Once Rejected, Now the Alpha’s Obsession

Chapter 5 – The Healers Who Found Me

don’t remember falling.

I remember the trees blurring past, branches clawing at my arms like they were trying to pull me back. I remember the burn in my chest worsening until it felt like someone was slicing my heart open with every step.

And then—

Cold earth.

Wet leaves.

Darkness swallowing everything.

My wolf’s voice flickers in and out, thin as smoke.

Get up… keep going… Lila…

But my body doesn’t move.

Not when the temperature drops.

Not when nighttime creatures stir in the brush.

Not even when distant howls echo through the forest—wolves who don’t smell like Crescent Crest.

My heartbeat slows.

I think, oddly, of Damien.

Of the way he whispered my name when he caught me.

Of the storm in his eyes when I told him I was leaving.

Of the boy he used to be.

The man he’s fighting to become.

The monster he’s terrified he might already be.

“Damien…” I breathe, not sure if it’s a plea or a prayer.

And then everything goes silent.

⸻

A warm glow brushes over my eyelids.

A voice—low, gentle, unfamiliar—murmurs nearby.

“She’s waking.”

Another voice answers, softer, older, carrying an unexpected warmth. “Easy, child. You’re safe.”

Safe?

My fingers twitch. Something soft and thick covers me—a blanket. There’s the scent of herbs, fresh water, burning cedar. The air is warm, the opposite of the freezing forest floor I collapsed on.

I force my eyes open.

I’m lying on a bed made of woven furs in a small wooden cabin lit by lanterns. Dried herbs hang from the ceiling in thick bunches, their scents blending into something comforting.

A woman kneels beside me—gray hair braided down her back, eyes the warm brown of polished acorns. Her hands glow faintly as she presses them gently to my chest.

Magic.

Real magic.

Panic jolts through me. I try to sit up, but dizziness slams me back down.

“Easy, darling,” she soothes. “Your body is still mending.”

“Where am I?” My voice is barely a rasp.

“A boundary between packs,” she says calmly. “Our home.”

A man steps into view—tall, broad-shouldered, with kind blue eyes and weathered hands. He carries a steaming mug.

“I’m Thorne,” he says. “This is my mate, Selene.”

Selene smiles. “We are healers, of the old ways.”

Old ways.

Not pack-trained medics. Not Crescent Crest doctors.

Something deeper. Ancient.

Thorne kneels and holds the mug out to me. “Drink. It’ll help with the bond tear.”

My heart stutters.

He knows.

He knows what happened.

I take the mug with shaky fingers, the warmth instantly soothing my palms. The moment the liquid touches my tongue, heat spreads through my veins—soft, gentle, repairing the jagged edges the rejection carved into me.

Selene studies my face. “Tell me your name, child.”

“Lila,” I whisper.

Her gaze sharpens, as if the name strikes a memory.

“Lila Ashbourne?”

A prickle crawls over my skin. “Yes.”

Thorne and Selene exchange a glance so quick I almost miss it.

Thorne stands abruptly, pacing. “Selene…”

“I know,” she murmurs. “I feel it too.”

Feel what?

My heartbeat speeds up. “What’s happening?”

Selene doesn’t answer immediately.

She cups my cheek, her touch warm and impossibly gentle. “You survived a mate-bond rejection without dying. That is rare.”

“So I’ve heard,” I whisper.

“More than rare.” Thorne stops pacing, turning toward me. His eyes are serious now. “It’s impossible.”

My breath hitches. “What are you saying?”

Selene moves her glowing hand to my sternum. A pulse of warmth spreads through me—then something else. A pressure. A stirring.

A spark deep in my chest, like a sleeping star waking up.

“This,” she whispers, “should not be inside an omega.”

Heat blooms under her palm.

Not painful—just powerful.

Terrifyingly powerful.

Selene’s eyes widen, glowing faintly in the lantern light.

“Lila…” she breathes. “You carry blood your pack knows nothing about.”

Thorne exhales shakily. “No wonder the rejection nearly killed her. It wasn’t just a bond tearing—it was awakening.”

Awakening.

The word sends a shiver through my entire body.

I sit up, ignoring the dizziness clawing at my vision. “Awakening what?”

Selene meets my gaze with something like reverence—and fear.

“The Ashbourne line was thought extinct for generations,” she says quietly. “But your body tells another story.”

My wolf stirs sharply, fully awake now, ears pricked forward.

Listen, she whispers.

“What story?” I ask.

Selene takes a slow breath.

“You are not a weak omega, Lila Ashbourne.”

She brushes her fingers lightly over the center of my chest, where the warmth still glows.

“You are the last heir of the Moon-Forged bloodline.”

My heart stops.

My lips part, but no sound comes.

“What… what does that mean?” I manage.

Thorne answers, his voice low and heavy.

“It means if any pack finds out who you truly are, they will try to claim you.”

Selene adds softly, “Or kill you.”

The blanket feels suddenly too thin, the cabin too small, my name too big.

My breath shakes.

Damien’s rejection still throbs in my bones—but now it’s tangled with something else, something terrifying, something ancient.

Selene’s hand curls around mine, motherly warm.

“You were not meant to die, child,” she whispers. “You were meant to change everything.”

My pulse pounds like thunder in my ears.

I don’t know it yet—not truly—but this moment is the first ripple in a storm that will swallow packs whole.

And Damien Blackthorne, the Alpha who rejected me…

He will be at the heart of it.

One way or another.