Chapter1

1181 Words
I was never supposed to be his mate.I wasn't supposed to feel the bond snap into place like lightning through my veins, that burning heat at the base of my spine. But it happened. The universe's cruel joke. And he rejected me in front of the complete Bloodfang Pack, proper earlier than he marked a person else, my very own cousin, no less. "You're now no longer worthy of me, Talia," he said, standing tall and proud together with his muscular arm wrapped possessively round Elena's sensitive waist. His voice carried throughout the ceremonial grounds like a demise sentence. "You'll constantly be simply the error your father left behind." The entire crowd laughed, their howls of entertainment echoing via the wooded area clearing like daggers piercing what remained of my shattered dignity. That was 3 weeks ago. Now I take a seat down withinside the pit, a dirt-floored mobileular below the training arena, looking blood drip from my nostril and onto my shirt. Alpha Kael told the warriors to “toughen me up.” They’ve taken it personally. You don’t belong here. That’s what everyone says. I’m not ranked. Not born into a noble family. My father was a traitor. My mother ran off when I was ten. But I stayed. I cleaned the barracks. I cooked for the fighters. I trained in secret when no one was watching. And I believed, like an i***t, that the Moon Goddess might still give me something, someone of my own. She did. And he threw me away like trash. A soft voice breaks the silence. “Talia?” I flinch at the sound. It's Annabelle, a healer trainee who sneaks down sometimes to bring me water or bandage my wrists. “I brought bread,” she says, holding it out. “And berries.” My belly growls, however I hesitate. “Why are you supporting me?” She shrugs. “Because someone should.” I take the bread. “Thanks.” She looks over her shoulder, checking the hallway. “They’re saying something upstairs. About you.” My stomach tightens. “What kind of something?” “Alpha Kael wants to make an example. To prove loyalty after what your dad did. They're going to pair you with someone.” I freeze. “Who?” Lira doesn’t answer right away. Then she whispers, “Ronan.” I drop the bread. No. Not him. Ronan is the Alpha’s disowned son. The Wolf with no pack as they call him. Ronan is Alpha Kael’s son biologically but he has been disowned, exiled from his title, stripped of his status due to the curse and the mysterious deaths of his previous mates. Among the pack, he is treated like a ghost or pariah feared, whispered about, hated. Rumors say he killed his last mate. Others say she went mad and ran into the woods, never to be found again. He doesn’t talk, doesn’t smile, doesn’t look at anyone for more than a second.“I won’t do it,” I say. “They can’t force a bond—” “They can,” Ana says softly. “They already did. Ronan agreed.” My blood runs cold. “Why would he agree?” I whisper. Ana shakes her head. “No one says no to Kael. Especially not Ronan. He’s dangerous, Talia.” I back into the wall, my breath coming fast and shallow. My mate already rejected me. I survived that, barely. But this? This is something else. Annabelle reaches out, but footsteps echo above us. Heavy and Final. She jerks her hand back. “They’re coming.” I press myself into the corner, my heart slamming in so hard to my ribs. The mobileular door creaks open. Two guards step in. Behind them, a tall determined figure moved like smoke, extensive shoulders, black shirt, boots silent on stone. Ronan. His eyes land on me, darkish and unreadable. “I’m not going with him, never.” I say, voice cracking. “You are,” one guard growls. Ronan doesn’t speak. He just looks. Not at my bruises. Not at my swollen face but at me. Like he already knows everything. I shake my head. “Please don’t do this.” “You’re the Alpha’s offering,” the guard says. “You’re fortunate, at least a person nevertheless still desires you.” I lunge for the doorway, however a hand grabs my arm and yanks me hard. My back hits the floor. Pain explodes down my spine. And then everything goes black. --- Later, I woke up in a new room, clean. Too clean. White walls, heavy curtains and a small fire crackling in the corner. I’m in a packhouse room but not the servant quarters. Not the dungeons. The door opens. It’s him, Ronan. I scramble back, heart racing. He doesn’t move. “I didn’t ask for this,” I say. “I don’t need to be yours.” Still nothing. He closes the door at the back of him and leans in opposition to it, fingers crossed. “I overhead what they are saying about you,” I whisper. “I recognize that you're the cursed Alpha's Son.” His eyes were narrow, however he didn't speak. I press on. “I’d rather have to die than be trapped with a person who sees me as a punishment.” Finally, he speaks. “You suppose I selected this?” His voice is deep, quiet and calm like he hasn’t spoken in years. “Didn’t you?” I shoot back. He walks toward me slowly, eyes never leaving mine. “I told my father, no,” he says. “Twice.” My breath catches. “Then why—?” He was directly in front of me and his presence was far more threatening and strangely reassuring. He mumbles, only a little louder than a murmur: "I accepted and said yes for the third time.” "Because he threatened to kill Lira." I stared at him, looking to apprehend the load of his confession. The silence stretches amongst us like an electric powered wire, heavy with unspoken confusion. His eyes were soften for a fraction, revealing a vulnerability I hadn't expected. "We all have that one man or woman we are gonna bleed for.” The admission hangs thin in the air, plain and honest. I see the ache flickering at the back of his cautiously built mask, the same pain I have been facing for months. But who is Lira? Is she his mate, or someone else? He reaches into his pocket with precise slowness and places something in my hand. The metallic was somehow cold in my palm. A key. "I will not prevent you in case you choose to run," he says, standing to his feet. "But in case you stay… you may not be anyone's punching bag ever again." Then he stood up, turned, and walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing within the corridor. Leaving me on my own with a key and a desire that might alternate everything.
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