“I will never abandon my brother when he needs me most,” she said quietly.
Caleb let out a hollow laugh.
“Very well,” he said bitterly. “Then tomorrow we present this before the council. And after that… the mate bond between us will be severed.”
“Caleb—” Marcus tried to speak, but Aria stopped him.
“If your sister’s accusation means more to you than our five years together… and the three years we’ve been bound by the Moon Goddess,” Aria said softly, tears filling her eyes, “then do what you must.”
She stepped closer to him.
“But understand this… once the bond between us is broken, it can never be restored.”
Caleb nodded stiffly before turning away, pulling Clara with him.
His mother followed behind them, avoiding Aria’s gaze.
Marcus wrapped his arms around his sister.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Aria smiled gently and patted his back.
Deep inside her heart, she already knew the truth.
Marcus was not the one who destroyed everything that night.
It was Caleb’s pride.
His blind trust in his sister.
And his refusal to stand beside the woman who had once been destined to be his Luna.
And though he didn’t realize it yet—
One day Caleb would desperately try to gather the shattered pieces of the life he had destroyed.
Only to discover there was nothing left for him to hold.
Aria's POV
My chest ached so badly it felt as if my wolf was clawing desperately inside my ribcage.
Tears blurred my vision as I pressed a trembling hand over my heart, trying to steady the frantic pounding beneath my palm. Inside my mind, my wolf paced restlessly, whining in pain as though she could feel the mate bond between us stretching thinner with every passing heartbeat.
How could Caleb do this to us?
How could the man who once stood beside me beneath the sacred moonlight—swearing before the Moon Goddess that I was his destined Luna—decide to sever our bond in the span of a few moments?
Years of love.
Years of trust.
And he was ready to throw it all away as if it had never meant anything.
What had gone wrong between us?
Had I truly done something so terrible that my Alpha—my mate—would cast me aside like an unwanted omega?
No.
This could not be how our story ended.
Our bond had been forged beneath countless full moons. The Moon Goddess herself had blessed it. It could not crumble simply because of a single accusation.