REJECTED BY THE ALPHA AWAKENED AS HIS QUEEN

The Rejection

The forest was too quiet.

Aria’s breath hitched as she stumbled through the thick underbrush, her heart pounding like a war drum. She didn't know how she got here or why. One minute she was walking home from her late-night shift. The next, everything went black.

Now she was barefoot, bruised, and surrounded by towering pine trees, the night air thick with something she couldn’t explain. Something that hummed beneath her skin, like a warning.

She wasn’t alone.

“Move,” a gruff voice snarled behind her.

A hand shoved her forward, and Aria staggered out of the forest’s shadows and into a massive stone clearing lit by torchlight. Her eyes widened.

They were everywhere.

Dozens of people no, not people. Wolves. Standing in human form, yes, but there was something feral in the way they held themselves. Half-naked men with eyes that glowed gold. Women with claws hidden just beneath the surface. Power hung in the air like fog.

And seated at the center of it all, on a high stone throne, was him.

Alpha Kael.

His presence hit her like a slap. Broad shoulders cloaked in black leather. Eyes like burning embers. Cold. Unforgiving. Regal. Dangerous.

She felt the pull in her bones before he even looked at her.

Mate.

The word echoed in her chest, ancient and wild. Her knees almost gave out. How was that even possible? She wasn’t a wolf. She didn’t belong here.

Kael rose slowly, descending the stone steps like a king surveying a prisoner. The others stepped back, lowering their heads in deference. But his gaze never left her.

He stopped a foot away. Towering. Silent. Studying her like she was filth stuck to his boot.

Then he spoke. His voice was ice.

“You’re the one.”

Aria swallowed hard. “I I don’t understand. I’m not”

He cut her off.

“You don’t smell like a wolf. You don’t even belong in this world.”

A cruel smile ghosted his lips. “The Moon Goddess must be mocking me.”

The air shifted. The wolves around them stiffened. A rejection was coming Aria could feel it. Like the moment before a storm breaks.

“I, Alpha Kael of the Northern Territories,” he said, voice rising, “reject you as my mate.”

The words struck her like claws to the chest. She gasped, the breath ripped from her lungs.

Something cracked inside her.

Not her heart something deeper.

Something older.

For a split second, Kael’s golden eyes narrowed, just the tiniest flicker of confusion flickering through them. Then he turned his back on her.

“Throw her out. Let the rogues have her if they want.”

The full moon cast its glow across the clearing, painting the night in silver shadows. Aria’s heart was breaking but somewhere deep inside, something else was waking.

As the guards dragged her back into the forest, bruised and discarded, the earth itself seemed to hum in response. A strange warmth flared in her chest. Her blood pulsed with unfamiliar heat.

This wasn’t the end of her story.

It was only the beginning.