The Rejection

Chapter 1

The rejection hit Elena before Kane had even finished saying the words.

“I, Kane Silvercrest, Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack, reject Elena Voss as my mate.”

A collective gasp swept through the courtyard.

Elena's knees struck the cold stone.

She barely felt the impact.

Her eyes stayed on Kane.

He hadn't even let go of Priscilla Ashworth's hand.

He stood there holding the pack heiress as though nothing had happened, as though rejecting Elena while standing beside another woman was the most natural thing in the world.

“Kane...” Elena's voice cracked. The bond was tearing through her, leaving a pain she had never imagined possible. “Six months... You swore to me—”

“Isn't it obvious, sweetheart?”

Priscilla didn't wait for Kane to answer. A cruel smile pulled at her lips.

“An Alpha needs a Luna who commands respect, not a pathetic weakling who spends her days rolling in the dirt with low-ranking guards. You were a temporary mistake.”

Elena looked at Kane.

She searched his face for something.

Regret.

Guilt.

Anything.

There was nothing.

“Elena Voss.”

Kane's Alpha voice rolled across the courtyard, silencing the whispers.

“By pack law, you have until sunrise to clear your presence from Silvercrest territory. If you are caught on pack land after dawn, my executioners will hunt you down as a rogue.”

Elena stared at him.

Executioners.

He wasn't just banishing her.

He was ordering her death if she stayed past sunrise.

For a moment, the pain threatened to pull her back to the ground.

Then something inside her hardened.

She pushed herself to her feet, straightened her back, and met Kane's eyes.

“You will regret this, Kane.”

Her voice was quiet, but the courtyard was silent enough for everyone to hear.

“Every single word.”

Twenty minutes later, the pack elders burned the Silvercrest mark from her wrist with cold iron.

The smell of scorched skin filled the room.

Elena didn't cry.

She had only a few hours before sunrise, and she couldn't risk returning to her quarters. Kane had made his order clear. If anyone found her on pack territory after dawn, she would be treated as a rogue.

So she slipped away through the shadows and headed for the edge of the woods.

There, hidden between the trees, stood the small cottage belonging to Maren, the old pack healer.

Elena knocked once.

The door opened almost immediately.

“Damn it, Elena.”

Maren's eyes dropped to the raw wound on her wrist.

She grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her inside.

“I heard what happened. You need to leave before.....”

“Maren.”

Something in Elena's voice stopped her.

“Something is wrong.”

She placed a hand over her lower stomach.

During the rejection, she felt it.

Not just the bond breaking.

Something else.

A strange pulse beneath her own.

“When the bond snapped...” Elena swallowed. “I felt something inside me. A second current. A pulse.”

Maren's expression changed.

She didn't ask another question.

Instead, she hurried Elena toward the examination table and pressed her calloused fingers against Elena's abdomen.

“Lie down.”

Elena obeyed.

Maren closed her eyes, concentrating as she reached for the faint signals only a wolf's senses could detect.

The cottage fell silent.

One second passed.

Then another.

Elena watched Maren's face.

“What is it?”

Maren didn't answer.

Her fingers remained pressed against Elena's stomach.

Finally, she opened her eyes.

The color had disappeared from her face.

“Elena...”

“What?”

Maren's hands began to tremble.

“It isn't one pulse.”

Elena's breath caught.

Maren stared at her.

“There are three heartbeats inside you.”

For a moment, Elena couldn't understand the words.

Three?

Her hand moved instinctively over her stomach.

“That's not possible.”

“Triplets.”

Maren gripped Elena's shoulders.

“Pure, Alpha-blooded triplets.”

Elena stared at her.

The rejection.

The pain.

Kane's order.

None of it seemed real anymore.

Maren's voice dropped to a frightened whisper.

“If Kane or Priscilla find out you're carrying the true heirs to Silvercrest, they won't let you walk away.”

Elena's face went still.

“They'll kill you tonight to clear Priscilla's path.”

Maren released her shoulders and moved toward the door.

“You have to run, Elena.”

She looked back.

“Now.”