The Rejected Mate

Chapter7

Selene’s POV

Four months passed in the blink of an eye, but in the werewolf world, four months is an eternity for an atavistic pregnancy. My belly had grown significantly, a heavy, perfectly round swell that forced me to trade my tailored business slacks for soft, flowing dresses. The twins are incredibly active now. Their movements weren't the gentle flutters of normal babies; they rolled and kicked with a sharp, synchronized energy that occasionally left me breathless.

My mother’s boundary spells around our coastal sanctuary remained unbroken, but the air was shifting. The peaceful, salty breeze of the Whispering Cliffs was beginning to feel heavy, charged with a static tension that made the hairs on my arms stand up.

Elara & Co. was thriving in the human world. I had successfully secured three major shipping contracts, moving cargo across the northern coast without a single hitch. The humans I worked with respected my sharp eye for detail and my relentless work ethic. They had no idea that the glowing, pregnant woman running the boardroom was a discarded Luna hiding from one of the most powerful Alphas on the continent.

But while my life was stabilizing, the news from the Dark Hollow Falls Pack grew darker by the day.

I sat at the wooden desk in my home office, the windows open to let in the sound of the crashing waves. On the desk lay a thick folder of printouts and financial reports that I had secretly commissioned through an independent human intelligence firm. I didn't want to use werewolf scouts—their scents could be tracked, and I couldn't risk revealing my location to Sebastian or the Syndicate.

I opened the folder, my eyes scanning the latest updates.

King Enterprises was bleeding money. The fifteen percent drop from a few months ago had snowballed into a full-blown financial crisis. Sebastian had been forced to liquidate several offshore assets just to keep his main shipping lines operational. But the financial loss was nothing compared to the internal rot of the pack itself.

According to the reports, the Dark Hollow Falls Pack was suffering from a strange, unprecedented sickness. Rogue wolves were crossing the borders with total impunity. The pack’s warriors, once considered the most lethal and disciplined in the country, were failing to defend their perimeters. Fights were breaking out within the inner circle, and loyalty was fracturing.

Sebastian was running himself ragged trying to hold the crumbling pieces together. He was spending twenty hours a day either in corporate boardrooms or leading border patrols, trying to compensate for the sudden, inexplicable weakness of his pack’s territory.

He still doesn't get it, I thought, leaning back in my chair and rubbing my aching lower back. *He thinks it’s a security failure. He doesn't realize that when he broke our bond, he ripped away the divine shield that kept the darkness out.*

A soft knock on the door broke my chain of thought. My mother entered, carrying a tray with a fresh pot of herbal tea. Her face, usually calm and composed, carried a faint shadow of concern.

"You're analyzing his downfall again," she observed gently, placing the tray on the edge of the desk.

"I’m monitoring a threat, Mother," I corrected, closing the folder. "If the Dark Hollow Falls Pack collapses completely, the Blackwood Syndicate will have total control over the eastern territory. That brings them closer to us."

Elara sighed, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to me. "You cannot completely detach your mind from him, can you? Is it the residual bond, Selene?"

"The bond is dead," I said firmly, and I meant it. The empty space in my chest no longer ached. It had calcified into armor. "I don't care if Sebastian King lives or dies. But I care about my children. If he falls, the Syndicate wins. And if the Syndicate wins, they will turn this entire continent upside down looking for the atavistic heirs."

My mother sat down opposite me, her grey eyes locking onto mine. "Then you should know what happened yesterday. My contacts on the neutral borders passed along a piece of news. Sebastian has officially announced his mating ceremony with Aria. It is scheduled for the night of the upcoming Blood Moon, just three weeks from now."

A cold sensation rippled through my veins. A mating ceremony. Without a fated bond recognized by the Moon Goddess, a choice-mate ceremony was purely political and symbolic. It was a desperate attempt by Sebastian to legitimize Aria as the new Luna, hoping that officially placing her in the position would restore the pack’s morale and stabilize the failing territory.

"He’s escalating his timeline," I murmured, staring at the closed folder. "Aria must be pushing him into it. She knows the pack is weakening, and she needs to secure her title before everything implodes."

"Let them have their ceremony," my mother said, her voice hard. "It changes nothing for us. The boundary spells here are tied to my life force and your bloodline. As long as we stay within the perimeter, they cannot find us."

Suddenly, a sharp, localized spike of heat radiated from my womb. I gasped, dropping my teacup. It clattered against the wood, spilling the amber liquid across the desk.

"Selene!" my mother stood up instantly, rushing to my side.

The twins weren't just kicking—they were pulsing. The golden hum inside me turned into a frantic, erratic vibration. My vision flickered, the edges of the room blurring into a haze of bright, celestial white. A phantom sound filled my ears—a distant, agonizing howl that echoed deep within my soul.

It was a wolf's howl. A familiar, dark, and desperate roar that I had heard a thousand times during my three years of marriage.

Sebastian.

