The Rejected daughter chosen by the Alpha (Maya and Atila) novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67

MAYA

I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore.

55 vouchers

Northumberland air cut like a blade, and the wind rolling off the hills felt like it had decided to move into our yard-specifically on the day Alpha Attila Volkov chose to grace us with his presence.

Perfect.

He lived somewhere with eternal night, where the sky practically took orders from his mood, but he still showed up expecting a warm parlor in someone else’s house. Typical. Alpha males were all the same.

I braced my forearms on the chopping block and brought the axe down again.

The log split with a sharp, satisfying crack.

I gathered the pieces and stacked them neatly beside the stump, already picturing what was coming next: the fire roaring, my mother wearing that porcelain smile, my sisters offering themselves with practiced silence…

And me-the daughter who “didn’t exist”-hauling wood like I belonged in the background.

“All for the great Alpha,” I muttered under my breath. “What an honor.”

The yard smelled like frozen dirt and old smoke. Morning fog still clung to the trees like a veil that refused to lift. I tugged my coat collar higher and stretched my neck, trying to relieve the irritating itch that had been tormenting me for days.

The necklace.

That damned blue stone had been heating up more every morning, like someone was lighting a fire inside it. At first it was just a strange warmth-almost pleasant.

Then it turned annoying.

That morning, it was unbearable.

I pressed my fingers to the pendant and felt it throb against my skin, far too hot. It stung.

“Ow,” I grunted, squeezing my eyes shut. “Not again.”

I lifted the axe one more time, but the burning crawled up my throat, flared behind my ear, and brought a dizzy wave with it. The handle slipped from my grip, I grabbed the necklace instead.

“Enough.”

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Chapter 67

MTM.

I didn’t think. I didn’t listen for my mother’s voice in my head saying never take it off.

I just ripped it away.

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The clasp snapped open, and I threw the necklace onto the gravel like it had personally offended me. Cold air hit the irritated skin beneath it, and a long breath spilled out of me.

“Ah…” I closed my eyes. “Finally.”

My skin still felt raw and sensitive, but the pressure was gone. I inhaled the freezing air like I’d never actually breathed before.

One second of peace.

Two.

Three.

“Oh my God.”

My eyes flew open, panic slamming into me all at once.

The curse.

“Oh

my God, oh my God, oh my God!” I dropped to my knees. “Where did you fall? Where are you?”

I started clawing through the ground with my hands, shoving aside pebbles and dead leaves.

“I’m going to die if I don’t put it back on,” I said out loud, my voice shaking. “Mom said I’d die.”

But as the seconds passed… nothing happened.

A minute went by.

Another.

And I was still breathing.

“…I didn’t die.”

A laugh escaped me, disbelieving.

“So it was all a lie?”

Once

my pulse settled enough for me to see straight, I spotted the necklace wedged between two stones. I snatched it up, staring at the crystal-still warm, still pulsing faintly.

“So this whole time you were just a regular necklace meant to scare me into obedience?”

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Chapter 67

I shoved it into my coat pocket, gathered the wood, and headed inside.

55 vouchers

The moment I pushed through the back door, the heat from the fireplace wrapped around me, along with expensive perfume and my mother’s voice directing the house like a general preparing for war.

“You took long enough with that wood, Maya,” she said without even looking at me. “The Alpha can’t walk into a cold house.”

Tell him to build a fireplace in his own damn mansion, I thought.

But I smiled.

“It’s here,” I said, carrying the stack toward the hearth.

She finally looked at me-eyes sweeping over my coat, my boots, my hair pulled back like I’d done it in the dark.

“Go wash,” she ordered. “And put on something that doesn’t look like it was dragged out of a stable. Even if you won’t be stepping into the sitting room. I don’t want him thinking House Melrose is careless.”

Even if you won’t be stepping into the sitting room.

Of course.

I could scrub every floor in this house until my knees bled, but I still wasn’t allowed to be seen.

I stepped closer, keeping my voice low, trying to carve out the smallest space where I was allowed to exist.

“Mother… I need to tell you something.”

She didn’t even turn her head.

I swallowed, the words about the necklace burning on my tongue, but her expression was already closed off-tight with impatience.

“What is it now, Maya?” she snapped. “Just finish the firewood and get out of my sight. Go wash. Go.”

“Oh.” My throat tightened. “Okay, I’ll tell you later. It’s not urgent.”

I went back to the fireplace and knelt, arranging the logs one by one so the air could circulate. When the flames finally caught, warmth spread through the room-

And at the same time, my mother turned to my sisters.

