The Rejected Mate's Revenge

Chapter Two.

I felt the bond break.

The rope that tethered our hearts together split with a tug that left me breathless. Tears bloomed at my eyelids as I doubled over, clutching my chest in pain.

"She actually thought he was going to accept her."

"Pity."

"I feel kind of sad for her. This is so embarrassing."

"I mean, look at her. And look at Kaylea."

I shut my eyes tight as if to chase the words coming from all around me away. Why would he choose me? I was a nobody and now I was a rejected nobody.

My wolf was insistent however. My head raised, a movement I didn't make, and my red rimmed eyes met Xavier's blue ones. I'd expected to see more of the concept I was sure was on everybody's face.

And I was shocked at what I saw there.

Unbridled pain.

Obvious on his face, even for someone who never showed emotion. This hurt him too. He flinched as he met my gaze, and I saw a wrinkle between his brows. He looked anything but ferocious, but still physically hurt by what he did to me.

Guess I wasn't the only one affected by what he did.

Xavier dragged his gaze away, and stormed away. Without so much as a backward glance. I let out a breath, mixed with a little more shock than weariness. Had I thought that I would find a mate today? That after everything going wrong in my life, something might finally go right? The moon goddess or whatever she was called didn't care about lowly Omegas like me.

I stumbled, pushing past the scoffing figures beside me and made my way into the woods. Away from their scrutinous gazes and hurtful words. I had a home here in the pack house. But I couldn't stay here a second longer. I was rejected, I had no mate, and I couldn't survive here on my own.

The wolves would eat me alive.

The last they would see of me wouldn't be me in tears. I wouldn't cry in front of them. I couldn't. The pain was still there, dull, but insistent. My newly awakened wolf howled inside me, but I shut down it's whine inside me.

He rejected me. Us. There was nothing here for us again.

My feet sped up as I ran into the trees, leaving the life I knew here behind, as the tears running down my face threatened to swallow me whole.

Xavier

"What was that, man?"

I chose to ignore him, my hand rubbing my chest. It was like a low steady burn, not too harmful to hurt, but enough that I felt his existence.

"I know you hear me," Damien growled. He was the only person who could speak to me like this. Because he had grown up with me to know who I was before I became Alpha. He was the only one I trusted enough to make a close advisor. My Beta. Smart and ruthless, he still always had my best interest at heart. But I was sorely tempted to rip his head off if he continues his insistent questioning.

"Mind your damn business." I lowered myself into a chair, cracking open a bottle of whiskey. I needed something strong.

"I will if you tell me what the hell that was." He gestured to the door, referring to the spectacle I caused outside. "An omega was your mate?"

"Emphasis on was." I snarled, my voice low. Instead of the whiskey dulling the pain, it only made it worse. I poured another. "I rejected her, you saw. The moon goddess made a mistake."

"I've never known her to do that." Damien sighed, ran a hand through his dirty blonde locks and set his grey gaze on me. "What are you going to do now?"

You. Because this was supposed to fall on me. Securing a mate influential enough to further my pack's involvement in political matters. It was a case of power and diplomacy, I couldn't just mate with an Omega. It wasn't done. "Go ahead with the plan. I'll mate with Kaylea, and—"

"And what?" Damien settled into one of the armchairs in my office, an amused glint in his eye. Despite his anger previously, it was obvious he was enjoying this now. "You can't choose to mate with someone, it's not done."

"Shut up." A grunt left my lips as I shifted in my chair.

Damien's brow wrinkled as his expression turned apprehensive. "Are you okay?"

Was I okay? I didn't even know anymore. After looking into that girl's haunted gaze and almost spiteful expression, this ache kicked up in my chest and it was slowly becoming more of a pain every passing second. Almost like I could feel her anguish, which couldn't make sense because I rejected her.

I wasn't supposed to feel this way. I could almost see her face in my mind. Brown eyes, messy brown hair. Bland, really. An Omega. The lowest of them all. What did the moon goddess think was going to happen?

I was an Alpha. The youngest and the fiercest as well. It was only strategy and power plays that got me where I was today. Hardwork and a cunning mind. I wasn't going to throw all I built away for some girl who looked as unappealing as the bottom of my shoe.

An Alpha mating with an Omega. It was a laugh. The whole thing was a laugh.

Despite that, her face kept flashing in my mind like a haunting slideshow. "Where is the girl?"

"Aira?" Damien asked, like there was another girl I rejected a few minutes ago. "They said she ran away. The weird thing is, I never really noticed her before as part of our pack."

