The Alpha Rejects Me

Chapter 4 – The Silent Witness

‘’My queen.’’

Long after the stranger had uttered them, the words rang in the cottage. I glanced at the cloaked man kneeling in the broken doorway and knew the fever was causing me to see things. My dad got better first. He moved between us, his instinct to protect kicking in, even as fear still etched across his face. 'You've got the wrong man,' he said firmly. “Continue. He wasn't even seen by the stranger. His eyes were on me and calm and unreadable, as if he had spent years looking for someone he had finally found. “I don’t make that mistake,” he said softly. He had a strange accent to his voice, one I hadn't heard in the Moon Dominion. He stood up deliberately, with grace, and showed a silver wolf crest embroidered on the shoulder of his dark cloak. I didn't know what the symbol was, but Father clearly did.

For a moment his breath caught, but he forced himself to stay calm. "No wolves from the Northern Kingdoms come into our lands," Father said. “Tell me your name. The stranger did not answer the question. Instead he looked at the fading silver mark on my wrist, and something that looked like relief crossed his face. “Father, you should not be here,” he cautioned, advancing another step. "Not after the festival. At last the stranger turned to him. This is due to what happened at the festival. His eyes grew hard. Your daughter wasn't supposed to survive that rejection. My heart was pounding. "You're familiar with the bond?" I asked before Father could stop me. The stranger nodded. “I know enough to know that the Moon Dominion is celebrating the wrong Luna.” Before I could press him further, he glanced toward the open doorway, and his expression changed in an instant. All the calm he had shown was gone.

He was so fast I barely noticed him drawing the slim blade hidden in his cloak. With the quickness of a flash he blew out all the lanterns in the cottage. Darkness filled the room. The stranger spoke in a low voice, and Father grabbed my arm. "Quiet." Footsteps crunched on the gravel path outside. More than one person. They halted just outside the door, but there was no knock. No one shouted. The silence that followed was somehow more terrifying than any threat could be.

There was a moment of tension, then the sound of footsteps faded into the night. The stranger lowered his blade but did not relax. They found this place before I thought they would," he muttered. Father shakily relit a lantern. “Who?” The stranger hesitated. Now, if I tell you that you will run the rest of the night instead of listening, what will you do? Again, his eyes met mine. There are people who have been waiting a very long time to see that mark appear on your wrist. Some want to keep you safe. His face darkened. "The others would rather have you dead before dawn."

A shiver went through me.

Suddenly, everything that had happened since the festival seemed far too organised to be a coincidence. Rowan's refusal. Selene's assurance. The broken blade. The elders were frightened. Now a foreign Alpha had come to our door and claimed the wolves were already after me. It didn’t make sense anymore. “Who are you? I asked softly. "And why do you call me your queen? For the first time since he'd come into the cottage, he looked away. This was not the hesitation of fear. It was the look of someone who had a truth too dangerous to tell too soon.

Before he could reply a sharp whistle pierced the night.

The stranger's eyes widened. “They’re here,”

Then all the cottage windows shattered at once.

Glass flew everywhere as a blast of icy wind rushed through the cottage. Father shoved me back behind him as the cloaked stranger swung toward the shattered window, his blade already raised. Dark shapes moved far beyond the trees, too fast to count. Black hoods were pulled over their heads, but the moonlight caught the silver crescent stitched across their cloaks. I felt my stomach wrench. It was the same sign Selene had shown me in secret after the festival. That wasn't an accident. Someone had been waiting for this night. “Don’t get away from me,” the stranger said. His voice was soft, never loud, but it had the authority of one accustomed to giving orders. One of the cloaked figures stepped out into the clearing and smiled coldly. "Alpha Cassian," he said. "You've gone through three kingdoms to save a girl that should have died already. So that was his name. Cassian didn't speak. Instead, he moved to the side, putting himself between the door and me. He said quietly, "Leave. “Take one more step and you’ll not make it through what’s coming.” This warning only brought forth a chorus of laughter.

Father grabbed my arm. "Cassian?" he said in a whisper. You are the Alpha of the Frostfang Kingdom. Cassian nodded fractionally, his eyes still fixed on the strangers. "No time to explain. The lead intruder eased back his hood and revealed a long scar that ran from his temple to his jaw. He said, "The Council underestimated you." "They thought you'd keep out of Dominion business. Cassian's face didn't change. "I did. His voice was cold. “Until the Moon picked her.” The man with the scars looked at me, and I saw something in his eyes worse than hatred for the first time. Fear.

He lunged without warning.

Cassian intercepted him.

The steel crashed so viciously that sparks flew all over the room. Two more attackers came rushing in through the broken windows, but Father reached for a pouch at his belt and tossed powdered herbs into the fire. Thick silvery smoke poured out of the cottage at once, and the intruders stumbled back coughing. "Run!" cried Father. Another blade sliced through the air where I had been standing as Cassian grabbed my wrist and hauled me toward the back door. We tore into the woods, branches slashing my face, the sound of pursuit ringing after us.

We rested not until the trees had shut the cottage out of sight.

I doubled over, gasping for air, as the silver mark on my wrist burnt hotter and hotter by the second. Cassian finally let go of my hand and looked out into the dark. "They'll reform," he said. We have but minutes. "Dad was panting as he caught up to us. ‘Who are they?’ Cassian hesitated. Not tonight. My body was weary, but I stood before him. “No more secrets. My voice was shaking with rage. “People are coming to kill me. Rowan said no to me. The elders are scared. You said I was your queen. I deserve to know the truth."

Cassian didn't look away, not for the first time.

He seemed almost... resigned. "I saw the rejection from the western tower," he confessed in a low voice. I was under orders not to interfere no matter what happened. My heart skipped a beat. "You saw him?" he nodded once. "I watched the bond form. His jaw was set. And when Rowan pulled that blade, I knew the Moon Dominion had just made the biggest mistake in its history.

I took a step forward. Which mistake?'

Cassian took a slow breath. The woman that Rowan refused..."

His voice faltered.

His eyes passed over my head to the blackness beyond my shoulder.

His face went white. “No...

He reached for his sword. "She's here."