The Rejected Mate

Chapter8

Selene’s POV

The air inside the room grew instantly heavy, thick with the chemical stench of synthetic wolfsbane and the metallic tang of dark magic. The boundary spells my mother had spent months reinforcing were completely gone, dismantled in a single, violent stroke.

My stomach contracted sharply, not with a standard cramp, but with a sudden, violent surge of primal energy. The twins were thrashing inside me, their ancient bloodline recognizing the immediate danger. The golden hum had turned into a frantic, internal roar.

"They're on the lower ridge," my mother said, her voice dropping into a tight, lethal whisper. The gentle, tired expression she usually wore vanished, replaced by the hard, unforgiving mask of an ancient Alpha’s mate. "The boundary didn't just fail, Selene. Someone bypassed the outer wards using a blood key. Aria must have used her own blood—she carries enough of our father’s lineage to trick the basic seals."

"We can't stay here," I said, forcing my shaking legs to stabilize as I gripped the edge of the driftwood desk. I pressed my palm against the heavy swell of my abdomen. "The human town is too close. If they follow us there, innocent people will die. We have to move toward the cliffs."

"The cliffs are a dead end, Selene," my mother warned, already moving toward the hidden wall panel beside the fireplace. She slid it open, pulling out two sleek, matte-black cases. She opened the first one, revealing a pair of lightweight tactical cross-bows and a row of glass vials filled with a glowing, silver liquid—pure moon-lily extract, a natural substance capable of neutralizing chemically altered wolves. "If we get backed up against the drop, there is nowhere left to go but the ocean."

"Then we make them fight for every inch of the path," I replied, a sudden, cold clarity settling over my mind. The panic that had gripped me during the vision of Sebastian’s downfall was completely gone, replaced by a ruthless maternal instinct. Sebastian’s choices had brought this war to his own front door, but Aria’s greed had brought it to mine.

I am no longer his submissive Luna, I reminded myself, checking the small silver dagger tucked securely into the waistband of my maternity dress. I am the protector of the original bloodline.

We slipped out through the back door of the cottage, stepping directly into the cold, driving rain. The wind was fierce, whipping my long, ginger hair across my face as we navigated the narrow, slippery stone path that led upward toward the high crags of the Whispering Cliffs.

Below us, down on the rocky beach, the dozen pairs of synthetic red eyes began to move. They weren't tracking us by scent alone; they were moving in a coordinated, military skirmish line, their heavy tactical boots crunching against the pebbles.

"They have a tracer," I whispered, ducking behind a massive boulder as my mother raised her crossbow, lining up a shot through the dark rain. "They aren't looking for my scent. They're tracking the spiritual frequency of the twins. The atavistic energy is too loud now that the boundary is down."

"Then I will quiet them down," my mother muttered.

Thwip.

The crossbow released with a muffled hiss. A hundred yards down the slope, a massive mercenary dressed in Blackwood Syndicate gear gasped, his hands flying to his neck where a silver-tipped bolt had pierced his collarbone. The glowing moon-lily extract entered his system instantly, forcing his synthetic wolf-form to violently reject his human biology. He collapsed into the surf, vomiting black fluid before going completely still.

"Move!" Elara urged, reloading the mechanism with practiced, terrifying speed. "The others know our position now!"

We sprinted—or rather, I moved as fast as my heavy, advanced pregnancy would allow—up the steep incline. My lungs burned with the cold air, and the weight of my belly pulled at my lower back, but the internal strength flowing from the twins kept my legs moving. They were feeding me their own raw energy, keeping my heart pumping and my vision sharp despite the darkness.

As we reached the first high plateau, the ground beneath our feet shuddered.

A shadow exploded from the brush to our left. It wasn't a standard werewolf shift. The creature that lunged at my mother was a grotesque, mutated thing—its shoulders unnaturally wide, its jaw elongated far past normal parameters, its fur dripping with a foul, grey slime. A Syndicate experimental wolf.

"Selene, get behind me!" my mother roared.

She fired the crossbow point-blank into the beast’s chest, but the creature’s dense, chemically hardened hide absorbed the impact. The bolt snapped. The mutated wolf swept a massive, clawed arm forward, striking my mother across the torso. The force of the blow sent her flying backward against the stone wall of the cliff. She hit the rock hard, the crossbow clattering away into the darkness as she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Mother!" I screamed.

