Chapter 276 I , Ethan Holt,reject you, Clara Voss

Chapter 276: Chapter 276 I , Ethan Holt,reject you, Clara Voss

Ethan’s POV

I didn’t know why I was smiling.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the sheer absurdity of it all.

But the hatred inside me—God, it was choking me. Growing like weeds I couldn’t pull out fast enough.

I looked at her standing there, tears streaming down her face, and I felt *nothing*.

No pity. No regret. No guilt.

Just disgust.

My wolf snarled inside me, pacing restlessly. He’d been agitated for days now, ever since the truth came out. The Mark on my neck—the one I’d given Clara all those years ago—it burned. Not with the warmth of a true bond, but with something else. Something wrong.

Because it *was* wrong.

I’d Marked the wrong woman.

If she hadn’t lied to me all those years ago—if she hadn’t let me believe she was the one who saved me on that mountain—none of this would’ve happened.

I wouldn’t have chosen her as my mate.

I wouldn’t have destroyed my own Pack trying to protect a lie.

I wouldn’t have Marked someone who wasn’t meant for me, and rejected the woman who was.

Every memory I had with Clara—every moment I’d thought was sweet, or tender, or real—it all felt like broken glass now, cutting me from the inside out.

"You... you don’t know what you’re saying," Clara stammered, her eyes wide with shock. "I don’t understand. What did I lie about—"

She tried to step closer, tried to throw her arms around me again.

I shoved her off.

Hard.

She stumbled backward, her hip slamming into the corner of the wall. She caught herself just in time, her face twisted in pain.

"The mountain, Clara." My voice was low, dangerous. "You want me to say it out loud? Fine. You weren’t the one who saved me. You lied. You let me think it was you for *years*. You let me feel indebted to you. You manipulated me into choosing you. Into Marking you."

My wolf surged forward, his fury bleeding into my voice. I could feel my canines lengthening slightly, my eyes probably flashing gold.

"Do you have any idea what you’ve done?" I growled. "I Marked you thinking you were my savior. Thinking the Moon Goddess brought us together. And all this time, it was a lie."

I stepped forward, crowding her against the wall. One hand gripped her chin, forcing her to look at me. The other pinned her wrist to her side.

She whimpered, and I could smell the fear rolling off her in waves.

Good.

"What, nothing to say now?" I sneered. "You love using this routine, don’t you? Crying. Playing the victim. Telling me how much you’ve sacrificed. Reminding me we’re Marked like that makes it sacred."

"Yes!" she choked out, tears streaming down her face. "Yes, I lied about the mountain! But the Mark is real, Ethan! We’re bonded! That can’t be fake!"

"The Mark means nothing," I snarled, my wolf’s rage making my voice drop an octave. "You think a bite makes us mates? You think that bond means anything when it was built on lies?"

My hand tightened on her chin.

"I chose you because I thought you saved me. I chose you because I thought the goddess wanted us together. But you stole that choice from me, Clara. You manipulated me into giving you a Mark that should’ve gone to someone else."

"Aria," she whispered, her voice breaking. "You mean Aria."

"Yes, I mean Aria!" The words exploded out of me. "My *true* mate! The one the Moon Goddess actually chose for me! And I rejected her because of you!"

My wolf howled inside me, clawing to get out. The bond with Aria—the real one, the one I’d felt from the moment we met—had been there all along. Faint but undeniable. And I’d ignored it. Pushed it down. Convinced myself what I had with Clara was enough.

But it never was.

"I , Ethan Holt,reject you, Clara Voss,as my chosen mate."

The words came out cold and final.

The Mark on her neck flared black, then went dead, the skin beneath it raw and blistered. She screamed and dropped to her knees, clawing at her throat.

I felt it too—a vicious tear through my chest, through my own Mark, like something had been ripped out by the root. My wolf snarled in agony. My vision flooded amber. No rejection came free, not even a justified one.

"You can’t—" Her voice broke. "Ethan, we have a son!"

"Marcus deserves better," I said. "Better than a mother who built her life on a lie."

I turned toward the stairs, the fresh wound where the bond used to be throbbing with every step.

"Ethan, please—" She reached for my hand.

I yanked it away, a warning snarl tearing out of my throat. My wolf didn’t want her touch anymore.

"Sign the papers tomorrow morning. Don’t come back here again."

I didn’t look back as I climbed the stairs, one hand pressed to my chest.

Behind me, I heard her collapse, sobs breaking free—raw, ragged, the pain clearly still tearing through her too.

Let her feel it.

Because no matter what this cost either of us tonight, I was done.

Clara had spent ten years stealing a place that was never meant for her.

And my wolf would never forgive that.

---

Clara’s POV

Inside me, my wolf let out a low, wounded whine—curling in on herself, retreating from the raw, blistered place on my neck where the Mark had just gone cold and dead.

And the strength drained out of me all at once. I sank down against the cold floor, and the tears I’d been holding back finally broke loose, one after another, unstoppable.

Why...

Why could he forgive Aria—who had done nothing but cruel, unforgivable things, who had turned her back on him and walked away without a second thought?

Why did some part of him, and even some part of his own wolf, still make room for her, after everything?

But me? I had given him everything. Every year, every quiet sacrifice he never noticed, every piece of myself poured into loving him.

And my wolf had given everything too—had bonded herself to his the moment the Mark was made, faithful in a way I didn’t even have to ask her to be.

Why was it that the woman who hurt him got his forgiveness, and I—who only ever wanted to love him—got this?