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She met my gaze with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t expect this question, but it was one that weighed on my heart for as long as I could remember. Saying it out loud felt dangerous, like it would summon Maximus, reveal our location, and seal our fate.

“If you think he would kill you, then I don’t think you understand the power of a mate bond. There have been tales of many who thought they could defy the creator by rejecting their mate, but their lycans were driven to madness by the loss long before they could find another.”

My mouth dropped at her words. I wasn’t privy to these tales growing up. My father did his best to keep me in the kitchens or cleaning. I only learned the basics of reading, writing, and math from the other omegas who were learning.

“What tales? I haven’t heard of anyone going mad because of their mate being rejected.”

She laughed. “King Talon of the southern kingdom nearly lost himself when his mate, Elena, ran off after he rejected her. Like you, she fled to a rogue territory ruled by Thorne. Thorne liked to call it his own small kingdom, but it wasn’t part of King Talon’s realm.

By the time King Talon found Elena, he was one bad fight away from losing himself to his beast. Then there’s King Aaric of the northern kingdom.

He rejected his mate as well, but interestingly, he didn’t lose himself to the madness of his beast. No one knows exactly how, but it is believed that his mate, Tala, was a white lycan.

Enough of her calming power remained with him to survive until he found her again. ”

How the surrounding kings chose to reject their fated mates was almost amusing.

As if years of unquestioned obedience, of hearing nothing but “yes, sir,” had convinced them they knew better than the Moon Goddess herself when it came to their own bonds.

They were blind to the consequences they refused to acknowledge due to their ignorance.

“Why does it seem like all the men question what the Moon Goddess has given them?” I had to ask.

Charlotte laughed. “What makes you think they all rejected their mates while the females just accepted it? Women can be just as strong as men. We just have different strengths. Like you, for example.”

“Me? What kind of strength could I possibly have? I’m sitting in this chair, trying not to throw up at the idea of my mate coming here to slay me for leaving him.”

Her eyes flashed the deep, luminous blue of her lycan.

The scent of her anger thickened the air, her power pressing into my senses.

It made me wonder where Charlotte and Nathaniel had once held their titles as alphas.

It wasn’t within my kingdom—I was sure of that.

My father had drilled into me the names of every alpha and luna in the kingdom, ensuring I could address each with proper recognition.

But Charlotte and Nathaniel were nowhere in those records, not in the last hundred years. And I knew they weren’t that old.

“You have more courage than you realize, Kylie. You fear your mate might come for you, that he would see your pup as a threat to whatever future he’s building.

But despite that fear, you ran. You fought through the thick forest, scaled the unforgiving mountains, all to find a place where your child could thrive—a place where they could have the life you never did. That is true courage.”

“Courage, not strength.”

“Aren’t they the same?”

I didn’t know how to respond. Was courage and strength the same thing? I had always thought of strength as something tangible, but courage felt different. Courage was quieter and harder to define. Yet, wasn’t pushing forward despite fear a strength in its own right?

“Kylie, facing something that could kill you and choosing to move forward anyway—that is strength. You had no idea what the terrain would throw at you, yet you pushed through, determined to find a place where you could feel safe. Safe enough to endure this pregnancy, to bring your child into the world. And you’re not alone—many have done the same, fighting for the future of the life they carry.

That alone means the Moon Goddess chose you for a reason.

She wanted you to be the mother to that pup. ”

Her words washed over me as tears streamed down my cheeks.

No one had ever spoken to me like this, as if I was actually worth something, like I had strength beyond what I could see.

Her voice breathed new life into the cracks I had long ignored, and I realized how blind I had been.

I had spent my entire existence being told I wasn’t enough and that I would never be enough.

Now, in the presence of this woman, I felt the strength to confront the lie that had held me down all my life.

I was good enough to be chosen by the Moon Goddess and to be given a life to protect.

And I did that.

I fought my way through the outskirts of the kingdom, determined to carry both myself and the bright light the Moon Goddess had gifted me to safety—to a place where we could not just survive but truly live. A place free from judgment, where we could carve out a future that belonged to us alone.

And that’s what I plan to do.