The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 128

Elaine moved before anyone else could react.

One heartbeat she stood by the door, the next she was at Michael’s bedside, her hand pressed firmly to his chest as his wolf thrashed beneath his skin. Her wolf howled inside her, calling out not in dominance, not in challenge, but in recognition — the kind carved by a bond torn apart but never forgotten.

“Kath—stay back,” Elaine commanded sharply, voice trembling even as she held firm. “His wolf isn’t seeing us. He’s seeing memory.”

Michael’s body jerked again, breath ragged, eyes glowing with a feral yellow light that flickered like a fire dying on wet wood.

Elaine leaned closer, her voice dropping to a low whisper, a tone meant for wolves in the brink of collapse.

“Michael… listen to me.”

His head snapped in her direction, though his eyes remained unfocused, gazing into the depths of a past that was haunting him. They reflected the ghost of a mate he had once cherished but had lost.

“Elaine…” His lips parted, releasing a sound that was both broken and hoarse.

Behind her, Kathy struggled to stifle a sob, but Elaine remained unwavering, her attention solely on the man who writhed beneath her touch.

“Stop fighting,” she urged softly, her heart trembling yet resolute. “Your wolf is in pain because he doesn’t understand. He believes he failed you. But he didn’t.”

With a sudden burst of desperation, Michael’s hand shot up, gripping the fabric of her sleeve with a strength that nearly pierced her skin with his claws.

“Why…” His voice cracked, raw with emotion. “Why did you… leave?”

It wasn’t merely Michael asking; it was his wolf—the wounded creature within him, screaming out questions that had been buried for far too long.

Elaine’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, yet she didn’t pull back. “You know why,” she whispered, leaning in closer. “Because we were forced apart. Because you weren’t allowed to choose me. Because I couldn’t remain in a place that shackled you and destroyed us both.”

A shudder coursed through Michael’s spine, and his wolf surged forth once more, teeth sharpening at the edges of his mouth, eyes wild with grief.

Elaine cupped his face gently, her palm warm against his icy skin. “But you didn’t betray me,” she insisted fiercely. “It wasn’t you, Wolf. I understand that now.”

His breath hitched, caught between a sob and a growl. “Elaine… mate…”

“I’m not your mate anymore,” she replied softly, a bittersweet truth hanging between them.

In that instant, Michael stilled.

The entire room seemed to freeze along with him.

Even the healer paused, breathless.

Elaine’s voice trembled, yet she stood her ground. “I am now Luna of Crescent Moon, mated to Alpha Darius. And I belong to Darius, just as you belong to your family. To your son.”

Michael’s grip on her sleeve slackened, his fingers trembling with the weight of her words.

Elaine gently guided his hand down, placing it over his own heart. “You and your wolf have to let me go,” she whispered, her voice thickening with emotion. “Because your wolf will perish if he clings to something that no longer belongs to him.”

Michael’s wolf pushed up again, lips curling in a snarl, but the sound that emerged was no longer a growl; it was a broken whimper—a gesture not of mates, but of surrender.

Elaine leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his, bridging the distance between them as two beings who had loved, lost, and still honored the bond that had once existed. “You are not alone,” she breathed. “You have a son who needs you. Leo needs you. He needs his father. Kathy needs you. And your pack needs you too. But above all, Leo still needs you, Michael. He needs his father.”

Michael’s breath hitched as a single tear slipped from the corner of his glowing eye.

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