Chapter 1 - Rejection
1263 Words
The air burned in my lungs, my heartbeat pounding loud enough to drown out the low murmur of the pack hall.
One… breathe in.
Two… breathe out.
Three… never let them see you struggle.
Four… repeat.
Dozens of wolves filled the room, watching, waiting and judging.
The scent of pine, leather, and wolf pressed in from every side—thick enough to choke on. Their whispers curled through the air like smoke, brushing against my skin like cold fingers.
“Is that’s her?”
“The Beta’s mate.”
My jaw tightened, a few minutes ago, everything had been different.
I had believed the Moon Goddess had finally chosen me, chosen us.
For years, I have watched others find their mates—seen the way their wolves settled, how their eyes softened, how their entire world shifted in an instant.
I thought that moment had finally come for me. I was wrong.
Across from me stood Beta Brian Douglas.
My mate. Or at least… he was supposed to be.
The bond had barely begun forming before he tore it apart.
“There is nothing in you worth claiming.”
The words echoed in my head, harsher than any blow.
Behind him, Alpha Keenan leaned against one of the carved pillars near the raised platform. His massive frame looked relaxed, but his eyes—calculating, watchful, he missed nothing.
He hadn’t intervened.
Not yet anyway.
Brian stepped closer, too close.
His scent hit me first—iron, cedar, and something bitter underneath.
“You really thought the Moon Goddess would bind me to someone like you?” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
The whispers grew.
My hands curled slowly into fists at my sides, trembling just enough that I had to fight to still them.
Inside my mind, Anita shifted.
'Careful' she warned.
Brian circled me, slow and deliberate.
Like he was inspecting something he had already decided to discard.
“I am the Beta of this pack,” he continued, his voice rising. “The Alpha’s right hand.”
His gaze dragged over me with open contempt.
“I need a female who strengthens my position.”
A few wolves shifted.
But no one spoke or challenged him.
Because Brian wasn’t just another wolf.
He was the Beta.
“And instead…” his lip curled, “the Moon Goddess sends me this.”
A few cruel chuckles rippled through the crowd.
Anita’s growl echoed in my mind—low, furious.
Heat crawled up my neck in embarrassment, I was still battling to process what was happening.
But I didn’t look away, I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.
Brian leaned closer, his voice dropping just enough for only me to hear.
“You were always too wild.”
Too fast, too uncontrollable, too difficult.
The same words the pack whispered when they thought I couldn’t hear.
Then—without warning—he shoved me. Hard.
My foot slipped on the polished floor.
I stumbled back, my hip slamming hard into the edge of a heavy wooden table.
The pain that shot up my side was instant.
Gasps rippled through the hall.
For a moment, the entire room held its breath.
Humiliation burned hotter than the pain.
Slowly… I straightened.
“Don’t touch me,” I said, my voice quiet—but steady.
Brian laughed, cold and mockingly. The sound carved itself into my soul.
“You don’t get to make demands.”
His hand moved.
Fast.
The c***k echoed through the hall like something breaking.
My head snapped sideways as his palm struck my cheek.
For a second, the world continued but I couldn't hear it.
It felt like forever before I managed to breathe again. The tears of heartbreak and anger threatened to escape.
A few wolves lowered their eyes.
Others stared.
But no one stepped forward.
Because no one challenges the Beta.
Brian leaned closer, savoring it.
“You should be grateful. I let the bond form this far,” he said. “I gave you more than what you were ever worth.”
Something inside me snapped, sudden and vicious.
My hand moved before I could think.
The c***k of my palm against his jaw cut through the silence.
Brian’s head jerked to the side.
The entire room froze.
A low ripple of growls spread through the pack.
I had just struck the Beta.
Slowly… Brian turned back to me.
Shock flickered first.
Then rage.
“How dare you,” he hissed.
I lifted my chin.
“You hit me first.”
His eyes darkened.
“You think that gives you the right to strike your Beta?”
“Mate,” I corrected quietly.
The word hung between us.
Final.
Brian’s lip curled.
Then his voice rang out across the hall.
"I, Beta Brian Douglas of Blackridge Pack, reject you, Aiden Bloodwyn as my mate."
The pain didn't fade, it spread.
Sudden at first—then deeper, sinking into my bones like something trying to carve itself into me before tearing away completely. It hurt.
My breath caught and for a split second, my knees threatened to give.
No. Anita growled in my mind.
Not here, in front of them, in front of him.
Anita’s presence flickered—unsteady, wounded—but still there.
Still fighting, still with me.
Hold, she whispered, her voice strained by the pain rippling through us, through the bond that snapped at the rejection and through our soul.
I forced air into my lungs.
One breath.
Then another.
The edges of my vision blurred, the world tilting just slightly as the bond unraveled completely.
It shouldn’t feel like this.
It shouldn’t feel like something had been ripped out and left behind all at once.
A hollow.
A fracture, something that was wrong.
Around me, the room shifted.
Some wolves looked away.
Others leaned forward—watching, waiting in anticipation, like this was some kind of sick show performed for their entertainment.
Waiting to see if I will break.
If I begged.
If I would fall apart the way rejected wolves were supposed to.
My fingers twitched at my sides, every instinct screamed at me to react.
To fight or to run and do something.
But I didn’t.
I stood there.
Silent, breathing and enduring.
Because I would not give them that.
“I, Aiden Bloodwyn” I said, forcing the words through the pain, “accept Beta Brian Douglas’s rejection.”
Shock rippled through the room.
Brian stared at me.
He hadn’t expected that.
Most wolves begged, cried and broke down.
I stepped past him.
The pack parted slowly.
Some watched with pity.
Others with curiosity.
A few… with something else.
Respect.
Each step echoed in the hall and drummed through me, for those few seconds the sound kept me moving.
“Pathetic,” Brian scoffed behind me.
I didn’t stop to look at him.
The doors loomed ahead.
My cheek throbbed and my side ached.
And the hollow space in my chest where the bond had been felt…empty.
Inside my mind, Anita pressed closer.
Fierce, protective and unbroken.
We are still strong, she murmured.
I pushed the doors open with force. It slammed against the pillars outside, causing slight ripples to run through the pack walls.
Brian had just made a mistake, a serious one.
He thought rejection meant weakness.
He thought humiliation meant defeat.
But someday…
Someday he would understand exactly what he had created.
Not something broken, something dangerous.
A storm.
And storms don’t ask for permission before they destroy everything in their path.
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