Rejected By The Alpha Brother Claimed By His Ruthless Twin

Adaira’s POV “She's the future Alpha's mate, right? The woman who owns the coffee shop?” I paused, my back pressing against the wall to listen in on their conversation. “I heard they met three months ago and he still has not marked her. Maybe she's a fluke?” “He has pretty women around him all the time. She's cute but nothing compared to those supermodels.” The two men laughed. My hands tightened around the handle of my basket. “Adaira?” Allen called from behind me. When I turned, his eyes moved from my teary expression to the men who were still talking behind me. “Ignore them.” “But it's true. It's been three months. Why haven't I gone to meet your pack?” It must have been my imagination but irritation flashed in his eyes. “I told you. I've been busy.” “Meeting women from other packs?!” I spat without thinking. His face twisted in anger. I took a step back towards him, my hand raised to touch his chest. “Sorry. I should not have said–” “Yes. Meeting women from other packs,” he said coldly. “Alpha's daughters. The kind suited for me.” I froze midstep, wondering if my ears were playing tricks on me. “Excuse me?” Allen tore his eyes away from me. “I am trying to become the Alpha of my pack. The woman I mate matters.” My chest heaved as I forced breaths into my lungs. “And what happens to me?! I am your mate!” He scoffed. “So?” The single word was like a slap in the face. “So?” I repeated, my voice cracking. “What do you mean, so?” His eyes hardened. “You will not come between me and my plans. I will not mate a lone wolf.” Did he mean… “I, Allen Ronald Black, reject you, Adaira Evergreen, as my mate,” he spat. My lips parted in a silent scream, my hand clutching my chest as pain exploded within. The picnic basket I had packed for us clattered to the ground. Rejection. He rejected me. This had to be a cruel joke. “Allen, you…” A single tear slipped down my cheek. There seemed to be a conflicted look on his face. “I…I will claim you. But I need to get rid of this stupid bond to mark my real Luna.” Who was this man? Where was the mate I fell in love with at first sight? His phone rang. When he saw it, the look in his eyes softened for a second. “Hey,” he said in a gentle tone that he never used with me. A woman's voice came through the speaker. Coquettish. Calling him babe. She asked him a question and he gave me an irritated look. “I just had to clean up something. I will be home for dinner.” When the call dropped, he walked to me and tilted my chin up. The desire in his eyes was a complete mockery of everything I had ever thought the mate bond was about. “Wait for me in your coffee shop. When I finalize my matters at home and explain the situation to my parents, I will come for you.” *** It took the grace of the goddess and the persistence of Yvonne, my best friend, to get out of my house. “You've mourned enough over him. Move on with your life,” she said. “You can say that easily,” I said, walking down the street to the grocery store. “You don't know what it is like to have a mate.” Yvonne let out a frustrated sigh. “Didn't he say he would come to claim you?” My jaw clenched. “I will not be a mistress to a man that rejected me, Yvonne!” A voice spoke in her background. “Adaira, I have to go,” she said. “Stop being so stubborn.” I stared at the blank screen of my phone after the call ended. She was encouraging me to be the mistress because Allen was an Alpha's son and he was rich. I chuckled. She could be so greedy sometimes. Opposite the grocery store, my eyes caught the back profile of a woman seated in a restaurant. When I opened the door, my heart stopped. I knew that scent. “You should have heard her crying last night,” the woman said, laughing. “She looked utterly pathetic. I can’t believe she thought an Alpha’s son would actually mate her.” My head fell back, tears springing to my eyes. My own best friend. I had even taken her as a sister after I lost everyone. Allen’s head turned in my direction by chance. He blinked in surprise and got to his feet. I could see the cruel smirk emerge on Yvonne’s face before she turned around. She must have known I was here the moment I entered. “Adaira, I did not expect to see you here,” she said, her voice sickly sweet. When I spoke, my words were calm, nothing like the rage I felt inside. “You two…how do you know each other?” I scoffed bitterly as Allen avoided my gaze. Yvonne, however, grabbed his arm. Her hand stretched forward to display a ring that had not been there in the last week. “You are just in time. Allen and I are getting married.” “When?” I pressed. “When would that be?” she muttered, tapping her chin. “Oh, I remember. Three days ago. Should have been the day after he got rid of you. Right, darling?” It could have been any woman in the world. Why Yvonne? How could my best friend do this to me? I took a step closer to her, my voice shaking with tears and anger. “How do you feel whoring yourself out to my mate?” Yvonne flushed red in embarrassment. “H-How dare you? If you were any good for him, he would have–” “Yeah, right.” I grabbed her chin, turning her head. My voice lowered to a whisper that only both of us could hear. “Just what did you tell him to make him think that you were different from me?” A slow grin slipped onto her face. “Wealth, of course. You know that little coffee shop of yours? I sold it.”