Chapter 4 The Rejection

Sienna's POV

They dragged me into the council chamber three hours after I gave birth.

My body screamed with every step. Blood soaked through the thin hospital gown they'd barely let me put on. Lily—my beautiful, perfect daughter—wailed in my arms, confused and scared and only hours old.

"Move faster," the guard growled, shoving me forward.

I stumbled, clutching Lily tighter against my chest. Pain ripped through me, but I didn't fall. I couldn't. Not while holding her.

The council chamber doors burst open. Every pack member in the territory had gathered—hundreds of faces, all staring at me with disgust or pity or cruel satisfaction.

Kael stood at the front beside his mother.

Our eyes met across the crowded room. For one second, I saw agony in his expression. Then Vera whispered something in his ear, and his face went cold. Blank.

"Bring her forward," Vera commanded.

The guards pushed me toward the center of the room. I stood there, bleeding and exhausted and holding our newborn daughter, while the entire pack surrounded us like wolves circling prey.

"Sienna Voss," Vera's voice rang out. "You stand accused of attempting to infiltrate this pack through deception and manipulation."

"That's not true," I said, my voice hoarse. "I never—"

"Silence!" Vera slammed her hand on the council table. "You trapped my son with a pregnancy, hoping to secure your place among us. But this pack will not be contaminated by wolfless blood."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.

I looked at Kael again. "Tell them the truth. Tell them we love each other."

He said nothing.

"Kael, please," I begged, not caring how desperate I sounded. "Tell them about our baby. Look at her. She's ours."

Lily's cries grew louder, as if she could feel the danger surrounding us.

Kael finally stepped forward. My heart leaped with hope—maybe he'd finally stand up for us, maybe—

"I made a mistake," he said, his voice carrying across the silent chamber.

The hope died.

"This relationship was a lapse in judgment," Kael continued, each word like a blade cutting into me. "I allowed myself to be influenced by temporary feelings instead of thinking about my responsibility to this pack."

"Kael, don't do this," I whispered. Tears streamed down my face. "Please don't do this."

His jaw clenched, but he didn't look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on some point above my head.

"The child may carry my blood," he said, his voice getting stronger, harder. "But that doesn't change what her mother is. Defective. Weak. Unworthy of this pack's protection."

Gasps echoed around us. Someone cheered.

My legs nearly gave out. "You don't mean that."

"I do." Now he finally looked at me, and his storm-cloud eyes were empty. Like I was nothing to him. Like Lily was nothing. "I reject you, Sienna Voss. I reject the bond we shared. I reject any claim you or your child have to my name, my protection, or my pack."

The formal rejection hit me like a physical blow. My chest felt like it was caving in. I couldn't breathe.

"No," I choked out. "No, you can't—"

"It's done," Vera said with satisfaction. "The rejection is witnessed and sealed. You are no longer welcome here."

I spun around, looking for my parents in the crowd. They stood near the back, my father's face buried in his hands, my mother staring at the floor.

"Mom?" I called out. "Dad? Please."

My mother finally looked up. Tears ran down her face, but she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sienna. We can't help you. The pack comes first."

"You're choosing them over your own daughter? Over your granddaughter?"

"We have no choice," my father said, his voice broken. "If we side with you, we'll be cast out too."

"Then be cast out!" I screamed. "I'm your daughter! This is your grandchild!"

Neither of them moved.

The betrayal hurt worse than Kael's rejection. At least with Kael, part of me had seen it coming. But my parents? My own family?

"Someone take that child," Vera ordered.

Two female pack members stepped toward me. I backed away, holding Lily so tight she wailed louder.

"No! You can't take her!"

"The child will be raised properly," Vera said. "By people who can teach her what she needs to know."

"She's mine!" I shouted. "You can reject me, you can cast me out, but you can't take my baby!"

"We can do whatever we want," Vera smiled cruelly. "You have no rights here."

The women lunged for me. I twisted away, but I was too weak, too hurt. One of them grabbed my arm. The other reached for Lily.

Something inside me snapped.

A burst of energy exploded from my body—raw and wild and desperate. The women flew backward. The nearest pack members stumbled. Even Vera took a step back, her eyes wide.

Everyone froze.

I stood there, gasping, Lily still clutched against my chest. My hands tingled strangely, but I was too terrified to look at them.

"What was that?" someone whispered.

"She can't have power," another voice said. "She's wolfless."

Vera recovered quickly. "Seize her! Now!"

But fear had taken root in the room. Nobody moved.

I took advantage of their hesitation. Turned. Ran.

My body protested every movement, but pure adrenaline drove me forward. I burst through the chamber doors and out into the night. Behind me, voices shouted orders. Footsteps pounded.

They were coming after me.

