Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond
Chapter 0229

Kaia POV

My heat was satisfied enough for the rest of the journey back to the Nightshade Reformed pack, but I wasn't done...I was still craving more. Still needed more, but I knew what was paramount. Firstly, I needed to get to the cliff tops, I needed to clear my head.

As we enter the pack grounds I knew that I needed to finally take control of my pack.

Be the Alpha my pack members deserve, the alpha that will guide them and protect them...even if that means from the council.

I needed all traces of the werewolf council off my lands.

It was also time for the Amber Desert warriors to go home, I was grateful for their support and held no bad feelings against the warriors, they had stepped up when their alpha hadn't. They had provided protection to my people and helped Alora when needed.

If their Alpha was anyone but Than, I would offer them a transfer...give them an opportunity to try another pack, a pack that would appreciate their hard work and dedication but I've had enough of the connection with the Amber Desert pack. We had no need to liaise with one another going forward. The quicker they left, the better.

I wonder whether Hector would offer them a place with him, he was their true Alpha after all...but it wasn't my place to say, and I think Hector wants a clean break just as much as me.

Staring out at the waters below me, having now seen the Clear Waters pack...I can see why this place feels like a second home to me.

Even though I don't remember my childhood home, just the landscape here at the Nightshade Reformed pack makes me feel at ease...makes me feel comfortable within myself.

Even connected to the mother I never knew, in a way.

Small bearable pains were starting to shoot inside my lower abdomen again, a clear signal that I needed to be back with Hector, that my heat hadn't finished yet. Being marked by an alpha is meant to cause the strongest heat reaction of all.

I had waited until I could no longer deny the mate bond between Hector and I, to the point that denying it caused me severe physical pain.

In the moment he did nothing but show me love and acceptance, he didn't turn me away, he didn't use it for his own gain.

He has time and time again shown me the kind of mate he is, the kind of mate he will be.

Why did I take the word of a man I had just met, the word of a monster. Who tried to steal my lands and take me for himself.

No more... in denying Hector not only was I putting myself in danger, but him also. The image is his lifeless body on the dungeon stairs floods back to me.

I had been keeping our mate bond incomplete.

A strong, yet incomplete buzz that tempted me with every touch, every kiss...if I had just accepted it first of all...I wouldn't have been so blinded.

Not once has Hector given me a reason to doubt him, to reject him... he has been patient, supportive and yes, he has kept things from me such as my marriage to Than...but I can see what he did it now. He was just wanting to protect me. With a deep breath in, I exhale any past negative thoughts since waking up.

It was time that I trusted in the mate bond, make this choice for myself as well as put my faith into the Moon Goddess.

She had paired me with Hector for a reason, his strength will become mine, and vice versa.

I knew now what I needed to do. I needed to take the leap, I needed to be all in...because standing on the sidelines wasn't doing either of us any justice. It wasn't letting our mate bond become the powerful union I believe it will be. No more, no more will I deny this.

He has my heart already, now my body....my soul belongs to him as well.

I let the waves that are backwashed into the sea take any elements of my past with them, a de-cleanse...I make this choice for me.

I'll wash away the past and start anew.

With him. My fated, and chosen mate.

It's time I mark him, make him mine.

As I start to slowly walk back to the main central pack grounds, the full beam a cross my mouth starts to drop as an alarm starts to blear out.

It's the pack alarms.

Our borders were under attack.

I pick up my speed, pushing my body as I hear screaming in front of me...women and children racing back into their homes as males rush towards me...fear evident on their faces.