Rejected not forgotten

The wind howled against the towering pines, carrying with it the scent of rain and something deeper—something ancient. Hannah Vale stood at the edge of the training grounds, her fingers curled tightly around the thin fabric of her dress as she watched them. Always them. Always just out of reach. Laughter echoed across the clearing, low and powerful, the kind that belonged to men who had never known what it meant to be small. To be overlooked. To be… lesser. Her chest tightened, but she didn’t look away. She never did. Because no matter how much it hurt, no matter how many times she told herself to stop, her eyes always found them. Alpha Kael Draven. Alpha Lucien Voss. Alpha Ronan Ashford. Three names that carried weight. Power. Fear. And to Hannah… something far more dangerous. Love. Or at least, something dangerously close to it. “You’re staring again.” The voice beside her broke through her thoughts, soft but teasing. Hannah flinched slightly before forcing a small smile, glancing sideways. Nyra wasn’t here tonight. No one was. She was alone. The realization hit her a second too late—because the voice hadn’t come from beside her. It came from behind. Hannah turned sharply. And her breath caught. Ronan stood there, his dark eyes locked on hers, unreadable and intense. The shadows seemed to cling to him, like he belonged more to the night than the world around them. “Hiding out here?” he asked quietly. Her throat went dry. “I’m not hiding,” Hannah replied, though her voice came out softer than she intended. A lie. He knew it. She knew it. But he didn’t call her out on it. Instead, his gaze shifted past her, toward the clearing where Kael and Lucien still stood, their presence dominating everything around them without effort. “They’ll notice eventually,” Ronan said. Her heart skipped. “Notice what?” Ronan looked back at her, something flickering briefly in his expression—something almost like amusement. “You.” Hannah let out a small, nervous breath, shaking her head. “They don’t notice omegas like me.” “That’s where you’re wrong.” The words were quiet, but they hit harder than anything he could have said louder. Before she could respond, a voice cut through the night. “Ronan.” Kael. Sharp. Commanding. Unyielding. Hannah stiffened instantly. Ronan didn’t move right away. His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer, something unreadable passing through his eyes before he finally turned. “We’ll talk later,” he said. Later. A dangerous word. Because later implied something more. And Hannah had long since learned that hope… was a cruel thing. The night deepened, and the air grew heavier. Hannah should have left. She knew she should have. But when the call came—low, commanding, impossible to ignore—her body betrayed her before her mind could catch up. “Hannah.” It wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. Kael’s voice carried authority that demanded obedience. Her feet moved before she could think. By the time she realized what she was doing, she was already standing in front of them. All three of them. Too close. Too overwhelming. Kael stood at the center, his presence suffocating in the best and worst ways. Lucien leaned slightly against a wooden post, his sharp eyes studying her like she was something to be understood… or dismantled. Ronan stood slightly apart, quieter—but no less intense. Hannah’s pulse thundered in her ears. “You called me?” she asked, her voice barely steady. Kael’s gaze dragged over her slowly, deliberately, like he was seeing her for the first time. Or maybe like he was deciding something. “Yes,” he said simply. Lucien straightened, pushing off the post as a small, knowing smirk curved his lips. “You’ve been avoiding us.” Hannah blinked. “I haven’t—” “You have,” Lucien interrupted smoothly. “You just thought we wouldn’t notice.” Her stomach twisted. “I didn’t think you’d care.” The moment the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back. Silence followed. Heavy. Thick. Dangerous. Kael stepped forward. One step. That was all it took to shatter the fragile space between them. “Everything in this pack is my concern,” he said, his voice low, controlled. Her breath hitched. “I didn’t mean—” “You never do,” Kael cut in. But there was something off in his tone. Something darker. Something that made her skin prickle. Lucien’s gaze sharpened, his eyes flickering between them as if he could sense the shift too. And Ronan… Ronan hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Not once. It happened too fast. Or maybe too slow. Hannah would never be sure. One moment, she was standing there, caught in the weight of their attention. The next— Everything changed. Kael reached for her. His hand wrapped around her wrist, firm but not rough, pulling her closer. Too close. Her breath caught in her throat as she stumbled forward, her body colliding lightly with his chest. Heat. That was the first thing she felt. Heat and something electric—something that sent a sharp, unfamiliar shiver down her spine. “Kael…” she whispered. But he didn’t let go. Lucien stepped in next, his fingers brushing against her chin, tilting her face upward. “Look at you,” he murmured, his voice laced with something she had never heard from him before. Not calculation. Not distance. Something else. Something dangerous. “You’ve been hiding this from us.” “I haven’t been hiding anything,” Hannah said quickly, her heart racing. But even she didn’t believe it. Because she had been hiding. Her feelings. Her longing. Her weakness. Ronan moved last. Slow. Deliberate. His hand found her waist, steadying her—but the touch lingered longer than it should have. And that was the moment everything truly broke. Because Hannah realized something. They weren’t pushing her away. They were pulling her in. The air shifted. Thickened. Her pulse roared in her ears as their presence closed in around her, leaving no room to breathe, no room to think. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. But her body didn’t seem to care about right or wrong. It responded. To them. To their touch. To the way their eyes darkened as they looked at her—not like she was nothing. But like she was something they wanted. Something they needed. And that was her undoing. “Do you know what you’re doing to us?” Kael asked, his voice rougher now. Hannah shook her head weakly. “I’m not doing anything.” “That’s the problem,” Lucien said softly. Ronan’s grip on her tightened just slightly. “You don’t even realize it.” Realize what? She wanted to ask. But the words never came. Because Kael’s hand moved. From her wrist. To her neck. Not tight. Not controlling. Just enough to make her breath hitch. “Say you don’t feel it,” he said. Hannah’s lips parted. But no words came out. Because she did feel it. God help her, she felt everything. And they knew it. That night didn’t feel real. It felt like something out of a dream. A dangerous, forbidden dream that should have never existed. But it did. And by the time it was over— Nothing would ever be the same again.