Knotting His Rejected Breeder

The midnight air was cold enough to bleed through Destiny’s heavy coat, thick with the smell of pine trees, river, and the metallic stench of fresh blood.

High above the forest, the rising moon broke through the cloud cover, lighting up the valley in a harsh silver glow. To ordinary eyes, the shadows in the ravines and thickets were pitch black, but to Destiny’s lupine vision, the night was clear as day. Every snapped branch, every crushed patch of grass, and every dark, wet smear Aurora had left in the mud showed up with sharp clarity.

And yet, despite their sight, the trail had vanished mysteriously moments ago.

They had halted at South River Bridge, an old, low granite arch covered in moss that spanned the BloodMoon River. Down in the ravine, the water churned wildly against jagged rocks, its continuous roar drowning out almost every other sound along the bank.

Destiny leaned her hip against the damp stone wall of the bridge, her legs trembling from the long, exhausting trek down through the woods. She stayed glued to Dane’s side. Every few seconds, her arm pressed against her coat, reassuring her that the Heartstone was still there.

Beside her, Dane stood with his arms tightly crossed over his chest, his breathing slow and measured. He flared his nostrils, trying to catch a scent in the freezing wind, but his brow only furrowed deeper with every empty breath. The long scratch running down his jaw had healed leaving dried blood.

Henrik crouched on a rotting wooden post at the bridge’s entrance, his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes fixed on the white water below. A few feet away, Helena methodically scraped the thick river mud off the heels of her boots with a flat pebble.

Destiny shifted her weight, feeling the damp chill of the stone seep through her trousers.

"Where could she have gone?"

The roar of the river swallowed half her words, forcing her to raise her voice. She turned to look at Dane’s sharp profile.

"Dane... do you remember anything from the moment you were bitten?"

Dane didn’t answer right away. His eyes remained locked on the dark wall of pine trees across the river.

"No," he finally said, his voice raspy and devoid of emotion. "I know something happened to me when I got bit. I know I was on my knees in the dirt. But the rest... it’s just gray."

"Did it feel like you were being forced to run?" Destiny pressed, stepping closer until her arm brushed his elbow. "It doesn’t make sense, Dane. She broke her iron chains. She smashed her way through the gallery. But she didn’t try to bite anyone else. She didn’t try to tear Ramon’s throat out when he was down. She just... ran."

Dane’s jaw tightened. "I don’t remember what I was feeling."

"Maybe she just wanted to get away knowing she was outnumbered," Helena called out from behind them, tossing her pebble into the bushes with a faint splash. She wiped her hands on her tunic. "Or maybe she realized what she was turning into and panicked. If I felt that curse crawling under my skin, I’d run too."

"This is Aurora we’re talking about," Destiny said, turning to face Helena. She refused to accept such an easy explanation. "When has she ever run from a fight? She’s too proud. Too arrogant. If she had even an ounce of strength left, she would have tried to rip my head off before leaving the estate."

Dane turned his head slowly toward Destiny, his eyes catching the moonlight.

"What are you thinking?"

Destiny looked down at her hand, which was resting over the Heartstone in her pocket.

"She wasn’t running away from us," Destiny said slowly, working through the thought as she spoke it aloud. "She was running toward something."

The wind shifted, spraying a fine mist of freezing river water over the bridge wall.

Henrik raised his head, his ears twitching. "Toward what? She doesn’t know these woods."

"She doesn’t need to," Destiny answered, looking back at Dane. "What if these cursed wolves aren’t just wild beasts wandering around aimlessly? What if there’s an Alpha who can call to them? What if something... or someone... summoned her?"

A heavy, tense silence settled over them, broken only by the endless rush of the river below.

Henrik exhaled a cloud of white steam into the moonlight.

"An Alpha’s call? From miles away? Yeah I suppose that could work."

"It would explain why she didn’t stop to finish off Blane," Dane said softly as the pieces clicked into place. His face hardened as he stared back down the southern road. "The wolfsbane poison weakened her, but the Alpha’s call was stronger. The curse didn’t just give her the strength to break iron. It pulled her like a leash."

"Then she isn’t lost," Destiny whispered, a cold knot forming in her stomach. "She’s going to join a pack."

"Or an army," Henrik added grimly.

"Well," Dane said, his voice growing stern as he pointed back up toward the high ridge, where the dark outline of the manor stood against the sky. "Lucky for her, she has a powerful father. King Vance commands the largest army in the Northern Territories. As soon as he learns his daughter was turned into a cursed wolf, he’ll tear this entire valley apart until he finds her."

"Assuming he doesn’t blame us for letting her escape first," Helena muttered.

Heavy, uneven footsteps crunched on the gravel path behind them.

Ramon, Sonia, Ivy, and Blane emerged from the shadows near the ruined tollhouse that was a collapsed heap of stone covered in dead vines.

Ramon stopped at the start of the bridge. Out of breath, he looked at Dane, then at the empty road ahead.

"We came up with nothing," Ramon said plainly. "No tracks, and the wind is blowing away from us. The search was futile. We didn’t even find other cursed wolves."

Dane didn’t move.

"Then we wait until dawn."

"Wait?" Ramon’s voice cracked, a sudden wave of panic breaking through his usual stern demeanor. He took two steps forward, waving his bloody hand toward the valley behind them. "Wait for what, Dane? She’s out there in the dark, out of her mind, driven by a curse we don’t understand! She might be heading straight for the farming villages along the river for all we know!"

"We can’t follow a scent we can’t catch, Alpha Ramon," Henrik said calmly from his perch on the wooden post. "Heading six miles deep—"

"There are three hundred civilians in that valley!" Ramon snapped, rounding on Henrik. "Farmers! Shopkeepers! They don’t have silver weapons or stone fortresses. They aren’t trained fighters. If that monstrosity hits a farm or a village square even at sunrise, it will be a bloodbath!"

"Then we’ll ride out at first light to warn them—" Helena began.

"First light will be too late!" Ramon cut her off.

His breath puffed in thick white clouds in the freezing air. He stared at Dane, his eyes wide and bloodshot from pain and exhaustion.

"You... You didn’t feel her strength like I did, son. She ripped a four-inch iron bolt right out of a stone wall with her bare hands! She threw me fifteen feet like I was a sack of grain! If she reaches South River Village..." He swallowed hard, his jaw trembling. "Who’s going to stop her? The local guards? A farmer with a pitchfork? We need to blow the border warning horns now. We need to lock down the entire territory and send in some of our best men for their security."