# Saltwater Tears
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Everyone in the Lycan royal circle knew that Prince Antonio loved me like no other. When I was preparing for my final challenge to earn the right to lead my own sub-pack, he stood beside me through every brutal training session, and when I faced the final rogue attack that was meant to test my strength, he stepped in to take a lethal blow meant for me. That attack left his inner wolf grievously wounded, costing him decades of his fighting strength just to keep me alive.
To repay the debt I owed him, I turned down the early invitation to compete for the leadership right that year, putting my entire dream on hold to stay by his side while he recovered. I didn’t question a single moment of it, not when the mate bond hummed warm and constant between us, not when he told me I was his fated one, the only Luna he’d ever want by his side.
It wasn’t until Hezekiah Silva, the second son of the Lycan King, came to check on Antonio’s recovery one afternoon that the truth unraveled. He stood in the doorway of Antonio’s royal apartment, his broad shoulders tense with the weight of a secret he’d carried too long, and sighed. The royal aura he carried rolled off him in a quiet, heavy wave that made my wolf twitch with unease.
“You love her that much?” he asked, his voice low enough that only I could hear. “That you’d sacrifice everything, even a mate fated for you by the Moon Goddess, just to save a woman who looks like her?”
I froze where I was mixing healing herbs at the counter, my fingers going numb. When I turned, Antonio was sitting by the window, his dark gaze soft as he stared at a crumpled photo of Anna on his phone—Anna Perry, the Omega he’d protected since childhood, with her soft smile and that faint, sweet vanilla scent I’d once caught on his collar more times than I could count.
“Anna’s aura is too weak,” he said, not looking up, his voice gentle enough to make my chest ache. Her wolf never awakened before adulthood, so she’s stuck as an Omega. Once Cielo gives up her unique healing ability to strengthen her wolf, she’ll never be pushed around by other wolves in the pack again. She’ll be safe, and she’ll be my mate. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”
“She’ll be the one I mark as my Luna, in a formal mark ceremony before the whole kingdom.”
I knew exactly what that meant. My unique healing ability was tied to the coastal heritage of my pack, a gift that lets me transfer strength from my wolf to another’s—but it costs the giver everything. Once I transferred that strength to Anna, I’d lose my fighting power, my ability to shift, my very place as a Delta warrior of the Coastal Tide Pack. I’d be nothing more than a weak Omega, cast aside like a used tool once I’d served my purpose.
I didn’t yell. I didn’t beg. I just walked straight out of that royal apartment, my boots clicking steady on the marble floor, and went directly to the royal courtyard where Antonio would find me. When he followed, slow and confused, I stood straight, held my head high, and spoke the words that would cut the bond forever, just as the old laws demand.
“I, Cielo Gonzalez, Delta of the Coastal Tide Pack, reject you, Antonio Gonzalez, Lycan Prince, as my mate,” I said, my voice steady even as the mate bond burned like fire through every nerve in my body. My wolf whimpered, deep in the back of my mind, the pain of the severing bond so sharp it made my legs wobble, but I stood my ground.
I turned away before he could speak, and I went to the pack elders to formally register my entry into the leadership challenge. I had nothing left to lose, and nothing left to tie me to the Lycan royal court. No more secrets, no more lies, no more being a replacement for the woman he really loved. From that day on, I answered only to myself.
