Alpha Rejected Mate

ChapterFour

Chapter 4

A Dangerous Destiny

Fiora

The blue fire exploded outward and the bond slammed into my chest like a fist.

I staggered back against the pillar, fingers clawing at the stone, lungs locked tight.

Heat flooded every vein making my knees nearly give out.

Something hungry uncoiled inside the empty place where a wolf should have lived, and it reached for him.

Alpha Dane.

His name burned through me without my permission.

Sage’s hand clamped around my wrist. “Fiora….look at me. Breathe. What the hell is happening?”

I couldn’t answer. My gaze stayed locked on the podium where Dane had gone down on one knee.

The entire shrine had frozen.

Hundreds of wolves stared at the electric-blue flames still roaring above the altar, but Dane’s eyes never left mine.

He rose slowly.

Every step he took toward the edge of the platform made the pull tighten. My pulse hammered so hard I tasted metal.

Hope, stupid, desperate hope, climbed my throat.

Sage’s voice dropped to a frantic whisper. “He’s coming this way. Fiora, talk to me.”

“I don’t know,” I managed. “I just… feel him.”

Morigana’s silver gown flashed as she rushed to Dane’s side. Her painted nails dug into his sleeve. “Dane. Look at me. Whatever this is, ignore it. The alliance….”

He shook her off without glancing her way.

The High Elder’s staff trembled in his gnarled hands. “Alpha Crowhurst, the Goddess has spoken through the sacred fire. Explain this.”

Dane’s voice carried across the stunned hall, low and absolute. “Everyone. Be silent.”

The command hit like a physical force. Even the blue flames seemed to still.

He descended the steps. Each footstep he took seemed to echo. My heart climbed higher with every one.

He stopped ten feet from me. He was close enough that his scent, scorched pine and storm, wrapped around the space in my chest and made it ache.

Sage stepped half in front of me. “Alpha, she….”

“Move,” Dane said.

Sage hesitated, then moved aside, her hand still on my arm.

I tilted my chin up even though every instinct screamed to drop my eyes. His grey stare pinned me in place.

For one impossible second I thought I saw something raw flash through it, maybe it was recognition, need, or something that matched the desperate pull inside me.

Then his jaw locked.

Morigana appeared at his shoulder again, her voice sharp enough to cut to diamond. “Dane. Whatever pathetic little trick this is, end it. She has no scent or wolf. Look at her.”

He didn’t look at her. He looked at me like he was memorizing every detail before he destroyed it.

“State your name,” he ordered.

My mouth was dry. “Fiora Ivy from Evermoon Pack.”

A ripple of murmurs moved through the nearest benches. Someone laughed under their breath. I could hear Tomas’s voice sounding from somewhere to the left. “The wolfless one. Of course.”

Dane’s nostrils flared once. The muscle in his cheek jumped.

Sage’s fingers tightened. “Don’t listen to them, My King.”

I couldn’t look away from him. The bond still hummed between us, bright and insistent, promising something I had never been allowed to want.

Dane’s voice dropped, cold enough to frost the air. “You have no wolf.”

The words landed like a slap. “I—”

“Answer me.”

“No,” I whispered. “I don’t.”

He turned his head just enough for the entire shrine to hear him clearly. “Then this is a mistake.”

The hope I felt cracked.

Morigana’s smile bloomed, venomous and triumphant. She stepped closer, resting her hand possessively on his chest. “Of course it is. The Goddess would never bind the Alpha of Bloodclaw to something so incomplete.”

Sage snarled under her breath. “Say that again and I’ll…”

“Sage,” I said quietly. “Don’t.”

Dane’s gaze never softened. “I am Alpha of Bloodclaw. My mate will stand beside me as an equal. She will shift and be able to lead. She will not be a liability who cannot even protect herself.” His eyes flicked over my faded dress, my still-bandaged hands, the way I stood alone among wolves who had always treated me as less. “You are a disgrace to the position. I reject this bond.”

The words tore through the connection between us. Something inside my chest ripped.

I made a small, broken sound I couldn’t stop. My knees buckled. Sage caught me, swearing, but the pain kept rising flooding my chest.

“Fiora!” Sage’s voice cracked. “Stay with me. Look at me.”

I couldn’t. The bond didn’t simply fade. It shattered outward, and whatever had been sleeping inside me woke up screaming.

Power surged up my spine without warning.

My back arched. A raw, animal cry tore from my throat, louder than any voice should be.

The blue fire above the altar flared violently; the stone pillars groaned, and dust rained down from the high ceiling.

Several wolves stumbled as the floor trembled beneath their feet.

Sage held on tighter. “Fiora—stop—what’s happening to you?”

I couldn’t answer. The scream kept coming, dragged from somewhere deeper than lungs.

My vision blurred white at the edges as this feeling of rage and contempt kept pouring out of me.

Then it all went black.