The Snow Wolf's Mate

Shadows Beneath the Bond:

[POV: Cole]

She was screaming again.

Dayana paced across the room like a storm, her voice sharp as broken glass. I’d seen her angry before—plenty of times. But this was different. This was feral.

“She doesn’t deserve anything!” she spat, knocking over a glass with a sweep of her arm. It shattered on the floor, but she didn’t even flinch. “Not friends. Not a pack. Not power. She’s a mistake! She’s nothing.”

I stood near the doorway, watching her unravel, the heat of her fury closing in like a fire I couldn’t put out.

“I told you to leave!” she snapped, rounding on me, her eyes blazing. “What are you still doing here, Cole? Or are you hoping to run back to her and tell her everything I said?”

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Because something inside me had broken too.

This wasn’t just a tantrum. This was her. The real Dayana. Ugly, seething, full of poison she’d been saving for years. And suddenly, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore.

This wasn’t who I’d fallen for. I don’t even know who I thought I loved.

“Weakness,” Rau hissed inside my mind, disgusted by my hesitation. “You always knew what Aria was. Stop fooling yourself! Dayana is strength, ambition—power. Aria was your weakness. Dayana is your true mate, the one who can give us everything we deserve!”

I clenched my fists, trying to silence the voice, but Rau pressed harder, his words twisting through my mind like thorns.

“Aria was pathetic, unworthy. Dayana's hatred is her strength. You see obsession—I see purpose. She is the fire you lack! Stop resisting and embrace her darkness!”

Dayana’s screams echoed around us, Aria’s name spilling from her lips like a curse. Her hatred was tangible, burning through the room like venom.

I had always known there was bad blood between them, but I never truly understood why. Never saw it like this.

Because nothing Aria had done—nothing she could do—could warrant this kind of obsession.

And yet, Rau's voice grew louder, drowning out reason.

“This is your mate. Accept it, or be consumed.”

My breath came unevenly, heart torn between horror and desire. I wasn't sure who would win—me, or Rau.

Dayana wasn’t angry that Aria had done something wrong. She was angry Aria had survived.

“I mean it!” Dayana barked, pointing toward the door. “Get out, Cole! Before you end up on the wrong end of this.”

I met her eyes one last time, but the girl I once held close, the one I once imagined a future with—she was gone.

Maybe she had never been real. I turned without another word and walked out.

* * *

I moved fast, feet barely touching the ground as I crossed the compound. I didn’t stop. Didn’t slow. The image of Aria kept flashing through my mind—her smile, quiet and genuine.

Her eyes when she finally believed she could belong. That proud glint when she spoke about shifting for the first time. When she said she’d won the tournament. How she’d stood taller, stronger.

Happier. And all I could think was—it should’ve been me beside her.

Not Dayana. Never Dayana. Rau—my wolf, the evil, the darkness inside me—wanted her, he was craving for her cruelty, he was running toward power she would hold. That was not truly me.

I’d been drawn to Aria from the start. Even when we were kids, even when I’d convinced myself I was just protecting her. There was warmth in her presence. Calm. A sense of rightness. I’d never felt that with Dayana. Not really.

The dizzying happiness I always thought a mate bond would bring?

I never found it in Dayana’s touch. In my memories of Aria… in the way she looked at me when she trusted me… there it was.

But even as her name echoed like a plea in my mind, Rau growled low and dark.

“You’re weak,” he sneered. “You’d abandon everything for a girl who ran away? Who left you?”

“She didn’t leave me,” I muttered aloud, picking up speed through the trees. “She left them.”

“She left the pack,” Rau hissed. “She left her duty. And now she’s aligned herself with a larger, stronger force. She’s a threat, Cole.”

“No,” I growled. “She’s not.”

“You think she’ll come back? That she’ll choose you? That you’ll undo all the damage by running to her like a fool in heat?”

I flinched.

“Dayana is our true mate. The future Luna. The only path forward if you want to be Alpha. You fight for her. For your pack. Not for some reckless dream of a girl who’s already chosen her place—and it’s not here.”

My fists clenched, fury rising with every word. “Shut up.”

“You’re pathetic. Ruled by sentiment. You could have power. Status. But you’d throw it away for—”

“I said shut up!” I roared, slamming my palm against the nearest tree. Bark cracked under the force, blood blooming across my knuckles.

And then—silence.

I forced the connection to be closed. Rau’s presence retreated, snarling and snapping at the edge of my mind. But I locked him out. I couldn’t bear his voice anymore. Couldn’t bear him.

Because he wasn’t wrong. Not entirely.

I had waited too long. I had chosen wrong. And now, Aria was gone. But not too far. I could still find her. Still look her in the eyes and say what I should’ve said the night she left.

I’m sorry. I was wrong. I should’ve gone with you.

Because whatever bond Dayana and I once had—it wasn’t real. It was desperation. Control. Prophecy.

But with Aria… it had always been something else.

And I’d never understand what she saw in me, never know if she could forgive me for standing by and doing nothing when she needed me most.

But I had to try. I had to tell her. Because this ache in my chest—the one that got worse the further she drifted—it wouldn’t let me breathe.

It was never Dayana. It was always Aria. And I was done lying to myself.

I broke into a run, heading toward the distant border I’d memorized long ago. The same one I knew she sometimes crossed for brief moments, like she still felt the pull too.

She was the one who should’ve had my heart.