Rejected By My Fated Alpha

I began to actively pursue every available treatment, determined to try anything that might aid my recovery. Maverick and I had journeyed together for so long, and I couldn’t bear to give up easily over something minor. For my mate’s sake, for the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack, I had to get better.

After countless injections and medications, my arms felt like pincushions, covered entirely in bruises. Eventually, the rejection symptoms subsided. On the day I was transferred from the healer’s den to a regular room, I wanted to visit Maverick’s quarters. The pack healer hesitated but, understanding my state of mind, finally agreed.

Sitting in a wheelchair, I reached his room and touched his cheek gently. He had lost more weight, his once commanding aura now diminished, and it pained me deeply. I wanted to get him some beef stew, but the caretaker, Abram, mentioned the Alpha had already eaten. I noticed a pink lunch box on the table beside him, and a sudden impulse led me to pick it up and look inside.

The creamy chicken soup smelled delicious, but the rosemary sprigs floating in it made me frown. "Who sent this?" I asked. Abram shook his head, unsure. I handed the box back to him and said, "Throw it away."

Abram seemed taken aback. "Throw it away? But I saw Alpha Williams enjoying it..."

A heavy feeling settled in my chest, a swirl of emotions I couldn’t quite articulate. Maverick was allergic to rosemary, and for the ten years we had been together, I’d stayed away from it as well. Yet now, he could drink chicken soup with rosemary and even relish it.

Suddenly, my time in the healer’s den, fighting to get out and see him, seemed like a cruel joke. Noticing the rash forming on Maverick’s arm, I immediately called for the healer to help him.

As I sat there, watching the healer tend to him, my wolf stirred faintly in the back of my mind, a soft whimper escaping her. She felt it too—the distance, the betrayal that was growing between us, even if I wasn’t ready to admit it yet.

The healer finished applying a salve to Maverick’s arm and turned to me. "Luna Hallie, he’ll be fine. But you should rest now. You’ve been through enough."

I nodded, though my mind was elsewhere. The pink lunch box, the rosemary, the way Abram had hesitated—it all pointed to something I wasn’t sure I wanted to face. But as I wheeled myself back to my room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my world was cracking, piece by piece, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.