The Alpha Rejected Me And Created A Monster

5

SELENA

I turned around and made a beeline for the door, but it had been closed and someone moved in front of me, blocking the path. “Where do you think you’re going, Nightbane?” the person said, and I exhaled slowly.

“Home,” I replied, then raised my head to see who it was. “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” I muttered when we locked gazes.

Daniel Montell’s aura was unmistakable in the barely lit room, and the scumbag was the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

It wasn’t surprising that he was present at the meeting, he had reminded me of it earlier and practically followed Kieran around like a lapdog.

But I was a little rattled, because this was the second time he opened his mouth to speak to me today, and that was certainly not a good sign.

“Why are you leaving so soon? The meeting just started,” he said with a smug look and glanced at the cake I was holding just as the last curtain came down.

“Oh, you seem excited for this event, don’t you? Seeing that you brought cake, it’s only fair to ask if you’re hoping this would make up for your inability to get attention?” he added, and I glared at him.

“I’m not interested in being a source of entertainment for you right now, Daniel. Move out of the way,” I replied, ignoring his question and wishing the room wasn’t as dimly lit as it was, so he could see the disgust on my face.

He crossed his arms and showed no indication of stepping away from the door so I could walk past him, which left me feeling even more frustrated. The longer I stayed here, the more discomfiting this would turn out to be.

I had to be as far away as possible from whatever this was, so I tried to squeeze myself through the small space left. But the sound of a bell ringing throughout the room stopped me in my tracks.

“The healers will pass potions to everyone,” a woman’s voice rang from the podium. I turned in the direction of the sound to see that Alejandro had taken his seat, and candles started to get lit in every corner of the room. “You are to drink them and focus on the energy of the moon to channel your aura and unlock the bond with your potential mate,” she added, then sat down.

A warm glow from the candles enveloped the hall as a dozen people cloaked in black attire filed into the room. Half of them were holding trays, and the other half rolled up their sleeves, then began pouring a bright red substance into small cups.

“The party’s just begun,” Daniel leaned forward and whispered in a mocking tone. “You don’t want to miss it, do you?”

I ignored him and looked around for another way to exit the hall. The only other option I had was the door the healers had come through.

That meant I would have to walk through a sea of people, making my way to the front like a lost puppy and calling the attention of everyone in the room to myself.

That was definitely not an option, so I was stuck here—forced to wait until it was my turn to get the potion and potential embarrassment.

“How wonderful,” I said in a sarcastic tone and heaved a sigh as the healers got closer to where I was standing.

I watched as the room started to fill with bright, colorful lights and wondered where they came from, since the curtains were still down and the candles still on. In a quick second, I got my answer—colorful lights sparkled from two rows in front of me and intertwined with another that began to glow a couple of seats away.

The people this had happened to jumped up excitedly and ran into each other’s arms. This was the indication that they had become mates, and the pattern continued as people joyfully ran into each other’s arms in every corner of the room.

“Open,” I heard a voice say next to me. I was about to tell Daniel to find someone else to bother, but when I turned to the speaker, it was a healer.

She was holding a cup and watching me intently. I realized that she wanted to hand it to me but saw the cake in my hands.

I wanted to reject the potion and tell her that I didn’t want any part of what was going on here, but I could instantly tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t ready for any conversation.

I also didn’t want to cause a scene, so I opened my mouth and she poured the liquid in. I planned to hold it in until the ceremony was over and spit it out once I was out of here, but the instant the liquid touched my tongue, I felt something else take over my abilities.

My legs tingled, and my entire body started to feel warm. The liquid in my mouth went from sweet to bitter, then sour, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

The instant I swallowed, I saw a burst of colors envelop me and flash across the room, heading for the front row—in the direction of Kieran McCain.

I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them, I would be somewhere else or I’d realize this was a terrible dream I had woken up from. But I was wrong.

The cake fell from my hands as I realized that the fates had picked this day to play a cruel joke on me. Pairing me with the son of my family’s worst enemy was up there as one of the worst things that could happen to me.

“That’s impossible!” Kieran’s voice bellowed from the front row. The bond had gotten to where he was, and he looked livid when he realized who it had come from.

The room instantly became silent, and all eyes turned towards him. “She can’t be my mate, she hasn’t even experienced her first transformation,” he protested.

I stared at the cake, which had fallen to the floor, and silently wished the ground would open up and swallow me, instead of whatever was going on right now. “If the fates think she’s the one for you, then there’s nothing else we can do,” the voice of the woman who had announced the healers replied.

“There’s nothing you can do, but I definitely can. I refuse to be mates with some omega who can’t even hold a cake properly. What use is she to me?” he responded in a scathing tone and turned in my direction.

“I reject you as my mate, Selena Nightbane! I pick Hailey Greystone, the beautiful and strong beta who has always been by my side!”