7.
869 Words
My heart wouldn’t slow down.
Even after the forest fell silent again.
Even after Kael stopped speaking.
The sound of my name in his voice still lingered inside me like something alive.
“Lira.”
Not cold this time.
Not distant.
Something else.
Something that made the fractured bond pulse painfully beneath my ribs.
Theron’s grip tightened slightly around my wrist.
“You need to leave. Now.”
But I couldn’t move.
Because I could feel him getting closer.
Every second.
Every breath.
The connection between us sharpened violently with distance shrinking between us, and for the first time since the rejection ceremony, panic truly settled inside me.
Not because I feared Kael.
Because I didn’t know what would happen if he saw me now.
Branches snapped somewhere beyond the trees.
Warriors moved through the forest carefully.
Hunting.
Searching.
And among them—
Him.
The pressure of his Alpha presence spread through the woods like cold fire. Strong enough to suffocate weaker wolves.
But instead of forcing me down…
Something inside me resisted automatically.
The silver beneath my skin flickered harder.
Theron noticed instantly.
“Control your reaction,” he warned quietly.
“I don’t know how,” I whispered.
Another pulse struck the bond.
Closer.
Too close.
Then—
A shadow emerged between the trees.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
Dark eyes that found mine instantly.
Kael.
Everything inside me froze.
For a second, neither of us moved.
The forest itself seemed to stop breathing.
Kael stared at me like he couldn’t fully understand what he was seeing.
And honestly—
I understood why.
I didn’t look like the girl he rejected anymore.
Not completely.
Something had changed.
The silver hidden faintly beneath my veins glowed softly under the moonlight. My senses were sharper. My wolf no longer curled instinctively beneath his presence.
And Kael felt it immediately.
I saw it in the way his expression shifted slightly.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
Recognition.
The bond reacted so violently that my chest hurt.
His eyes darkened instantly.
“Lira,” he said again, lower this time.
The sound of my name nearly broke me.
Not because I missed him.
Because some part of me still responded to him despite everything.
I forced myself to step backward.
Kael noticed immediately.
His jaw tightened.
Behind him, several warriors slowly emerged from the trees before stopping abruptly when they saw me.
Or rather—
When they felt me.
Unease spread across their faces instantly.
One warrior swallowed hard.
“Alpha…” he muttered quietly.
Kael ignored him completely.
His gaze never left mine.
“You disappeared.”
Anger rose sharply through me.
A bitter laugh escaped before I could stop it.
“You rejected me.”
The words hit harder than I intended.
I saw it immediately.
That tiny flicker in his expression.
Guilt.
Gone almost instantly—but there.
For the first time since the ceremony, Kael looked affected by what he had done.
Good.
The bond pulsed again.
Violently.
Kael’s breathing shifted slightly.
Like he felt it too.
“What happened to you?” he asked quietly.
The question should have sounded cold.
Instead, it sounded dangerous.
Because beneath the control in his voice was something unstable trying to break through.
I crossed my arms tightly.
“What do you care?”
Silence.
The warriors behind him looked increasingly uncomfortable now.
Not because of the conversation.
Because the air around us kept changing.
Pressure rolled through the forest in unstable waves.
Alpha dominance.
Silver energy.
Both pushing against each other.
And neither fully winning.
Theron stepped forward then.
Immediately, every warrior tensed.
Kael’s eyes sharpened dangerously.
“Who is that?”
Theron remained calm.
“That question matters less than the one you should be asking yourself.”
Kael’s expression darkened.
“And what question is that?”
Theron looked directly at him.
“Why your rejected mate is still bonded to you.”
The entire forest went still.
No one spoke.
Even the warriors looked shocked.
Because everyone knew rejected bonds disappeared.
Always.
Kael’s jaw clenched sharply.
“I severed the bond myself.”
“No,” Theron corrected calmly. “You damaged it.”
The silver beneath my skin flared painfully.
Kael felt it instantly.
I saw it in the sudden tension running through his body.
His wolf was reacting again.
Hard.
Possessively.
And that terrified me more than his rejection ever had.
Because now—
He was looking at me differently.
Not like an omega.
Not like a mistake.
Like something he no longer understood how to let go of.
One of the warriors suddenly took a nervous step backward.
“Alpha…” he whispered.
Kael ignored him.
Still staring at me.
Still locked into the bond pulsing violently between us.
Then slowly—
His eyes shifted downward.
Toward the faint silver light beneath my skin.
And for the first time since I met him…
The feared Alpha of Blackridge Pack looked shaken.
“What are you?” he asked quietly.
Fear twisted through me instantly.
Because I didn’t know the answer either.
But Theron did.
And the way he looked at Kael next made my blood run cold.
“Something your kind tried to destroy a long time ago.”
- Writer
