38. Emotional

I stood there staring at him. "I have to reject you."

I heard the words. I understood them. But I didn't feel them right away.

I had hit a wall, trying to wrap around what he had just said.

"What… what do you mean?" I asked.

Cast started pacing, his face twisting in a way I hadn't seen before.

Broken.

That's how he looked. Like he didn't want to say any of this, but he had to.

His eyes met mine, and I knew. He wasn't going to take it back.

"I don't have a choice," he said quietly. "Linc… he needs to mark you. You can't bear my Luna mark anymore."

I couldn't breathe. The room spun like someone had ripped the ground from under me.

He was serious.

He was actually going to do it.

Reject me.

Tears appeared at the corners of my eyes, and I forced myself to look at him, searching his face for something, anything to hold on to.

But all I saw was regret.

Pain.

He wasn't going to fight this.

My hand instinctively went to my stomach. "Will it hurt them?" I blurted out in a panic.

Our b