The Alpha's Fake Rejection: Dying for His Love

My vision tunneled into a pinpoint. Draven’s massive hand crushed my windpipe, but his glowing red eyes suddenly locked onto his own chest. An angry red bruise shaped exactly like his fingers flared across his own throat.

I thrashed, dragging my nails down the back of his hand. My fingernails dug deep, tearing his rough skin. Warm blood welled up from the fresh scratch.

A sharp tearing sound ripped through my own hand.

"Ah!" I shrieked.

The exact same bloody gash split open across my knuckles. Searing pain sliced through my nerves.

Draven recoiled, releasing me instantly.

I collapsed onto the damp stone, clutching my throat and hacking violently. Oxygen rushed back into my burning lungs.

"What trick is this?" Draven demanded. He stared at the bleeding scratch on his hand, then glared at my identical wound.

"It's the Moon Witch's curse," I rasped between coughs. "Pain sharing. We're bound."

"I share nothing with anyone," he spat. He dragged his thumb over the cut on his hand, pressing hard.

Fire shot through my knuckles. I hissed, yanking my hand back. "Stop doing that!"

"You feel it," he muttered, stepping closer. His red eyes narrowed. "Every strike. Every wound."

"Yes," I said, backing away on my hands and knees. "So if you snap my neck, yours breaks too."

Draven scoffed, a dark, rumbling sound in his chest. "A century in the dark, only to be chained to a pathetic Omega."

"I didn't ask for this either," I snapped, wiping blood from my chin. "My Alpha threw me down here to die."

"Your Alpha is a coward," Draven said.

Heavy boots pounded down the stone corridor outside the crypt.

"Over here!" a voice shouted from the tunnel. "Kael wants her body! Check the pit!"

"They're coming," I said, struggling to stand. My knees shook, buckling under my weight.

Draven didn't look toward the tunnel. He reached up, his hands wrapping around the thick silver chains still impaling his collarbones.

"Don't," I warned, my eyes widening in horror. "If you pull those—"

"I will not wear another man's leash," he interrupted.

He yanked the metal forward.

Agony exploded across my upper back.

Phantom hooks tore through my shoulders and scraped bone. I screamed, my legs giving out completely. I crashed to the floor, splashing into the puddle of my own blood.

"Stop!" I begged, clawing at the empty air behind my back.

Draven ignored me. He gritted his teeth, planting his bare feet firmly on the stone, and gave one final, brutal heave.

The chains tore free from his flesh with a sickening wet crunch.

White-hot fire consumed my vision. I curled into a tight ball on the wet floor, gasping for air that refused to reach my lungs. My back burned as if it had been opened to the spine.

"Get up," Draven ordered. He tossed the bloody silver chains aside. They clattered heavily against the altar.

"My legs won't move," I whimpered, trembling uncontrollably from the phantom wounds.

"You will stand," he commanded, his Alpha tone vibrating through the stone.

"My back is torn open!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face.

"My back is torn open," he corrected, pointing a massive, blood-stained finger at my face. "You merely feel the echo. Now stand."

Three guards sprinted into the crypt, their silver-tipped swords drawn.

"The beast is loose!" the lead guard yelled, raising his blade. "Kill him!"

Draven stepped over me. He moved faster than my eyes could track. He grabbed the lead guard by the face, his huge fingers wrapping entirely around the man's skull, and twisted. Bone snapped loudly in the confined space. The man dropped like a stone.

The second guard lunged, thrusting his sword at Draven's chest. Draven didn't even dodge. He caught the blade with his bare hand.

Blood poured from his palm. My own palm split open instantly, bleeding in the exact same spot. I cried out, grabbing my wrist.

Draven ignored his bleeding hand, yanked the sword forward, and drove his elbow into the guard's throat. The man collapsed.

The last guard hesitated, his eyes darting to the broken chains on the altar.

"Run!" the guard shouted, turning back toward the tunnel.

Draven didn't give him a chance to retreat. He reached down, hauling me off the floor by my waist, and hoisted me over his broad shoulder.

"Put me down!" I choked out. The pressure against my ribs sent another wave of nausea through me, compounding the burning pain in my back.

"Quiet," he growled.

He bent his knees and launched himself upward.

His fist drove through the cracked stone above the altar. The rock shattered instantly. Rainwater, mud, and debris poured into the crypt. Draven vaulted through the jagged opening, carrying me out of the suffocating dark and into a raging storm.

Cold rain battered my face. Thunder shook the ground beneath us.

Draven sprinted through the dense forest, his bare feet tearing up the muddy earth. Every step he took jolted my battered spine, sending fresh spikes of pain radiating through my chest.

"Where are we going?" I yelled over the howling wind.

"Away from the cage," he answered flatly, dodging an ancient oak.

Barking echoed through the trees behind us. Kael’s hounds.

"They have our scent," I said, my teeth chattering. "Kael won't let you leave his territory."

"This is my territory," Draven snarled, leaping over a fallen log. "He is merely trespassing."

The howls grew louder, multiplying. Dozens of dogs were on our trail.

"Put me down, I can run!" I argued, bouncing against his shoulder.

"You can barely stand, Omega," he retorted, not slowing his pace.

"My name is Lily."

"Your name is a liability."

Draven burst through the tree line and skidded to a halt.

I raised my head, wiping the rain from my eyes. A sheer cliff dropped off into total darkness just feet away from us. The roaring sound of a violent river echoed from the unseen bottom.

We were trapped.

Draven turned around. Dozens of orange torches flickered between the trees, cutting through the heavy rain. The hounds snarled, their chains rattling as Kael's guards dragged them closer to the edge of the woods.

A violent spasm racked my body. The phantom agony in my collarbones flared, sharper this time, as the freezing rain seeped into Draven's open wounds. I gasped, clutching his broad back to keep from sliding off his shoulder.

"Just drop me," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the storm. "I'm slowing you down."

Draven looked down at me, the red glow of his eyes piercing the dark.

"Shut up," he said, his voice colder than the rain. "If you die, I won't survive either."