I ran toward the forest, my bare feet slipping on wet grass. Lily screamed in my arms. I pressed her against my shoulder, trying to shield her, trying to keep her warm.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed as I ran. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

The forest swallowed us. Branches tore at my hospital gown. Thorns cut my feet. But I didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

I ran until my legs gave out.

I collapsed in a small clearing, my body finally giving up. Pain consumed me—from the birth, from the running, from the rejection that had shattered my heart into a million pieces.

Lily's cries had weakened to whimpers. She was cold. I was cold. We were both going to die out here.

"I'm sorry," I whispered again, rocking her gently. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry your father didn't want us. I'm so sorry."

My vision blurred. Blood loss and exhaustion were pulling me under. This was it. This was how it ended.

Then I felt it—that same warmth from when I was seven years old, healing the wolf cub in the forest.

I looked down at my hands.

Silver light glowed beneath my skin, getting brighter with each second. It spread from my palms up my arms, wrapping around Lily like a protective cocoon.

"What..." I breathed.

The light pulsed. Once. Twice. My injuries started healing—the tears from birth, the cuts from running through the forest, the exhaustion threatening to drag me down.

Lily stopped whimpering. The silver light warmed her, protected her, kept her safe.

Power flooded through me—ancient, massive, impossible. This wasn't the small healing gift I'd had as a child. This was something else entirely. Something that had been sleeping inside me for twenty-three years, waiting for the moment I needed it most.

I stood up, my body no longer weak or bleeding. The silver light surrounded both of us now, pushing back the darkness of the forest.

In the distance, I heard pack members shouting. They were still looking for us.

But I wasn't afraid anymore.

The light pulsed stronger, responding to my emotions. To my rage. To my pain. To my fierce love for the tiny baby in my arms.

"They wanted to take you from me," I whispered to Lily, my voice steady now. "They called us worthless. They said we were nothing."

The silver light blazed brighter.

"But they were wrong."

I looked back toward the pack territory, toward the people who'd rejected and betrayed me. Part of me wanted to go back there and show them what I'd become. Show them they'd made a terrible mistake.

But Lily made a small sound, and I looked down at her. She'd fallen asleep, peaceful and safe in the warm glow of my power.

She was all that mattered now.

"It's okay, baby," I told her softly. "We don't need them. We don't need anyone but each other. I'll protect you. I'll keep you safe. And one day, I'll make sure nobody ever hurts us again."

The silver light began to fade as I walked deeper into the forest, away from the pack, away from Kael, away from everything I'd known.

I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know what I was becoming.

But I knew one thing with absolute certainty:

I would survive this. And I would make sure my daughter never felt unwanted again.

Few years later, The scream woke me at three in the morning.

I bolted upright in bed, my heart racing. Another scream—high-pitched, agonized, coming from Lily's room.

I ran down the hall of our small house, my bare feet slapping against hardwood floors. Threw open her bedroom door.

Lily thrashed in her bed, her five-year-old body convulsing. Her skin rippled—fur trying to break through, then disappearing. Her bones shifted partially, then snapped back. She was stuck between human and wolf form, unable to complete the shift or return to normal.

"Mama!" she sobbed. "It hurts! Make it stop!"

This was the third episode this month. And it was getting worse.

I gathered her into my arms, trying to channel my healing power into her like I'd done before. The silver light appeared, but this time it barely helped. Lily kept screaming.

Twenty minutes later, she finally stabilized. Returned to her human form completely. She lay in my arms, exhausted and crying, her small body trembling.

"I'm sorry, Mama," she whispered. "I can't control it."

"It's not your fault, baby." I kissed her forehead, my own hands shaking. "It's not your fault."

But my healing wasn't enough anymore. Whatever was wrong with Lily was getting worse, and I didn't know how to fix it.

After she finally fell asleep, I sat on her bedroom floor, my head in my hands.

I'd tried everything—healers, herbs, meditation, even ancient spells I'd found in supernatural libraries. Nothing worked. The episodes kept coming, kept getting more painful, kept lasting longer.

Lily was running out of time.

And there was only one person in the world who might be able to help her. A brilliant neurosurgeon who specialized in supernatural genetics and medical mysteries.

The same man who'd rejected us five years ago.

My phone sat on Lily's dresser, glowing in the darkness.

I stared at it for a long time, my jaw clenched, my heart screaming no.

But then I looked at my sleeping daughter—beautiful, innocent, suffering—and I knew I had no choice.

I picked up the phone.

My fingers hovered over Kael's contact information. I'd kept his number all these years, even though I swore I'd never use it. Even though the thought of hearing his voice made me feel sick.

One call. That's all it would take. One call, and I'd have to face the man who destroyed me.

But if it saved Lily...

I took a deep breath.

And pressed dial.