Betrayed by the Alpha, Bound by Destiny

The forest was too quiet. Not the pleasant kind of quiet that settled you into tranquility, no, this was the sort that yelled at the periphery of your subconscious, informing you that something inside of you had been broken beyond repair. Selene's claws tore into the wet ground, her wolf running wild beneath the icy light of the full moon. She ran until her lungs burned, until the wind ripped tears from her gold eyes, until every muscle in her body screamed in pain, and still, she could not escape the echo of his words in her head. "You are not worthy to be my Luna." The words hung there like the execution of a death sentence, ringing in her very bone, ripping through the fragile thread that once kept her attached to Alpha Kael. Her wolf howled in her mind, so primal that the earth itself would weep with grief. He rejected us. Selene stumbled, claws scrabbling in dirt, body trembling with more than exhaustion. It was not pain, it was ruin, betrayal, shame. Her mate. Her fated mate, the one the Goddess of the Moon had bestowed upon her — had gazed into her eyes and shattered her heart into a thousand seeping fragments. She shifted mid-step, fur to flesh, dropping to her knees on the riverbank. Cold night air bit at her sweat-slicked skin, her black hair flying out behind her, sticking to the back of her neck. She plunged her hands into the mud, as though she could root herself in the earth and halt the spinning of her world. Her breast rose and fell. Her breaths were harsh and strained. She barely recognized the timbre of her own voice when it ripped out of her. "Why?" The word tugged from her throat, parched and useless, carried away on the wind night. The moon offered no comfort, hanging above her like a distant, unyielding witness. Kael was everything to her. She wasn't just his Alpha, she wasn't just his fated mate, he'd been the boy who'd taught her how to fight, the man who'd remained by her side as she'd shifted for the first time, the one who'd vowed under the stars two years prior that he'd never let her go. Her gaze grew misty with memories that had invaded her mind uninvited. Flashback - Two Years Ago The summer breeze had been hot that evening, the type that brought with it the smell of pine and soil and liberty. She had been sitting here beside this very river, toes submerged in the refreshing flow, when Kael located her. "You should be practicing," he'd told her, his tone joking, his hair rumpled from his own practice session. She had rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but her heart had leaped at the sight of him. "I practice every day," she had said, splashing water from her toes in his face. He knelt down next to her, the moonlight silvering his gray eyes. "Not every day," he breathed. And then he’d kissed her, slow, unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world. Her heart had felt like it might burst from her chest. “Someday,” he had whispered against her lips, “you’ll sit by this river as my Luna.” The memory faded like smoke, leaving behind nothing but the ache of loss. Selene pressed the heel of her palms into her eyes until there were stars. She could not stay here. Could not stay where every stone and every tree reminded her of him, and every wolf's eye communicated pity or judgment. She rose to shaking legs and shifted once again, letting her wolf take over, fur rippling over her skin as she fled into the far-off forest. She ran from more than Kael's rejection, from the beast she used to be, the beast who'd believed in happily-ever-afters and mate bonds and promises made on nights of starlight. Branches slapped against her coat as she ran from tree to tree, harder and faster, and she allowed the rhythm of her run to quiet the storm in her heart. Her pack would stir tomorrow morning and she would not be there. There would be suspicion. There would be gossip. But no one would find her. Not now that it had occurred. She ran until the wood thinned, until the scent markers of her pack faded from the air. Beyond this point lay freedom, and exile. She tarried only long enough to shift back, standing naked and unbroken beneath the silver moon. The cold wind enveloped her like a shroud, her wild hair spilling around her shoulders. "I will never come back," she swore, her voice trembling but gaining power with every word. "I will never be weak. I will never surrender to anyone. Not even him." Her wolf snarled in agreement inside of her, a deep, deadly one that rumbled inside her breast. Tonight, Selene Nightbane wasn't just the rejected mate of Alpha Kael. Tonight, she was something more entirely, a rogue by choice, a survivor by sheer force of will, and a woman who would rise one day from the ashes of her ruin, more powerful than the agony that tried to kill her. She walked away from the life she'd known and into the unknown, every step branding Kael's face deeper into her very bones. The night swallowed her. The moon had transitioned from full to waning when Selene finally ceased her motion. Days, days of fleeing Kael's territories, days of moving from shadowed glade to shadowed glade, sleeping under starlight and existing on habit. Her paws were toughened, her throat raw from cold night air, but her heart burned fiercer than ever. When she finally crossed the border of neutral territory into that untamed stretch of forest where no Alpha's scent markers reigned supreme, she stumbled against a boulder and shifted back. Shivering and naked, Selene stood out over the valley