Knotting His Rejected Breeder

Aurora followed the wolves because she couldn’t stop herself. Every few steps, she tried to slow down or turn around, but each attempt was met with a terrifying pressure in her chest. It wasn’t pain exactly, but it felt like an invisible hand closing around her heart, correcting her whenever she moved in the wrong direction. The moment she resisted, the pressure tightened until her body obeyed, forcing her to keep walking.

Ahead of her, the wolves moved through the forest without making a sound. Their bodies were thicker and more heavily muscled than ordinary wolves, their shoulders broad beneath dark fur and their paws sinking into deep prints in the mud. Their eyes carried the same unnatural yellow glow that had taken over her own.

Aurora kept expecting them to attack, but they never did. Instead, they led her farther south.

The forest grew denser as they went, the trees standing so close together that their branches twisted overhead to block out most of the night sky. The darkness made it difficult to see the ground, and Aurora had to place each foot carefully.

Her ankle was swollen and throbbing. Every time she put too much weight on it, a sharp burst of heat shot up her leg. She gritted her teeth and kept moving until her injured foot slipped on a patch of wet leaves, causing her to stumble forward and catch herself against a rough tree trunk.

One of the wolves stopped, turning its head to stare at her.

"Don’t look at me like that," Aurora rasped, pushing herself upright. "Where are you taking me?"

The wolf only watched her for another moment before turning away to continue down the path.

Aurora stared after it, breathing hard. There was something deeply unsettling about the way they behaved. They weren’t attacking her, but they weren’t treating her like a prisoner either. They simply kept moving, certain that she would follow.

And somehow, she did.

A few minutes later, the trees began to thin. Aurora stepped between two thick trunks and stopped as a wide clearing stretched out before her.

At least twenty wolves occupied the space. Some stood among the trees, watching the surrounding forest as if guarding the clearing. Others remained closer to the center, their bodies tense and their yellow eyes fixed on Aurora.

A few were lying on the damp earth, barely moving, as dark veins pulsed beneath their fur in the same ugly pattern that had appeared beneath her own skin.

Her stomach turned.

They were all cursed.

For the first time since entering the forest, Aurora understood what she had been walking toward. This wasn’t a pack that had simply gathered in the woods. It was a refuge for wolves who had nowhere else to go.

Or a cage.

Aurora wasn’t sure which.

She took a careful step backward, expecting the agony to return, but nothing happened.

The pressure inside her chest that had been forcing her south suddenly eased.

Aurora froze and took another step.

Still nothing.

The invisible pull was gone, and for the first time since entering the forest, her body was no longer dragging her in a direction she hadn’t chosen.

Hope flickered through her, and she turned toward the path behind her, only to find a wolf already standing there.

It wasn’t snarling or baring its teeth. It simply stood between her and the trees.

Aurora’s shoulders tightened as she looked back at the clearing.

"What do you want?" she called out.

"Come closer."

The low voice came from somewhere among the trees, making Aurora stiffen.

A man stepped out from between the trunks. He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in dark clothing with his sleeves rolled past his elbows to reveal muscular forearms marked with old scars.

His hair was damp and fell loosely across his forehead. Unlike the other wolves, he showed no obvious signs of pain. His face was calm, but his eyes betrayed him, burning with the same unnatural yellow glow.

Aurora stared at him.

"You."

"You can speak," he said, stopping several feet away.

"It hurts." She swallowed hard before continuing. "To talk."

"I know."

His eyes moved over her carefully, taking in the swelling around her ankle, the dark veins creeping beneath her skin, and the tension in her posture.

Aurora looked past him at the silent wolves.

"Are you the one calling me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you were already listening."

"I wasn’t," she said, shaking her head.

"You were."

He took another step toward her.

"You fought the pull, but that was expected. Most of them did."

Aurora glanced around the clearing.

"Who are they?"

"Survivors of the bite."

"And the rest?"

His gaze shifted toward the dark treeline.

"Didn’t survive."

Aurora swallowed as the words settled heavily in her stomach.

She looked at the wolves again. Some were still strong enough to stand, while others were curled against the ground, their bodies trembling beneath their fur. None of them looked free. They looked trapped inside themselves.

"What do you want from me?"

The Alpha looked back at her.

"I want you to stop pretending you don’t know."

"I don’t know anything."

A faint, hollow smile touched his lips.

"You hated Destiny."

Aurora’s jaw tightened as the curse stirred inside her chest, subtle at first, like a second heartbeat beneath her ribs.

"You hated her before you were bitten," he continued. "You hated what she had with Dane. You hated the way everyone looked at her, the way she seemed to have everything you wanted without having to fight for it."

"Stop."

"You wanted what was hers. When you couldn’t have it, you wanted to break it."

"Shut up."

"You came to BloodMoon and targeted her parents. You tried to turn Dane against her. You kept pushing until you made enemies out of people who had done nothing to you."

Aurora’s fingers curled into fists.

"Shut up!"

The Alpha’s faint smile disappeared.

"When Hollow Death reached you, I felt your anger. I felt how badly you wanted to see her suffer."

Aurora’s breathing became heavier.

"That is why I called you."

"I didn’t come here because of her," Aurora said, her voice shaking. "I came because I was pulled."

"That pull was only the echo."

He glanced at the black veins creeping farther across her wrists.

"The curse doesn’t create feelings that aren’t already there. It finds what is inside a person and feeds on it. Anger. Hatred. Fear. Desperation. Whatever it finds, it strengthens."

Aurora stared at him.

"What are you?"

"The Alpha."

"Of what?"

She looked around the clearing.

"A pack of broken monsters?"

The man’s expression hardened.

"A pack of wolves with nothing left to lose."

He crouched beside one of the wounded wolves and gently ran a hand along its side.

"Some were soldiers. Some were hunters. Some were Alphas betrayed by their own blood. They came here after their packs turned against them."

His fingers paused over the wolf’s darkened veins.

"The curse gave them strength, but it took something far more important."

"What?"

"Their choice."