Seven Days Before Rejection

Synopsis

The brass key felt wrong in my hand—too cold, too heavy, as I stood outside the bedroom door, listening. Frozen. Heart stuck somewhere between a beat and a break. Inside, someone laughed—high-pitched, too sweet, a she-wolf’s voice, mixed with a deeper, lazier male voice. The male voice was familiar to me in a way that hurts. Griffin. My mate. My Alpha. I wish I hadn’t been here. “You could’ve rejected her by now,” the female wolf said. I knew who she was. Zoya. Griffin wasn’t trying to hide his interest towards her these days. Her words floated through the crack in the door, soft and sharp all at once. “What are you waiting for?” Silence. Then a soft rustle—fabric shifting, maybe skin brushing skin. “I didn’t want to rush this,” Griffin replied, voice low. Yet indifferent. “She wouldn’t be a bother anyway.” Zoya scoffed, light but cutting. “She is, from what I feel.” Something inside me folded. “You deserve someone who moves with you, not someone still stuck in the past,” she murmured, and I heard it—the moment she leaned into him. The sound of comfort, claimed. “Someone who sees your future.” A lump rose in my throat. My fingers tightened on the key. Metal bit into skin. I slipped it into the lock, turned. Click. The sound cut through everything like a gunshot. Inside, the room shifted. I felt it, even before I saw it. The air thickened. I pushed the door open. There they were. Griffin, my Alpha mate, perched at the edge of the bed like he owned the whole damn world. Zoya curled beside him, too close. His arm was around her like it had never been around me. His eyes met mine. And for a second, I saw it. Guilt. Fear. Regret. Then it vanished. “Lyra,” he said, flat. Like I was a stranger. Like none of it had mattered. “Didn’t expect you back so soon.” Back? Back to what? His betrayal? I stepped in. The room airless. “I left my charger,” I said, voice thin. “Top drawer.” My throat tightened. I didn’t clear it. Zoya stood. She didn’t move away. Her hand slid around Griffin’s arm like it belonged there—like I never existed. She smiled. Bright. Sharp. Hungry. “Luna,” she said. “Feels like ages.” I stared. At her. At him. My hands curled into fists. Nails pressed hard. I welcomed the sting. “It has,” I said. And just like that, I knew. They were already rewriting the future. Without me. I turned to leave, the door closing behind me with a quiet finality. Seven days. I told myself. That’s all I had left—before I walked away for good. Before I became the one who let go.