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Chapter 8
Roland’s POV
I took a deep breath, my hands trembling slightly as I picked up the envelope and carefully opened it.
Inside were a resignation letter, a mate bond dissolution form, and an abortion report.
The contents hit me like a blow to the chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs. My wolf, lurking within, howled in anguish, pacing and clawing as if trying to escape the confines of my body. The stillness of the night surrounded me like a suffocating fog. Alone in my study, I unfolded the mate bond dissolution form, my hands feeling as though they carried the weight of the world. I had never felt so fragile, so utterly lost and
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broken.
Each word on that document was a dagger, stabbing straight into my skull, into my heart. My vision blurred, and it took every ounce of strength not to shred the paper into pieces. But the questions kept pounding in my mind, searing into my soul. “Why? Why, Nadia? My mate, why?”
The resignation letter was dated a full three months ago. Three months… and I hadn’t noticed. My gaze fell onto the abortion report–a cold, clinical sheet marred by an ultrasound image of a tiny, delicate form. So small. So heartbreakingly fragile.
A tear slipped down my cheek, landing on the unforgiving papers. The sheer finality of it all was unbearable. Memories of our time together paraded through my mind, each moment now bitter with an understanding I
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had ignored. Nadia had been trying to tell me something. She had been so desperate for me to see her struggle, her pain. And yet, I had turned away.
A soft clinking sound broke through the silence. I looked toward the safe on the floor, where a small flash drive had slipped out, its sleek surface gleaming faintly in the dim light. Slowly, I crouched, picking it up with. unsteady hands. My heart whispered that this was her final message to me, her last trace in my life. Why had she left this? What did she want me to see, to understand?
The drive clicked into the port of my laptop, the screen lighting up to display two video files. My fingers hovered over the mouse, trembling, uncertain. My wolf stood at the edge of my consciousness, claws out, ears alert, sensing the magnitude of this moment. With a shuddering breath, I steadied myself
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and clicked the first file.
The screen came alive, and there she was- Nadia.
She looked exhausted. The vibrance that once filled her gray eyes, the light that used to pull me in, was gone. She drew in a deep breath, as though summoning the strength to speak, and my breath hitched at the sight of her. “Roland…” she began, her voice soft but heavy with emotion. “If you’re watching this, it means you’ve already found the documents. I had no choice but to leave them… to leave you. You need to understand why!”
Her voice broke, tears spilling down her face as she continued. Each word she spoke sliced through me like claws. “I always believed that the mate bond was unbreakable, that it could fix everything. But
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I was wrong. Our love–no, my love for you -had grown so heavy, so consuming, that it became unbearable for me.”
Her words crushed me. I could feel her pain as vividly as my own. My chest ached, my wolf whimpered, restless and inconsolable. She was still speaking, but I struggled to process her words, each one a blow to my already fragmented heart.
“Roland,” she said again, her voice trembling but resolute. “I don’t regret loving you, not for a second. But the pain… the disappointment… it’s too much. I stayed for so long, waiting for you to see me, to prioritize us, to prioritize “me“. But you never did. I was always second. Never first.”
Her gaze met the camera, and for a moment, it felt as though she was staring directly into my soul, her eyes piercing the screen. “Our
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pup was the only thing that kept me going for so long, my one source of solace. But now, I’ve even lost him..” Her voice cracked into a sob. “And I’m left with nothing but sorrow and despair. I can no longer carry this burden. That’s why, Roland, I had to leave.”
The video ended abruptly, the screen fading to black. My hand fell from the mouse, lifeless, unable to move. I slumped back into my chair, the weight of the moment crushing me. It was as though the world beneath my feet had collapsed, leaving me in a free fall of misery and regret.
I stared blankly at the screen, her haunting words resonating in my head, over and over. Every wound I had inflicted upon her, every moment I could have been there and wasn’t, came rushing to the forefront of my mind. I’d been blind, selfish, and so utterly careless with the heart of the one person who had
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loved me unconditionally… undeniably.
The shame and remorse were suffocating, threatening to pull me under. But beneath it all, flickering amidst the ruins, there was still a small ember of hope. I couldn’t let it end like this. I couldn’t let her words be the epitaph of our bond. Even if it was too late, even if she could never forgive me, I had to try. I had to fight.
Steeling myself with a deep, shuddering breath, I reached out and hovered the cursor over the second video file. This might be my last chance to truly understand her heart and the pain I had caused. Whatever lay in that second video, I would face it. For her. For us. For the mate bond that still burned within
- me.
With my heart pounding against my ribs, I clicked “Play”
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