REJECTED BY THE ALPHA KING

Asha's POV Today was supposed to be the best day of my life. I stood in front of the mirror in my small bedroom, looking at the white dress my mother had sewn for me. My hands were shaking bad. Today, I turned eighteen. Today, I would meet my fated mate. "Asha! Are you ready?" My mother called from downstairs. "Almost!" I shouted back, smoothing down my long dark hair one more time. I had waited for this moment since I was a little girl. My wolf had been restless for months now, growing stronger every day. I could feel her pacing inside me, excited and desperate to meet the one person in this world who was made just for us. Our mate. Our other half. Everyone said that meeting your fated mate was the most powerful feeling in the world. It was magic. It was destiny. It was everything. My father was the Beta of the Crescent Moon pack. He worked directly under the Alpha King himself—Kai Teo. Kai was twenty-five years old, powerful, and cold as ice. Nobody really liked him, but everyone respected him. He had taken over the pack when he was only twenty and had made it the strongest pack in the region. I had only seen him a few times in my life. He never came to pack events if he could avoid it. He preferred to stay locked in his office, dealing with pack business and the wars that were always happening somewhere. He was not the type of man to care about normal wolves like me. That was fine. I did not expect my mate to be him. My mate was probably someone kind. Someone who would love me and protect me. Someone from a good family who would want to have pups with me and build a life together. The Mating Ceremony was being held at the pack house tonight. All the eighteen-year-olds from our pack would be there. Some would find their mates. Some would not. My mother had told me that not everyone found their mate right away. Sometimes it took years. Sometimes it never happened at all. But I could feel it in my bones. My mate was there tonight. My wolf could smell him already, even from far away. The scent was rich and dark, like pine trees and smoke. It made my heart race so fast I thought it would burst out of my chest. "Come on, Asha!" My father appeared at my door, looking handsome in his dark suit. "Everyone is waiting." I took a deep breath and nodded. I grabbed my white shawl and followed him downstairs. My mother was waiting in the living room. She had tears in her eyes. "My baby girl," she said, pulling me into a hug. "I'm so happy for you." The drive to the pack house took fifteen minutes. My hands stayed clenched in my lap the whole way. When we arrived, I could see hundreds of wolves milling around outside. The pack house was huge and beautiful, with white stone walls and big windows that glowed with golden light. I got out of the car slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. My wolf was going crazy inside me, howling and pacing and desperate to shift. But we had to wait. The ceremony would not start until sunset. I walked inside and found myself in a grand ballroom. The ceilings were high and decorated with crystal chandeliers. Long tables of food lined the walls. But all I could think about was finding my mate. My wolf kept pulling at me, trying to move me in a certain direction. "Asha! There you are!" I turned to see my best friend Priya running toward me. She was dressed in a similar white dress, her red hair piled on top of her head. "I'm so nervous," Priya said, grabbing my hand. "What if I don't meet anyone? What if my mate is someone I hate?" "You will meet someone," I said, trying to focus on what she was saying. But my wolf was still pulling at me, desperate and hungry. The scent I had smelled from home was getting stronger. Much stronger. My wolf was growling low in my chest. "Asha? Are you okay?" Priya looked at me with concern. "Yeah," I whispered. "I just... I think he is here." At that exact moment, the ballroom doors opened. Everyone turned to look. And there he was. Kai Teo. The Alpha King was dressed in a black suit that made him look like darkness given human form. His eyes were silver and cold, sharp as knives. His black hair fell past his shoulders, and a scar ran down the left side of his face. He looked dangerous. He looked powerful. He looked like a predator. And my wolf screamed inside me. MATE! MATE! MATE! I could not breathe. I could not move. Every nerve in my body was on fire. He walked into the ballroom slowly, his eyes scanning the crowd. When his gaze fell on me, I felt my heart stop. Our eyes locked. The entire room seemed to disappear. It was just me and him and the bond that connected us. I saw the recognition flash in his eyes. He felt it too. He had to. I took a step toward him, my whole body trembling. His expression changed. First, there was shock. Then, his face went cold. And finally, there was something that looked like disgust. No. That could not be right. "No," he said, loud enough that everyone in the ballroom could hear him. He turned away from me. "Reject her." The world stopped. "Reject her now," he said again, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. I felt the bond between us shatter like glass. The pain of it sent me to my knees. Wolves were screaming around me. My mother was running toward me, her face shocked and horrified. My father looked pale. But Kai did not even look back at me. He just walked out of the ballroom like nothing had happened. And as I knelt there on the floor, my soul breaking into pieces, I made myself a promise. I would become strong. I would become powerful. And one day, I would make him regret ever rejecting me