From Rejected Mate to Three Alphas’ Claim

Thalia's POV

There was blood everywhere, engulfed by flames, and the howls of dying wolves.

I rushed through the choking smoke, my chest heaving and my lungs burning badly as my shoes stepped over something that made a crunching sound. I kept my eyes straight ahead, refusing to look down.

Please, Moon Goddess, let it just be a branch and not one of the severed limbs of the dead wolves.

But I could already feel the warm, sticky mess clinging to my sole, and my stomach twisted. I swallowed hard and kept running. 

Then I saw him. 

“Adonis!”

An agonizing scream ripped from my throat as my eyes caught his limp form on the blood-stained ground. He was lying lifelessly, his beautiful, sun-kissed skin going paler and paler by the second.

The man I loved, my fated mate, was dying.

I sprinted forward, ignoring the roaring fire around me, desperate to reach his side. But before I could close the distance, a rogue wolf slammed into my side. Its claws shredded through my dress, tearing deep into my flesh. I was thrown aside like a discarded doll, my back connecting with the trunk of an oak tree.

Pain exploded through me, my vision swam, and in my daze, I watched the giant wolf stalk towards me, drool dripping from its jaws.

Before I could reach for my wolf to force a shift, a blur of thick fur collided with my attacker. The other wolf tackled it away, sending them both rolling into the smoke.

I didn’t waste a single second. I crawled through the blood-soaked mud on my hands and knees, completely ignoring the pain in my side, dragging myself to Adonis as I collapsed on his chest.

“Oh, no,” I sobbed, tears running down my face, “What did they do to you?”

He couldn't answer. He just let out a choked groan as I frantically pressed my trembling hands across his chest, searching for the source of the bleeding. My breath caught when my hand suddenly sank. This drew another round of extremely painful grunts from him, because right in the center of his chest was a stab wound so deep that my fingers had slipped inside.

Fresh tears spilled over my cheeks as I stared in horror at his chest. Beneath my blood-soaked fingers, I could feel the faint pulse of his wolf slipping away while Adonis died alongside it.

I couldn't let him die. Not my Adonis. 

Through the panic, a memory flashed in my mind as I recalled the old dusty text I definitely shouldn't have been reading in the nun's private libraries during my travels, full of horrible, forbidden things.

The forbidden blood ritual. 

It was strictly prohibited and frowned upon by the Elders, carrying a deadly consequence. I had no idea what that price could be, but I would pay anything to bring him back to life.

Without a manual to guide me, I just let my raw instinct take control. I dragged my bloodied palms over his chest and began chanting ancient words that felt foreign on my tongue. 

It didn't feel like a beautiful healing ritual with magical lights swirling around me like I thought it would. Instead, it felt like someone had dropped an anchor into my chest and hooked it into my wolf, ripping her out by the roots.

“W—what’s happening?” I gasped at the heart-wrenching pain as my wolf shrieked. Invisible hooks sank deep into her, tearing her from my core and forcefully pouring her essence into Adonis’s dying soul.  

The pain was so blinding that I let out a deafening scream until my voice cracked, the world tilted, and I hit the floor, my breath coming in shallow gasps before the darkness swallowed me whole.

When I finally woke up, the first thing I noticed was that the fire had died down, and the second was that Adonis was no longer on the ground.

What happened? Where was he?

I tried to sit up only to realize I wasn't alone. The air grew heavy, making it feel like I was trying to breathe underwater. Pushing my tangled hair out of my face, I swallowed the lump in my throat as the dark shapes closed in. 

These were Alpha wolves. They watched me with cold, tracking eyes, looking down at me like I was a confusing bug they were deciding whether or not to squish.

This couldn’t be happening.

I instinctively reached for my wolf. I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying to force myself to feel something, anything, but there was nothing there… just total emptiness.

What? No, please, Goddess, no… My breath caught in my throat as my mind started racing.

That's when the reality of what I'd done finally crashed over me. 

My wolf was the price I paid to save Adonis… and now I was defenseless.

