Claimed After Rejection

Gone

Dorian’s p.o.v.

The moment I stepped back into the den, I knew something was wrong, the guards didn’t meet my eyes and her scent was fading.

I moved through the halls like an animal on a rampage, silent, and fast, every nerve sharp and alert.

The pack business I’d barely handled in my mind now, some border tension, wild rogue sightings, bullshit politics, none of it mattered or compared to her.

I pushed open the door to my quarters, and the scent hit me like a punch to the chest in a split second. I discovered that she was gone, yet her scent was everywhere, on the sheets, air, and in my lungs—a perfect storm of wild honey, blood, and regret.

At that moment, my eyes dropped to the bed, where the blankets were thrown back, wrinkled from her body, and near the center was stained with red blood.

Seeing that, I stilled. ‘She’d bled for me and I left her alone.’ I ran my hand through my hair.

“Fuck.” My voice was low and rough.

At the same time, my claws ached to come out, to rip into the walls, to tear something apart.

I paced around, the beast inside me clawing up my throat, howling for the scent that was already growing fainter.

I shouldn’t have left, she’s my mate, given to me by the moon goddess after years of being mateless.

I thought she’d still be here, maybe asleep or waking up, and I could ask her name.

Ask her why the hell her scent made my instincts snap like a whip, why I couldn’t think straight around her, and why she was being chased.

On the contrary, I was meant to come back earlier, since I didn’t think she’d run, however, she was a fugitive. A rogue with haunted eyes and a mouth that trembled as it had never been kissed right.

Of course, she wouldn’t stay, she’d leave before I could find out who she was and now I had nothing but her scent and the blood on my sheets.

I stood there, breathing her in like smoke, burning from the inside out and I swore to the gods that I’d find her again, no matter how far she ran or whatever it took.

She was mine, she just didn’t know it yet and I am going to make sure she acknowledges our bond as mates.

A low growl rumbled in my chest. My wolf, a beast of war and darkness, was restless, furious. ‘She ran from us.’ He uttered in my mind.

I clenched my fists, trying to steady my breathing. She had no idea who I was and didn’t know that the moment she touched me, her fate was sealed, she couldn’t escape me after I had a taste of her.

‘If she thought she could disappear on me, she was wrong.’ In a flash, I threw on my black coat, my movements sharp, and controlled.

Outside, the den was already bright with the hot sun, the Reavers moving through the underground halls, mercenaries, killers, rogues with no loyalty to any pack but mine.

Kieran, my Beta, was waiting by the entrance and immediately raised an eyebrow at the look on my face.

“She’s gone?” He asked and was slightly amused.

However, I didn’t respond and was silent staring at him, Kieran sighed. “I warned you, the moment you touched her, you..”

“I don’t need a reminder.” My voice came out razor-sharp.

He smirked. “I was going to say, you scared the hell out of her.” My jaw tightened hearing that.

I was never meant to, yet when our bodies touched, something inside me snapped.

The mate bond hit me like an earthquake, shaking apart the walls I had built over years of war and bloodshed. She was fiery and bold, and when she looked at me, the desires in her eyes made me ravenous.

Especially when she whispered don’t stop, I obeyed her orders and now she was running. Did she think she could use me as a source of pleasure and toss me aside whenever she wanted?

I huffed unbelievably, moving towards the door, I wasn’t the kind of man you run from.

“We need to move,” I said, but just as we left the den, so did her traces vanished like smoke. The search for her was to no avail and that frustrated me, making me more uncomfortable.

Four weeks later, the search was still on but it was like she vanished into thin air with no traces, it got worse every day.

On the other hand, every rogue den from here to the Ashfall borders was flipped, burned, broken, and interrogated. I bled answers from the mouths of men who didn’t even know her name, offered gold, freedom, and made threats I didn’t bother to follow through on, yet nothing.

No one had seen a girl with silver-flecked eyes and blood in her scent or heard of a she-wolf with a haunted gaze and fire in her bite.

She was gone and I was losing control, I hadn’t slept right since the night she disappeared.

At this point, I could still smell her faint traces embedded in the shirt she wore, burned into my skin.

I replayed the moment over and over, her hands in my hair, her voice when she moaned, the way she trembled under me like she’d never been wanted before, the blood on the sheets, depicting her pure and untouched nature.

I hissed, ‘she hadn’t even told me her name,‘

I stayed up all night, staring at maps every night as I reran scent reports and doubled the patrols.

My Gamma, Israel said I was going feral while my Beta tried to pull me into some bullshit council meeting and I nearly ripped his throat out.

Because she was out there somewhere alone and possibly bleeding and hunted and the worst part was I hadn’t marked her and with that I couldn’t track her.

At this point, all I had left of her was the linger of her scent and the way my wolf howled every time the wind shifted.

I stood on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the northern ridges, my shirt clung to my chest, soaked with rain as I tilted my head to the sky with my eyes shut.

“Where the f**k did you go?” I muttered.

Everywhere was still, even the wind didn’t bother to answer, it was like they were mocking me for losing hold of my mate immediately after I’d gotten her after years of waiting.

My gut twisted, realizing that the bond wasn’t gone, it was just out of reach and one day or perhaps soon, I’d find her and she’d have no choice but to come back to me.