"He’s... he’s trying to reach me," I gasped, clutching the edges of the desk as another wave of psychic heat rolled through my body. "The bond... it’s dead, but his wolf... his wolf is screaming."

"He shouldn't be able to bypass the boundary spells," my mother said, her face turning pale as she placed her hands on my shoulders, trying to funnel her own spiritual energy into me to stabilize my system. "Unless... unless something has happened to his life force. A massive shock to his system can create a spiritual tear large enough to echo across territories."

The white light in my eyes suddenly coalesced into a vivid, terrifying vision. I wasn't in my cozy office anymore. I was standing in the dark, imposing hallway of the King Estate.

The glass and stone mansion looked abandoned. The bright, elegant lights were shattered, and the expensive furniture was overturned. The scent of ozone, burnt silver, and fresh blood hung heavy in the air.

I found myself floating toward Sebastian’s private study. The heavy oak door was kicked off its hinges.

Inside, Sebastian was on his knees. His tailored suit jacket was gone, his white shirt torn and soaked in deep, crimson blood. His obsidian hair was wild, and his breathing came in ragged, wheezing gasps. Veins of black fluid were creeping up his neck, tracing the pathways of a terrifyingly concentrated dose of corrupted wolfsbane.

Standing over him was Aria.

She no longer wore her sweet, angelic expression. Her face was twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated malice. In her hand, she held a long, silver dagger—the very blade that Caleb had described, etched with the insignia of the Blackwood Syndicate.

Beside her stood Elder Marcus, the oldest and most respected traditionalist of the Dark Hollow Falls Pack. He wasn't in his traditional robes; he was wearing a tactical vest, his face cold and unbothered as he looked down at his dying Alpha.

"You really were pathetic, Sebastian," Aria sneered, her voice echoing in my vision. She drove her heel into Sebastian’s wounded shoulder, forcing a guttural groan of pain from his lips. "You actually thought I loved you? You actually believed I came back because I missed your cold, brooding attitude?"

"Marcus..." Sebastian choked out, his amber eyes clouded with dark poison as he looked up at the elder. "Why? I gave... I gave everything to this pack..."

"You gave our protection away when you cast out the true Luna, boy," Elder Marcus said, his voice flat and completely devoid of remorse. "Selene was our anchor. Your father knew it, and I knew it. But you were too stupid, too blinded by this girl, to see the value of what you had. The moment you signed those divorce papers, you doomed us all. The Syndicate offered us survival. You offered us a slow, prideful death."

Aria laughed, a high, manic sound that made my skin crawl. "Don't worry, Seb. I won't kill you just yet. We need you alive just long enough to sign over the corporate assets and the pack territory deeds during the Blood Moon ceremony. But after that? You'll join your precious father in the ground."

She leaned down, her fingers gripping his jaw tightly, forcing him to look at her. "Do you want to know a secret, Sebastian? Selene didn't leave you because she was proud. She left you because she was protecting something. Something Dr. Julian tried very hard to hide from us."

Sebastian’s eyes widened slightly through the haze of pain and poison. "What... what are you talking about?"

"She was pregnant, you absolute fool," Aria whispered, her smile turning venomous. "Twins. Atavistic heirs. The pure blood of the priestesses. And while you've been busy playing the mourning, stressed-out king, my scouts have finally found the leak in Julian’s system. We know exactly what region she’s hiding in."

Sebastian let out a raw, broken roar, trying to lung at her despite the silver blade embedded in his shoulder, but Elder Marcus kicked him back down to the floor.

"We’re going to find her, Sebastian," Aria purred, standing back up and wiping a drop of his blood from her cheek. "And we’re going to take your children. They will belong to the Syndicate. And you will watch it happen."

The vision violently snapped.

I was slammed back into my own body, gasping for air as I fell out of my chair. My mother caught me before I hit the hardwood floor, her face filled with absolute panic.

"Selene! Selene, talk to me! What did you see?"

My heart was hammering so fast I could barely form words. The room felt freezing cold, and the golden hum inside my stomach was thrashing, a wild, chaotic storm of protective energy. The twins knew. They had felt their father's imminent destruction, and they had felt the threat directed at them.

"They know," I whispered, my teeth chattering as I gripped my mother’s arms. "Mother... Aria and Elder Marcus... overthrew Sebastian. He’s poisoned. They’re holding him prisoner."

I looked up at her, my amethyst eyes wide with horror as the final realization set in.

"And they found the medical records. They know about the twins. They’re coming here."

Before my mother could respond, a deep, resonant c***k echoed from the forest outside, vibrating through the solid wood of the house. It wasn't the sound of thunder. It was the distinct, terrifying sound of an ancient boundary spell shattering into a thousand pieces.

The salt air was instantly replaced by the heavy, choking scent of ozone and synthetic wolfsbane.

Outside the window, down on the dark, rocky shore of the Whispering Cliffs, a dozen pairs of sickly, synthetic red eyes ignited in the darkness.