Rejected By My Step Brother

Elara' cry

My head pounded. I’d had far too much to drink and pain was all I felt as I watched my mother getting mated to Alpha Darius of Silverstone Pack. I loved her, truly and I wanted her happiness but not like this. Not in this way.

I wanted her to remarry after all, it had been over a decade since Father’s death—m but I knew she didn’t love Alpha Darius. She was only after his money. She’d always dated wealthy men, especially when we were struggling to survive. I understood that life had pushed her into it, that she needed their help, but it still embarrassed me deeply. My schoolmates had laughed at me because of our poor background and my mother’s reputation.

Once, when I was fourteen, a girl had slapped me in class because her parents had fought at home. Her mother had caught her father on a date with mine.

No matter how much I loved my mother, this didn’t sit right with me. This marriage, this pretense, this whole performance, it made me sick. The fact that I would soon become the stepsister of Ronan of all people only made things worse.

And Reid… the man I’d thought was my lifeline, the one I believed would never hurt me. He’d betrayed me, then acted as if I didn’t exist, as if I didn’t matter at all. He hadn’t even tried to reach me since last night, when I caught him in bed with another woman.

The sound of laughter, music and wolves howling tore through my thoughts. My head spun. I felt tired, dizzy and numb. I didn’t want the life my mother was forcing me into. I already despised the one I had, but at least it was mine.

When I saw my mother and Alpha Darius mark each other under the High Priest’s command, I knew there was no point in staying any longer. There was no miracle rejection coming. Their fate was sealed.

I tipped the glass in my hand and gulped down the last of the alcohol, its burn matching the ache in my chest. Then I turned toward the hallway, intending to disappear into the room I’d been given in the Alpha’s mansion.

“Elara!”

The sharp, cold voice sliced through the crowd’s noise, freezing me mid-step. I turned my unsteady gaze toward my mother. Her eyes, red with rage, locked onto mine and for a moment, I could swear I saw something darker there. Something murderous.

Before I could even react, a stinging pain exploded across my cheek.

The slap echoed, loud enough to silence the laughter nearby.

“Don’t embarrass me today, Elara!” she hissed. “Don’t you dare ruin my marriage! First, you show up late to the mating ceremony and now you’re stumbling around like a drunkard! Did I not raise you better than this?”

“Did you?” The words slipped out before I could stop them, liquid courage speaking for me. My voice shook but I didn’t care. The alcohol had stripped away my restraint.

I stared at her, pain burning behind my eyes. “Did you really raise me well?”

The question lingered in the air.

“You’ve always been so obsessed with getting into the upper class, Mother. That’s all you’ve ever cared about!” My voice trembled, but I didn’t stop. The alcohol had loosened every word I’d buried for years. “What do you even know about me? About what I face? What I go through every single day?”

I saw her lips part, probably to scold me or defend herself, but I was too emboldened by the burn of liquor and bitterness to let her speak. The pain I’d kept locked inside for years was finally slipping free, flooding through my words.

Did she even know I’d been dating Reid? Did she know that I’d soon be forced to become step-siblings with Ronan of all people who she knows I've liked since? Did she even care?

Two years ago, I joined the Elite Academy, not because I liked the school, but because I wanted to be close to Ronan. I wanted him to notice me. I wanted to matter to someone for once. But all of that was useless now. Completely useless. Soon, he would be my stepbrother.

“Most girls your age, especially fatherless ones, don't even have roofs over their heads or three square meals,” she spat back, her voice rising. “I provide everything you need, yet you can’t even be grateful for that? You can’t even be happy for me just this once that I’m finally chasing after my own happiness?”

“Hear yourself, Mother!” I shouted, my voice cracking as anger rose in my chest. “Do you even hear yourself?”

Her expression hardened. She grabbed my wrist tightly, her nails digging into my skin, but before I could pull away, the sound of footsteps approached from behind. Her grip loosened immediately. Without another word, she turned sharply and walked back toward the Mating Grounds, terrified of being seen arguing with a drunk girl like me, her daughter.

I stared after her for a moment, my heart aching but too exhausted to chase after her again. I wasn’t in the mood for her. I turned and continued down the hallway, trying to shake her words from my mind. I was still reeling from Reid’s betrayal the night before, his body tangled with another woman’s, his eyes that never once looked sorry. I didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to mix that pain with my mother’s hypocrisy. I just wanted to disappear for a while.

But then I stopped.

Seven figures stood ahead, blocking the path. Their silhouettes loomed under the faint light spilling in through the corridor’s open arch. My stomach dropped and my expression stiffened instantly.

“Not again,” I muttered under my breath, the words barely audible.

I knew those faces, those mocking smirks. I’d suffered enough at their hands back at the Academy. And right now, I wasn’t ready to face them again.