Chapter 03
1190 Words
RILEY’s pov;
I didn’t wait for Maren’s reaction. I turned on my heel and walked away, her stunned silence burned into my back like a brand.
My knees threatened to buckle the second I was out of sight, but I kept moving—running, really—until I reached my dorm.
The door slammed behind me. I sank onto the edge of my bed, chest heaving, waiting for the breakdown to hit.
But every intake of breath felt like a bullet had lodged behind my sternum.
Would it have hurt less if I had a wolf? Would she have howled with me, raged with me?
Don’t you dare give them your tears.
I swallowed hard, fists pressed against my thighs.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t sleep. I was restless.
I wanted a distraction and grabbed the only thing I always fell back to. My textbooks.
But the pages were blurred and my hands shook too badly to take notes.
Soon everyone would know that I wasn’t just an orphaned halfling. I was a rejected one.
My eyes hurt now from the unshed tears. I paused, tipped my chin and forced the tears back into my eyes with gravity.
I shouldn’t allow the heartbreak of a life time deterr me from achieving my goals or defining me. If I couldn’t have Kael, I would have everything else—top grades, med school acceptance, a future no one could take from me. Not even the moon goddess.
I repeated it like a mantra until the words tasted like ash.
But Morning came too soon.
I didn’t bother dressing to impress. Jeans, hoodie, hair in a messy bun. I was exhausted and unfortunately looked the part.
After every mating ritual, there was another ritual that I had always found ridiculous until today.
Today was the public rejection ceremony, and the entire campus knew it. Every year, I would see students and young wolves cry on their way to the halls unsure if they were going to be rejected or accepted.
Who knew that I would be among such people. At least I knew my fate.
The Great Hall smelled of incense and cold stone. The place was packed. Whispers slithered through the crowd like smoke the moment I stepped inside.
It almost felt like they knew what I did but I kept my chin set and didn’t stop walking.
“She actually showed up.”
“Is she going to beg?”
“Halfling. Pathetic.”
Whispers sliced every corner and my stomach twisted, but I kept my chin high and my hands shoved deep in my pockets so no one would see them tremble.
The policy echoed in my head: reject your mate publicly within twenty-four hours or the bond sinks deeper, becoming painful and permanent. That was why every seat was filled.
They’d come to watch the spectacle.
I was probably going to be the only rejected mate stupid enough to show up.
The heavy doors opened and I closed my eyes, inhaling.
I didn’t need to look—I felt him. Kael’s scent wrapped around me like a cruel reminder and when I finally glanced over, my lungs forgot how to work.
Gold eyes. Heir pin glinting on his chest. Dark circles under his eyes like we had shared the same night.
I bit my lip in agony. He still looked devastatingly beautiful, and I hated myself for noticing.
The whispers surged.
“Oh my god.”
“He’s really doing it? Aren’t they friends?”
“I told you she’s not worth the scandal. She’s an orphan.”
I could hear Maren’s friends from a while away and my chest tightened.
Phones rose despite the rules. Flashes occasionally happened and I could already picture the memes.
Halfling Gets Rejected by Future Alpha King.
I swallowed the humiliation and stared straight ahead.
The Head Seer raised his hand. “Kael Voss. Do you wish to address the bond?”
Kael stepped forward with that lazy, controlled power he couldn’t quite hide. Dangerous. Every inch the alpha heir he is.
“I—” his voice trailed, centering on me. His lips open but no sounds pouring out.
My heart was pounding and a different kind of emotion filtered my heart.
Was he serious? Wasn’t it bad enough that he was already on the verge of rejecting me? Why couldn’t he be quick about it!
“I, Alpha heir—“ he paused again and this time I kissed my teeth. If he thought I was going to sit here and wait for him to deliver the rejection dramatically then he thought wrong.
He may not want me for a mate but I sure as hell also deserved much better than this.
“I accept your rejection.” My voice was clear and steady, cutting him off before he could finish.
The words tasted like blood in my mouth, but I forced them out anyway. Standing to my feet, praying that nothing makes me falter.
Kael froze, stunned. His molten gold eyes still locked on to mine. For a split second, something raw flickered across his face—shock, maybe even pain—before his jaw tightened.
The hall went graveyard silent. The seers looked at Kael as though something was expected. Hushed whispers rang out and it wasn’t until it intensified that I realized what I had done.
In all of my five years, watching everyone get picked and dumped. Never have the rejection ceremony being interrupted talk more, the rejected wolf pulling an uno reverse.
There was nothing I could do about that now. It was done.
“Are we done here?” I asked, quieter this time, but no less firm.
The Head Seer cleared his throat, clearly thrown off balance by my unmatched confidence.
Maren’s face flushed crimson in the front row. I didn’t wait for permission. I turned on my heel and walked out, one foot in front of the other, refusing to look back even though my legs felt like jelly and my lungs burned.
Back in my dorm, I buried myself in notes, hiding the pain at the farthest corners of my heart with anatomy textbooks.
If I couldn’t control the bond tearing at my ribs, I could at least control myself and my grades.
And so, for two weeks all I did was go to class. Write tests, make academic research and go to bed.
Everytime my phone lit up with a notification or a call, I turned it off. Drowning in avoidance as I ghosted every strategy meeting, every film session.
Kael never came looking and that hurt worse than anything or maybe it was for the best?
I wouldn’t have been able to cope if he had.
My phone buzzed on my desk, snapping me awake. Drool had dotted a page of my book.
Shit. I had fallen asleep on another quantum physics assignment.
I made the mistake of reaching for my phone and at first the light blinded me but when my vision cleared, a cold sweat had broken out on my forehead.
There was a new email from Coach.
- Writer
