away a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed. She nodded then, without hesitation, because she had.

But now? What was there left to trust? Her vision blurred as the first tears pressed hot against her eyelids. She forced them back, clenching her jaw until her teeth throbbed.

The ritual grounds loomed ahead, shrouded in shadows cast by dying torches.

The air was thick, damp with the scent of charred wood and earth.

Lena stepped into the circle, breath hitching as she walked toward the altar.

The acrid scent of burnt incense clung to the air like a memory similar to how Kai’s scent still clung to her skin despite everything that had changed between them.

Her steps faltered. Once. Twice. The third time, her legs simply gave out, knees hitting the earth with a muted thud.

Her hands trembled as she clutched the cold altar stone.

She pressed her forehead to its surface, the chill burning into her skin as the first crack in her composure split wide open.

“Selene.” Her voice broke on the Goddess’s name.

“If you’re there...if you can hear me... please.”

The silence that followed was deafening. No flicker of warmth, no comforting glow. Just the cold, uncompromising stone beneath her hands and the shadows pressing in from all sides.

A hollow ache spread in her chest. Her ribcage felt too small, too fragile to contain what was building within.

Each heartbeat sent fractures through the chest wall like glass struck with a hammer.

“You made this bond.” She drew a shaky breath.

“It was supposed to be beautiful… It was supposed to make us stronger.” Her fists clenched.

“But it’s broken. It’s killing me.” Her body curled forward as crushing sorrow pressed her into the earth, a strangled sob escaping her lips.

“Why would you do this? Why would you bind me to someone who doesn’t—” Her voice splintered into raw, guttural sobs. “Who can’t choose me?”

The dam inside her broke, her cries ripping through the stillness of the sacred space.

She clawed at the stone as she shook with the force of her grief.

Every suppressed tear, every buried ache poured out in a torrent, her body buckling under its weight.

Memories continued to assault her like waves crashing against the bluffs—

Kai making love to her under the stars at Moonshadow. “Goddess, Lena,” he’d groaned, his voice rough with passion. “You feel… Your… It’s everything.”

His touch that had once made her feel invincible. “Show me,” he’d said. “Show me how to love you.”

The way he’d looked at her the morning everything changed. “Man,” he’d said sleepily. “Seeing your face first thing in the morning is something I could get used to.”

And the way he looked at Ava now. The way he’d let her words hang in the air like a declaration of war. “I’m Ava, Kai’s girlfriend.” His hands on the small of her back. The comforting kisses he left on her temple, the crown of her head…

I gave him everything, Lena thought as she gasped for air. And he gave it to someone else.

A faint whimper resonated in her mind.

Elara.

Her wolf’s voice surfaced weakly, primal and instinctive, tied to the mating bond rather than memory. “I feel him, Lena. Orion’s grief... It mirrors mine. ” Elara’s tone held the ancient wisdom of her kind, even as it fractured with Lena’s anguish. “But your pain... It’s breaking me.”

Lena pressed her forehead to the altar, tears soaking into the stone. “I can’t do this,” she choked. “I can’t survive him, Elara. I can’t.”

Elara’s response came like a broken melody trying to find its rhythm, yet with the wolf’s unwavering certainty. “Then we go home. He will fight to bring us back.”

But for every tender memory of Kai’s touch, there was now Ava’s claim on him. For every whispered promise, now his deafening silence. Lena couldn’t live in the spaces between what was promised and what was taken away.

She sniffled, fingers curling tighter against the altar. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she whispered. “It wasn’t supposed to hurt this much.”

“You are more than the mate bond,” Elara murmured, voice soft yet resolute. “You are more than his struggles. He will learn.”

The bond in her chest pulsed faintly, a thread frayed beyond repair.

Lena closed her eyes, sobs breaking into choked gasps as she forced herself to release the pain, the hope, the love she’d been clinging to.

“I have to let him go,” she said, vocal cords shredded.

“I don’t want to, but it will destroy me if I don’t. ”

“We go home. Then maybe, he will heal. He will be ours again.” Elara whimpered, tone filled with waning hope that Lena couldn’t allow herself to feel.

The torches lining the grounds flickered one final time before extinguishing completely, leaving the ritual circle cloaked in darkness. Only the faint glow of the moon remained, casting silver shadows over the sacred space.

Her sobs echoed against the stone altar and the now-shadowed trees. The darkness pressed against her, smothering, as though the extinguished flames had stolen what little light and warmth she had left.

Lena didn’t know how long she lay there, body crumpled against the altar, cold earth pressing against her skin, dirt clinging to her hands and knees.

Tears leaked from eyes she no longer had the energy to close, each breath a battle she barely had strength to fight.

Her body had become a husk, emptied of everything but pain.

She hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone until Ryker’s warm arms enveloped her, lifting her from the forest floor and into his lap. Jace knelt beside them, hands brushing dirt from her face with quiet care. Neither of them spoke, their silence more comforting than any words could have been.

Ryker’s breath was warm against her chilled skin as he pressed his forehead to hers. Jace’s hold on her shoulders was protective, sheltering. The vise grip of pain in her chest loosened as they surrounded her, just enough to let her draw a full breath for the first time in a week.

Together, they carried her from the ritual grounds, their tears mixing with her own as they shielded her from the cold. The sacred circle remained shrouded in shadow, the darkness a quiet reflection of Lena’s shattered spirit.