The Alpha Rejected Me-Now I Rule the Underworld

The moon sat high and silver above the Midnight Howl Pack lands, shining down upon the assembled throng surrounding the ceremonial circle in a blessed glow. It should have been the most joyful moment of my life-the day of my eighteenth birthday, the day when I would be told about my destined mate.

Pressure in my chest counselled otherwise. My wolf, Solara, struggled fitfully within my breast.

Something's not right, she breathed softly, voice trembling.

I was in the center of the stone circle, heart pounding, members of the pack in their beautifully ceremonial robes encircling me. They were gathered in a tight semicircle around me, their watchful eyes with a dim moonlit sheen. At the front of the gathering was Alpha Ronan Nightshade-the strongest alpha of the eastern realms. He was tall, his black hair tousled in the wind, his body honed as if carved out of stone. His frigid gray eyes fixed on mine, but there was no warmth in them tonight.

None.

He was my mate.

The moment our eyes locked, the pull was unavoidable-a magnetic current coursing through every fiber of my being. My breath caught. My vertebrae vibrated. Even the Moonstone on the altar pulsed with silvery light.

The whole pack gasped as one.

"The bond has chosen," Elder Marcus declared, advancing a step. "Lilith Blackthorn, you are mated to Alpha Ronan."

Joy, relief, and shock washed over me like a wave. I moved forward, prepared to offer my neck in submission to the man I'd loved since childhood.

But Ronan's face curled into a cold, cruel grin.

"I reject you."

The words hurt more than any blade. Silence erupted into chaos. Whispers. Gasps. Wide-eyed stares between him and me.

I blinked. "What?"

"I said," he snarled harder, moving toward me, "I, Ronan Nightshade, Midnight Howl Pack Alpha, reject you, Lilith Blackthorn, as my mate."

Sorrow burst through my heart like fire. The bond of mating shattered with a scream that could only be muffled by myself. My knees gave way, and I put a hand on my heart as if I might sew the rent closed. Solara wailed in despair in me.

No. no, this isn't right-

Ronan's expression did not change. "You're weak. Your wolf is weak. And you bear the mark of death."

The onlookers shuddered as my cloak slipped off, revealing the crescent-shaped birthmark that disfigured my shoulder like a splatter of blood on the snow. A tainted mark, the elders had insinuated.

Elder Marcus stepped in, frowning. "Alpha, this is most irregular-

"I will not be bound to a cursed mate," Ronan growled. "Let the Moon Goddess choose anew."

His statement cracked the air like thunder. My parents never moved forward. No one came to my side.

I alone stood in a circle of wolves who once looked at me as family.

Spiritual leader of the pack Elder Yara spoke up. "Lilith, do you accept this denial?"

"I-" My voice shook. My heart screamed no, but my pride. my pride would not permit me to beg.

"I accept," I said, my voice hollow.

The moment the words were on my lips, I felt the breaking finished. The hot, sacred tie between Ronan and me melted away to dust.

He turned his back on me without so much as a glance. "Let's continue. My Luna will be chosen among the worthy."

My sister Camellia moved forward, her golden curls bouncing, her lips curving into a disgustingly sweet smile.

"I accept your challenge, Alpha."

The crowd cheered. My world shattered.

The Moon Goddess did not slay them. She was quiet. And so were the heavens.

---

I do not remember how I walked back to the forest. My feet were bleeding. My dress was ripped. My wolf was silent.

I stumbled at the edge of the Deadlands-a region no wolf would tread. Black wind howled, its secrets uttered in a language older than time itself. No sun touched this land. The earth was as cold as bone.

"This is it," I breathed. "This is where I disappear."

But when my blood splattered onto the ground, something awakened beneath me.

The earth trembled.

A voice-deep, ancient, not human-roared in the darkness.

You are nothing, Lilith Blackthorn. You are ours now.

The darkness of the earth convulsed outward from the ground, engulfing my shattered form. My eyes cycled backward in their sockets as energy that wasn't even comparable to what I'd previously experienced flooded through me-energy tempered with night and death.

And I did not scream.

I smiled.

---

Flashback: Before the Ceremony

"Do you think he'll be your mate?" Camellia's honey-sweet voice wrapped around me as she twirled a curl of her hair in the mirror. "I mean, Ronan is the Alpha. And you're... well, you."

I'd tightened my smile, not able to respond. She'd always had a way of cutting with honey. Always. I was the shadow to her light.

But in secret, I had hoped. Hoped Ronan would be mine. Because the stars would ever whisper so. Because the way he'd once looked at me-that fleeting perfect stare while training runs, hunts, cold winter nights of quiet-had been different. Real.

Or so I lied.

---

Later: The Fight with My Parents

"You embarrassed us," my dad growled, voice rumbling behind closed doors.

"I didn't want to," I grumbled.

"You ought to have refused him first," my mother cursed. "Then at least you'd have some dignity."

"I'm your daughter!" I howled.

"You're a stain," my father said coldly. "You brought shame to our name. From tonight, you are no longer a Blackthorn."

---

Chased into the Deadlands

I ran. Trees blurred past me as guards chased me on the Alpha's orders.

"Stop her!" one growled. "She's heading for the Deadlands!"

I didn't stop. I couldn't. Every breath hurt. Every heartbeat thundered in my ears like war drums.

They trailed behind me to the edge, but the moment I crossed the line, they stopped. Whined. Cowards.

"Let her go," one ordered. "She's worth nothing alive."

And then I was alone.

---

The Myth of the Deadlands

Legends spoke of a queen who lay buried beneath this soil. A queen who defied the Moon Goddess and chose darkness over slavery. Her name was lost, but her memory remained in fear.

It was her voice that I heard. It was her power that infused me.

I fell into a trance, and in my vision, I stood before a black throne carved out of obsidian, with souls dancing around me. A woman sat on the throne, her face hidden behind a veil of stars.

"You have been broken," she said, "but you are not shattered."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am what you could become."

---

The Rebirth

I woke up at dawn, but the sky above me was still covered in night.

My fingers crackled with black energy. My wounds had healed. My senses were sharper.

And in the water's reflection, I no longer saw a girl.

I saw a queen.

---

Far from the edge of the forest, Ronan stood in his own bedroom, staring into the ritual flames. His wolf shifted uncomfortably inside him. He rubbed at his chest as if something had been torn away-and for the first time since the rejection, doubt flickered in his eyes.

But too late already.

The girl he threw away wouldn't return.

The woman she became. would return to burn his world to ashes.