Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Selene opened her eyes, and the treehouse took shape all around her. The large open window, the hidden kitchen, the living area.
She sat on their bed, turning to his spot. Selene picked up his pillow and hugged it to her chest. His scent lingered on it.
“Alexander…” she whispered longingly.
Her eyes moved to the place on the floor she hoped to see move. The hatch that served as their doorway. All she wanted was to see him, to know that somehow, someway, he could still feel their bond. That they could still reach each other.
It didn’t matter if they couldn’t find each other physically. Or if it would take years to be together again. All she needed was to know that he was still there.
She waited for what seemed an eternity. Tears fell, and screams echoed from her lips. She pleaded, begged, and even threatened. But the hatch never moved.
The treehouse fell away, and Selene was left in her hospital room.
Her mother visited.
Bell visited.
Galen and Fiona visited.
They all tried to comfort her. To help her process what she had been through. Each promised that the search was still ongoing. Each said that they would not give up hope. But each of them also said ‘yet’.
Every single person that came to comfort and support her, each one that claimed to love and miss Alexander. They claimed they still believed he would return, but they all had an expiration date stamped on their hope, on their loyalty.
Selene was allowed to leave the hospital after a few days. She took up residence in one of the empty homes within the Safe Zone, one closest to the mountainside. Every day she went to the site of the gate.
She closed her eyes, trying to feel him, the ley line, anything that might help. Every day, she went home disappointed.
When Fiona told Selene that she and Galen would return to Summer with the rest of the wolves, Selene said nothing. It had been two weeks since the war had ended. She knew that they needed to return to Summer. It wasn’t fair to keep them here any longer. Families were waiting to be reunited, and repairs needed to be made.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel angry at their decision.
Fiona tried to convince her to come home with them. But Selene wasn’t going to leave. The mountainside was her only connection to Alexander. They might have given up on him, but she never would.
As Fiona moved to leave the room, Selene did say one last thing.
“Do not include him in the pyre,” she whispered.
Fiona paused. She looked back over her shoulder with confusion.
“What?”
“Do not hold a pyre for Alexander,” Selene said. “I know you will mourn those lost in the war. But Alexander is not one of them.”
“Selene, I understand where you are coming from,” Fiona sighed. “But his people will want to honor him. It is their right to mourn.”
“No!” Selene shouted angrily. Clenching her jaw painfully. “He is not dead! There is no reason to mourn him! I will not give up on him!”
Fiona took a deep breath. She turned back to face Selene.
“Please,” she whispered. “Try to understand. It isn’t that we are giving up, just—“
“I said no!” Selene growled. “I am Luna, and I am his wife!”
Fiona clenched her jaw but said nothing.
“Alexander is not dead. Therefore, there will be no mourning,” she continued.
Fiona looked away, took a deep breath, and then turned back to Selene. She took two steps closer and locked eyes with the younger woman.
“Will you return to Summer, my Luna?” Fiona asked, bringing her fist to her heart and bowing her head while maintaining eye contact.
It was clear that Fiona was angered, but it was her calm voice and formal tone that made Selene swallow nervously.
“No,” Selene replied, her voice softer than she had wanted it to be. But, she added, “I will keep my focus where it should be, on bringing Alexander home.”
Fiona nodded and stood up straight.
“We will not include Alexander in the pyre for those lost in the war,” she said.
“Good,” Selene replied with a sigh of relief.
“Six months,” Fiona said.
Selene felt a sudden weight in her stomach as Fiona took another step toward her.
“What?” she asked.
“If you have not found him or if he has not returned in that time,” Fiona paused, lowering her eyes and swallowing. She took a moment before looking back at Selene and continuing. “We will hold his vigil. We will mourn him. We will move forward.”
Selene felt a wave of panic pouring over her.
“You can’t do that!” she shouted. “I am Luna of Summer. I—“
“No,” Fiona interrupted. “You are Alexander’s mate, his wife. I told you long ago if you think only of him, you can only be his mate.”
Selene swallowed. The anger and pain swelled inside of her.
“I will continue to serve as Luna of Summer for the time being,” Fiona said quietly. “But if you find your way to being her again, I will happily step down.”
Fiona didn’t say another word. Instead, she turned and left the house.
Selene dropped down onto the couch with a sob. Once more, the tears, the anger, and the pain consumed her.
Three weeks had passed since the war had ended. Three weeks of investigating the mountainside or doing research on the fae.