They stood in a perfect line like expensive dolls waiting to be chosen.

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3:59 pm

Chapter 67

MTM.

55 vouchers

“Listen carefully, girls,” she said, her voice filling the space. “This is the first time we’re receiving Alpha Attila in our home, and everything must be flawless. Your father is away, so I expect twice the effort. You won’t let the Alpha leave here with a terrible impression of the Melrose family, will you?”

“No, Mother!” all three of them answered at once, eager and bright.

“Good.”

My mother went to the window and parted the curtain just slightly. She froze for a beat.

“He’s arriving,” she announced, unable to hide the tension in her voice.

My sisters straightened instantly.

I slid the last piece of wood into place and stood, wiping my hands on my trousers.

That was when my mother’s gaze swept the room like she was checking every detail-

And stopped on me.

On

my neck.

Her face hardened in an instant.

“Where is your necklace?” she asked slowly, her voice sharp as a wolf’s tooth.

She noticed.

“M-me…” I stammered. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Outside, I took it off-by accident—and I didn’t die, Mother. I’m alive. I survived. The curse-

I didn’t even get to finish.

39

She crossed the room and grabbed my arm hard enough to make me gasp.

“You can’t stay here,” she hissed. “Move. We don’t have time.”

“Wait-Mother, you’re hurting me!”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

She dragged me down the corridor like she was hauling something that wasn’t supposed to exist. My sisters stared, shocked by the brutality, but not one of them said a word.

We climbed the servant stairs-the ones guests never saw-up to the icy hallway on the second floor. She yanked open the narrow attic door and shoved me toward the ladder.

“Mother, I’m not going to die,” I insisted, voice cracking. “I took it off and nothing happened. The

curse-

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Chapter 67

MTM

“Enough,” she growled, almost soundless. “You don’t understand what you’ve done.”

The attic was colder than outside.

She let

go

55 vouchers

of me like I was contaminated, and I stumbled onto the wooden floorboards. Then she slammed the door with a heavy thud.

“Do not come out until I come for you,” she snapped through the wood.

I shifted, sitting down on the floor, trying to make myself smaller.

“Okay… Mother.”

Her voice turned even colder.

“And don’t call me that. No one knows you’re my daughter.”

The key turned on the other side.

First came darkness.

Then silence.

Not the kind of silence that belonged to an empty house.

The kind that settled inside your chest and stayed there.

I touched the burning mark on my skin, wrapped my arms around myself, and listened to the distant sounds of excitement downstairs-everything prepared for the Alpha.

For the legitimate daughters.

And locked up there, hidden away, the necklace in my pocket and my heart aching like an open wound, I finally understood something I’d been too afraid to name before:

The real curse wasn’t the stone.

The real curse was being born her daughter…

And still having to pretend I wasn’t.

3:59 pm MTM.

Chapter 67

“You’re not wrong,” I said, scanning the street. “It gets more rotten every year.”

55 vouchers

The road was nearly empty. A door slammed shut as we passed. A window cracked open just enough for someone to peek out. I caught a child watching us, wide-eyed. The second our eyes met, they vanished like I was a nightmare made real.

Maya’s fingers tightened around mine.

I liked that more than I should’ve.

“By the way,” I said, not looking at her. “What are you doing out here?”

She hesitated.

“I’m looking for a friend of Beatrice’s father.”

I paused just long enough for her to feel that I’d heard her.

“Why?”

She bit her lip like she didn’t want to explain. I saw the fight in her, that habit of carrying everything alone. Then, without another word, she let go of my hand for a second and pulled something from the pack I’d been carrying.

A folded piece of paper.

She opened it and held it up for me.

“Here,” she said. “This is the address.”

I took it and read fast.

The name made my brow tighten.

“Wilfred?” I muttered.

Maya looked up immediately, “You know him?”

I stared at the paper again, trying to drag up a memory that wouldn’t come.

“No,” I said. “Not that I remember,”

I folded the paper back into my palm, taking in the village layout. By the way the houses were positioned and how the road bent, I already knew where it would be. I’d been here before, years ago, when Hollow Creek was nothing more than an ugly dot on a map.

“It’s in the back,” I said. “Far end of town.”

Maya exhaled like that was good news.

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E 95 vouchers

“Listen carefully, girls,” she said, her voice filling the space. “This is the first time we’re receiving Alpha Attila in our home, and everything must be flawless. Your father is away, so I expect twice the effort. You won’t let the Alpha leave here with a terrible impression of the Melrose family, will you?”

‘No, Mother!” all three of them answered at once, eager and bright.

