When the Rejected Wolf Rules

The Weapon

The next morning, Silas didn't wake me with coffee.

He woke me with a knife.

"Get up."

I rolled off the bed just as the blade sliced through my pillow. Feathers exploded everywhere.

"What the hell?"

"Your mate found us."

My blood went cold. "Kael is here?"

"No. But his spy is." Silas tossed me a smaller knife. "Third floor. Balcony. Grey jacket. He's been watching since dawn."

I caught the knife. It was cold in my hand.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go talk to him."

"Just talk?"

Silas smiled. "For now."

I climbed the stairs to the third floor. My bare feet were silent on the concrete. The rejection scar pulsed with every heartbeat.

The balcony door was open.

A man stood there. Grey jacket. Dark hair. He didn't turn when I walked up behind him.

"You're not very good at sneaking," he said.

"I wasn't trying to sneak."

I stepped beside him. Looked out at the city. Grey and ugly and perfect.

"Who sent you?" I asked.

"Alpha Kael."

"Alpha? He took the title?"

"His father stepped down. Health reasons."

I almost laughed. "Theron's health is fine. He stepped down because Kael is dying and he doesn't want to be blamed."

The spy finally looked at me. His eyes were brown. Tired.

"He's worse than you think," the spy said.

"Show me."

"I can't. But I can tell you. The black veins have reached his heart. He collapses every few hours. The pack is scared."

"Good."

"It's not good. If he dies, Theron takes back control. And Theron will burn this city to find you."

I turned the knife over in my hand. "Then why are you here? To warn me?"

"To give you a message."

"What message?"

The spy reached into his jacket. I tensed. But he only pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"He said to give you this. And to tell you—" The spy hesitated. "He said, 'The cloak wasn't pity. It was the first time I loved you. I was just too scared to admit it.'"

My hand shook.

I took the paper. Didn't open it.

"Go back to Kael," I said. "Tell him I'm not coming."

"Can I tell him anything else?"

"Tell him the bond doesn't forgive. Neither do I."

The spy nodded. Jumped off the balcony. Shifted mid-air into a grey wolf and disappeared into the alleys.

I unfolded the paper.

One line. His handwriting.

"I remember the cloak every single night."

I found Silas in the basement.

"Read this," I said, throwing the paper at him.

He caught it. Read it. His face didn't change.

"He's trying to soften you."

"It's working."

"No, it's not. You're just lonely."

I grabbed the paper back. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you haven't slept without dreaming of him. I know you touched your scar twenty times yesterday. I know you still smell like his pine and smoke."

I stepped back. "You can't smell that."

"I can smell everything, little wolf. Including your confusion." Silas sat on his crate. "You don't have to hate him to beat him. You just have to be stronger than your feelings."

"And if I can't?"

"Then you go back to him. You let him complete the bond. You become his Luna, his healer, his prisoner." He leaned forward. "Is that what you want?"

"No."

"Then let's train."

This time, the training was different.

Silas blindfolded me.

"What is this?"

"Your lie-smelling is too reliant on your eyes. When you see someone, you make assumptions. You judge. You cloud your own gift."

He walked around me. His footsteps were soft.

"I'm going to say sentences. Some true. Some false. Tell me which is which."

"Fine."

"I am Silas Draven."

"Truth."

"I am your enemy."

I waited. Smelled. Nothing.

"Truth," I said. "Wait. No. That's not—"

"It's true. I am your enemy. But I'm also your only chance." He paused. "People can be two things at once, Rhea."

"You're not my enemy."

"I killed your mother's best friend."

I ripped off the blindfold.

"What?"

"Thirty years ago. Before you were born. Your mother had a friend. A hybrid. She was going to expose the Moon Court's secrets. They paid me to stop her."

"Stop her how?"

"I killed her."

My hand tightened on the knife. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you need to understand. I'm not a good man. I'm not your savior. I'm a weapon. And I'm teaching you to be one too."

"Did my mother know? About the killing?"

"She knew. And she forgave me. Said I was a tool, not a monster." Silas's mismatched eyes were cold. "What do you think?"

I thought about stabbing him. Thought about running. Thought about screaming.

