What would you do if the man destined to be yours rejected you in front of everyone?** Not quietly. Not with regret. But with cold authority—like you were nothing more than a liability. Kael is Alpha of Shadow Ridge. Ruthless. Controlled. Untouchable. When the mate bond snapped between us, I thought fate had chosen me. He chose power instead. Humiliated and publicly cast aside, I was expected to break. To lower my head. To disappear quietly into the background of his reign. I didn’t. Because rejection doesn’t destroy a mate bond. It corrupts it. It lingers in every look. Every command. Every breath shared in the same territory. The pack may pretend it’s over—but the tension between us refuses to die. Then enemies circle our borders. Then rival Alphas start asking about me. Then the whispers begin. When an Alpha rejects his mate, it doesn’t erase her. It exposes him. War rises. Loyalties fracture. Blood stains the forest floor. And the Alpha who once denied me is forced to confront the truth he tried to bury— I was never his weakness. I was the one thing he couldn’t control. Now he must choose: protect his pride… or bow for the woman he once shattered. But some wounds don’t fade. Some bonds refuse to break. And love born from rejection burns darker—and deeper—than anything fate ever planned. In a world ruled by dominance, loyalty, and obsession, one question remains: What happens when the Alpha who refused you is the only one willing to start a war to keep you?