Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 66

“Your Eminence.” Synn Gloom bowed her head reverently as she took in the big bad wolf fiercely watching over his mate.

He had lost a lot of weight, since he didn’t eat and refused every offer from the old hex to get him something, but he was still much bigger than most Lykens around.

“She’s still not waking up, Synn.” The dark Lyken wolf looked up at her, his red eyes shining with hints of sadness.

It was the first time she was seeing him show a bit of emotion that seemed bordered on acceptance, for all this while, he had strongly been in denial, refusing to accept that just when he had started to recognize his mate, there was a chance that she had already long been taken from him.

“It is actually why I am here, your Eminence, I need to speak to Alpha King Reed.”

“No.”

“No?” The Mother of Thorns was deeply confused.

“No.” The Lyken King repeated in his deep, growly voice. “He has been repressed.”

“Repressed?”

“Has your hearing gone bad, hag?” He spat out the words venomously. “He’s changed since I took over, and I don’t want him to ruin anything, so I have kept him repressed.”

Ruin anything?

At that point, the Mother of Thorns was totally lost, but she continued on nonetheless, “I actually need him if we want a shot at waking her up, Your Eminence.” She hit him with the words, noting with amusement how his ears perked up at the news, his canine instincts subconsciously drawing a reaction out of him.

“Alright, fine… but just know that he has withdrawn from the human girl now, meaning you’re going to have to go the extra mile to get him on board.”

His change was swift, and then his human half was back, naked as the day he was born.

Thankfully, the Mother of Thorns had a blanket in the ready which she tossed at him, noting with growing worry how the Alpha King barely paid his almost lifeless mate a glance.

Ace wasn’t lying.

“She’s the one who created the weird portal, you know?” Her words rang out loud and clear, trying to draw a reaction out of him, but the Alpha King barely paid her any mind. She continued nonetheless, “The rejection ritual and the cleanse were actually predestined to somehow awaken Lacy’s witch side. Do you get what that means, Your Eminence? Your rejecting her was not of your own doing, it was all fate.”

“Where are you going with all of this, Synn?” The Alpha King threw at her tiredly.

“Reed.”

No, she wasn’t going to mince words and let her respect for his position hold her back, he needed to hear this. “You know, you’re a very good ruler, and a fierce protector of your people, but you terribly suck when it comes to matters of the heart. You treated Rieka like s**t, and then when your fated mate did come to you, you treated her the same way, pushing her away, pulling her back in. You were so undecided, and it was a relief to see you waking up to your senses, but here you are, doing it again.”

“SHE’S DEAD, SYNN. CAN’T YOU f*****g SEE?” He practically howled the words. “What is the point holding on anyway, if I’m going to lose her?” The second words were a whisper.

“You won’t lose her.”

“Maybe, but perhaps this is the eye opener I needed.” It seemed like everything Synn was saying was going in one ear and coming out the other, “She’s human. What if she doesn’t allow me to turn her? f**k, I’m talking as if she’s even going to wake up from this state.” The tired Alpha King rubbed his face in frustration, standing up wearily and heading for the door, the blanket Synn had tossed at him hanging lowly on his waist. “The sad part is that I can’t even bring myself to stay away.”

The Hex chased after him, somehow crossing him right before he got to the door, her cane blocking his path.

And then as if that was not enough, she landed a powerful smack across his cheek, her eyes shining with anger and defiance, “Get yourself together, Your Eminence, and listen to everything I have to tell you, we don’t have much time.” Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest that she could feel it, but she knew that she had Ace on her side, and he was the one who had told her to do whatever she could to get him to stay after all.

“Now listen to me carefully, I figured it all out. I am the missing link to saving your mate.”

“Wh—how?”

“Reed, the Dark Witch is the dark forest personified. Your mate is the link that holds all the five realms together, technically, she is Queen of all five kingdoms.”

“I—I don’t understand, Synn,” Reed’s confusion was apparent in his dark blue eyes, the fact that she had slapped him long forgotten, “And what has that got to do with you?”

“Well, I am a part of the dark forest too, Your Eminence, meant to sweep up the way in wait of the Dark Witch, and you and your wolf, for some reason are drawn to the darkness, I think it has something to do with the fact that your mate is the Dark Witch, but that would explain why you spared my life in the first place, why you spared Lacy too, and why Ace is now finally recognizing Lacy as his. The darkness in her is now starting to manifest.”

“A—are you sure about all of this?” He asked, visibly perplexed, because this was huge!

“You see, we are all filled with a piece of the darkness… and it is what has drawn us to each other. You always say you never understood why you spared my life, and why you spared Lacy’s as well. YOU know now the reason. Her full form has almost been unlocked, and that is why Ace can now recognizes her as his mate.”

Alpha King Reed shook his head, still trying to come to terms with everything.