I didn't too. Until I saw her face and my wolf growled at me in excitement. The whole thing was a laugh. "Good. Make sure she doesn't come back."

Damien frowned. He was the opposite of me, where my heart was a stone cold status, his was still fleshy. Still beating. I knew he pitied the girl. Wanted to see her taken care of. But I couldn't care less. And I made sure he saw that in my face, because his expression faded and his mouth set in a thin line.

"Sure."

"And gather the elders." I added, he stood and began walking to the door. "We have business to discuss."

The last thing I needed were mouths running and word getting to the wrong ears. I needed to nip this Omega nonsense in the bud. It never happened, and I was satisfied she had run away. I didn't have to forcefully get rid of her. I just hoped for her sake she never came back.

Because then I'd have no choice but to snuff out the fiery light I'd seen in her eyes.

Aira

I could only see trees as far as the eye could go.

I didn't even know my directions again. I was certain If I tried to return to the pack house, I'd fail miserably. Trees were all I could see for miles. I'd been walking for miles, my soft shoes coming to pieces on the rough floor.

Xavier.

As much as I tried not to think about him, it was hard. Even though I could tell we were no longer bonded, it was like I could still feel him. Which should be impossible, I wouldn't be surprised if I was imagining it.

There was nothing left for me there. He made sure of that. And I felt nothing but tired at the whole thing.

All my life I had been rejected by everyone I loved. Even now, it was becoming less of a surprise that Xavier did. I didn't blame him, I didn't blame any of them. I would only miss Daya, she was the only one who remotely cared about me.

There was a cliff ahead finally, something jagged and rough. Much like how my heart felt. As I wobbled over to the edge, it felt like my entire life had been leading up to this moment. What would happen if I just ended it all? Who would notice?

Stop.

My wolf growled, after being silent for hours on end. What was there to live for? I had no one, again. Here I was, all hope lost. There was nothing left for me.

I reject you, Xavier Storm.

The thoughts were loud in her head. Even if he rejected her first, he wouldn't get to keep a piece of her. Alive or dead.

"You don't want to do that."

I startled, almost slipping over the edge but I managed to catch myself just in time. There was a figure hidden in the trees, and I couldn't see him, even as I strained my eyes. My wolf growled in me, but she didn't seem frightened, just curious. "Who's there?"

"Don't bother about me." The voice called back. "Just observing."

"I'm going to do it anyway." I turned back to the cliff, the water crashed against the rocks at the base almost like a cruel greeting.

"I don't think you are." The voice said. "And I'm almost never wrong." He stepped out of the shadows, and if I wasn't scared of the cliff and what lay in wait for me, I was definitely scared of this man.

He was everything they warn you to stay away from as a kid. He was tall, imposing. A shaved head, and a scar that ran down from one milky eye to his cheekbone. He looked like he'd seen everything, and the one clear green eye was haunted.

"Who are you?" My voice came out a shaky breath.

A sharp gleam of teeth. "A friend."

I scoffed. If I wasn't considering dying, I would've laughed. "I don't have any of those."

"Pity." He said dryly. "So the next option is to jump off a cliff. A coward's death really."

Stop.

I ignored the voice in my head, as I turned back to the cliff's edge. My gaze reddened as I felt the rage coursing through my veins at the mention of his name. I wanted to make him pay. I wanted to take what little he had away from him.

"What do you wish for, child?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Such a different question from Daya's. Because now my answer was different. "Revenge."

"Xavier Storm rejected you."

My head swung in his direction and he lifted a brow. "How do you know that?"

The lift of his shoulder was slight and I had a feeling that this man knew a little bit of everything there was to know. "If you really want revenge, that's not the way to do it."

I stepped away from the edge, staring at the man in front of me. "You'll help me." I said. It wasn't a question, a statement, because I knew he'd help me. My wolf didn't see him as a threat, and who did I have left to turn to? A stranger in the woods seemed like my only option.

"I will."

"Why?"

"Because we want the same thing."

I frowned. Xavier Storm didn't become the Alpha he is now without making a few enemies. I still couldn't see what Xavier Storm could do to a man who looked as ferocious as this one looked. "What's your name?"

"You may call me Booker."

"Okay, Booker." I said, trying out the name in my mouth. "Since you know everything about me. What did Xavier Storm ever do to you?"

I didn't notice it before, but he was dressed in all black, the vision of death. He ran a hand down the red scar that seemed to take all the space in his face. And I wouldn't have heard what he said if I wasn't within reach.

"Xavier Storm gave me this."