My Alpha Rejected Me Because I Will Kill Him

The Moonfang Citadel smelled of smoke, polished stone and a thousand wolves holding their breath.

I stood at the edge of the Convergence hall with my hands clasped so tightly my knuckles ached. Hundreds of unmated wolves lined the marble floor in careful rows. Above us, the gallery was packed with lords, councillors and Alphas from every territory in the Dominion. All of them had come to watch the Alpha King meet whoever the Moon had chosen for him.

Nobody had told me it might be me.

"Next," called the herald. "Seraphine Veyra."

My legs moved before my mind agreed. The aisle stretched ahead of me, long and white, and at the far end sat the throne. The man on it was already looking at me.

Kaelith Veyr.

I had heard every story. The ruthless one. The king who made Alphas kneel with a glance. I had expected a monster carved from cold, and I had braced myself for it.

I had not braced for his eyes.

They were silver, and the moment they found mine, my wolf woke so violently that I stumbled. She wasn't scared. Something low and bright broke open in my chest, and heat poured down my spine to my fingertips.

Mate,she breathed. Mate. Mate. Mate.

On the throne, Kaelith went rigid. His knuckles whitened on the armrests. Beneath his skin, I saw the shadow of his own wolf surge toward me.

The hall noticed. A ripple of whispers ran through the gallery, then died as if someone had cut it with a knife. Everyone had felt it. The air between us was thick enough to taste.

"The bond," someone murmured. "It's her."

The herald's voice shook. "My king. The Moon has spoken."

Kaelith rose. The motion was slow, almost careful, like a man standing on ice. He descended the dais one step at a time, and with every step the bond between us pulled tighter, until I could feel his pulse beating against mine.

He stopped an arm's length away. This close, I could see a muscle jumping in his jaw. I could see that his hands were shaking.

Everyone expected what came next. The Alpha King would take his mate's hand, press his mouth to her wrist and claim her before the whole Dominion. It was ritual, and I'd heard it described a hundred times. The wolves in the gallery were already leaning forward.

I lifted my chin and waited for the first good thing that had ever happened to me.

"Seraphine," he said quietly. My name sounded like something he had practiced.

"Yes," I whispered.

His eyes closed. For one heartbeat his face was open, and I saw something so raw I almost reached for him. It looked like grief. Then the mask fell back into place, and he turned to face the hall.

"I, Kaelith Veyr, Alpha King of Moonfang," he said, and his voice rang off the stone, "stand before the Moon and before this court."

My heart thudded.

"And I reject you."

The words didn't land at first. They hung in the air like smoke, strange and meaningless. Then the gallery erupted.

"I reject you, Seraphine."

He said it again, louder, and this time he looked straight at me.

The bond shattered.

It felt like someone had torn a rib out of my chest. I gasped and folded forward, one hand clawing at my sternum. My wolf let out a howl inside me that I felt in my teeth, a sound of such pure agony that tears sprang to my eyes before I could stop them. The warmth that had flooded me a moment ago vanished, and in its place was an empty, ringing cold.

All around me, the wolves stared. Some of them looked shocked. Some looked amused. A few were already smiling behind their hands.

The Alpha King had rejected his own fated mate in front of the entire Dominion.

"Why?" The word scraped out of me, raw and small. "I haven't done anything."

Kaelith did not answer.

He was breathing hard, and sweat had broken out at his temple. His hand pressed flat against his own chest, and for a second he swayed as if the rejection had cost him something too. But when I looked up he was already straightening, already cold again. It was too fast, too practiced, like a door slamming shut.

"Guards," he said.

Four of them stepped forward at once, armored in black.

"Escort this woman out of the Citadel," Kaelith said. "She is no longer welcome in Moonfang territory."

"Kaelith." A woman's voice, somewhere in the gallery, sharp with alarm.

He ignored it. He ignored everything. He didn't look at me again.

The guards' hands closed around my arms. I didn't fight. I couldn't. My wolf was curled up and silent inside me, wounded in a way I didn't yet understand. I let them lead me down the long white aisle. Every head turned to watch me go.

I held my chin up the whole way. It was the only thing I had left.

At the great doors I made myself look back once, just once.

The throne stood empty. Kaelith was already gone.

Kaelith

The war room was the only place in the Citadel without windows, and he had never been so grateful for it.

Kaelith barely made it through the door before his legs gave out. He caught the edge of the stone table and gripped it hard enough to crack the surface. The pain in his chest was worse than anything a blade had ever done. It was a hollow tearing, as if something had been ripped from the center of him and left to bleed.

His wolf was howling. It hadn't stopped since the words left his mouth.

Mate, it raged. You sent our mate away. You sent her away.

"I know," Kaelith rasped.

"My king."

His Beta stood by the door, pale, one hand on the hilt of his sword. He had served Kaelith for ten years and had never once looked afraid. He looked afraid now.

"The council is furious. The Alphas are demanding an explanation. Half the court thinks you've lost your mind." He swallowed. "What do I tell them?"

Kaelith pushed himself upright slowly. When he lifted his head, his eyes were wet, and his face was entirely calm.

"Nothing," he said. "You tell them nothing."

"But, my king, she is your mate. Why would you..."

"Double the guard on the western road."

The Beta stared. "Sire?"

Kaelith turned toward the narrow slit in the wall where the night sky showed through. Somewhere beyond the Citadel, a girl with silver gray eyes was walking toward the border, her heart in pieces because of him.

"If she stays alive tonight," he said softly, "we're all dead."