Alpha Magnus

Chapter 10: I Reject You, Magnus Thorne.

Mira Ashford POV

My eyelids felt heavy, sealed by tears and exhaustion. When I finally forced them open, the ornate ceiling of that nightmare room swam above me, blurred by the fierce morning light. My entire body was screaming. My head throbbed, my limbs ached, but the agony surging from deep inside me was a far crueler torture.

I tried to sit up, a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through my stomach. I gasped, collapsing onto the velvet comforter he must have tossed me onto. He was gone. The beast had finished his feast and retreated, leaving me in the wreckage of my own body.

I reached up, my hand shaking violently, and touched my chest. Beneath my skin, I felt the hot, jagged line where his metal knife had pressed the burning seal; it was a brand, a savage, terrifying scar meant to declare his ownership.

He did this to me.

A dry, bitter sob choked in my throat. I wasn't drowning in physical pain, but in the sickening, brutal truth that had shocked me moments before darkness claimed me. My soul felt wounded, severely torn, yet vibrating with a dark, undeniable power. The realization was a cruel twist of fate: the ruthless Alpha, the vile man who had violated me, the one who cared only for his dying self... He is my Mate.

The Mate bond was not soft or quiet; it was a tight, painful wire pulled taut in my core. A savage joke. A curse. I scrambled off the bed, falling to the floor. I couldn't breathe the air he had contaminated. I grabbed the remnants of my torn dress, pulling it over my violated skin. I needed distance. I needed to wash the filth of his touch away, but the bond pulsed, a reminder that the violation was now woven into the fabric of my existence.

Then the door opened.

He walked in, wearing a fresh, precisely tailored suit, reeking of expensive cologne and absolute dominance. He looked like the Alpha King, cold, powerful, and utterly detached from the c*****e he’d caused. He didn't look at the room or my condition. He looked straight at me.

"Get dressed," he commanded, his voice emotionless and unforgiving. "You have duties to perform. You will be introduced today, Luna."

Luna. The title felt like a physical assault. Blood surged through my veins, overpowering the pain and the fear. I lifted my chin, pulling myself up to my full height.

"Duties?" My voice was strained but infused with steel. "Do you mean the duty of the Mate who saves the cruel, pathetic Wolf of the Alpha?"

Magnus froze completely. His famous composure shattered. His eyes, usually terrifyingly cold gray, flashed with raw, genuine shock and something close to terror. He hadn't expected me to know. He hadn't expected me to feel it despite his violence.

"What did you say?" he demanded, taking a threatening step forward. His voice dropped into a low, deadly growl that vibrated in the room's insulation.

I forced out a tense, bitter laugh that ripped through my throat. "Your comprehension is slow, Alpha Magnus. The Mate bond. I felt it just as you did. The raw pull, the disgusting truth that the beast who uses pain and aggression to get what he wants... is the one the Moon chained me to."

His fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. The Wolf inside him was roaring, demanding immediate submission. He tried to exert his Alpha command, pressing down on me with invisible force, trying to make my knees give way. But the rejection was stronger than his command.

"Don't you dare talk about the bond, Mira!" he snarled, mixing anger with a desperate urgency I had never witnessed. "You know nothing of my pain! You know nothing of what I lost!"

"I know your pain saved you!" I spat the words, the fury burning away my last piece of fear. "Your precious Wolf was dying, so you hunted me like prey, attacked me, branded me, and forced a bond, all because I was the only lifeline you had left! You are a sickness, Alpha. And you used instinct to save your own miserable self!"

He lunged toward me, closing the distance in one terrifying stride, and seized my jaw with excruciating force. "I am your Mate! You will submit to the Alpha!"

"A Mate bond means nothing when it’s drowned in blood and violation!" I screamed, the sound muffled by his grip. "You are not a man; you are a predator who only knows how to destroy! I may be yours by law, but my soul will never belong to a monster!"

He released me abruptly, his hand falling from my face. I staggered back, my eyes locked with his. The shock in his gaze was now replaced by crushing devastation; the devastation of an Alpha realizing his forceful claim was empty.

I took one final, defiant breath, the agony of the breaking bond tearing at my core, but I held my stance. I forced the words out, clear and ringing in the silent room.

"I know I am your Mate." I paused, letting the truth that kills us both sink into him. "And I **reject** you, Magnus Thorne. I refuse to be your salvation forever."

His whole body trembled. For a horrifying second, I thought he might shift right then. His Wolf roared, a desperate, hollow sound echoing through the bond.

"You can't," he whispered, his voice cracking, revealing a momentary glimpse of his personal torment. "I need you, Mira."

"And I will never be your Luna," I repeated, firm and clear. "Go to hell, Alpha."