I scrambled backward, my hands patting the scorched ground, searching blindly for a weapon, anything to defend myself. 

Then my fingers brushed against something solid. I grabbed it, holding it up with trembling arms.

It was a broken tree branch.

“Stay back!” I shrieked, waving the stick blindly in front of me, “I'm warning you!”

The wolves didn’t even flinch. It was laughable. I was threatening feral monsters with a piece of dead wood.

One of the wolves let out a deafening growl and lunged at me.

I threw myself to the side, tumbling hard on the ground as the pain in my side tripled. Massive jaws snapped shut next to my ear. For one horrifying second, I thought I’d lost an arm, but instead the wolf had clamped its teeth around the tree branch, ripping it from my grip and splintering it into toothpicks.

I dragged myself backward, but the wolves closed the gap, surrounding me. My chest seized. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prepared for the end, bracing for their teeth to tear into my flesh.

Then, I heard it.

It started deep in the ground, vibrating right through my bones. It was a sound deeper and louder than any Alpha roar I had ever heard. 

The wolves whimpered, cowering as they backed away, parting like the Red Sea to reveal a huge, battle-scarred wolf stepping forward. The wolf moved with a speed so shocking, the forest exploded into snarls and tearing of flesh as it tore my attackers apart.

I buried my face in my knees, pressing my bloody palms over my ears, trembling so badly I thought my ribs might crack.

And then, just as the chaos started, it ended.

The silence returned, broken only by the faint whimpering of the remaining wolves on the ground as I slowly lowered my hands and peeked through my hair. 

I froze, waiting for him to turn on me and finish the job. But the massive wolf just stared...

Before I could even blink, he turned and vanished into the pitch-black forest.

×××

“I still can’t believe that was two years ago,” I muttered, fighting with my stubborn curls in the mirror.

In the reflection behind me, Eris battled with the zipper of her dress. She had been unusually quiet tonight.

It had been two years since that horrific night. Everyone believed Adonis had saved me that night, but something had never felt right. His wolf didn’t match the huge, scarred beast that had protected me. And if it really had been him, why would he save my life only to run away into the woods?

I shook my head, pushing the memories aside, and turned around to face my best friend, forcing an uncertain smile to my face.

“But… do you think he loves me, Eris?”

Eris froze mid-struggle and stared at me like I had just asked her if water was wet. “Why on earth would you ask such a dumb question?” She scoffed, finally abandoning the zipper to look at me properly. “Thalia, of course, Adonis loves you. You two are fated mates, for goodness' sake.”

A wave of heat rushed to my cheeks. I looked down at my shoes, biting my lip. 

Fated mates…

Even now, it still sounds like something out of a cheesy romance novel. 

“I know,” I muttered, my voice barely audible. “But will he actually want a broken mate? I mean, if we’re being realistic here… he has so many other options for a befitting Luna. Women who can actually, you know, shift, grow fur and protect the borders... Not someone like me.”

Eris let out a dramatic sigh, marched across the room, and grabbed me by the shoulders before spinning me back around to face the mirror.

“Look at yourself,” she demanded, “Your beauty is honestly offensive, Thalia. If I had your face, I’d be insufferable. And let’s not even start on that massive heart of yours. You literally performed a forbidden blood ritual and sacrificed your own wolf just to keep him breathing. Adonis will be on his knees thanking the Moon Goddess for having you as his Luna.”

I couldn't help but chuckle. “I guess…” 

Maybe she was right. But a faint knot of unease still twisted in my stomach.

In exactly two days, Adonis would be crowned Alpha, and I would take my place beside him. After everything I had sacrificed, this was supposed to be our happily ever after.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, letting myself feel a tiny spark of hope. 

Right then, my door opened, and my heart did a familiar flip-flop as Adonis stepped into the room. He smiled, wrapping his strong arms around me from behind.

I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply, expecting the comforting scent of woodsmoke and amber that I loved so much.

But beneath his usual scent, my nose caught something else: a faint, lingering trace of black rose and jasmine.

It was Eris’s favorite perfume.