“My time here is up now, Reed,” She closed the distance between them, reaching for his hand, “But it is just beginning for your mate, and she’s going to need your help and your support now more than ever if this works. You just can’t abandon her whenever things become too real for you.”

The mighty lyken wolf had the decency to look ashamed. “I won’t abandon her, Synn. You see, I can’t.” He sighed softly, “I tried, but I really couldn’t. I love her, mate bond or no mate bond, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. It’s a little too late for that now. I just needed to go outside a bit and clear my head, because it was all becoming a bit much for me.”

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the old Hex had been able to stand up to him like so, for suddenly, the Alpha King did not even care that he was revealing all of his vulnerability to her.

“I understand.” She squeezed his hand slightly, “But now’s not the time to buckle under pressure, I need you to be strong, Reed… and I need you to pay careful attention to everything I have to say.” She tugged him back to his sleeping mate, and they both stood there silently, watching her as she lay there. “I think your mate might be a Goddess, Reed.”

“Wait, what?”

First Queen, now Goddess?

“I still don’t know much about it all, but what I do know is that when she awakens, her darkness will be all consuming, trying to burn up everything in its part including you. You’re going to have to be the support she needs.”

“I can do that.” Reed admitted confidently.

“I believe you.” She smiled at him, “But it’s easier said than done. Perhaps, the hardest of them all will be staying away from her in the carnal sense until she gets a complete hang of her powers, but aside that, I guess you all will be fine.”

“Wait, what?” The Alpha King backtracked for a hot minute, “I can’t have s*x with her, even though Ace recognizes her as his mate too?”

“Yes. Her powers need to be under control first, or the darkness will take a hold of you both and harm your people. Now, we don’t have much time, you’ll figure the rest out.”

With those words, the Hex reached into her dark robe-like dress and pulled out a dagger and a black candle that lit up all by itself once it was exposed to the sleeping human.

Reed recognized the dagger; it was the very one he had used for the Rejection Process with Lacy.

He watched on as she made the dark candle wax spill to the ground in the shape of a circle, proceeding to stand right in the middle of it even as she placed the remaining candle right in front of her and then began some strange, fear inducing incantation in a language he had never heard before.

The Alpha King watched on as the old Hex suddenly slit her right wrist with the dagger, too stunned to do anything even if he wanted to besides watch as she continued to mutter her strange words and then press her wrist which had begun oozing dark tar for b***d against his mate’s lips.

At first, there was no reaction.

And then suddenly, Lacy began to suck, her mouth the only part of her body that seemed to have recovered from the dark hold, but it didn’t even matter… Reed could already feel a hope so great begin to soar into his heart once more.

She was going to live!

It didn’t take long for Lacy’s hand to shoot out to grab the Hex’s own, pressing it even closer to her lips as she sucked, draining what seemed to be more than a safe amount of the old hag’s dark tar-like b***d.

At that point the Alpha King had to do something, for his mate could kill the Hex if he didn’t step in, and so he tried to pull her away, but she only shook her head softly at him, letting out a small, sad smile as she looked up at him with shiny eyes. “This is how it was always going to end, Reed,” She whispered softly. “I need to die so she can live, Your Eminence… that has always been my destiny, and it is one that I will fulfill with the greatest joy.”

Lacy was still sucking, draining every bit of b***d from the old woman and turning her into an extremely pale version of herself. The strain must have been too much, for the old hag began to bleed dark tar from her nose, crumpling onto her knees, but not once did she pull away to save herself.

Soon enough, she crumpled to the floor, barely alive, and the Alpha King reached down, his fast reflexes swooping in in time to stop her head from hitting the ground, “Stay with me, Synn.” He rushed out the words, “Xavier is on his way,”

But the old hex only smiled contentedly at him, whispered the words, “It is done.” and then she breathed her last.

The Alpha King’s heart sang with emotion at the ultimate sacrifice the old woman who had almost been like a mother to him had committed,

And then just when he started to wonder if it had been worth it, he felt her turn cold against him, the sudden drop in temperature making him look down at her in curiosity.

She was hardening up.

Turning into wood.

A thorny tree of sorts, all her figure surprisingly still intact, just more gnarly and wrinkly and thorny.

Before Reed could make sense of it, she started to disintegrate, turning into ash right before his eyes, until all he was clutching at was air.

And then the ash that had accumulated right before him went up in the air and then hovered around his mate’s body, falling like powdered mist against her skin and then dissolving into nothingness.

After all remnants of the Hex had disappeared, Lacy let in a sudden, deep inhale, and then her eyes flew open, but they weren’t the light green Reed had grown to love and adore, no.

Instead, her eyes were a dark red, bloody, angry ember, fiery hot, and ready to burn everything in its path with vindictive fury.