The mutated wolf turned its sickening, glowing red eyes toward me. A low, wet rumble vibrated in its chest. It sniffed the air, its gaze locking directly onto my stomach. It let out a sharp, twisted whine of greed, baring fangs that were dripping with black, paralytic venom.

My hand flew to my waistband, gripping the small silver dagger. It felt entirely inadequate against a beast this large, but I refused to cower. I planted my boots firmly into the wet mud, stepping directly in front of my mother’s limp body.

"Touch me," I whispered, my voice sounding unnaturally calm as my amethyst eyes began to flicker with that blinding, celestial white light once more. "Touch me and see what happens to you."

The beast lunged, its massive jaws opening wide to pin me to the ground.

Before its claws could breach my perimeter, a massive, thunderous roar ripped through the canyon, completely drowning out the sound of the storm. A heavy, dark shape descended from the higher ridges like a falling meteor, slamming directly into the mutated wolf’s spine with a sickening c***k.

The beast was flattened instantly, its skull crushed against the stone plateau.

I stumbled back, my eyes widening in absolute disbelief as the dust and rain cleared. Standing over the dead mercenary was a massive, jet-black wolf. It was easily six feet tall at the shoulder, its fur scarred and bloodied from recent combat, its massive chest heaving with exhaustion. But it wasn't the red eyes of a Syndicate rogue that looked back at me.

It was amber. Deep, piercing, golden-amber eyes that I would recognize anywhere in this life or the next.

The giant black wolf let out a weak, wheezing huff, its legs trembling violently. Even through the lack of a mate bond, I could see the horrific state he was in. His flanks were covered in deep, black-veined lacerations—the marks of the corrupted wolfsbane Aria had used on him. He had fought his way out of his own prison, dragged his dying body across pack lines, and tracked me here just to stand between me and the Syndicate.

He looked at me, his amber eyes filled with an overwhelming, desperate mixture of relief, agony, and profound regret. He took one step toward me, his massive paw slipping in the mud, before his knees buckled entirely. With a heavy, muted thud, the great Alpha King collapsed onto his side at my feet, his breathing shallow, his black fur soaked in blood and rain.

"Sebastian..." the name slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

"How touching," a sharp, manic voice echoed from the darkness of the path behind him.

I snapped my head up. Walking out of the rain, flanked by four heavily armed Syndicate elites, was Aria. She wore a dark, waterproof tactical jacket, her mahogany hair tied back tightly, her face cold and triumphant. In her right hand, she held a compact, high-frequency sonic emitter—a weapon designed to disrupt a werewolf’s internal equilibrium.

"He actually managed to crawl out of the cellar," Aria sneered, stepping over the body of the mutated wolf and looking down at Sebastian’s unconscious form with total disgust. "He used the last of his pack’s residual energy to track his frequency, Selene. He thought he was playing the hero. He thought he could save his precious little secret."

The four mercenaries moved forward, their red eyes locked onto me, their submachine guns raised and pointed directly at my chest.

I backed up until my heels hit the very edge of the cliff. Behind me, a straight three-hundred-foot drop led down into the roaring, black void of the ocean. My mother was unconscious behind me, Sebastian was dying at my feet, and I was completely surrounded.

"It's over, little sister," Aria said, a wide, vicious smile spreading across her face as she raised the sonic emitter, pointing it directly at my swollen stomach. "You took my place for three years. You lived in my mansion, slept with my man, and wore my crown. But tonight, the lock is broken, the King Pack belongs to the Syndicate, and your children belong to me. Step away from the Alpha, or I will make sure these babies don't survive the fall."

A sharp, deafening hum began to emit from the device in her hand, the frequency vibrating through the air and sending a sudden, agonizing jolt of pain directly through my abdomen. The twins let out a collective, psychic scream in my mind, their power flaring wildly as they tried to fight off the sonic waves.

I clutched my stomach, my knees shaking as I looked at my half-sister’s twisted face, realized she was completely serious. She would kill them right here if I didn't submit.

With a final, desperate breath, I looked down at the dark, churning ocean beneath the cliff, and then back at the weapons pointed at my heart.