Return of the Alpha's Rejected Mate

ay on the forest floor, her limbs trem

nside her fe

s it

est like a second heartbeat. Her wolf paced within her, rest

again-soft, ancient,

on, you have been b

h her spine. Her bones shifted, cracked, stretched-yet she wasn't

splitting open to make roo

lared behind her e

scre

en-dar

-

nd the forest around her shimmered faintly with silver mist. Arya

every whisper of wind, every heartb

pool of water nearby

ga

r the moonlight. Her skin held a radiant sheen, and stran

Like mo

. what

Moon." The words chilled her now, yet fil

ed up at the moon. Its glow no longer

snapped behin

scles tensing,

s glowing red, fur matted with blood. It

ove. She didn

ed her hand on instinct-

ally

he beast into a nearby tree with unnatural stren

at her hand,

did I

arrior. Yet she'd just stopped a full-gr

t. Something insi

ng had

e in her life... she

lt pow

lt dan

t hadn't

a had stumbled through mud and bramble, barefoot, bleeding, shivering. The rejection had torn more

now how long

Maybe

en hunger became normal and sleep cam

ame th

t that soaked her clothes and made the forest spin every time she moved

t tak

it

it d

d her eyes, she wasn

ker of flames. The scent of herbs filled the air. She

ead," a voice

her head

s beard was long and streaked with gray, his eyes sharp but kind. He wore

you?" she

en waiting for yo

ade no

her life made

consciousness, but this

-

sed. May

ot stew and made her drink teas that tasted like dirt but cleared her lungs. He spoke little, except w

o sit up and speak, she aske

stured to the markings drawn on the walls

st a broken girl," he

. "What doe

"You are touched by the old magic. The Moon gifted you strength and

"I don't feel gift

t there was s

always feel, befor

-

ning beg

sten to the water, to feel the pull of energy through the earth. Then came th

et it guide her instead of battling it. Her inner wolf had gone quiet since t

ee in me?" she

, moonlight pouring

," Thalen said. "I've seen that fire before. Long

ased. "You know

aid quietly. "Before they cast

at him wi

r stopped bel

ed road," Thalen said. "But I believe

truth settle i

d fully for the first time since her exile.

-

rs pa

than how to survive. He

shift in someone's heartbeat when they planned to

-physically, ment

th does no

. And one morning, she found him sitting still by

opened th

f the oldest tree in the forest-the one whe

't cry a

the trees and the fire refused to light, she

-

urn to the wor

on fire, a boy with storm-gray eyes, and a voic

a

wasn't as the shatte

r. A stranger. A g

he fire within her-Thalen's f

-

-

in th

his bed, a cold sweat clinging

Not the kind that came from wounds or nightmares, but som

mself. He had rejected her. The

.. did he f

the window, looking ou

ing wa

ething... wa