Kaden’s POV
I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it onto the chair beside my bed. I had barely slept, and after everything that had happened, my entire body felt exhausted. My head was even worse. Every memory of Rebecca had returned, and since then, I hadn’t been able to think about anything else.
Stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I stood completely naked, ready to make my way into the bathroom to wash off the exhaustion of the day.
When suddenly, my wolf went wild inside my head, throwing his head back and howling: MATE!
I froze. Mate?
Confusion hit me hard. "What?" I whispered, my mind racing in circles.
Helen?
No... that wasn’t possible. Helen was gone. She had been dead for months.
"Who?" I whispered, completely confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Then, the air shifted. A familiar scent drifted into my nose, wrapping around my senses and making my heart slam against my ribs. It was faint at first, almost like my mind was playing some cruel trick on me, but when I inhaled again, the scent became stronger. Sweet, rich honey and wildflowers.
My wolf growled fiercely, clawing at my thoughts. Rebecca! She is here!
"Rebecca?" I gasped out loud.
There was no fucking way. She was here. In my pack. In my territory.
I didn’t understand how that was possible. Kane had told me she was in the Stone Pack. I had spent hours thinking about what I would say when I finally stood in front of her again, wondering if she would even allow me near her after everything I had done. But I could smell her. She was here.
"Fuck."
I didn’t stop to think. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants, pulled them on hastily, and rushed out of the bedroom without bothering with a shirt or shoes.
I bolted down the hallway, sprinting at full speed. Her scent grew stronger with every step, and my wolf was going completely insane, shouting MATE! MATE! inside my head.
I jumped down the stairs three at a time, my bare feet hitting the floor with heavy thuds. When I burst into the main living room, my heart was pounding wildly. I looked around immediately, expecting to see her standing there, but there was no sign of her. The guards on duty jumped in surprise, and a few servants stopped what they were doing to stare at me. I could only imagine how insane I looked—running through the house barefoot and shirtless like a man possessed.
"Is Rebecca here?" I demanded loudly. "Rebecca. Did any of you see her?"
The guards exchanged confused looks before one shook his head. "No, Alpha King."
My wolf was practically screaming in my chest: MATE! MATE!
"Where is she!" I muttered under my breath.
I stopped for a second, closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and inhaled deeply, forcing myself to ignore everyone around me. Her scent wasn’t coming from inside the house. It was stronger toward the glass doors leading outside.
The garden.
I turned and ran. I sprinted out of the house and across the yard, following her scent while my wolf urged me forward.
The moment I stepped onto the stone path of the garden, I froze. Everything inside me came to a complete halt.
Standing just ten feet away from me was Rebecca.
For several seconds, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I could only stare at her.
She looked completely stunned, her wide eyes scanning the trees and flowers with confusion written all over her face, almost as if she couldn’t understand how she had ended up here.
I couldn’t believe it either. I couldn’t believe she was actually here.
After everything that had happened, after getting all my memories back and learning that she had run from me, Rebecca was standing right in front of me. My feet felt glued to the ground, and my breath caught in my throat as tears burned the back of my eyes.
"Rebecca..."
Then my wolf let out a deep, echoing howl inside my soul—the loudest howl I had ever heard from him: MINE!
My heart nearly stopped as everything suddenly slammed into place.
She was my second-chance mate.
Suddenly, I understood why my wolf had always reacted so strongly to her, why he had fought against the ritual that erased her from my memories, and why he had recognized her even when I knew her as Ruby. The pull I had felt toward her, the strange protectiveness, the way my body had craved her... it all made sense now.
Rebecca held my gaze, and for several seconds, neither of us moved or spoke. We were only ten feet apart, but somehow, the distance between us felt much greater. The mate bond pulled at me so strongly that I could feel it in my entire body, and from the look in her eyes, I knew Rebecca felt it too.
My eyes moved to her neck. The choker was gone.
There was nothing hiding her anymore. No magic suppressing her wolf, no magic hiding her scent, and no choker blocking the bond between us.
My chest tightened as a wave of guilt and realization washed over me. Rebecca had been my mate all this time. The woman I had accused, imprisoned, and kept in chains—the woman I had forced to hide her identity behind a fake name and a collar—was the woman the Moon Goddess had given me after Helen.
And I hadn’t known. A single tear slipped down my cheek.
Rebecca hadn’t moved either, but her shock was slowly turning into fear. She could feel the heavy, magical pull just as strongly as I could.
My wolf pushed hard against me, demanding: Go to mate.
Every part of me wanted to obey. I wanted to cross the space between us, pull her into my arms, and beg for forgiveness. But I remembered every reason she had to be afraid of me.
I took one cautious, careful step forward.
The moment my foot moved, Rebecca took a sharp step backward, her eyes widening in fear.
I stopped immediately. The small movement hurt more than it should have, but I couldn’t blame her. My wolf was howling at me to move again, but I forced myself to stay back. I was terrified of scaring her off, feeling as though I was approaching a deeply wounded animal that expected me to hurt her again.
My wolf continued pushing me toward her, but I forced myself to remain where I was. One wrong movement and I knew she might run.
"Rebecca..." My voice came out rough and low. "It’s you."
Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak. Tears slowly filled her eyes.
"We’re mates."
Rebecca suddenly squeezed her eyes shut.
Something about the movement made fear rush through me.
"Rebecca?"
The air around her shifted violently. A sharp gust of wind swept through the garden, making the flowers and leaves shake.
"Rebecca, what—" I called out, reaching a hand toward her.
Right before my eyes, Rebecca vanished.
"No!" I yelled.
I rushed forward and dropped to my knees where she had been standing, reaching out as if I could somehow pull her back. There was nothing there. Only her scent remained in the air, and even that was already beginning to fade. Rebecca was gone.
"No, no, no. Fuck!"
My wolf howled painfully inside me: MATE!
I stared at the empty space, my heart breaking all over again.
Before I could move, hurried footsteps sounded behind me.
"Kaden!"
I turned as Logan rushed into the garden, his eyes moving around quickly before settling on me. "Kaden, what happened? I heard you shouting."
I slowly pushed myself to my feet. The moment I looked at him, all the pain and confusion inside me turned into anger.
"Did you know?"
Logan frowned. "Kaden?"
I walked toward him and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him closer. "Did you know Rebecca was my mate?"
His eyes widened. "Kaden, we weren’t sure."
"You weren’t sure?" I repeated, my grip tightening.
"We suspected it because of how your wolf reacted to her, but the choker made it impossible to know for certain."
I stared at him, trying to control the anger burning through me, but I couldn’t. My fist slammed into his face.
Logan stumbled backward, blood immediately pouring from his nose.
"You will pay for this," I growled. "All of you will."
Logan pressed a hand against his bleeding nose but didn’t fight back. "Kaden, I’m sorry."
I looked away from him, my eyes returning to the empty spot where Rebecca had been standing only moments ago.
"Prepare my jet," I said.
Logan stared at me. "Your jet?"
I turned back to him, my decision already made.
"Yes. I’m going to the Stone Pack."
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