Selene had asked Myka to help her. He was the only one that seemed to believe there was a chance that Alexander was still alive.
Her mother was focused on rebuilding defenses and Axel. Of course, Selene understood that those things were important, but Alexander needed them to focus on him, on finding a way to pull him back out of the ley line.
Fiona and Galen had returned to Summer. They were also busy with repairs and finding homes for those that had lost theirs. She had asked them to send someone to the way gate on their end to see if they could find anything. But they reported back with nothing.
Selene was exhausted. Her nights were filled with painful memories that left her sobbing in her bed for hours. Her days were filled with research and disappointment.
Even Myka had refused to help her as often as he had those first few weeks. Now he was spending his time working with the orphaned children and those that had been rescued from Autumn and the lab.
Selene was more alone than ever. She was even avoiding her best friend.
Bell had pretended to support Selene’s search. She had acted like she believed that Alexander was still alive. But when it came down to it, she was more focused on Selene processing her grief than anything else.
There was no point in continuing to fight about whether or not Selene was fooling herself. Bell would never understand. No one understood.
He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be.
But Selene needed more ideas. What else could she do? She wanted to go to Spring, to the Dark Queen’s mound. That place had a solid connection to the ley line for so long it was possible that there was still a way that existed from there.
Unfortunately, all the scout reports said Spring was overrun with rogues and fae. Even the path that she had taken with Myka and Alice had been exposed. She didn’t know of any other safe way.
But Alice might.
Selene approached Axel’s room slowly. This was the first time she had visited. In all the time since she had woken, she had not come here even once. A part of her felt guilty, but Axel didn’t need her. He was here, and he was being taken care of. He had Alice and everyone else beside him. Alexander only had her.
She took a deep breath and opened the door.
The smell was the first thing she noticed as she stepped into the room. Overall, there was a sanitized smell in any hospital room. But on top of that, she caught the scent of fresh gauze and antibiotic ointment.
She had heard that he had to have surgery on his leg a few days ago. The nurses must have changed the bandages recently.
His healing was slower than anyone expected. But Selene wasn’t surprised. Lily had warned her it was a possibility.
Selene stepped further into the room. She caught the scent of chocolate. Looking around for the source, she saw an open candy bar beside the bed. She smiled, thinking of all the times she and Bell had stolen from Axel’s secret candy stashes.
He would pout and grumble, telling them that he would find a better place to hide them, somewhere they would never find it. But they always did. It was a game for them. They couldn’t help it. Axel’s pout was so childish and adorable. They just wanted to see it again and again.
Selene swallowed as her eyes began to shift toward the bed. The memory of him in the hospital after the first fae attack floated to the surface. His bruised and bloodied body. The pain he had to endure at Jackson’s hand and in fighting to make his way home.
She closed her eyes, clenching her jaw as her heart thundered in her ears and a bottomless pit formed in her stomach.
The report she had read said that he had penetrating wounds from roots and knife wounds. The hybrid infection had spread in his leg, and he had suffered frostbite and come close to organ failure from the cold. Nevertheless, it had been a miracle he had survived.
“He just looks like he’s sleeping,” Alice’s soft voice came from behind her.
Selene turned with a gasp.
Alice stood at the doorway. She held a small plastic bag and stared toward the bed, not looking at Selene.
Selene turned back toward her brother. Alice was right. He wasn’t broken and bloody. He didn’t look like he was in pain. He just looked like he was sleeping.
“When I found him, he looked dead,” she said. “He was blue… barely breathing. But, when they brought him to this room, I finally saw him again… he was… all different colors.”
Selene furrowed her brows and swallowed as she listened to Alice.
“Yellow, brown, purple from the bruising. Red and pink in the places that they had to cut… reddish-purple in the cold places. Black and green where they eventually cut again,” she continued. “But he wasn’t blue anymore.”
Alice moved past Selene. She walked straight to the bed and leaned forward to touch Axel’s cheek tenderly. She smiled and then turned her attention to the chocolate bar on the table. She picked it up and dropped it into the garbage can before pulling a new one out of her bag. She opened it and brought it to her nose, sniffing deeply before smiling and moving it to Axel’s nose.
“Dark chocolate this time,” she said softly. “I’m feeling slightly bitter that you’re still sleeping after so long.”
Alice put the chocolate on the table and set the bag on the floor before sitting in the chair at his side.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?