Chapter 2
1085 Words
ISABELLA POV
For a moment, it was as if Kaden and I were the only people in the room.
His hand was still wrapped around my wrist, the mate bond burning hot between us, wrapping around me like a choking, intoxicating presence. I couldn't look away. Neither could he.
Then someone coughed.
"Well, well, well," a voice drawled.
The spell was broken.
Kaden released me immediately, his fingers snatching back as if burned. I pulled my hands back, my face heating as I reached hastily for a cloth to dab at the spilt wine.
"Leave it."
Kaden's tone was gentle but commanding. I froze.
I lifted my eyes cautiously, and that was when I noticed the man watching me, one of the visiting Alphas. He was lounging in his seat, a sparkle of amusement and interest in his dark eyes as he sneered.
"Who would've thought?" he remarked. "Alpha Kaden, having finally found his mate."
There were some laughs around the table.
"We almost gave up on you.”
Kaden didn't join in their laughter. His expression was neutral, yet his gaze remained on me.
The other Alpha, however, wasn't done. His eyes roved over me in a way that made my skin crawl, lingering too long on places they shouldn't.
"And what do they call you, pretty little thing?"
Danger alarms shrieked in my head.
There was something wrong about him, too slick, too predatory. He was enjoying this, enjoying watching me squirm.
I got my voice to work. "Isabella," I whispered.
The Alpha smiled a thin smile. "Isabella," he repeated, rolling my name on his tongue as if it was something to be savoured. "Pretty name for a pretty thing."
My stomach soured.
Before I could devise an escape, Kaden spoke up.
“Cut it out, Iron."
His voice was steel, quiet but tempered with unmistakable lethality.
The air tensed.
The Alpha, Iron, clenched his jaw but said nothing. The dislike was clear in his eyes, but he shut his mouth. I could still feel the tension in the air, a thick, suffocating thing pressing down on me.
Kaden’s Beta, Lucien, cleared his throat, attempting to break the heavy silence. “Well, Alpha,” he said with a forced chuckle, “when should we set the mating ceremony?”
My breath caught.
Mating ceremony?
My heart pounded against my ribs. Did that mean…?
But Kaden’s jaw tightened.
“There will be no mating ceremony.”
Silence.
Lucien blinked as if he hadn't heard correctly. "What?"
Kaden forcefully exhaled through his nose. His eyes locked with mine again, but this time, they were glacial.
"I, Kaden Blackwood of Silver Moon Pack, reject you, Isabella of Silver Moon Pack, as being my fated mate and Luna."
It was as if a knife had been plunged straight through my chest.
A burning, scorching pain blazed through me, starting from my heart and rushing like flame through my veins. My breath caught as the agony swept over me, my knees prepared to buckle.
A rejection.
It was not merely words, it was the tearing of the fragile bond that had hardly had time to develop. My wolf howled within me, the bond forcibly severed before it could truly take hold.
I gasped, stepping back, bringing a trembling hand to my chest as if I could physically hold the pain in. Tears stung at my eyes.
I raised my gaze to Kaden.
For a moment, a brief second, I could have sworn she saw something, guilt, hesitation, but it vanished as quickly as it came, covered up by an impenetrable mask of indifference.
He turned away.
Moving back to his seat, he snapped his fingers at Lucien. "Where were we again?"
And just like that, he dismissed me.
Like I was nothing.
The room spun.
I struggled to breathe past the searing in my lungs. I forced myself to reach out, hand extended for the tray, but my hands shook too much to keep hold of it.
A light touch on my arm startled me.
Another omega, a girl I’d never seen before, stepped forward, gently tugging the tray from my hand. "Come," she said, her voice gentle but authoritative.
I let myself be led away.
I barely registered anything as we walked along the corridors. It was all distant, muted as if I was floating outside my body.
By the time we halted, I tried to force words out. "Thank you—"
Then bile churned in my throat.
I spun around, barely making it to the nearest bin before I vomited.
My stomach heaved furiously, but when there was nothing left, I straightened up, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand.
The omega looked at me worriedly.
"I—I need to go to the infirmary," I rasped, my voice hoarse.
The girl hesitated, then nodded. "Do you need help?"
I shook my head. "No. I'll be fine."
I wasn't fine.
I felt as though I was unravelling from the inside out, yet I needed to be by myself. My legs felt like lead as I staggered down the hall.
I wasn't sure what I hoped for when I reached the infirmary. Maybe a reason why I was so weak, why my stomach churned so violently, why my entire body ached beyond the rejection bond.
I sat on the examination table, trying to form words as I tried to tell the healer that I felt… wrong.
The healer, an older woman with kind eyes, frowned as she pressed gentle hands over my abdomen.
Then, she smiled.
“You’re pregnant.”
My entire body went still.
“…What?” I whispered, barely able to get the word out.
The healer’s smile softened. “You’re pregnant, dear. There’s a second heartbeat. Listen.”
She guided my trembling hand to my stomach.
And there it was.
A faint, fluttering heartbeat.
My eyes clouded.
Tears filled my eyes, spilling over my cheeks before I could stop them.
I was pregnant.
With Kaden's baby.
A new wave of grief suffocated me, taking the air from my lungs.
Silently, I climbed down from the examination table.
The healer called after me, but I didn't halt. I hardly even noticed where I was headed, my mind a jumbled mess of feelings.
A single thought sliced through the fog.
I needed to leave.
I couldn't remain here.
Not in the Silver Moon Pack.
Not when I’d been rejected, tossed aside like I was nothing.
My mind was made up.
I was leaving.
- Writer
