I Reject You, Alpha

"Stop the trial. His bones are vibrating too fast." I grabbed Damian’s arm, my fingers digging deep into his thick leather jacket. "My healing magic is screaming at me. He’s not ready for the shift."

The howling blizzard outside the Silverpine pass battered the windows of the Pack Hall, but the silence inside felt far colder.

"He is ten years old, Evie," Chief Elder Gideon Crowe snapped, stepping out of the shadows of the council chamber. "The lunar eclipse is tonight. The Blackwood bloodline must prove its strength to the Council. Or are you trying to weaken the future Alpha with a mother's love?"

"I am trying to keep my son alive," I shot back, turning my glare directly to my husband. "Damian, you know I’m never wrong about this. The Moon Wolf blood in him is fighting the Alpha strain. Delay the trial."

Damian pulled his arm from my grip. His jaw tightened, but his eyes remained hard.

"The Council has spoken," Damian said, his voice carrying the heavy, uncompromising authority of the Alpha. "Look at the big picture, Evie. A leader does not hide his heir because of a minor risk."

"A minor risk?" I demanded, my voice echoing off the stone walls. "He could tear himself apart!"

"Enough." Damian pointed toward the heavy oak doors. "The pack is waiting at the moonstone cave. We are leaving."

I swallowed the metallic taste of fear in my mouth. My own mate, the man who knew my instincts were flawless, chose his pride over our son’s safety.

We marched through the biting snow. The brutal cold bit into my skin, but the dread twisting in my stomach burned worse. At the entrance of the cave, the pack gathered in a wide, expectant circle.

"Come here, Lucas," I called out, reaching out for my ten-year-old son. "I’ll walk in with you. I can anchor your energy."

Lucas stood rigid in the snow. He didn't look at me. Instead, he turned his head toward the border guards standing to his right.

"Vanessa," Lucas said, his high voice cutting sharply through the wind. "Walk with me."

Vanessa Reed stepped forward. She favored her left leg slightly, a fresh bandage wrapped around her thigh from a recent border skirmish. She shot me a quick, triumphant glance before resting a hand on Lucas’s shoulder.

"Are you sure, little Alpha?" the training officer asked, a smirk playing on his lips as he eyed me.

"Yes," Lucas said loudly. He finally looked at me, his young eyes hardened by the toxic lessons of the elders. "Maybe I need a stronger Luna, not a mother who cries over everything."

The wind seemed to stop. The silence from the surrounding wolves hit me like a physical blow. No one corrected him. No one defended me.

I stared at Damian, waiting for him to discipline our son. He merely frowned.

"Focus on your trial, Lucas," Damian said.

Not a word about the disrespect. Not a single demand for an apology.

"Let's go," Vanessa murmured to the boy, guiding him into the dark mouth of the cave.

I stood frozen on the icy stone steps. The elders immediately formed a barricade across the entrance. I was locked out.

Ten minutes later, the first scream tore through the night.

It wasn't a normal shifting howl. It was a sound of pure, agonizing tearing.

"Lucas!" I lunged forward.

"Hold the line!" Gideon barked. Two large enforcers blocked my path, shoving their shoulders together.

"Move!" I screamed. "The bloodlines are rejecting each other! He’s dying!"

Another shriek echoed from the cavern, higher and more desperate than the last.

I didn't wait for permission. I let my silver magic flare, blasting the two enforcers backward into the snow. I sprinted into the darkness.

Inside, the air crackled with violent, unstable energy. Lucas lay on the cavern floor, his body twisting unnaturally. Half of his skin rippled with black fur, while the other half glowed with a sickening, chaotic silver light.

"Mom!" he sobbed, his voice breaking as his spine arched backward.

I dropped to my knees beside him. I didn't think. I just acted. I slammed my hands against his chest, forcing my pure Moon Wolf energy directly into his violently shifting core.

"I'm here," I said, my teeth grinding together. "Give it all to me."

The rejected energy ripped into my veins like shattered glass. I absorbed the lethal conflict of his bloodlines, pulling the destruction away from his fragile organs and locking it entirely into my own. The agony was instantaneous.

"Push it out, Lucas!" I yelled over the roar of the magic. "Shift!"

A blinding flash of light erupted.

When my vision cleared, a small black wolf with a perfect silver patch on his chest stood trembling on the stone floor. Lucas was safe.

My vision tilted violently. Hot liquid poured from my nose, my ears, my eyes. I collapsed backward onto the freezing ground. Blood pooled beneath my head, melting the frost on the stone.

Footsteps rushed into the cave.

"He shifted!" someone yelled. "A perfect Alpha form!"

"The Blackwood line is secure!"

I lay in the shadows, my limbs entirely numb. I watched through a haze of red as Damian scooped up the small black wolf, holding him high. The pack erupted into deafening cheers.

Vanessa stepped up right beside Damian. He took off his heavy winter coat and draped it over her shoulders to ward off the chill.

They looked like a family.

"Alpha," a quiet voice finally broke through the celebration. "The Luna."

Damian turned his head. His eyes widened slightly as he finally noticed me lying in a puddle of my own blood at the base of the steps.

The world faded to black.

The jarring motion of a moving vehicle woke me. The sterile smell of medical supplies filled my nose. I was in the back of the pack ambulance.

"I can't believe she ruined my victory ceremony," Lucas’s voice complained from the front seat.

"Your mother always makes things overly dramatic," Damian replied, his tone as cold as the ice outside. "She couldn't just let you have your moment."

I kept my eyes closed. I didn't defend myself. I didn't cry.

I simply curled my fingers inward, gripping the silver moon crest in my pocket. The cold metal dug into my palm, the only tangible proof of my rank left in this pack.

"Alpha," the pack doctor whispered, kneeling beside my stretcher. His hands shook as he ran a glowing diagnostic scanner over my chest.

"What is it, Doctor?" Damian asked, sounding more annoyed than concerned.

The doctor’s face drained of all color. He stared at the readout, then looked down at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"She didn't just take a normal backlash, Alpha," the doctor stammered, his voice trembling as he looked back at Damian. "Her wolf... her wolf is disappearing."