below. The view went on for miles, untamed and un-fettered, free of politics and power-struggle of the packs she'd left behind. That is where she promised herself she would not merely survive, but thrive. Months passed. Selene became a ghost of the forest, known only to those who decided to walk through her. Rogues who thought her an easy catch quickly found themselves mistaken. Her claws grew sharper, her reflexes faster, her wolf more deadly than before. And slowly, she created something that was almost a pack again. Her first friend had been Lyra, a lean, sharp-eyed she-wolf with a scar running down her cheek. Selene had found her bleeding after a rogue attack and had taken her to a safe clearing and tended her back to complete health. "You didn't have to save me," Lyra had snarled. "Yes, I did," Selene had replied. "We save our own." Others followed from there; solitary wolves, rejected mates, those with no pack but needing protection. They had regarded Selene as their Alpha well before she ever took the title. Selene now stood in the center of a great clearing as morning tinted the horizon with gold. She was surrounded by her wolves, who trained, fought in twos, their growls and snarls echoing through the air. "Faster!" Selene barked, her voice carrying with natural authority. The younger wolves obeyed immediately. She slipped between them noiselessly, shifting positions, deflecting clumsy attacks, driving them harder. Her flesh was wet with sweat, but she barely noticed it. When the training ended, she shifted back to human and stood at the edge of the clearing, looking out at the sun rising over the valley. Lyra approached her, throwing a skin of water. "You push them hard," Lyra said, taking a drink from her own. Selene took a long sip, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “They have to be strong. The forest won’t spare the weak.” Lyra studied her for a moment. “You’re not just talking about the forest.” Selene didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Because no matter how many months passed, how strong she became, there were still nights when she would wake up with Kael's scent in her nose and the feel of his touch on her body. Nights when the bond stretched out to her like a chain. She despised him sometimes. She ached for him sometimes to the point of agony to breathe. Later in the night, Selene sat around the fire, her wolves gathered round her. They dined, roasted rabbit, fresh fruit and told stories. She smiled at their laughter, a feeling similar to happiness spreading within her chest. For a brief moment, she almost thought she was free of him. Then a wind shifted in the clearing and with it scented its way the faintest, the most heart-breakingly familiar, scent in the world. No. It couldn't be. She denied it, shoving the thoughts aside and focusing on the fire. Kael was somewhere far away. He had to be. The scent returned. This time there was no confusion; sharp and bright, cut with pine and rain. Selene tensed, her wolf rising within her. The connection hummed like a struck string, shooting a burst of heat down her back. "Alpha?" Lyra's call broke the night. "What's going on?" Selene pushed to her feet, each muscle wound tight. "Wait here," she commanded. "Selene" "I said wait." Her voice brooked no refusal. She twirled and shifted into the trees, shifting mid-stride, her wolf rising up with a growl. Feet silent on the forest ground, she followed the scent, her heart thudding harder with each pace. She hadn't felt this connection in months, not so much, sharply, commanding, pulling her along as if she had no choice. The woods grew quiet as she stood at the edge of their territory. And she saw him. Kael stood across the clearing, tall and broad-shouldered, with his silver-gray eyes glowing like melted metal in the moon's light. His black hair fell forward over his brow, dew-moistened, and the faintest hint of a smirk toyed with his lips. Her wolf remained static, torn between her urge to attack him and turning away in the opposite direction. Of all the ways she'd imagined this moment, yelling, struggling, breaking down in tears. she hadn't imagined being struck mute. "Hello, Selene." His voice was low, roughed by the night air. It vibrated over her like thunder, intimate and foreign at once. She shifted back into human shape, standing naked under the moon, refusing to be vulnerable. "You don't get to say my name," she snarled. He stepped forward, closing the line between their two worlds. The bond of the mate pulled taut, like fire racing along her skin. Her breath caught as her wolf howled inside her, both furious and elated. "Why have you come?" she snarled, every muscle clenched. Kael's gaze swept over her, unbroken. "Because I finally found you." "I told you I would never come back." "I did not come for the purpose of bringing you back." Her heart stuttered. "Then why" He bridged the distance between them in two strides, his frame taking up the space between them. "Because you're mine, Selene," he said, his tone low, deadly serious. "And this time, I'm not letting you go." The words cut into her like a punch, flames coursed through her veins. She hadn't time to react. A howl from afar tore the night, not hers, not his. A warning. Kael's head swiveled in the direction of the sound, his wolf hovering just below the surface. "Rogues," he growled. Selene's heart thundered, trapped between fighting and wanting to push him back out of her country. And then the first set of yellow red eyes appeared in the night.