The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 130

The question hung like a blade suspended between them, trembling with every fragile heartbeat.

The room felt too still, too quiet. The dim afternoon light filtered through the high windows of the infirmary, casting soft, wavering shafts of gold across the floor. Dust motes drifted in the air like tiny suspended memories. It smelled faintly of herbs and wolf magic—lavender oil, wolfsbane paste, and something older, something sacred.

Elaine stood rooted where she was, one hand pressed against the frame of the door, the other curled tightly at her side as if holding herself together. Across from her, Kathy sat on the small sofa, shoulders hunched, fingers twisting anxiously in the hem of her sweater. Her eyes were red, as if sleep had abandoned her for days.

For a long moment, they simply regarded one another—sisters once inseparable, now separated by the cruel hands of fate, the weight of power, the bonds of mates, and the shadows of past mistakes.

Elaine took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the musty air of the room, and finally… she took a step forward.

Not as the Luna they all knew.

But as the sister Kathy had once thought was lost to the abyss of time.

“Kathy…” Elaine’s voice trembled, breaking open like a fresh wound, raw and unguarded. “Yes. It’s heartbreaking. So painfully heartbreaking. I see it, and I’m not blind to your suffering. But you still have Leo. You still have a son who needs you to breathe, to stand tall, to try again. You have to live on, to seek happiness in the fragments of what remains.”

Kathy’s chin quivered, a telltale sign of the storm brewing within her.

Elaine pressed on, her tone soft yet resolute, “I know you once said that if we simply followed the goddess’s design, everything would fall into place. That we would all find our happiness. But Kathy…” Her throat constricted as she spoke. “I’m truly sorry. But if life had unfolded according to that plan… I would not have Darius. I would not have my mate. And I can’t even begin to fathom a life without him.”

A heavy silence enveloped them, thick and oppressive.

Kathy’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She cast a glance at her hands, momentarily lost in thought, before lifting her gaze to meet Elaine’s. “I see it,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

“The way you and Alpha Darius look at each other. The way he instinctively protects you. He loves you… in the way that a true mate should. And Elaine, you deserve that kind of joy. Especially after the pain Michael and I inflicted upon you. After everything we put you through.”

Elaine closed her eyes, allowing Kathy’s words to wash over her, a mixture of balm and blade piercing her heart.

Kathy took a shaky breath, her voice breaking as she continued, “Luna… I pray that one day, Leo and Nathan can meet as brothers. They deserve that bond. Leo is like me—never meant for the spotlight, always meant to linger in the background. And I worry for him.” Her confession spilled forth, a torrent of vulnerability she had held back for far too long. “My son will grow up knowing that his parents failed him. Knowing we didn’t fight for what was right. That we abandoned the one person we should have protected. I fear he will carry the weight of our sins on his small shoulders.”

She inhaled deeply, her breath shuddering. “People who know what happened… they will be cruel to him. And I have no one to blame but myself.”

Elaine moved closer, until she stood just a foot away. With a slow, tentative motion, she reached out and took Kathy’s trembling hands in her own, their warmth mingling.

“You and Michael will find your way through this,” Elaine assured her softly. “I truly believe that. And when Leo grows up, he will see that his parents were wolves who made mistakes—yes, mistakes. But who doesn’t? What truly matters is that you acknowledge those mistakes. That you strive to be better.”

Tears streamed silently down Kathy’s cheeks, heavy with the weight of her sorrow.

“So be better for your son,” Elaine urged, gently squeezing her hands. “Teach him that every decision, whether good or bad, carries consequences. Teach him to listen to his wolf, for his wolf will never betray him. Teach him to fight for what is right, to protect those he loves, especially his future mate one day. And instill in him a respect for the goddess’s design—not blindly, but with wisdom.”

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