The Alpha's Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger. - Chapter 405

Chapter 405: When love isn’t enough…

Lenny

“I cannot deny that having children was the best thing that ever happened to me. To say the truth, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” I said, as I faced Cassidy in the empty corridor. “Fatherhood has a way of grounding anyone. Cass, I won’t call my kids regrets, but you pushed me into this situation in the first place.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “That’s because you were too cowardly to reject me properly, and let’s end this charade. How many times do I have to tell you that I cannot love you, regardless of the mate bond or not? Your mother was a witch, and I want pure-blood Lycans. I will not dirty my bloodline with traces of wizardry or whatever supernatural contamination runs in your veins.”

“That’s unfair, Cassidy.” I shook my head, feeling years of suppressed pain rising to the surface. “What you’re doing to me, what you’ve done to me all these years—do you know how much I suffered every time you ran around after Ramsey, begging to be loved, while I was always right there, ready to love you?”

“And so the cycle continued,” She said with a devious smile that made my heart break all over again. “The person I want doesn’t want me, so the person who wants me will never get me either. I’d rather marry Caius than accept our bond. Please do yourself a favour and let’s break it once and for all. It’s been long overdue.”

I stared at her for several long seconds, feeling the years of hope crumbling inside me. “Doesn’t it matter that I love you?” My voice came out as a whisper. “I love you, Cassidy. I never stopped loving you. All these years, I waited…”

“You waited while warming the beds of other women and making babies,” she shot back. “You didn’t learn anything from your friend, did you? Ramsey is devoted to Lyla, completely devoted to her.”

“Are you going to compare me with him again?”

“Yes!” she nodded. “For what it’s worth, Ramsey knows how to love a woman and prove he loves her. All the years he looked for Lyla… yeah, he had a few indiscretions, but he didn’t stop searching. Despite every attempt I made to get him to make me pregnant, he deflated them. Ramsey understands loyalty.”

“And I don’t?” I asked.

“Yes, you don’t, Lenny. You confess you love me, but where is this love? If a woman walked past you naked, you’d fill her up with your seed without hesitating.”

The accusation stung because there was truth in it, but not the whole truth. “That’s not—”

“I already have a high chance of ending up bitter like my mother,” she continued. “And now that everything’s changed, now that I’m at Ramsey’s mercy, I don’t want to misuse my second chance. Caius doesn’t come with burdens. He’ll treat me well, and I’ll learn to love him.”

My eyes filled with tears as I stared at her. “You don’t mean that, Cass. You don’t even like the guy.”

“Likeness? Love? They’re all illusions,” she said with a coldness that chilled me to the bone. “I will do my duty as his mate. I will bear his children and take care of the home. I will endure the sex, and I will—”

“Enough!” I reached out and grabbed her hand desperately. “Please don’t do this. Please don’t throw your life away on some misguided notion of duty.”

Gently but firmly, she extricated her hand from mine. “It’s for the best, Lenny. I don’t want to be a wicked stepmother. I’ve seen your children—they’re so beautiful and bright and cheeky, just like their father. Their mothers have somehow cultivated great friendships with each other, and that’s because they think you’ll never settle down, that no woman can ever truly own you. They’ve made peace with that arrangement.”

She paused, as her tone grew softer. “If I came into the picture, you’d have to deal with jealous women fighting over you. I’d become a bitter mate and a wicked stepmother. People would see even more reasons to hate me than they already do. I’ll give you time to think about everything I’ve said, and you’ll realise that we shouldn’t be together.”

“Cassidy—”

“No matter how much we try not to talk about it, mate bonds do not translate to perfect pairs. The Moon Goddess is flawed.”

“Don’t say that,” I said slowly, “That’s a taboo.”

“But it’s true,” she scoffed. “She pairs the wrong people together and makes the right people yearn for each other for the rest of their lives. It’s the biggest joke ever made. I hate mate bonds.”

“Just give me a chance,” I pleaded, “Let me prove to you that there’s nothing to worry about. I can change, I can be better—”

Cassidy smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “I’ll be waiting for you to come find me when you’re ready to reject me properly. Make it official, Lenny. Set us both free.”

With that, she turned on her heels and walked away, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.

I stared at her retreating form, feeling like my heart was being torn from my chest. Years of hope, of waiting, of believing that someday she might see past her prejudices and accept our bond.

Everything came crumbling down with one conversation.

Just as I turned to continue toward my office, I saw my sister Circe standing near the main staircase, watching me with pity written across her face. We stared at each other for several long seconds before I crossed over to where she stood.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” I managed to say.

Circe nodded, her expression filled with concern. “Are you alright? Do you want a hug?”

I laughed, but it came out broken. I swiped at the tear that had rolled down my cheek without my permission. “I don’t think a hug would calm the storm inside me, C. I love that woman so much that I waited all these years, hoping one day a miracle might happen.”

Circe didn’t say anything immediately. She just reached for my hand, and slowly, we walked back toward my office.

When we entered my office, she immediately pulled me into a proper hug, and I felt the last of my composure crumble. I started to cry.

The first time I’d cried was the day I’d discovered Cassidy was my mate and had rushed over to tell her like the lovesick puppy I was back then, only for her to look up at me and, without a second thought, asked me to reject her and that she was keeping herself for Ramsey.

At twenty-one years old, I tried to persuade her to accept me, but that only made her angrier. She claimed our mate bond was suppressing Ramsey’s natural instinct to love her back, and that was why he was hesitating. She’s told me that if I love her like I claimed, I should suppress the mate bond.

Back then, I wanted to do anything to remain in her good graces and hoped she would choose me one day, but years later, I was not even an option.

After several minutes, I was emotionally exhausted. I pulled back from Circe’s embrace, trying to smile through my tears. “Why are you here, by the way?”

“You know, she’s right, Len,” Circe said quietly, ignoring my question. “Your baby mamas live in harmony because they feel secure that you’ll never choose one of them over the others. The day you choose someone, there’ll be chaos, and I know—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted, leaving her arms and walking to the other side of my desk. I hated to be vulnerable. “I’ll be fine, Circe. I always am. Now tell me why you came here.”

Circe studied my face for a long moment, clearly debating whether to push the personal conversation further. Finally, she seemed to accept that I needed to focus on something else.

“I need to speak to Lyla,” she said, urgently. “Personally. There’s something she must know, something that can’t wait much longer.”

“What kind of something?” I asked, grateful for the distraction from my problems.

“It’s something that I cannot even say on the phone, I need passage to the human world from here to tell her physically, Lyla is going to be in a rather interesting battle in the next few days, and she needs to be prepared.”

“What are you talking about?”

Circe sighed. “A few days ago, Lyla reached out to me and asked that I help her look up something that happened when she was Nineteen and I discovered that the death of the Dark One didn’t do so much, if anything, he knew he was not going to survive and be rebirthed like how he was previously, so he devised a new means to remain here.”

My heart sank at the revelation.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“It’s a lot to take in right now, Len,” she said quietly, “But I cannot tell you first. I need to speak to Lyla as soon as possible. I promise, I’ll tell you everything afterwards. Can you arrange that for me?”