‘Good.”

My mother went to the window and parted the curtain just slightly. She froze for a beat.

‘He’s arriving,” she announced, unable to hide the tension in her voice.

My sisters straightened instantly.

I slid the last piece of wood into place and stood, wiping my hands on my trousers.

That was when my mother’s gaze swept the room like she was checking every detail-

And stopped on me.

On my neck.

Her face hardened in an instant.

‘Where is your necklace?” she asked slowly, her voice sharp as a wolf’s tooth.

She noticed.

‘M-me…” I stammered. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Outside, I took it off-by accident-and I didn’t die, Mother. I’m alive. I survived. The curse-”

I didn’t even get to finish.

She crossed the room and grabbed my arm hard enough to make me gasp.

‘You can’t stay here,” she hissed. “Move. We don’t have time.”

“Wait-Mother, you’re hurting me!”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

She dragged me down the corridor like she was hauling something that wasn’t supposed to exist. My sisters stared, shocked by the brutality, but not one of them said a word.

We climbed the servant stairs-the ones guests never saw-up to the icy hallway on the second floor. She yanked open the narrow attic door and shoved me toward the ladder.

“Mother, I’m not going to die,” I insisted, voice cracking. “I took it off and nothing happened. The

curse

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55 vouchers

I took her hand again.

“Let’s go,” I said.

She nodded, and we kept walking.

The deeper we went, the worse it got. More symbols carved into walls. Amulets hanging from doors. Dark liquids lined up in bottles on windowsills like decoration.

I recognized some of it. Protection marks. Binding marks. Warning marks.

And it put me on edge.

What the hell did Maya want with the person living out here?

At the edge of the village, the road turned into almost nothing. A narrow path led to a small plot of land. The gate was rusted and crooked, and it groaned like it was alive even before I touched it.

I shoved it open with my shoulder.

It

gave way with a metallic whine.

Inside, the trees were dressed in junk and charms. Old cups. Twisted iron shaped like fish and stars. Small stakes driven into the ground in deliberate patterns. Symbols that weren’t random. Symbols I didn’t like seeing anywhere.

Maya looked around carefully, but I could feel her trying not to show fear.

I didn’t have that luxury.

My whole body shifted into hunt mode. My breathing slowed. My muscles locked in. She was with me. I couldn’t afford a mistake.

When we were only a few yards from the cabin, I saw it.

Movement.

Men.

Six, maybe.

And they weren’t from the village.

The way they stood. The way they spread out. The way they watched and held their weight. Predators. Not farmers.

Shit.

Maya stopped.

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Chapter 67

“Enough,” she growled, almost soundless. “You don’t understand what you’ve done.”

The attic was colder than outside.

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She let go of me like I was contaminated, and I stumbled onto the wooden floorboards. Then she slammed the door with a heavy thud.

“Do not come out until I come for you,” she snapped through the wood.

I shifted, sitting down on the floor, trying to make myself smaller.

“Okay… Mother.”

Her voice turned even colder.

“And don’t call me that. No one knows you’re my daughter.”

The key turned on the other side.

First came darkness.

Then silence.

Not the kind of silence that belonged to an empty house.

The kind that settled inside your chest and stayed there.

I touched the burning mark on my skin, wrapped my arms around myself, and listened to the distant sounds of excitement downstairs-everything prepared for the Alpha.

For the legitimate daughters.

And locked up there, hidden away, the necklace in my pocket and my heart aching like an open wound, I finally understood something I’d been too afraid to name before:

The real curse wasn’t the stone,

The real curse was being born her daughter…

And still having to pretend I wasn’t.

4:00 pm

Chapter 67

MTM.

“Those men…” she started, her voice cracking.

14.0

255 vouchers

I grabbed her before she could finish. Fast. Rough. No softness. I pulled us behind a thick tree and covered her mouth for one second.

“Shh,” I growled against her ear.

Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t fight me. She just breathed shallow, startled, trying to understand.

I lifted my hand slowly.

She looked again, and her voice came out in a whisper.

“What are they doing here?”

My eyes stayed on them. “Do you know those men?”

Maya went pale.

“Yes,” she said, tense, swallowing hard before she forced the words out. “They’re the same men who killed Beatrice’s father. That day in the woods.”

I didn’t understand everything she meant. Not in that second. But I understood one thing with brutal clarity.

If they’d killed someone inside my territory… and they were standing here now…

They weren’t mine. And the fact that they were here at all meant trouble.

Chapter 67

Chapter 67

– MAYA

I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore.

