Adrian's POV
The words I had been dreading fell from her lips like a death sentence.
"I, Lina Ward, reject you, Adrian Storm, as my mate."
The bond ripped.
Not frayed. Not splintered. Torn—like a limb wrenched from its socket, like a live wire ripped from my chest. A pain so vast and white-hot that my vision blurred at the edges.
My wolf let out a howl inside my skull, not of rage, but of raw, animal grief.
*No. No, no, no—*
I didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't let a single muscle betray the agony screaming through every nerve in my body.
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper. Kept my face stone. Let nothing show.
Then she signed her papers. Set the pen down. Stood to leave.
I reached into my folder and slid my copy toward her—the one that gave
