Knotting His Rejected Breeder

The wolves emerged in a wide hunting arc between the trees, their shoulders tense and ready to spring. Destiny tightened her grip around the Heartstone, her blood slicking its smooth surface until a dark, pulsing red radiance spilled through her fingers. The surrounding pack hissed, several beasts slinking backward into the underbrush, their eyes gleaming not with raw animal instinct, but with an eerie, tortured human consciousness.

Only the large, matted wolf at the front stood its ground.

It staggered into the clearing, its paws slipping slightly in the mud. Its yellow eyes were wide with agony as it stared at Destiny’s bleeding palm. Its lips pulled back from its teeth, but there was no growl. The sound that escaped its throat was closer to a low, broken whimper.

"Keep your guard up," Kaelen muttered, angling his blade to keep three flanking wolves at bay. "They’re circling us, not retreating."

"They’re trapped in their own heads," Dane said, his claw extended. His eyes moved from one wolf to another. "Look at their eyes."

Destiny swallowed.

She had seen cursed wolves before. She had seen what Hollow Death could do to them. But there was something different about these creatures now. They were watching her. Not simply watching the Heartstone, but watching her as though some part of the person trapped inside their twisted bodies understood exactly what stood between them and whatever came next.

The lead wolf let out a wet, rattling breath and collapsed onto its side.

A sickening snap echoed through the clearing as its spine bowed violently. Before Destiny’s eyes, the fur along its shoulder tore apart to reveal pale, bruised human skin underneath. Its front paw contorted, human fingers bursting through the skin only to buckle as the bones reshaped themselves in a gruesome, unfinished loop.

Destiny froze.

The creature wasn’t just shifting. It was tearing itself apart from the inside out.

"Help..." a raspy, human voice choked out from the monster’s unhinged jaw.

Her heart lurched.

Destiny took a step forward, but Dane caught her shoulder.

"Don’t."

"He’s still conscious."

"And he’s dying."

The surrounding pack whimpered in the shadows, torn between the agony of their dying packmate and the searing light of the Heartstone. Several wolves paced restlessly, their claws digging into the wet earth. One lifted its head and sniffed the air before immediately recoiling from the red glow.

The dying wolf dragged one human hand through the mud.

"The blood..." it gasped.

Its fingers trembled as it tried to reach toward Destiny.

"Red light... wakes the affliction..."

Destiny stared at the Heartstone.

The glow beneath her fingers pulsed once.

The wolf screamed.

Its chest heaved violently, its ribs pushing outward beneath its matted fur before the entire ribcage caved inward with a sickening crunch. The yellow eyes rolled back, and the creature went entirely limp.

Blood pooled from its snout.

Then the dark magic inside it seemed to collapse in on itself, leaving nothing but a mangled body lying in the mud.

Silence fell over the ridge, heavy and suffocating.

Destiny slowly lowered her hand.

"What did it mean?" she whispered.

Kaelen stared down at the corpse. His face had gone pale, and the hand holding his blade had loosened.

"It didn’t survive the shift," he said quietly. "Destiny, your stone did that to it."

"Not the stone," Dane corrected.

His voice was tight, and his gaze remained fixed on the dark treeline. His clawed hand slowly relaxed as the faint aura around his skin faded.

"The blood. It triggered the curse."

Destiny looked down at her palm.

Blood continued to run from the cut and disappear across the Heartstone’s surface.

For a moment, she could almost feel something beneath it.

Not a voice.

Not a thought.

Something more like a pulse.

She closed her fingers around the stone.

Before she could make sense of the sensation, the remaining wolves let out a collective, sorrowful howl that vibrated through the mud beneath their boots.

They didn’t attack.

Instead, the entire pack turned in unison.

They bounded over the dead beast and surged down the muddy ridge toward the lowlands, branches snapping behind them as they disappeared between the trees.

"They aren’t attacking us," Destiny realized.

She took a cautious step toward the edge of the incline.

The pale red light from the Heartstone flickered, casting long shadows across the torn earth. Fresh paw prints covered the muddy slope, but mixed among them were other impressions.

Bare human feet.

