The Rejection
*Chapter 1: The Rejection*
The pack house was decorated with white roses and silver lights. It was supposed to be the happiest night of my life.
Today I turned eighteen. Today I would finally find my fated mate.
My best friend, Mia, squeezed my hand as we stood at the edge of the grand ballroom. "He's going to be so shocked when he smells you, Aria. Alpha Kael has loved you since we were pups. Everyone knows it."
I smiled, but my stomach was in knots. Alpha Kael Blackwood. The Alpha of the Silver Moon pack. He was twenty-three, powerful, handsome like a god, and he had been my protector since I was fifteen. When my parents died in a rogue attack, he took me in. He told me I was special.
For three years, I had waited for this night. For three years, I had imagined him looking at me and saying the words every she-wolf dreams of: "You are mine."
The doors at the far end of the ballroom opened. Kael walked in.
My breath stopped. He wore a black suit, his dark hair pushed back, his blue eyes scanning the room. He was an Alpha, and power rolled off him in waves. Every girl in the room turned to look at him.
And then he looked at me.
Our eyes met across the ballroom. For a second, I felt it - a jolt, a spark, a pull so strong my knees almost gave out. The mate bond. The smell of pine and winter snow filled my nose. It was him. It really was him!
I started walking towards him, my heart beating so loud I thought everyone could hear it.
He started walking towards me too.
We met in the middle of the dance floor. The music stopped. Everyone went silent.
Kael stared at me. His nostrils flared. I could see the shock in his eyes, then something else... horror.
"No," he whispered.
I frowned. "Kael?"
"No! This cannot be!" His voice was suddenly loud, angry. He stepped back from me like I had burned him. "You? You are my fated mate? No! I reject this! The Moon Goddess must be mistaken!"
The entire pack gasped.
My world shattered.
"What... what are you saying?" My voice was tiny. I could feel tears burning my eyes.
Kael's face twisted with disgust. "You are weak, Aria! You are wolfless! You haven't shifted once since you were fifteen! You are a defect! I am the Alpha of the strongest pack in the region! I cannot have a wolfless orphan as my Luna! I deserve a strong Luna, a pureblood!"
"But Kael, you said you cared about me..." I choked out.
"I took pity on you! That is all!" He shouted, so the whole room could hear. "I, Alpha Kael Blackwood, reject you, Aria Stone, as my mate and future Luna!"
A searing pain ripped through my chest, as if someone had torn my heart out with claws. I screamed and fell to my knees. The rejection. It was more painful than death. I felt the fragile bond that had just formed snap.
Mia ran to my side. "Kael! How could you! She's your mate!"
Kael looked at me on the floor, crying, and his eyes were cold. "She is no one. Guards, remove her from the pack house. She is no longer welcome here. Let her live in the old hut near the border if she wants to survive."
He turned and walked away. Just like that. Leaving me broken on the floor.
That night, I packed my few clothes and walked to the old, broken hut at the edge of the territory. It was raining. I was
.
The Lycan King had heard his mate crying.
And he was coming for me.
---
l
