chapter 6
1481 Words
Chapter 6 – The Rogue King’s Claim
Serena’s POV
The words “I reject you” still echoed inside me like a curse. They haunted every breath, every flicker of thought, every jagged beat of my heart.
Christopher’s golden eyes had been so cold, so final, when he’d spoken them. My mate. My destined bond. My everything — ripped away with four venomous words.
I had thought I’d beg. I had thought I’d shatter. But instead… I burned. The rejection carved into me, but beneath the wound was fire. Rage. Fury.
And then came the silver-eyed nightmare.
Asher.
The Rogue King.
Where Christopher had cut me down with ice, Asher smothered me with heat. He didn’t ask, didn’t wait — he took. My fear, my breath, even the way my body betrayed me when he came too close.
And now… now I was his prisoner.
The rogue camp smelled of blood, smoke, and sweat. Fires crackled low, wolves lounged in shadows, their laughter coarse and cruel. I sat on a rough cot inside a tent, the thin canvas walls barely separating me from the monsters outside. Their eyes followed me when I stepped out earlier — hunger, danger, violence simmering in every glance.
They hated me. I was an outsider. Worse — I was the Alpha’s rejected mate.
A rustle stirred the tent flap. My spine snapped straight, breath shallow. And then he was there.
Asher.
His presence filled the space like a storm. Tall, broad, every movement dripping with lethal grace. His silver eyes locked on me, and the smirk that curled over his lips made my pulse race in spite of myself.
“You’re awake,” he murmured, his voice a dark purr. “Couldn’t sleep without me close?”
My hands fisted on the blanket. “Stay away from me.”
He chuckled, low and cruel. “The fire in your voice tells me you don’t really want that.”
I stood, meeting him eye to eye though my knees trembled. “You disgust me.”
He stepped closer, shadows bending around him. “And yet,” his gaze flicked down to my throat, to the wild pulse beating there, “your heart races like it knows me.”
I shoved at his chest, but it was like pushing a mountain. His hand shot out, gripping my wrist, not harsh enough to hurt but strong enough to cage me in place.
“Let me go!” I hissed.
He leaned down, his mouth grazing my ear. “That’s the thing, Serena. I will never let you go.”
My breath stuttered. Heat flared where his skin touched mine, a treacherous spark that spread down my arm. I yanked back, glaring up at him.
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe.” His grin widened, wolfish. “But tell me something… when he rejected you, did your body burn the way it does now?”
My chest heaved. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I know.” His silver eyes pierced me. “I know rejection. I know what it’s like to be cast aside, unwanted, unloved. But unlike your golden-eyed Alpha… I don’t waste what the Moon Goddess places before me. I claim it.”
My blood froze at the word.
Claim.
“You will never claim me,” I spat.
He only laughed, low and dangerous, before finally releasing my wrist. “Sleep well, little wolf. Tomorrow, you’ll learn what it means to be mine.”
He left, the tent flap snapping shut behind him, but his scent — wild, intoxicating — lingered, curling in my lungs like smoke.
I sank onto the cot, shaking. Hatred throbbed in my veins, but beneath it… was something else. Something I refused to name.
---
Morning came with shouting and snarls outside. I slipped out of the tent, determined to memorize the camp’s layout. If I was to escape, I needed to know everything.
The rogues noticed me instantly. One whistled, sharp and mocking. Another sneered, baring teeth.
“Alpha’s pretty little reject,” one spat. “Bet she won’t last a week here.”
I stiffened, chin lifting. “Watch me.”
Laughter erupted, cruel and feral. But before any of them could step closer, a voice cut through the noise.
“Back away.”
Asher.
The rogues instantly retreated, heads bowed, though their eyes still gleamed with malice. Asher strode into the clearing, silver eyes locked solely on me.
“You think you’re clever,” he said, circling me like a predator. “Learning my camp. Plotting escape.”
“I’m not your prisoner,” I snapped.
“Oh, but you are.” He stopped in front of me, tilting my chin up with a finger. “Every wolf here knows what happens to those who run.”
“And what’s that?”
His smile turned lethal. “They don’t live long enough to tell.”
My wolf trembled inside me, but I forced steel into my voice. “Then kill me. Because I’ll never submit to you.”
Something flickered in his gaze — dark amusement, sharp hunger. “Kill you?” He leaned closer, his breath warm against my lips. “Oh, little wolf, death would be mercy. I’d rather keep you alive… to watch you break.”
My chest rose and fell too fast. I wanted to slap him, scream at him, run from him — but my body betrayed me again, heat coiling low and violent.
I shoved him away, voice shaking. “Stay out of my head.”
He only smirked. “Too late.”
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Asher’s POV
She was fire. Untamed, reckless, beautiful fire. And every time she defied me, I wanted her more.
Not just her body — though that temptation gnawed at me with every glance. No, what I wanted was deeper. I wanted her will. Her soul. Her everything.
The bond she had with Christopher was broken now. Fragile. Weak.
Which meant I had my chance.
She would fight me. She would hate me. But in the end… she would be mine.
---
Christopher’s POV
I sat in my office, hands buried in my hair, the weight of my rejection crushing me. Her face haunted me — the shock, the pain, the tears she hadn’t let me see.
The bond tugged at me relentlessly, a phantom ache that wouldn’t fade.
“Christopher.”
Cassandra’s voice slithered through the silence. She entered, lips curved in a practiced smile, eyes sharp.
“You can’t keep torturing yourself,” she said, perching on the desk. “She was never right for you. Weak. Fragile. She doesn’t deserve you.”
My jaw clenched. “She was my mate.”
“She was a mistake,” Cassandra pressed, touching my arm. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t always get it right. You need a Luna who can stand beside you. Not a broken little girl who runs into the arms of rogues.”
I snapped my gaze to her. “What did you say?”
Her smile widened. “Oh, you didn’t know? Word travels fast. Your rejected mate is with Asher now.”
Rage roared through me, my wolf clawing at the surface. “You lie.”
“Do I?” Cassandra purred. “Why do you think the bond still aches? Not because she loves you… but because she’s already slipping into his claim.”
“No.” I surged to my feet, fury igniting every vein. “She’s mine. She’ll always be mine.”
But even as I said it, doubt twisted inside me. Because deep down… I felt it.
Serena was being pulled away. And Asher was the one pulling her.
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Serena’s POV – Later That Night
The camp quieted under the blanket of night. I sat awake, heart pounding, staring at the flap of my tent.
I couldn’t stay here. Not another night.
I rose, every sense on edge, and slipped into the shadows. My steps were careful, measured. I avoided the guards, moving like prey desperate for escape.
The forest loomed ahead. Freedom.
But before I reached it, a hand shot out of the darkness, gripping my arm and yanking me back against a solid chest.
A low growl rumbled in my ear.
“Did you really think you could run from me?”
Asher’s silver eyes glowed in the dark, his grip like iron around me. His lips brushed my ear, sending a shiver down my spine I hated myself for.
“You belong to me now, Serena,” he whispered, voice deadly soft. “And the sooner you accept it… the less it will hurt.”
My knees buckled — from rage, from fear, from that unbearable spark that burned wherever he touched me.
I was trapped.
And worse… some treacherous part of me wasn’t sure if I wanted to escape.
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- Writer
