The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 22

Darius froze, taken aback. Of all the things she could have asked, this was not what he expected.

Shock rippled through him, but he schooled his expression, keeping his voice calm and steady. “Can you tell me the reason behind this decision?” He asked carefully, not wanting to push too hard but needing to understand.

Elaine’s gaze remained fixed on the water cascading down the rocks in front of them. Her voice was detached, hollow, as if her spirit had drifted elsewhere.

“Because I want to live. I want my sanity intact. I do not want to feel this pain. I do not want to be alone anymore. So many reasons, just pick one.” Her tone was so absent, so void of life, that it sounded as if she were speaking from outside her own body.

Darius’s chest tightened at the sight of her. No wolf should ever sound like that–so empty, so utterly drained.

“I would love to welcome you into my pack, Elaine,” he said softly, meaning every word. “But the laws are clear. We need your alpha’s permission for you to transfer.”

Her lips curved into a bitter smile. “Then I will not be able to leave with you. Because they will not let me go.”

She shook her head slowly, resigned. “I was foolish enough to tell them I intended to leave. That was my mistake. Now they’ll have time to prepare, to tighten their hold, to make sure I never set foot outside the territory. My only chance…”

She paused, her voice breaking with the weight of the truth, “…is to go rogue. But to do that, I’d have to cross the border first. Only then could I renounce Silverblade. And you know as well as I do. They’ll never let me reach that line. My father, my alpha… they’ll lock every door, guard every path if they have to.”

Darius’s jaw clenched. He wanted to tell her he’d fight for her, that he’d take her hand right now and lead her to freedom, but the law stood like an unmovable wall between them. Even as an Alpha, his authority ended at another pack’s borders. He could not simply take her without consequence.

“You still haven’t told me why you want to leave.” He said quietly, almost pleading.

Elaine laughed, but the sound was dry, hollow, empty of mirth. “What is there to tell if I cannot leave with you? No need for you to know.”

Her words were laced with sorrow, but underneath them was a fragile shield, one he could see cracking with every heartbeat.

“Even so,” Darius said gently, stepping a little closer, “I still want to know. If nothing else, sharing it might lighten your burden… if only a little.”

Elaine didn’t answer right away. She stood there, her eyes locked on the waterfall. The endless rush of water seemed to echo the chaos in her mind.

She wanted to tell him–part of her was desperate to let the words out. But what good would it do? He couldn’t change her situation. Even he, the strongest and most respected Alpha, was bound by the same law that chained her here. A wolf could not leave their pack without their Alpha’s consent, and that consent was never given lightly.

And she… had more than enough reason. A reason so raw it tore her apart with every breath. But reason would not matter. Not to her Alpha. Not to her father. And certainly not to Michael.

Especially Michael.

Her chest tightened at the thought of him.

His wolf had grown possessive of her since the bond revealed itself, possessive in ways that trapped her. They would never let her go, not when keeping her near soothed his wolf’s guilt. Unless… unless Michael rejected her fully. If he did, maybe the bond’s grip would fade. But she didn’t know. No one she had ever heard of had been rejected by their fated. It wasn’t supposed to happen. It was unthinkable.

Bad luck. That was all it could be. She had been cursed with it from the start. Her mate, her fated one, had been in her own pack, yet fate had kept them apart until it was already too late. By the time their paths finally crossed, her sister was already carrying his child.

If that wasn’t cruel, if that wasn’t the moon goddess’s mistake, then what else could it be?

Darius’s voice pulled her back from the spiral. He was watching her, his expression a mixture of patience and deep concern.

“Elaine,” he said again, softly but firmly, “tell me the reason. I want to understand.”

At last, she turned to him. Her eyes met his, and in them was a sorrow so deep it seemed endless. A sorrow that stripped away every shield, every wall she had built around herself.

His eyes, clear and steady, radiated only kindness and understanding.

Her lips trembled, her voice breaking as tears welled in her eyes.

“My mate rejected me… for another.” She drew a shaky breath, the pain spilling into every word. “So I cannot stay here and see them together. See how happy they are… while I am dying slowly inside.”

The tears slipped free, and with them, the truth she had buried for so long.