*Dante's POV - The Night Before the Rejection*
The whiskey burned less than the weight of tomorrow's decision, but not by much.
I sat in my study, staring at the formal rejection speech I'd written and rewritten seventeen times, each version feeling more like a death sentence than the last. Outside my window, the Harvest Moon hung heavy and silver in the autumn sky, mocking me with its beauty when all I could think about was the devastation I was about to unleash.
Luna Ashworth. Even her name sent fire through my veins and ice through my heart simultaneously.
My mate. My perfect, impossible, catastrophic mate.
The bond had snapped into place three months ago during a routine pack meeting, hitting me like lightning and leaving me reeling with the absolute certainty that the gentle heal
