Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate - Chapter 44: Chapter 44

The night air was warm, humming with anticipation, as laughter and conversation filled the university’s grand art hall.
Candles flickered in ornate lanterns, casting golden glows on the stone walls.
The Florence Annual Exhibition had always been a prestigious event, but this year, it felt different—for me, at least. I wasn’t just a student anymore. I was the Luna of the Lycan Alpha, even if most of the humans around me didn’t know what that meant.
I stood quietly beside my painting, dressed in a soft navy gown that Audrey insisted made my eyes shine like moonlight.
Around me, professors, critics, and art patrons milled about.
The painting—my finalist piece—depicted a wolf beneath a moonlit waterfall, staring at its reflection in the water. A lone silver thread shimmered from the sky down to its heart.
When I painted it, I hadn’t known it would capture so much of my truth.
Tonight was supposed to be peaceful. Celebratory. But even as I smiled politely at compliments and answered questions about my technique, something twisted in my chest. A flicker of dread. My wolf, Mika, stirred restlessly.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered in my mind.
I stiffened. I did.
A foreign presence slithered through the crowd, like a cold breath of wind in a sunlit room. I glanced toward the entrance.
At first, I saw nothing. But then, near the shadows of the archway, a man stood watching me.
He was tall, cloaked in a dark coat that brushed the floor, and his skin was too pale for a normal human.
But it wasn’t his appearance that unsettled me—it was his eyes. They gleamed red under the candlelight, like blood caught in a prism.
Rogue!
My breath caught. Around him, no one seemed to react. It was as if he wore a veil that blinded the humans to his danger.
"He’s masking himself with magic," Mika growled. "Old magic. Witch-born?"
Before I could react, he started to move, weaving smoothly through the guests, eyes never leaving mine.
Fear gripped me, but I refused to freeze. Not now. Not here.
“Ellaine?” Jose’s voice called out from my right, breaking the moment.
I turned instinctively toward him, and that split-second distraction was all the rogue needed.
The lights shattered.
Screams erupted. Power burst through the gallery like a thunderclap. Glass flew. Candles extinguished. Shadows expanded unnaturally, and guests scrambled in panic.
The rogue was already moving, pushing toward me.
I turned and ran—not away, but toward the back of the gallery. I needed space to shift, to breathe, to think. But Mika hissed, "You won’t shift in time. He’s fast. Too fast. And we never shift for too long!"
Shit! She was right.
I slammed open the gallery doors and stumbled into the courtyard garden behind the building, gasping for air. The stars overhead blinked behind clouds, and my heels scraped against cobblestone as I spun around.
The rogue stepped through the broken doorway, slow and deliberate, as if he had all the time in the world.
“Ellaine Rollin,” he said. “Or should I say... Luna of Lycaon.”
Shit!
His voice was oily, sweet with mockery. "Your scent matches. Strong. Untouched by corruption. He must treasure you."
He knows…
I didn’t answer. I clenched my fists.
He tilted his head. “I wonder how quickly he’d lose control... if I tore you apart right here."
My body pulsed with heat.
Mika was snarling, but still not strong enough to shift. Damn it!
Then suddenly, a different energy stirred within me—deeper, older, unfamiliar.
What is this.... Magic?
The moment I acknowledged it, it roared to life.
Blue flames surged from my hands.
The rogue paused, startled, but not afraid. “Ah,” he whispered. “You are the one. The second moon-bond. The witch’s failure. So she passed her gift to you. Curious.”
“What do you know of Anastasia?” I demanded.
“She betrayed us,” he snarled. “She was supposed to bind him, destroy him. Instead, she fell in love. Pitiful. And now she hides behind death. But we know—he’s no longer broken. Because of you.”
His words were a dagger, meant to twist guilt into my spine.
But all they did was ignite the storm inside me.
With a scream, I raised my hands and the fire leapt.
The rogue deflected it with a wave of his own dark energy, but not all of it. Part of the flame licked across his coat, catching the fabric.
He snarled and lunged.
I dodged, barely, rolling across the garden gravel.
My dress tore. My palms burned.
But I pushed forward, striking again with fire and force. The magic obeyed—not clumsy or wild—but focused.
Like it had always been there, waiting for me to call it.
From the shadows behind us, more figures appeared.
Warriors…
Jeremy. Jonathan. Audrey and many more.
Weapons drawn, their eyes glowing gold in their wolves form.
My fingers burned with a strange sensation—warmth, power. Not from Mika. From something else.
Anastasia’s memories. Her legacy.
I lifted my hand without thinking. Light pulsed from my palm. Not bright. Not blinding. But strong enough to send one rogue stumbling backward, yowling like a beast scalded by holy fire.
The crowd was scattering. Monica had returned, a silver dagger in hand, slashing toward the rogue nearest a group of frightened students.
I turned back to the one who called me out.
His eyes were fully golden now, but not werewolf. Feral. Poisoned.
“You should’ve stayed hidden,” he hissed. “He’ll find you.”
“Who?” I demanded.
But he didn’t answer. Instead, he charged, and I raised my hand again. This time, the light was brighter. Stronger.
It hit him square in the chest.
He screamed, convulsed, then collapsed, twitching. Not dead. But incapacitated.
I was shaking. Not from fear. From the aftermath of what I’d done.
Magic.
Raw and untamed. But mine.
Audrey rushed to me, eyes wide. “What—was that?”
I looked at her, lips parted, but no words came.
We all turned as campus security and more warriors arrived, followed closely by—Francesco.
He pushed through the crowd, golden eyes locked on mine, body tense.
“El?” he breathed.
I nodded. “I’m okay.”
He pulled me into his arms, holding me close, not caring who watched.
But I knew, this was only the beginning.
The rogue leader knew I existed now. Knew I was more than just a student. More than a girl who’d been rejected and left behind.
He would come for me.
And I had to be ready.
Even if it meant embracing both my wolf—and the magic I never knew I carried.