A Love Unbound; The Rejected Luna

EMERY POV “Em, my love. I need to confess something to you.” The dark-haired Adonis that was my husband spoke confidently, looking me straight in the face. I swallowed painfully as the sound of my own loudly beating heart drummed in my ears, tiny sweat buds rolled down the curve of my back and I blinked repeatedly to calm my racing heart. To remain calm. “I have found my true mate” he continued, and took the hand of the petite brunette close to him to be even closer to her. “This was a prank, right? I mean, Jasper was my husband, and chosen mate, the Alpha of the Dark Wood pack. Why were his arms wrapped so protectively around a petite brunette? And right at the center of our pack house?” I panicked in my mind, but still, I remained calm. “Her name is Eva.” With no emotion on my face, I took a moment to stare at her. She looked innocent with those big doe green eyes that scanned the building crowd in fear and consciously held on to my man even closer. And then finally, they landed on me. I could swear I just saw her smirk for half a second. The silence in the room was deadly, not a word was heard. Right from the moment they both walked in holding hands, everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on the three of us. Me, Jasper, and the girl he was hugging close. “Look Emery, I know we are chosen mates, and you will always be my Luna; I swear it. But I can’t reject her, my wolf has been going nuts since I met her. It will be bad for the pack if I reject her now. My wolf won’t be able to handle it, plus it will weaken us too.” He said calmly, convincing even. “I know you care about the pack, love. So, you will make the right decision.” He concluded and stared at me expectantly. “What?” It came out so weakly. My throat croaked from suddenly going dry, and cold shivers kept going down my spine. Heck, I was frozen to the spot! Was this even real? Was this actually happening?? My gaze ran through the gathering in the hall, holding the stare of most people. “So, they could see this as well?” Everyone looked just as shocked as I felt. Every single one of them except one person. Jovan, my husband’s beta. From the distance, I could see his arms crossed on his chest, and his amber eyes, emotionless. Absolutely no surprise in them. Was this the reason? The reason for all his secret walks? Several trips? Continuously sidelining his duties to the pack? “He had been secretly seeing her!!” Avery, my wolf growled angrily in my mind. Fighting to come to the surface. “No” I mumbled in disbelief. This can’t be happening. We have come a long way in this to happen. We have been married for seven whole years! Surely, our love and bond were better than this. I let out a shaky breath, luckily Mom had always lectured me to not let my feelings show. I won’t let them see me break. “Em, I know this is very sudden” he tried to explain, “We only need to- “No” My response was calm, yet it carried the full weight of my annoyance. How can he... how could he say all these things to me? And in front of our pack members at that! Had he forgotten everything? Our love? All our sacrifices? Even his promises?! We had worked so hard to make our pack what it was today. We were currently the most influential power couple in the werewolf council, and he wanted to throw all that away? Just like that with a scandal like this?? We were perfect! We are perfect. So why was he doing this to me? I quickly blinked away my thoughts at the sound of his voice. “No?” he repeated, surprised at my response. Gasp sounds filled the room, and Jasper’s face contorted in a frown, clearly not pleased by my reply. “Emery” he started, his voice stern. “We can’t- “You promised me. You have to keep your promise”, I reminded him calmly. “You have to reject her. We can find a neighboring pack for her to live in.” “She is my mate!” he insisted, “and I am your wife! I am your Luna, your chosen mate! Your loyalties should lie with me, our pack.” I yelled, losing my cool for a moment. I tore my eyes from him and met the pitiful gazes of our pack members. Jasper loved public opinion, and with the twitching of his eyebrows, I knew the pack members’ stance was getting to him. He turned to face his brunette. “He’s thinking Em, he won’t leave us. He won’t abandon us,” Avery said with glee “That b!tch has to go!” left for her she would charge through and throw the brunette out. “We are of Alpha bloodline, a strong one at that. How can an omega be compared to us?!’’ She continued yelling inside my head. I took deep breaths to calm my nerves. Avery had a way of getting me all worked up, “Emery, do something. Don’t just stand here like it’s all over. Throw the damn b!tch out!” “Stop! Stop yelling! I can’t concentrate with you screaming inside my head.” I yelled back at her. “Let’s throw her out, I am telling you! We - “Noooo!” A loud shriek instantly cut off Avery’s banter. It was the brunette. “Please! You can’t do this! Please, I’m begging you!” She begged Jasper in between tears. “I am just a weak omega; the rejection will kill me. You promised not to leave me”. She cried even more and held Jasper by his legs. Jasper tried to hold her, but she screamed and suddenly charged towards me. A wave of electric shock went through me at the sudden attention. But then she dropped before me and held my legs, “Please Luna, I am begging you, I will do anything you want. I will cook, clean, wash, I will make sure to never get in your way!” she yelled. I was speechless. What could I possibly say to my husband’s mate? To her, he was her mate from the moon goddess, but to me he was my life. I had given my all to him. “Please don’t kill me! My fate is in your hands!” she cried out and, at that moment, I met her gaze in between her tears, and I almost froze on the spot. That gaze…it held promises of a well-hidden hatred. Shocked and terrified of that gaze, I stepped back immediately as I felt her lips on my feet. She was kissing my feet, “Hey! Stop it!” The more I tried to step backward the more aggressive she became. And soon, she started tugging at my dress. What was she doing? I tried to hold on to my dress, but she did not budge. My pleading eyes searched the crowd as a few omegas, Jovan and Maya, my best friend, rushed to my aid. “Please, my Luna, have mercy! I will do anything! I will be your slave forever!” She screamed, even more aggressively, and we were full-blown dragging my dress. But suddenly it stopped. My hair that I had braided beautifully this morning was now stuck out in several strands. I was even scrawled on the floor from the force of everything, taking deep breaths in relief. Thank goddess! This was not how I imagined my morning at all! Wait, hold on, why was everyone so quiet? I turned around immediately but the sight before me had me utterly speechless. There on the floor was Eva, several feet away from me. A red bruise built rapidly on her left cheek and her lips were busted, with blood slowly trickling from an opening on her forehead. My eyes widened in horror as she opened her mouth. “You hit me” she said timidly, staring directly at me. My mouth dropped open and I looked at everyone. Why were they looking at me like that? “I didn’t. I… I admit, I did try to push her off, but I didn’t do it hard.” I rushed to explain, “She couldn’t have gotten so injured from my one push!” Jasper’s gaze was unable. He believed me, right? “Jas.. Jasper, I- Her sniffing cut me off, “I will leave. I don’t want to cause trouble, let me just go”, She continued, and stood up in between sobs. Everyone started whispering while I just sat there; my mouth hung open. I couldn’t believe it, “I didn’t’ do anything to you. I just – “but Jasper cut me off. “Enough!” he roared; his eyes glowed a deep yellow, indicating that his wolf was on the surface. “She’s staying and that’s it!”