REJECTION REJECTED

Rain’s POV

I looked at the beast before me—the ancient beast. The one believed to be trapped in exile, lost to time and legend. Now he stood in flesh and bone, towering above me in power and quiet doom, claiming me as his mate.

The forest seemed to shrink around him. The air bent, heavy with his presence. Even the roars from the sky had softened, as if the skies themselves were listening.

For the umpteenth time, he scanned me beneath him, slow and thorough, like a predator measuring what already belonged to him. His animosity blurred with something else—something thick and warm that curled in my chest. I didn’t want to imagine that it was desire. I didn’t want to accept that it was recognition. Yet I felt it, deep in my bones where my wolf lay restless, and even in the easy way my blood ran in my veins, betraying me.

He sniffed again, a deep pull of breath, shutting his eyes as his massive body loosened slightly, as if my scent calmed something ancient inside him. Like I was medicine to a wound that had never healed.

“You can’t be my mate,” I finally murmured, denial pushing through every syllable.

His eyes snapped open.  They were colder than anything words could explain, sharp enough to cut through my soul, and deadly enough to make my knees weak.

His body bolted straight off, every muscle coiling tight, dominance rolling off him like heat from fire. He glared at me, challenging my rejection without saying a word. I didn’t need words. The warning rolled off him effortlessly, thick and heavy, pressing against my skin. This was not a creature who accepted rejection—especially not from someone like me.

“By now, you know who I am,” he said, his voice dangerously calm.

He wasn’t trying to scare me. Far from it. Fear seemed to come off him naturally, like breathing. That naturally. Without forcing a muscle to do it.

“Still, I—I can’t be your mate.” I pushed again, my voice shaking despite my effort. I refused to believe the goddess would bind me to something like him. To doom wrapped in flesh.  Destruction wrapped in a disguised savior. Hell no!

He shifted then, bones cracking and stretching, fur sinking beneath skin as he took his giant human form. I wished—goddess, I wished he had stayed a wolf. The beast had been terrifying, but this form was worse.

His height was unnatural, shoulders broad enough to block the forest light. Old scars carved his face and arms, marks of wars long forgotten. His presence screamed command. Alpha. No—more than that.

King.

His deep, heavy voice echoed through the trees. “I have waited hundreds of years for this day.”

He reached out, large scarred fingers stretching toward my face. I flinched and retreated, my back foot slipping on dry leaves.

He didn’t move. He simply watched me retreat, counting every step I took without any worry, as if he could tell how far I could run and how swift it would be for him to catch me without a bloody sweat.

I had regained my strength and fully healed thanks to him. I could feel it in my muscles, in the steady beat of my heart. But the heat he had poured into me earlier still burned beneath my skin, restless and confusing.

One step from him. Just one, effortless goddamn step.

That was all it took.

In the blink of an eye, he crossed the distance I had put between us—twenty steps erased in a single breath. Suddenly my back hit a tree, rough bark scraping my skin. His body loomed over me, trapping me there without even touching me.

With nowhere left to run, my knees gave out.  Instinct forced me lower, my body reacting before my pride could stop it.

“I did not come out of exile just to receive a fucking rejection from my mate,” he said, his voice dripping with a deadly warning. “No.”

I shivered.

The way his words slid into me, cold and commanding, frightened me more than shouting ever could. He didn’t need to raise his voice. His dominance pressed down on me, heavy and unavoidable, making my wolf curl inward even as she trembled.

I tried to shift, panic clawing at me, but his gaze pinned me in human form. My wolf whimpered inside, knowing even she would be small before him.

“You shouldn’t make this harder for us, Rain,” Mina spoke inside my head. “He is our only hope, you know.”

Her voice sounded stronger now, clearer. She had regained consciousness fully, and relief flickered through me. But it faded fast when I felt her excitement spike.

“Look around,” she continued. “If he leaves us here, we are doomed for good. We won’t last in these mountains even for a second.”

I clenched my jaw at the bitter truth of her words. Anger bubbled inside of me. She was too calm. Too willing to give in to this beast.

I felt her stir uncontrollably inside me, her wolf brushing against his presence with curiosity—and worse—interest.

“You should listen to your wolf,” Magnon growled, clearly sensing the shift within me. “You have no way out. There is no way I am leaving my mate to mountain beasts.”

He wasn’t requesting. No.

His eyes darkened. “You are coming with me.”

He reached for me again, his large hand closing around my wrist, firm but not crushing. Still, the contact sent a jolt through me, heat flaring where our skin touched.

But I wasn’t ready. I would never be ready.

Accepting him meant accepting everything he was. Everything he had done. The danger, he paused. The blood he had shed. The destruction he had caused. The stories about him were clearly written in bold blood. How could I overlook all that in the name of a second mate?

And where would he even take me? Into exile with him, which was his home? A place he well deserved to be.

“We are safe with him, Rain!” Mina cried, joy spilling through the bond. “Let’s go with him!”

“Shut up, you little slut,” I whispered harshly, forcing her down. “Do you even know where he is taking us? Do you want to be locked in exile forever? Is that what you want for us?”

There was a pause between me and Mina, but it lasted only for a second before she annoyingly bubbled again. “He has a home for us. A beautiful one.”

I froze.

My heart skipped, just for a second. She felt it—certainty. What was that aloof wolf of mine talking about?

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Through Magnum,” she replied dreamily. “His wolf. He is so cute, my Lawd, Rain. You should see him.”

I nearly groaned. My wolf was already betraying me, shamelessly drawn to his beast. I wanted to shake her, slap some hot sense into her, but she purred instead.

“Now that you know our wolves accept this bond,” Magnon said, his voice rolling over me again, making my skin prickle, “can you stop resisting so we can leave?”

I cleared my throat, forcing my face blank. Deep down, I knew Mina was right. He was my only chance of survival right now.

But accepting him?

Never.

I would use him. Just long enough to get us safe. Then I would leave-go my way to find Mina and I a place to call home, and him? I didn't care where he went; I hoped he would go straight back into exile, where he had mysteriously come from.

“Where to?” I asked, keeping my tone flat, hiding everything else beneath it.

“That is a cheap question to ask a Lycan king,” he replied coldly. “Let’s move.”

He tugged my hand, not asking, already turning.  I had nothing to argue, or maybe I never meant to in the first place.

A Lycan king who lived in exile for hundreds of years, I thought bitterly. I wanted to say it aloud. But I didn’t dare.  I knew better.

I followed him without resistance, though my body stayed tense. I didn’t lean into him. I didn’t soften. I kept my steps measured, my silence loud.

The forest parted for him as we moved. Wolves howled in the distance—low, respectful. Even unseen creatures knew what walked among them.  The rogues? I never caught sight of even a single one of them. In their very territory? That was as strange as the way he bounced on those mountains, tall and unthreatened, like he owned them.

My thoughts raced.  How had he broken exile?

When?

Why?

No one ever escaped exile ever in the history that I knew. Not once. It was a death sentence without death.

So why him?

And why now?

And why… me?