Rejected by My Mate, Chosen by The Exiled Alpha

Chapter 4 — Blood in the Forest

The voice stopped.

Just... stopped.

Like someone turned off a radio.

But the fear didn’t stop with it.

No. The fear stayed. It sank down into my chest and sat there. Heavy. Cold.

I could still hear it, even though nothing was saying anything anymore.

I stood next to Kael and I wasn’t moving.

Like, literally not moving. My feet were stuck to the ground.

We were both just staring into the dark.

At trees.

At nothing.

"The First Wolf..."

I didn’t plan to say it. It slipped out.

And the second it did, it felt wrong. Too big for my mouth.

Ancient.

Important.

Dangerous. Like if I said it too loud the trees would answer back.

Kael didn’t answer me.

He wasn’t even looking at me. His eyes were locked on the forest and he wasn’t blinking. His whole body was tight. Like a spring.

Every muscle in him said something’s wrong

"Kael?" My voice came out small. Stupid small.

"Stay close to me."

That was all he said.

And his voice was different.

Not the voice from by the fire. Not the one that told me to smile.

This was the other one. The one everyone was scared of. The Exiled Alpha voice.

I looked at him.

"You know what that means. Don’t you?"

His jaw ticked. Once.

"I have an idea what it could mean."

"That’s not an answer." I hated how shaky I sounded. I was scared and mad about being scared. "Kael. Tell me."

He finally turned to me. And for a second I thought he was gonna shut me down or give me that cold Alpha stare.

But he didn’t. He looked tired.

"The First Wolf is a legend," he said. Quiet. Like he didn’t want the forest to hear. "It’s a story. Older than packs. Older than the Moon Goddess. Older than anything we’ve got written down."

My stomach dropped. "Okay. What kind of story?"

Kael’s eyes went dark.

"The kind that gets people killed."

Oh.

Yeah.

A cold feeling dropped into my stomach and didn’t leave.

Before I could ask him what the hell that was supposed to mean, Kael moved.

"Down!"

I didn’t think. I just dropped.

Kael grabbed my arm and yanked me behind him. Hard enough that I stumbled.

Something flew over my head and hit the tree behind us with a thunk that I felt in my teeth.

A blade.

Silver.

With symbols carved into it that made my eyes hurt if I stared too long.

My breathing stopped.

Someone was here.

Watching us.

Kael’s eyes flashed. Completely silver. No brown left. No human left.

"Show yourself."

Nothing.

Just wind through the leaves. Just my heartbeat in my ears.

Then a figure stepped out from between the trees.

Black armor. No markings. Face blank. Like someone forgot to put features on it.

And behind him, more stepped out.

One. Two. Five. Ten.

Not rival pack wolves.

Hunters.

Their eyes were empty. Like nobody was home.

Their movements were too smooth. Too perfect. Like puppets.

Kael cursed under his breath. I barely heard it.

"Moon Temple."

The name hit me like ice water.

I’d heard it before. In whispers. In warnings.

"Are they here for me?"

Kael didn’t look away from them. Not for a second. "They know enough to be here."

The first warrior smiled. It was wrong. Too wide. Too many teeth.

"Well, well," he said. Voice echoing weird. "The Exiled Alpha. Protecting the lost heir."

Heir.

The word bounced around in my head.

Heir to what? I don’t even have a pack. I don’t even have a wolf.

Kael took one step forward. Only one.

"Don’t touch her."

The hunter laughed. "You still don’t know what she is, do you?"

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

And then everything went to hell.

The hunters attacked.

It was chaos.

Kael moved.

One second he was in front of me, the next he had a blade in someone’s throat. The next he was blocking three attacks at once.

Every strike was precise. Brutal.

Every move put him between me and them.

But there were too many.

I watched him fight and something twisted in my chest.

This was what it meant to be an Alpha.

Not the power. Not the title.

This. Standing in front of people while they tried to kill you. Bleeding for them.

One of them broke through.

Came straight for me. Fast.

And I froze.

Old habits.

Weak.

Useless.

Can’t shift.

Not enough.

But then the mark on my wrist

burned.

Not pain. Heat.

It flared so bright the hunter actually stopped mid-step. Like he hit a wall.

"What the hell are you?" he hissed.

I don’t know.

But something in me did.

I didn’t move. I didn’t shift.

I just... pushed.

Like exhaling, but bigger. Like the air itself pushed out of me.

The hunter flew back and slammed into a tree hard enough that I heard the crack.

I stared at my hands. They were shaking.

"I... did I do that?"

Kael was in front of me instantly. Looking at me like he’d never seen me before.

Shock.

And something else.

Pride. Real.

"You fought back."

"I didn’t even know how." My voice was shaking.

"Your wolf knows."

My wolf.

The one they said I’d never have.

The one I’d cried about for years.

Before I could say anything else, pain shot through my chest. Sharp. Out of nowhere.

But it wasn’t mine.

I turned.

Kael was on one knee. Blood on his side. Dark on his shirt.

"Kael!"

I held him. Didn’t think. Just ran.

The second my hand touched his shoulder, the pain in my chest eased.

Not his wound.

His pain.

I felt it.

Tired. So damn tired.

Angry.

And scared.

Kael Draven was scared.

Not of dying.

Of me getting hurt.

"You felt that," I whispered.

His eyes met mine. Silver to brown. "Yeah."

The bond.

It wasn’t just a link.

It was a door. Both ways.

I could see into him. And he could see into me.

The rest of the hunters started pulling back. Realizing they couldn’t win. They dragged their wounded into the trees.

One of them stopped at the edge. He looked right at me and smiled.

Not like he won.

Like he knew something I didn’t.

"She’s finally been found."

Kael stood up. Slow. "Who sent you?"

The hunter laughed. "The one who’s waited centuries."

Then he vanished into the dark.

Kael didn’t move for a long time.

"Kael. What did he mean?"

Nothing.

"Kael."

Finally he spoke. Voice rough. "Someone’s been searching for you."

"Who?"

His eyes dropped to my wrist. To the mark that was still glowing faintly under my sleeve.

"I don’t know. But now they know where you are."

We didn’t talk much after that.

What was there to say?

My head was spinning.

Who was I?

Why did the Moon Temple want me?

Why did Kael and I have a bond that shouldn’t exist?

And why did I feel safer with the man everyone called a monster than I ever did with my own pack?

The questions followed us all night.

They walked with us.

By dawn, my legs hurt and my eyes burned. I was so tired I could barely see straight.

We reached the border.

The Exiled Lands.

I thought it would be dark. Rotten. Bones and blood and monsters.

That’s what the stories said.

But when the gates opened...

People were waiting.

No weapons.

They bowed. Deep.

"Welcome home, Alpha."

Kael nodded. Once.

Then an old woman stepped forward. Small. White hair in a braid. Eyes that looked like they’d seen too much and remembered all of it.

She saw me.

And all the color drained from her face.

She walked to me. Slow. Like I was made of glass and might break.

"Impossible..."

Kael moved to my side instantly. "What is it?"

The woman looked at me. She really looked at me. Like she was seeing a ghost.

Her hands were shaking.

Her voice shook too.

"The last time I smelled that blood..."

She stopped.

The whole world went quiet. Even the birds.

Then she whispered:

"The world almost ended."

My breath caught.

Kael’s face went hard. "What blood?"

The elder didn’t look at him.

She looked at me.

And whispered:

"First Wolf blood."

Lyra arrives in the Exiled Lands, only to discover her bloodline may be connected to an ancient power feared by the entire wolf world.