The Alpha Rejects Me

Chapter 3 – A Broken Bond

In an instant, the silver flames vanished, leaving only a thin trail of smoke drifting into the night air. My father stared at his empty hands, breath uneven, and I stood frozen, unable to tear my eyes from the patch of scorched earth where the broken rejection blade had disappeared. My heart hammered against my ribs. "What did it mean?" I whispered. Rejected the wrong mate… what does that even mean?” Father looked around the dark forest before he took my arm. “Not here. We must get home." His voice was not to be argued with. He didn't know what the message meant, but it scared him more than Rowan's rejection ever could.

We ran through the forest in silence, each step feeling harder than the last. My legs felt strangely heavy and I felt a sharp pain in my chest every time I took a breath. I tripped on an exposed root and barely caught myself before falling to the ground. My father reached for me straight away. "Simple. He only pressed his hand to my forehead for a second, but his face went taut. “You’re burning up.” I tried to shake my head, but the dizziness blurred my vision. "I'm good. No sooner had the lie passed my lips than another wave of pain wrung through me. It started where the mate bond had been broken, then ran through my whole body like cracks in fragile glass.

I could hardly stand when we arrived to our little cottage. Dad opened the front door and ushered me inside, locking it behind us. Usually the smell of dried herbs was comforting. Tonight it was tiring just to breathe. He helped me up onto the wooden bed, then hurried towards the shelves filled with bottles, roots and carefully labelled jars. I watched him grind herbs with a haste I had never seen in him before. My father was always calm even in emergencies. It frightened me more to watch the panic beneath his steady hands than to see the pain.

This should help, he said, and handed me a steaming cup of bitter medicine. I took the thing without protest, but the warmth had hardly reached my stomach before another violent spasm gripped me. I gasped involuntarily, clutching my chest as heat seared under my skin. This was not a usual fever. It seemed alive. Father grabbed my wrist to feel my pulse, then froze. His eyes were locked on the inside of my forearm. "Lyra..." His voice went down to a whisper. “Don’t move.’’ I looked where he looked.

For a second, a faint silver light flickered under my skin.

Then it was gone.

I blinked to see if the fever had made me hallucinate it.

Father hadn't dreamed it.

He rolled my sleeve slowly up, completely exposing my arm. For several long seconds there was nothing whatsoever. Then slender streams of silvery light raced just beneath my skin, like liquid moonfire flowing in unseen veins. They were almost as quickly gone as they had come, leaving only my trembling arm behind. We didn’t say a thing. The room was so quiet I could hear the fire crackle in the hearth.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Father finally admitted. No scroll. “Not in any record of healing.” I searched his face for reassurance but found only a growing concern. “Is it because the rejection didn’t work?” I asked. He waited before he spoke. "I don't know. Those three words scared me more than any lie could. My father always knew what to do. He was lost tonight, too.

A sudden knock came at the front door.

One time.

Twice.

A familiar voice called from outside, "Healer Ashbourne... open the door."

Father's face hardened at once.

“It’s an Elder.’’

Knock, knock. This time it was louder.

Father met my eyes for a moment, then quietly pulled the blanket higher, hiding my glowing arm under it. He whispered, "You don't breathe a word of what happened. 'Anything you hear. He didn't wait for my answer but crossed the room and unlatched the front door just enough to peer outside. The floor was flooded with moonlight as three Elders stepped forward, their robes of silver bearing the crest of the Moon Council. Among them was the High Elder, his face creased with fatigue, but it was the two guards behind him that made my heart beat faster. They weren't here for tea." Forgive the late hour, Healer Ashbourne," the High Elder said softly, "but we need to speak to your daughter. Father did not move aside. "She's sick. "One of the younger elders scowled. "That's precisely why we're here." The High Elder raised a soothing hand, then looked past Father to me. “Kid, what happened at the altar today has never happened before in the history of the Moon Dominion. We need answers, and unfortunately we feel those answers may be with you.” His voice was concerned rather than accusatory, but the guards behind him were clearly prepared for either possibility.

My father reluctantly moved backwards, but he remained between them and my bed. I ignored the ache that was spreading through my body and tried to sit upright. “I don’t know anything,” I confessed. Then the bond snapped. Then everyone said it didn't. The High Elder looked at me closely. Tell me everything you have felt since the rejection. I paused, remembering Father's warning. I didn't have time to reply before another wave of pain took over me. A heat rose beneath my skin, and I had to clutch the bed. My sleeve slipped up a bit, enough to reveal a faint line of silver light under my wrist.

All the Elders saw the mark.

The room went still.

The youngest elder instinctively stepped back.

The High Elder's face went white. "So it has begun," he breathed.

Father was quick. He dragged my sleeve down before anybody else could get a proper look. "You've seen enough," he said, his voice firm. She needs sleep, not questions. One Elder looked as if he would argue, but the High Elder nodded slowly. "All right. He looked at the door and then stopped. Keep her inside. "Never let anyone see that mark again. "His tone was very different. This is not advice. It was a caution. He lowered his voice so that only Father and I could hear before he departed. If others discover what is awakening in her, you will be safe. Both of you.”

The cottage was silent when they left.

I stared at Father, wanting him to explain.

He looked older than he had just an hour ago.

"What didn't they tell me?" I asked.

He sat down in the chair beside my bed and buried his face in his hands. There are stories,’ he said after a long silence. Old stories the council had forbidden speaking aloud. They were marked for something more than becoming a Luna, as legends of wolves with unbreakable bonds for the Moon herself told them so. I looked at his face and hoped he would laugh and say they were only bedtime stories. He didn’t. No.

Before we could say another word, a terrible pain exploded in my chest.

"Oh," I gasped.

Silver light burst beneath my skin, shaking the cottage, and every wolf in the village began to howl. Father staggered back, staring at the glowing mark in horror. "I buried this secret with your mother..." he whispered. Before I could ask what he meant, the front door burst open, and a cloaked stranger dropped on one knee. "My Queen.