REJECTED BY MY ALPHA MATE

Chapter Three: Into the Wilderness

The forest was colder than I remembered. The moment the gates of Silver Moon slammed shut behind me, the night air bit into my skin like icy fangs. My thin dress clung to me, useless against the chill, and the damp earth sucked at my bare feet as I stumbled forward. Every step carried me further from the only home I had ever known further from the warmth of belonging, and deeper into the abyss of nothingness.

My wolf whimpered inside me, restless and wounded. We should fight. We should howl. We should go back. But she was broken too, her strength dimmed by rejection, her spirit unraveling thread by painful thread. I wrapped my arms around myself, not for warmth but for the illusion of comfort. My body ached from holding back sobs, and yet tears still streamed down my face, hot against the bitter wind.

The forest loomed ahead, thick and shadowed. Twisted branches reached for me like skeletal hands, and every rustle in the underbrush set my nerves on fire. I was no longer under pack protection. Out here, I was prey and every predator could smell it.

A wolf’s howl split the silence, low and hungry. My heart leapt, beating frantically against my ribs. I froze, scanning the trees, my senses sharp despite exhaustion. The sound came again closer this time.

“Moon Goddess…” My whisper was broken, half a prayer, half a plea.

The path beneath my feet vanished into wild terrain. Branches clawed at my arms and legs, scratching red marks against my skin, but I pushed forward, desperate to put distance between myself and the voices of the pack that still rang in my ears.

No one wants you here.

Weakness has no place in this pack.

Get out, little orphan.

Selena’s mocking laugh echoed in my skull, mingling with Damian’s merciless tone. His rejection hadn’t just shattered my heart it had severed every tie I’d ever had. I wasn’t only a rogue. I was unwanted. Forgotten.

Another howl rose, joined by two more, my blood turned to ice. Rogues. I had heard stories of them my whole life. Wolves who had lost their packs, stripped of sanity and humanity alike, surviving only on blood and c*****e. They hunted in packs, tearing apart anything weaker they crossed and now, I was their perfect prey. Panic surged through me. My wolf whimpered again, urging me to run, but even she was sluggish, her spirit torn apart by Damian’s rejection. The mate bond was a wound that still bled inside me, and it had left us weak too weak to shift, too weak to fight. My lungs burned as I stumbled over roots and rocks, my breath puffing white into the night. The howls were growing closer. They were chasing me.

I tried to call on my wolf, desperate to feel the ripple of transformation, the rush of strength that came with claws and fangs. But nothing came. My body convulsed, my chest seizing, and then nothing. Only pain.

“No…” I gasped, falling to my knees. Not now. Please, not now. The forest went eerily silent, and in that silence, I heard it the snap of a branch. Slow. Deliberate.They were here.

My heart slammed against my ribs as glowing yellow eyes appeared between the trees. One pair. Then another. Then a third. A low growl vibrated through the night air, so deep it rattled my bones. My breath caught. The stench of blood and rot drifted toward me, carried by the breeze. Rogues.

My body trembled as I forced myself to stand, even though my knees shook beneath me. If this was where it ended, I would not die crawling.

“Stay back,” I whispered, though my voice was hoarse, my hands trembling at my sides. The wolves circled, their lips peeling back to reveal jagged teeth. They weren’t like normal wolves bigger, twisted, their fur matted with filth and scars. Madness shone in their eyes, glowing like coals in the dark.

One of them lunged forward, snapping its jaws inches from my arm, and I stumbled back with a cry. My heart pounded so loudly I thought it would burst.This was it, Damian had cast me aside. My pack had turned its back. And now, the wilderness would finish what they started. I closed my eyes, a sob catching in my throat. Moon Goddess… if this is my end, please, let it be quick.

But then, a snarl ripped through the night. It wasn’t mine. And it wasn’t the rogues’, It was deeper. Stronger. Savage and commanding. The rogues froze, their ears flattening, hackles rising as another presence entered the clearing. A figure emerged from the shadows, tall and broad, his eyes burning with an otherworldly glow. He moved like death itself, silent, lethal, unstoppable. The rogues shifted uneasily, but it was too late, the stranger struck.

A blur of claws and muscle, he slammed into the first rogue, tearing its throat open in a single savage motion. Blood sprayed across the dirt as the wolf crumpled with a gurgling cry. The second rogue lunged, but the man twisted, catching it mid-air and snapping its neck with a sickening crack.The third rogue hesitated, then fled into the trees, its howl trailing into the distance.

The forest fell silent again, broken only by my ragged breathing.

I stared, wide-eyed, as the stranger straightened, his chest rising and falling with controlled power. His shirt was torn, his skin marked with scars, but his presence radiated strength unlike anything I had ever felt. Slowly, his eyes turned to me. For a heartbeat, I thought he would kill me too. But then his gaze softened, just slightly, and his lips parted.

You shouldn’t be out here alone, he said, his voice low and rough, as if unused to speaking. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. My heart was still racing, my body still trembling. Who was he? And why did his eyes, golden and fierce, make something deep inside me stir something my broken wolf almost recognized?