255 vouchem

Northumberland air cut like a blade, and the wind rolling off the hills felt like it had decided to move into our yard-specifically on the day Alpha Attila Volkov chose to grace us with his presence.

Perfect.

He lived somewhere with eternal night, where the sky practically took orders from his mood, but ne still showed up expecting a warm parlor in someone else’s house. Typical. Alpha males were all

he same.

braced my forearms on the chopping block and brought the axe down again.

The log split with a sharp, satisfying crack.

gathered the pieces and stacked them neatly beside the stump, already picturing what was coming next: the fire roaring, my mother wearing that porcelain smile, my sisters offering themselves with practiced silence…

And me-the daughter who “didn’t exist”-hauling wood like I belonged in the background.

‘All for the great Alpha,” I muttered under my breath. “What an honor.”

The yard smelled like frozen dirt and old smoke. Morning fog still clung to the trees like a veil that refused to lift. I tugged my coat collar higher and stretched my neck, trying to relieve the irritating itch that had been tormenting me for days.

The necklace.

That damned blue stone had been heating up more every morning, like someone was lighting a fire inside it. At first it was just a strange warmth-almost pleasant.

Then it turned annoying.

That morning, it was unbearable.

I pressed my fingers to the pendant and felt it throb against my skin, far too hot. It stung.

“Ow,” I grunted, squeezing my eyes shut. “Not again.”

I lifted the axe one more time, but the burning crawled up my throat, flared behind my ear, and brought a dizzy wave with it. The handle slipped from my grip. I grabbed the necklace instead.

“Enough.”

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Chapter 67

Chapter 67

ATILA

55 vouchers

I climbed down from the wagon first, the uneven ground grinding under my boots, and held my hand out to Maya without thinking twice. She took it immediately, her smaller fingers sliding into mine like they belonged there.

The old man who’d given us a ride tugged the reins and brought the horse to a stop with a short whistle. Damp straw and old wood clung to the air, heavy and stale. Hollow Creek had never been welcoming, but today it felt even smaller, like the whole place was pressing in.

“Appreciate the ride,” I said, steady, meeting his gaze head-on.

Maya dipped her head too, polite. “Thank you, sir.”

He flashed a crooked smile, but he didn’t relax. His eyes stayed locked on me, measuring. Like I was something he’d only ever seen from a distance, and now I was standing too close for comfort.

He cleared his throat, hesitated, and just as I started to guide Maya forward, he lifted a hand.

“Wait.” His voice dropped. “Can I ask you something?”

I stopped.

“Go ahead,” I said.

He gripped the brim of his hat, nervous. “Are you… by any chance… the Supreme Alpha?”

I had no reason to lie.

“I am,” I said simply. “Atila Volkov.”

The old man exhaled like he’d just confirmed something he’d been carrying in his chest since the moment he spotted us on the road.

“I knew it,” he murmured, almost smiling. “I’ve never seen you in person… only portraits. But I felt your energy in the woods.”

So that was why he gave us a ride. I kept my face blank.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a black handkerchief, neatly folded-too clean for a man who lived on roads like this. He offered it to Maya first, like she was the soft spot in our pairing.

“Here,” he said. “People will recognize you with an aura like that. This little backwater is crawling with witches, spellcasters, and alchemists. It’s dangerous for someone of your rank to walk around out here… with only an omega at your side.”

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4:00 pm

Chapter 67

MTM-

I didn’t think. I didn’t listen for my mother’s voice in my head saying never take it off.

I just ripped it away.

55 vouchers

The clasp snapped open, and I threw the necklace onto the gravel like it had personally offended me. Cold air hit the irritated skin beneath it, and a long breath spilled out of me.

“Ah…” I closed my eyes. “Finally.”

My skin still felt raw and sensitive, but the pressure was gone. I inhaled the freezing air like I’d never actually breathed before.

One second of peace.

Two.

Z = O F F ;

Three.

“Oh my God.”

My eyes flew open, panic slamming into me all at once.

The curse.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” I dropped to my knees. “Where did you?”

fall? Where are you

I started clawing through the ground with my hands, shoving aside pebbles and dead leaves.

“I’m going to die if I don’t put it back on,” I said out loud, my voice shaking. “Mom said I’d die.”

But as the seconds passed… nothing happened.

A minute went by.

Another.

And I was still breathing.

“…I didn’t die.”

A laugh escaped me, disbelieving.

“So it was all a lie?”

Once my pulse settled enough for me to see straight, I spotted the necklace wedged between two stones. I snatched it up, staring at the crystal-still warm, still pulsing faintly,

“So this whole time you were just a regular necklace meant to scare me into obedience?”

