His destined mate

***Flashbacks to the conflict that happened between Ethan and Emily***

Ethan and Emily had been inseparable since birth, two pups from the most elite bloodlines imaginable. The prince and princess of the Lycan realm, their celestially- decreed mating had been foretold before they'd taken their first breaths.

As children, they were never seen apart - partners in crime and conquest, rulers of the entire kingdom in their imaginations. Ethan had looked upon Emily with pure adoration and love, his best friend and confidante in all things.

"We'll be unstoppable together, Em," he'd told her so many times over their tumultuous childhood. "You're my other half, my eternal mate. We're going to lead our pack into a new era of glory and prosperity."

Emily had glowed under his affections, her emerald eyes shining with just as much fervent belief in their destiny. "Of course we will, Eth. Because you and I, we're twined by the cosmos themselves. No one will ever come between that."

But as they grew older, something changed in Emily. The pure, unshakeable devotion she once had for Ethan slowly twisted into an unhealthy obsession. She became paranoid that he would leave her, jealous at even the hint of him looking at another woman. Her quest to keep his undivided attention turned toxic.

Ethan first discovered Emily's infidelity when he caught her in a passionate tryst with one of his royal guards. The betrayal cut him deeply. When he confronted her, she showed no remorse, claiming she had needs he wasn't fulfilling.

"You're mine, Ethan. My destiny. My mate," Emily had said coldly. "What I do with others means nothing as long as I always come back to you in the end."

It was just the first of many affairs she carried out brazenly in front of the entire pack. Emily believed she was entitled to Ethan no matter how she treated him. As the years went on and she continued to violate his trust, Ethan's resentment grew.

The once steadfast, cosmic bond they had both taken for granted had become a cursed shackle that Emily used to subjugate him. Her obsession gave her a sense of ownership over him that Ethan could no longer endure.

He still loved her, despite her cruelties. But he could not mate with someone so selfish and disloyal. Emily's treacheries had eroded the sacred vows they once embodied. He needed to find a way to sever the ties that bound them before her toxic claims destroyed him utterly.

Ethan tried reasoning with Emily time and again, begging her to change her selfish ways and rebuild the trust between them. But she always dismissed his pleas with cruel laughter.

"You think you can just walk away from our destiny, my love?" she would taunt him. "We are fated mates, written in the stars themselves. No matter where you run, you'll always be mine."

Her arrogant certainty in their cosmic bond only made Ethan more desperate to escape

its

constraints.

He

felt

trapped,

suffocated

by

Emily's

increasingly unhinged

possessiveness.

One night, after catching her being intimate with three different partners, Ethan reached

his breaking point. He confronted Emily in a blazing rage, demanding she release him from their mating once and for all.

"I don't care what the stars claim!" he had roared at her. "You have violated every vow, every shred of love between us with your despicable actions!"

Emily had simply looked at him with cold defiance. "We are eternally bound, Ethan. Our mating is preordained by the universe itself. You cannot fight what is woven into the fabric of all creation."

"Then I will find a way to unravel the threads," Ethan swore violently. "Because I cannot live this half-life of torment any longer. You have poisoned what we once had with your obsession."

From that night on, Ethan quietly began making inquiries and exploring every potential loophole to be freed from Emily's grasp. The risk of dealing with magic and unknown forces could be grave, but he was desperate to reclaim his autonomy at any cost. When news of his search reached Emily's ears, her obsession morphed into something even darker and more unbalanced. She became determined to ensure Ethan could never escape her clutches, no matter how cruelly she had to reassert her control over him. The two fated mates, once blissfully intertwined, had become violently torn apart by Emily's poisonous obsession. Their bond twisted into a cursed noose that threatened to strangle them both unless one emerged the victor.

Ethan knew he was engaged in a dangerous game, one where the stakes were nothing less than his eternal freedom. But he had to try, had to find a way to cut the tainted ropes that bound him to Emily's twisted idea of fated mates.

Even if it meant using an innocent like Bianca as a tool to potentially sever those unbreakable cosmic ties forever.

***End of Flashback ***

Back to Bianca POV

Ethan broke off the kiss with me, pulling back slightly though keeping me flush against his powerful frame. My eyes were slightly dazed, lips parted enticingly from their heated embrace.

"Do not fear Emily's threats, my mate," he rumbled, brushing the back of his fingers along her flushed cheek. I swallowed hard but held his intense gaze steadily. "I understand the risks I've accepted by agreeing to this," I said in a stronger voice than before. "I won't let Emily's jealousy frighten me into submission."

" You would do well to maintain that resolve," Ethan stated gruffly. "Because Emily will not give up her twisted idea of our fated bond easily. She sees you as a temporary amusement for me to discard once I've had my fun." And so you must convince her that you're truly my mate.

Just as we were both talking, I felt a loud bang at the back of my head. I thought I warned you a while ago, the angry voice of Emily Snarled..

She raised her hands and was about to hit me again when Ethan held her hands in the air.

You will dare not raise your hands on my mate," he yelled at her..

I stood still stunned by what was going on. I did not know if I was to react the pain

coming from my head where Emily had hit, or The fact that for the first time in a long while someone defended me.