They were dragged heavily through the mud, overlapping with every stride the wolves had taken.

Destiny crouched to get a better look.

The footprints continued down the ridge.

"What the hell..." Kaelen murmured.

Destiny barely heard him.

Something cold moved through her stomach.

The wolves had not simply run away.

They had been going somewhere.

"Destiny."

The voice filled her head, sharp and echoing against her temples.

She startled and nearly lost her stance.

"What’s wrong?"

Dane.

His voice sounded close, but his mouth hadn’t moved.

Destiny shook her head, trying to clear the sudden pressure behind her eyes. The ringing grew louder for a moment before abruptly fading.

"I’m fine," she said.

Dane frowned.

She opened her mouth to explain, but violent movements crashed through the dense underbrush to their left.

Kaelen instantly shifted his stance, bringing his blade up. Dane’s claws extended again. Branches snapped. Leaves shook violently. Then the branches parted, and the tension broke.

Destiny’s breath caught.

Her father stood against the dark backdrop of the woods.

Marcus was whole. For one heartbeat, Destiny simply stared at him. Then she ran.

"Dad!"

She threw her arms around him, burying her face against his shoulder. Marcus caught her immediately, one heavy hand coming around her back while the other cupped the back of her neck.

He held her tightly.

For the first time since the fighting had begun, the tension in Destiny’s body loosened.

Marcus exhaled against her hair. He pulled back just enough to look at her face, his eyes moving over her as though checking for injuries.

"You look terrible."

A weak laugh escaped her.

"So do you."

"That’s because I had a worse day."

The familiar dryness in his voice made something in her chest ease.

Behind them, Helena stepped out from the trees.

"Shit, it seems you guys had all the fun."

She glanced around the clearing before her eyes settled on the naked man lying dead in the mud. She didn’t flinch, but her expression hardened as she studied the body with cold, practiced scrutiny.

Henrik emerged behind her.

"Is that one of the cursed wolves?"

He sounded genuinely startled as he rested a hand heavily on the hilt of his broadsword, staring at the half-human corpse.

"Yeah," Dane said. "The Heartstone and Destiny’s blood did that."

He said it mildly, almost casually.

Something flared hot and sharp behind Destiny’s ribs.

She turned toward him.

The words had barely left his mouth, but they landed harder than they should have.

"You know what?"

Dane looked at her.

Destiny stepped away from her father and faced him squarely.

The distance between them vanished so quickly that Dane recoiled. His shoulders tensed as he instinctively took a half-step back.

"I’m sick and tired of you making snarky comments at me. If you’re starting to regret meeting me, just say so."

The woods went quiet.

"Destiny, what?" he stammered. His posture stiffened, his hands twitching at his sides. The effortless composure he usually carried was gone. "Where is this coming from?"

"All you do is complain about how bad things have gotten since I arrived!"

Her voice rose, sharp and cracking with a volatile edge that didn’t entirely feel like her own.

Dane’s expression shifted.

"That’s not what I’m doing."

"It is!"

Destiny’s chest heaved. The red glow of the Heartstone against her chest pulsed faintly in rhythm with her rapid heartbeat.

"Every time something goes wrong, you throw it back in my face. You don’t care about me like you used to!"

"That’s not true."

Dane stepped toward her, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and defensiveness.

He reached a hand out toward her.

"You know that’s not what I meant, Destiny. I’m trying to figure out what we’re dealing with."

Destiny’s jaw tightened. She pushed past him, her shoulder shoving forcefully against his chest as she brushed him aside.

"Destiny."

She didn’t stop.

Marcus caught up to her easily, his long strides carrying him through the brush as he matched her pace.

"What’s gotten into you, Destiny?"

His voice was low and stern, but there was deep paternal concern beneath it.

She kept walking.

Marcus watched her for several seconds before reaching out and grabbing her upper arm firmly enough to force her to slow down.

"You don’t seem like yourself."

Destiny stopped.

"That wasn’t just anger back there."

She wrenched her arm out of his grip. Her hands were trembling.

"Talk to me. Just give me some space. I need to be left alone."

"I’m fine."