Instead, I sat down.

"I think you're telling me this to see if I'll break."

"Will you?"

"No." I put the blindfold back on. "Keep talking."

He talked for an hour. Confession after confession. Lies wrapped in truths. Truths wrapped in lies.

I learned to smell the difference.

By the end, I could tell when he was hiding something—even if the words themselves were true.

"You're getting better," he said.

"I'm getting exhausted."

"Good. That's when the real learning starts."

He removed my blindfold.

"Now. Let's talk about the bond."

"What about it?"

"You said you want to use it to hurt him. That's possible. But it will hurt you too."

"Show me."

Silas walked to a wall. Pressed his palm against the concrete.

"The bond is like a rope between two cliffs. You're on one side. He's on the other. If you pull, he moves. But so do you."

"I don't care."

"You will. Because when you pull hard enough to make him bleed, you'll bleed too." He turned. "Are you ready to bleed?"

I touched my scar. It was hot.

"Yes."

That night, I didn't wait for the dream.

I sat on my bed. Closed my eyes. Reached for the broken bond.

Kael.

Nothing.

Kael, I know you can hear me.

A flicker. A shadow.

Then I was there. In his room again.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed. Shirtless. The black veins had spread across his chest like roots.

"Rhea." His voice was weak. "You came."

"I came to tell you to stop sending your spies."

"You read my note."

"I burned it."

"You didn't. You kept it. I can feel it in your pocket."

I looked down. In the dream, I was wearing the same clothes. The paper was folded in my pocket.

"You don't know that."

"I know everything you feel. Your anger. Your fear. Your—"

"Don't."

"Your longing." He stood up. Walked toward me. "You miss me."

"I miss the idea of you. The man I thought you were."

"He's still here."

"No. He died the night you rejected me."

Kael stopped a foot away. His silver eyes were dull. The black veins pulsed.

"Then why are you here?"

"To warn you. Stay away from Lunaris City. Stay away from me."

"Or what?"

I reached out. Pressed my palm against his chest. Right over his darkening heart.

The bond screamed.

He gasped. Fell to his knees.

"Or I'll pull so hard this rope snaps and takes you with it."

"You won't," he whispered. "You can't. The pain would kill you too."

"Maybe. Maybe not." I leaned down. My lips near his ear. "But I'm willing to find out."

His hand grabbed my wrist. His grip was weak. But his touch still burned.

"You're different," he said.

"Three years in the underworld changes a woman."

"Silas Draven. You're staying with him."

"You know about Silas?"

"I know everything about you, Rhea. Every move you make. Every person you talk to." He looked up at me. "Including the fact that you haven't slept with him."

"That's none of your business."

"He doesn't touch you because he can't. He's afraid of what you'll become."

"Maybe. Or maybe he just respects me."

Kael laughed. It turned into a cough. Blood on his lips.

"No one respects power, Rhea. They fear it. And Silas Draven fears you more than anyone."

I pulled my hand away from his chest.

"Good," I said. "Let him fear me. Let everyone fear me."

"Even me?"

"Especially you."

The dream started to fade. His grip on my wrist tightened.

"One more thing."

"What?"

"The cloak. I meant what I wrote. I remember it every single night."

The dream shattered.

I woke up in my room. Gasping. My hand was burning where he had touched me.

I looked at my palm.

A faint black mark was forming. Matching his.

The bond is pulling both ways now, I realized.

I pressed my hand to my chest. Felt his heartbeat through the scar.

He's not just dying. He's taking me with him.

Silas was at my door again.

"You did it," he said. "You reached into his mind."

"I reached into his chest."

"I know. I felt it from across the building." He sat on the edge of my bed. "You're stronger than I thought."

"I'm not strong. I'm scared."

"Good. Fear is honest." He handed me a glass of water. "Drink. Tomorrow, we start the real work."

"What real work?"

"Building your empire. You can't hurt Kael with just a touch. You need money. Power. Leverage."

"How long will that take?"

"Years."

"I don't have years. He's dying now."

Silas stood up.

"Then we work faster."

He walked out. Left me alone with the black mark on my palm and the ghost of Kael's touch on my skin.

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night.