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4:00 pm MTM.

Chapter 67

He was looking at her, but the warning was for me.

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Maya stared at me, serious, like she wanted to speak and didn’t know how. I saw the courage in her eyes, but I also saw the edge of fear she was trying to swallow. She didn’t want to look weak in front of me.

I took the handkerchief calmly.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll take it. But I know this region.” I tilted my head slightly, letting the words land with weight. “And there’s nothing in Hollow Creek more dangerous than a Supreme Alpha.”

The old man went pale instantly, like he regretted opening his mouth.

“Yes, sir,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean any offense.”

I let out a slow breath through my nose. His intentions were good. Hell was paved with those.

“Either way, thank you,” I said, cutting it off. “Goodbye.”

I lifted

my

hand in a short wave. He waved back, relieved.

Without wasting time, I wrapped the cloth around my head-just enough to keep me from being recognized at a glance-and did what every Alpha learned early. I folded my presence inward, locking my energy down until it became a controlled silence. Invisible to anyone trying to sense me before they saw me.

Maya watched me closely.

I took her hand again and tugged her forward, firm, pulling her into the village.

Hollow Creek was too small to call a town. One narrow main road. Crooked, low houses. Weather- darkened wood. Tiny windows shut tight like suspicious eyes. The ground was a mix of mud and stone, and the air smelled like rust, smoke, and something bitter-burned herbs.

Things hung from trees that had no business being there. Broken teacups tied with string. Small bones. Faded ribbons. Symbols carved into posts, old marks repeated like warnings no one dared ignore.

Maya flinched at my side when we passed a house with rag dolls hanging from the porch. Dirty fabric, scraps for clothes, stitched eyes that sat wrong on their faces. One swayed in the breeze and, for a second, looked like it was staring straight at her.

Her body went rigid.

“You okay?” I asked.

She took a breath and nodded, but she didn’t fool me.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “It’s just… I didn’t think this place would be so… creepy.”

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Chapter 67

I shoved it into my coat pocket, gathered the wood, and headed inside.

55 vouchers

The moment I pushed through the back door, the heat from the fireplace wrapped around me, along with expensive perfume and my mother’s voice directing the house like a general preparing for war.

“You took long enough with that wood, Maya,” she said without even looking at me. “The Alpha can’t walk into a cold house.”

Tell him to build a fireplace in his own damn mansion, I thought.

But I smiled.

“It’s here,” I said, carrying the stack toward the hearth.

She finally looked at me-eyes sweeping over my coat, my boots, my hair pulled back like I’d done it in the dark.

“Go wash,” she ordered. “And put on something that doesn’t look like it was dragged out of a stable. Even if you won’t be stepping into the sitting room. I don’t want him thinking House Melrose is careless.”

Even if you won’t be stepping into the sitting room.

Of course.

I could scrub every floor in this house until my knees bled, but I still wasn’t allowed to be seen.

I stepped closer, keeping my voice low, trying to carve out the smallest space where I was allowed to exist.

“Mother… I need to tell you something.”

She didn’t even turn her head.

I swallowed, the words about the necklace burning on my tongue, but her expression was already closed off-tight with impatience.

“What is it now, Maya?” she snapped. “Just finish the firewood and get out of my sight. Go wash.

Go.”

“Oh.” My throat tightened, “Okay. I’ll tell you later. It’s not urgent.”

I went back to the fireplace and knelt, arranging the logs one by one so the air could circulate. When the flames finally caught, warmth spread through the room-

And at the same time, my mother turned to my sisters.

They stood in a perfect line like expensive dolls waiting to be chosen.

3/6

4:00 pm MTM

Chapter 67

“You’re not wrong,” I said, scanning the street. “It gets more rotten every year.”

55 vouchers

The road was nearly empty. A door slammed shut as we passed. A window cracked open just enough for someone to peek out. I caught a child watching us, wide-eyed. The second our eyes met, they vanished like I was a nightmare made real.

Maya’s fingers tightened around mine.

I liked that more than I should’ve.

“By the way,” I said, not looking at her. “What are you doing out here?”

She hesitated.

“I’m looking for a friend of Beatrice’s father.”

I paused just long enough for her to feel that I’d heard her.

“Why?”

She bit her lip like she didn’t want to explain. I saw the fight in her, that habit of carrying everything alone. Then, without another word, she let go of my hand for a second and pulled something from the pack I’d been carrying.

A folded piece of paper.

She opened it and held it up for me..

‘Here,” she said. “This is the address.”