The Lycan King Rejected Mate

chapter 11:Ellador's Forgotten Witch

The journey to the witch took two days through dense, mist-laced woods that felt untouched by time. Birds did not sing here. The trees groaned softly as if they remembered things the world had long since forgotten.

Serena rode at the front beside Lucien, her eyes scanning the path ahead. Behind them, Nyra and Ronan flanked Jace, who was unusually silent. Each of them had seen war. But none had seen Ellador.

“It feels... haunted,” Jace murmured finally.

“It is,” Lucien replied. “The Moonbloods buried their dead here. And their secrets.”

By the time the sun dipped behind the mountains, they reached the ruins.

Stone pillars, worn down by wind and time, jutted from the ground like jagged bones. Crumbling archways stood sentinel over mossy floors. And in the center of it all was a circle of stones—glowing faintly with an otherworldly blue hue.

“We walk from here,” Lucien ordered.

They came down from their horses and moved together, weapons drawn, senses high. Serena felt it instantly—a pressure in the air, like something vast was watching.

And then the mist thickened.

One by one, the others vanished from view until Serena was alone in a fog of silver and silence.

“Lucien?” she called, panic rising in her chest. “Nyra?”

No answer.

Only footsteps.

Then, from behind a broken pillar, emerged a hunched figure draped in layers of dark velvet and feathers. Her skin was paper-thin, her eyes cloudy, but something in her presence demanded reverence.

“You seek the fire’s keeper,” the witch said, voice rough with age.

Serena swallowed hard. “Are you the witch of Ellador?”

“yes,I am.” The woman smiled faintly. “And you are the child Aveline whispered about. Serena. The last.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I knew it before you were born. The flames remember.”

Serena hesitated. “I need help. The Moonblood power—it’s waking. It’s consuming me.”

The witch’s eyes glimmered faintly. “Of course it is. It does not sleep quietly. And it never wakes gently.”

She gestured for Serena to follow her through the fog. “Come. There is a fire that must be tamed.”

---

Inside the ruins of an ancient temple…

Candles flickered across a stone altar covered in runes. The witch moved slowly but surely, dragging her long fingers over the grooves of the old language.

“These are the words Aveline used when she sealed her own power,” she said. “You have inherited what was never meant to survive.”

Serena stepped closer. “Then teach me how to control it.”

“To control it, you must understand it.” The witch turned to face her. “The Moonblood was born from pain. From betrayal. The first bearer was a woman cast out by her mate, consumed by grief, and reborn by flame.”

Serena’s breath caught.

“She forged her magic with sorrow and fire. Her daughters inherited it. Until it was too dangerous. The Lycan Kings hunted them down—your bloodline.”

“My bloodline?” Serena whispered.

The witch nodded. “You are her legacy. Her wrath. Her hope. But that power lives on fear. If you let your emotions rule you, it will destroy everything you love.”

Serena thought of Lucien. Of how he had kissed her and offered to anchor her magic with his presence.

“I’ve already lost control once,” she admitted.

“You will again, unless you bond the flame.”

Serena looked up sharply. “Bond?”

The witch nodded slowly. “A sacred tether, One forged not only in magic, but in soul. You must give your fire someone to recognize, Someone it will never attack.”

“And if I don’t?”

The witch’s expression turned grave. “Then it will turn on you, On him and On all.”

Serena’s heart thudded painfully. “Lucien offered to be my tether.”

“Then bond with him, child,Not just in magic,In truth and In heart.”

---

Meanwhile, in the outer ruins…

Lucien paced furiously in the clearing, growling under his breath. The mist hadn’t lifted,Neither had Serena returned.

“She’s been gone too long,” he snapped.

“Do you think the witch took her?” Nyra asked.

Jace frowned. “Witches don’t work like that,If Serena’s inside the ruins,it’s because she was allowed.”

Lucien’s jaw clenched. “That doesn’t mean she’s safe.”

Before another word could be said, the fog stirred—and Serena stepped into view.

Lucien was beside her in an instant, hands on her shoulders. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

“No,” Serena said softly. “She helped me.”

“What did she tell you?”

“That I need to bond with someone. For real,To anchor the fire.”

Lucien stared at her. “And you came back to me.”

She nodded.

“I’ll do it,” he said without hesitation.

Serena blinked. “You didn’t even ask what it involves.”

“I don’t need to,” he said. “If it means protecting you—keeping you from burning alive—then I’ll do it,

Bond me,

Burn me,

I don’t care, as long as you live.”

Emotion choked her throat. She didn’t speak—she just reached up and placed her hand over his heart.

The fire in her surged, curling outward like vines, brushing against his chest. His skin shimmered gold beneath her touch, their energies wrapping like threads weaving together.

The witch stepped forward, raising her hands.

“The flame recognizes the wolf,” she intoned. “And the wolf welcomes the flame. Let the bond be forged. Let the tether be struck.”

A pulse of magic erupted between them, blinding and warm. Serena cried out—not in pain, but in release.

Lucien held her tightly.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered again.

The witch smiled faintly.

“Now,” she said, “you are no longer two. You are fire and fang, bound by destiny. Let the world tremble.”

---

That night, back at their camp near the ruins…

Serena sat beside the fire, arms wrapped around her knees. Lucien approached quietly, crouching beside her.

“Does it feel different?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “It’s... quieter inside me. Like the fire knows you now.”

Lucien brushed her knuckles with his thumb. “Good. Because you’re stuck with me now.”

She laughed softly. “You’re not what I expected, you know. When I first met you, I thought you were a cruel king.”

“I was,” he said quietly. “Until you started looking at me like I could be something more.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Then let’s be more.”

He kissed the top of her head. “We will.”

But even as they sat there, something ancient stirred in the shadows of the trees. Watching. Waiting.

And far away, in the darkness beneath the Ellador ruins, a pair of red eyes opened for the first time in centuries.

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