The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 113

The heavy oak doors of Alpha Darius’s office shut behind him, and the echo rolled down the corridor like a gavel striking final judgment.

The sound lingered — deep, resonant — sealing Michael in silence that felt almost alive. The air thickened around him, heavy with dominance, shame, and the raw aftertaste of power that wasn’t his.

Silence swallowed the hall. Heavy. Condemning.

Michael stood frozen, shoulders stiff, chest rising and falling in shallow bursts. His fingers still tingled where Darius had grabbed him — that brief, humiliating contact still burned into his skin. His breath trembled, caught somewhere between a growl and a gasp.

Inside him, his wolf prowled.

We were humiliated, it snarled, pacing the walls of his mind. He touched us. He threatened us. He disrespected us.

Michael clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth ached. “No,” he murmured, voice low and unsteady. “He protected what’s his.”

The words left a metallic taste in his mouth, harsh and bitter.

His wolf growled deep within, claws raking across his soul. *He calls Nathan his. Our pup. Our blood. Flesh of our flesh. The Goddess did not give him to Darius.*

Michael’s eyes closed, and behind his eyelids, memories bloomed—painful, tender, relentless.

Nathan’s face.

Dark hair, bright eyes, Elaine’s nose.

A reflection of himself, and of her.

A piece of him.

A piece he never got to hold.

*We should have fought,* the wolf said, voice breaking—not with rage this time, but with a grief so profound it shook him to his core.

Michael swallowed hard. “We were Alpha-ordered,” he whispered, the words fragile and pitiful in the empty corridor—excuses too brittle to bear the weight of truth.

*We could have resisted.*

He clenched his fists tighter. “We didn’t know then.”

*We knew Elaine was ours,* the wolf growled, voice low and aching. *We felt her. We loved her.*

Michael’s breath caught and snapped out in a ragged exhale. He slammed his fist down on the nearest table. The oak cracked violently beneath his strength, splinters flying and embedding themselves into his knuckles. Sharp pain flared up his arm, but he barely noticed.

“We were young,” he rasped, voice rough, almost breaking. “We listened to our Alpha. We protected the pack.”

*We abandoned our mate,* his wolf hissed, venom and sorrow thick in its tone. *We abandoned our pup.*

Those words cut him deeper than any wound.

A flash of memory struck like lightning—Elaine’s face the day he chose Kathy. The way her eyes had glazed over with unshed tears, the forced smile she wore before turning away, hiding heartbreak behind a wall of dignity he did not deserve.

And he had stood there.

Silent. Obedient. Afraid.

Afraid of losing his title.

Afraid of defying his father’s command.

Afraid of what might happen if he followed his heart.

Coward.

That word whispered over and over by his wolf, by his own conscience—the ghosts of his past decisions hitting harder than any blow Darius could have dealt.

Michael leaned forward, both hands braced on the shattered table, breath ragged, forehead nearly touching the splintered wood. “We did what we thought was right,” he said hoarsely.

His wolf responded with a growl laced with bitter laughter. *Right for who? The pack? Or your fear?*

Silence fell again, heavier this time, filled with a truth he could no longer escape.

He had not only failed Elaine.

He had failed himself.

Failed the mate bond the Goddess had carved into his very soul.

And now… a child born of that bond looked to another man when he said the word Father.

A child who had been raised safe. Loved. Protected by an Alpha who cherished his mate—

Where Michael had not.

His wolf whimpered softly inside him—not from weakness, but mourning.

*He should have been ours.*

Michael’s voice cracked as he spoke. “He still is. I am his father.”

*By blood,* the wolf snarled. *Not by heart. Not by honor.*

The words pierced deeper than claws. His knees nearly buckled beneath him.

“I didn’t know,” Michael whispered. “We all thought Elaine had a miscarriage.”

His chest tightened painfully. He pressed a hand over his heart, as if trying to hold it together.

His wolf fell silent inside him—not submissive, but grieving. *We do not want Elaine hurt. We do not want Nathan afraid. But I lost my mate because of your choice. Must I lose my son too?*

Michael’s eyes burned with unshed tears. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

The wolf’s reply came softer than ever before—so gentle it shattered him.

*You thought wrong.*

Michael’s breath caught sharply.

*Why do I have to suffer for your cowardice?* the wolf whispered. *I begged you to choose her. I begged you not to obey your father. But you turned from your mate, from me.*

Michael’s hands trembled. “Kathy was with our pup. The pack needed stability. Unity. If we didn’t obey, everything could have fallen apart.” He swallowed hard, voice almost pleading now. “We have Leo. Our son. Our pack.”

*Leo is our son,* the wolf admitted. *But Nathan… Nathan is ours. My bond to him runs deeper. He is the son of our fated mate. And I will not rest until I have what is mine.*

Michael’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “What are you saying?”

*I will challenge Darius,* the wolf growled. *I will claim my blood.*

Horror flooded through Michael’s veins, freezing him in place. “Are you out of your mind? We are Alpha—we protect, we lead. Our pack must come first!”

The wolf said nothing. It retreated into the shadows of his mind, leaving only the echo of its heartbeat—wild, mournful, defiant.

Michael pressed a trembling hand to his chest, struggling to steady his ragged breathing. But the bond between them was fraying—the wolf pulling one way, the man another.

Ever since Elaine.

Ever since he uncovered the truth about Nathan.

His wolf had been slipping—unpredictable, uncontrollable, consumed by a love and loss Michael had tried to bury long ago.

Now, that love blazed anew—fierce, primal, and dangerously consuming.

Michael stood alone in the corridor, surrounded by silence and the ghosts of what might have been. The scent of oak and faint smoke lingered in the air, mingling with the sharp tang of blood on his knuckles.

He had thought the closing of that door behind Darius marked an ending.

But as the echo faded into stillness, he realized it was only the beginning—of reckoning, of rebellion, of a truth too long denied.

And somewhere deep within him, his wolf whispered, almost tenderly—

*He was ours first.*