Rejected by my mate, Loved by the alpha

Chapter Thirteen

The earth screamed.

It wasn’t a sound so much as a vibration in her bones, rattling every nerve until her teeth ached. The street buckled, shards of stone lurching upward like jagged teeth. Somewhere behind them, towers groaned and gave way, raining rubble into the firelit streets.

Lilah stumbled but Kael’s arm shot out, steadying her even as his blade stayed locked against the Forsaken’s grip. The shadows around him writhed faster now, a thousand serpents in a frenzy, devouring the air.

Above, the Moon didn’t just bleed—it wept. Thick rivulets of scarlet poured down in threads of light, staining the battlefield in an otherworldly crimson haze. Every drop that touched the ground hissed like acid, burning holes into the stone.

The Forsaken’s eyes glowed brighter, not red, not black—something deeper, like the void between stars. “Do you feel it, little spark?” he murmured to Lilah, his voice somehow carrying over the roaring chaos. “The pulse of what you are calling to me?”

Lilah’s breath came sharp and shallow. The pull was back, stronger, dragging her toward him in invisible chains. Her Moonfire flared and sputtered, like a candle in a storm. She clenched her fists until she felt the skin break under her nails.

Kael snarled, his wolf flashing in his eyes. “You’ll touch her over my dead—”

The Forsaken moved faster than thought. One moment Kael was in front of her; the next he was slammed into the fractured street with a sickening crack, his sword clattering away.

“Kael!” Lilah’s cry tore at her throat.

The Forsaken’s gaze snapped to her. And then he let go of her entirely.

The world tilted. It felt like someone had pulled her forward and backward at the same time, her vision fracturing into shards of fire and shadow. Her knees hit the ground, and she realized dimly that her pendant—the one that had always been warm—was ice-cold against her chest.

“I will not kill you,” the Forsaken said, stepping closer. “Not yet. I will free you.”

He reached for her, fingers outstretched, not touching but somehow already there—pressing against her skin, her mind, her very soul. And under that touch, her Moonfire didn’t burn. It bowed.

Kael’s voice came then, rough and broken, but filled with something stronger than pain—pure command. “Lilah. Look at me.”

She did. And what she saw in his eyes was not desperation, not fear, but an unshakable truth: You are mine. Not his.

Her heartbeat slammed against her ribs. Her Moonfire flickered… and then surged, bright enough to blind.

The Forsaken recoiled, shadows hissing like steam in the heat.

“Good,” Kael growled, dragging himself up. “Now burn him.”

And Lilah did.The world exploded in light.

Moonfire roared out of her like a tidal wave, not the gentle silver glow she had known before, but a blazing storm of molten white threaded with streaks of blue and gold. It scorched the air, searing the shadows that clung to the Forsaken until they writhed like burning serpents, screaming without sound.

Lilah barely registered her own voice—low, fierce, ancient—chanting words she had never learned. Her feet left the ground, the air bending around her in concentric ripples. The crimson haze from the bleeding Moon fractured under the force of her power, streaks of pale light punching holes through the red sky.

The Forsaken staggered, his lips curling back to reveal teeth too sharp, too many. “Little flame,” he spat, though his voice wavered, “you dare—”

Her fire answered for her, striking his chest with a force that cracked the ground beneath him. Shadows burst apart in every direction, clawing desperately to find purchase, but every tendril they sent toward her dissolved to ash in the radiance.

“Stay away from her!” Kael’s roar split the chaos, his voice riding the current of her magic. He was on his feet now, blood streaking his jaw, sword back in his grip. The molten heat of her Moonfire reflected in his golden eyes, making him look every inch the war god he was.

The Forsaken’s form flickered—half-shadow, half-flesh—his voice suddenly low, almost intimate. “You cannot kill me, spark. You can only delay what is already written.”

“Then I’ll rewrite it,” Lilah snarled.

She thrust both hands forward. The Moonfire surged, condensing into a spear of pure light. It struck him dead center, driving him back, back, until his body slammed into the fractured spire of a ruined tower. The impact shook the city, stone raining down like hail.

For a heartbeat, there was silence.

Then the tower gave way. The Forsaken disappeared in the collapse, buried beneath tons of screaming stone and dying shadow.

Lilah’s knees buckled, the fire in her veins burning itself out in a rush. Kael caught her before she hit the ground, his hands steady despite the blood on them.

“You’re alright,” he said, his voice rough but sure, as if saying it would make it true.

But she wasn’t sure. Because when she looked up, the Moon was still bleeding. And somewhere beneath the rubble, she felt it—faint, but undeniable—the Forsaken’s pulse.

He was still alive.

And he was smiling.

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so sorry for the short chapter 😭