I didn't remember falling asleep.
One moment I was lying on the cold ground outside the Great Hall, the moon staring down at me like a silent witness. The next, I woke up choking on air that tasted too clean, too sharp.
My eyes snapped open.
This wasn't the pack grounds.
The ceiling above me was wooden, old and cracked, with smoke stains darkening the beams. A thin blanket covered my body, rough against my skin. Every muscle ached, but not in the way I expected.
The pain from the rejection was gone.
That alone made panic bloom in my chest.
Rejected mates were supposed to suffer for weeks. Some never recovered. I had seen it happen — wolves who went mad, who lost their minds, who begged the Moon Goddess for mercy that never came.
I pushed myself up, breath shallow.
"What did you do to me?" I whispered, not knowing who I was talking to.
The room was small. A single bed. A chipped table. A narrow window letting in pale morning light. This was the healer's old hut — the one no one used anymore since she died years ago.
Memory rushed back.
The rejection.
The laughter.
The way Alpha Kael hadn't even flinched when I collapsed.
My hands clenched into the blanket.
I should have been broken.
Instead, something inside me felt… awake.
A warmth pulsed deep in my chest, steady and slow, like a second heart. When I focused on it, my breath hitched. The feeling spread through my veins, heavy and powerful, nothing like the weak, skittish presence of my omega wolf.
My wolf stirred.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
That terrified me.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, the wooden floor cold beneath my feet. The moment my soles touched the ground, the room seemed to shift — the air thickening, pressure pressing outward from my body.
I gasped and stumbled back.
The pressure vanished instantly.
Silence.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
"That's not possible," I muttered.
Omegas didn't do that.
We didn't command space. We didn't bend energy. We didn't make the air respond.
A knock sounded at the door.
Sharp. Hesitant.
I froze.
The door creaked open before I could answer. An elderly pack member peeked inside, eyes widening when she saw me standing.
"You're awake," she said softly. "Good. Good."
She avoided my gaze as she stepped in, placing a bowl of broth on the table.
"The Alpha ordered you moved here," she added quickly, as if to reassure herself. "Said you collapsed from shock."
My chest tightened.
"He didn't come himself?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No."
Of course he didn't.
As she turned to leave, she paused at the door. Her voice dropped.
"You should rest," she said. "The Moon doesn't make mistakes… even when Alphas do."
Then she was gone.
I stared at the closed door long after her footsteps faded.
The warmth in my chest flared suddenly — sharp, insistent.
Across the pack lands, miles away, Alpha Kael staggered mid-step, his hand slamming into his chest.
The bond he had shattered burned like it had been reforged in fire.
Stronger.
Angrier.
Unbroken.
And this time… it was pulling him.