Page 98 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

She drilled until her muscles quaked and her body was soaked in sweat.

She was bleeding magic. Sweating anxiety. Turning dread into discipline.

“Hey, leave some dummies for the rest of us!” Leah teased with a grin.

Athena smirked, wiping her brow, but she didn’t stop.

***

The afternoon sun spilled golden warmth across the training grounds, glinting off the dust kicked up by the sparring witches. Athena stood with her arms extended, her fingers pulsing with controlled energy as she guided a line of white-hot magic between two stones. Her breath was steady, and her mind was focused. It was the third time she had thrown herself into training that day.

She heard another group of witches coming in from a drill. Their voices hushed and quick, then one louder than the rest as a girl with braids tumbling down her back huffed dramatically.

“They’re back,” she said, plopping down onto a nearby bench and dragging her satchel off her shoulder.

That got Athena’s attention.

The witch beside her leaned in. “Already?”

“Yeah,” the girl nodded, unwrapping the leather strap on her wrist. “They returned maybe fifteen minutes ago. I saw them at the lower gate.”

Athena paused mid-spell, and the light in her palm flickered.

“They brought in another witch?” another witch asked.

“Mmhmm,” the braided girl said in affirmation, clearly relishing the attention.

Athena’s mouth went dry. So they were back.

The group was still talking, not noticing her growing stillness.

“Where is she now?” someone asked.

“That’s the weird part,” the girl said, lowering her voice. “They didn’t bring her through the main quarters. They took her to the southeast barracks. The closed wing.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. Heard one of the guards mutter something about needing isolation. Something about her magic being unstable.”

Athena turned, pretending to focus on the energy stone again, but her ears stayed locked on the conversation.

Another witch scoffed. “What kind of unstable? Like dangerous?”

“Maybe she is of an ancient bloodline. And her magic is too powerful and dangerous to keep her around here?”

“Hmm,” the braided girl replied with a shrug. “I did hear she was a dark witch and her name is Aubrey.”

Athena’s stomach twisted.

They were discussing the witch that Marcus had been sent to retrieve. The one they had been so intent on capturing.

Despite the brief burst of heat that pricked her skin, Athena let her magic completely fizzle out of her hand. Pretending to take a break, she turned to the group and smiled tightly.

But her mind was racing on the inside.

Marcus was back. He had succeeded.

But why was the new witch not being introduced to the rest of the community, and why was she taken to a secluded location?