Rejected Luna: The Alpha’s Forced Mate

Chapter 3

Lila stayed awake until the sky outside her window turned gray. She had spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, listening to the faint sounds of the pack waking beyond her walls, while the ache in her chest refused to let her forget what had happened.

When she finally closed her eyes, she saw Kael again.

Not the Alpha who had stood before the entire pack.

The boy she used to know.

They had met when they were children, back when Kael still climbed trees with scraped knees and came home with grass stains on his clothes. Lila had been eight when he first dragged her into the woods after finding a nest of baby birds, insisting that she needed to see them before they flew away.

“You have to be quiet,” he had whispered.

“You're the one talking.”

Kael had covered her mouth with one hand and grinned. “Then stop making so much noise.”

She had bitten his palm.

He had yelped so loudly that both of them had been chased out of the woods by an angry pack scout.

Lila smiled faintly at the memory before the smile faded.

There had been so many moments like that.

When she was ten, Kael had taught her how to throw a knife, then complained for an entire afternoon when she beat his score. At twelve, when she twisted her ankle during a forest run, he had carried her all the way home despite her protests.

“You're heavy,” he had complained.

“You said you could carry me.”

“I can.”

“Then stop complaining.”

“I didn't say I wanted to.”

She had laughed against his shoulder.

He had been laughing too.

Those memories had once felt warm.

Now they hurt.

Lila opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling again.

How could someone who had known her for so long look at her like she meant nothing?

She turned onto her side and pulled the blanket closer.

Her wolf stirred.

He used to love us.

Lila's throat tightened.

“We don't know that.”

He cared.

“He was my friend.”

More than that.

She didn't answer.

Because she remembered.

She remembered Kael waiting outside her cottage when she was sick. She remembered him bringing her food after training because she always forgot to eat. She remembered the first time he had been chosen for an Alpha trial and had come straight to her afterward.

“What if I fail?”

Lila had stared at him in disbelief. “You won't.”

“You don't know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“Because you're Kael.”

He had laughed then, shaking his head.

“You make everything sound simple.”

“It is simple.”

“What is?”

“You'll win.”

He had looked at her for a long moment before smiling.

“Then I'll win.”

Lila swallowed.

Maybe that was why last night hurt so much.

She hadn't been rejected by a stranger.

She had been rejected by the person she trusted most.

A knock sounded at the door.

Lila immediately sat up.

“Who is it?”

“It's me.”

The voice belonged to Mara, the older woman who lived two houses away.

Lila hesitated before opening the door.

Mara stood outside holding a small basket of bread and fruit. Her gaze moved over Lila's face, lingering on the shadows beneath her eyes.

“You haven't slept.”

“I slept.”

Mara raised an eyebrow.

Lila sighed. “A little.”

The older woman handed her the basket. “Eat something.”

“I will.”

Mara didn't leave.

Instead, she lowered her voice. “Don't listen to what people are saying.”

Lila's fingers tightened around the basket.

“So they're already talking.”

“They've been talking since last night.”

Of course they had.

Lila looked away.

Mara touched her arm gently. “People get bored. Give them something else to talk about.”

Lila almost laughed.

“I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.”

“You're right.” Mara sighed. “But you can't let them decide how you see yourself.”

Lila nodded.

After Mara left, she placed the basket on the table and sat down.

She wasn't hungry.

Still, she forced herself to eat a piece of bread.

Then another.

The simple act gave her something to focus on.

By late morning, the pain in her chest had eased enough for her to leave the cottage.

She walked toward the river at the edge of the territory, following the narrow trail she had taken countless times as a child. The place was quiet, far enough from the main settlement that no one was likely to bother her.

She sat on the old fallen log beneath the trees.

This had been one of their places.

Kael had shown it to her when they were thirteen.

Back then, he had claimed the river belonged to him.

Lila had thrown a stone into the water.

“Then I claim it too.”

“You can't.”

“Why?”

“Because I found it.”

“I found you here.”

“That doesn't count.”

“It does to me.”

Kael had rolled his eyes.

Then he had moved over to make room for her.

Lila looked at the same spot now.

She could almost picture him sitting beside her, long legs stretched out, throwing pebbles into the river while pretending he wasn't listening to her talk.

Her chest tightened.

“Why did you change?”

The question disappeared into the sound of running water.

There was no answer.

She looked down at her hands.

Maybe Kael hadn't changed.

Maybe she had simply spent years seeing what she wanted to see.

That thought hurt even more.

Lila stayed by the river until the afternoon sun began to fade. When she finally stood, her legs felt lighter than they had that morning.

She couldn't keep living inside old memories.

If Kael had truly decided she was nothing more than a weakness he needed to cut away, then she deserved to hear the reason from him.

Not from the pack.

Not from whispers.

From him.

She returned to the cottage before sunset and opened the small wooden chest beneath her bed. Inside were things she had collected over the years: an old ribbon, a broken bracelet, a few dried flowers, and a small wooden wolf Kael had carved for her when they were children.

Lila picked it up.

The carving was uneven.

One ear was larger than the other.

She remembered laughing when he gave it to her.

“You made this?”

“Yes.”

“It looks strange.”

Kael had frowned. “Give it back.”

She had hugged it to her chest.

“No.”

“Then stop insulting it.”

“I like it.”

“You just said it was strange.”

“Strange can be cute.”

He had looked offended for the rest of the afternoon.

Lila's thumb traced the rough edge of the wooden wolf.

Then she placed it back inside the chest.

She didn't throw it away.

She wasn't ready for that.

But she wasn't going to keep living as the girl who waited for Kael to notice her either.

That night, she changed into a simple dress and sat beside the window.

The pack settlement was quiet.

Somewhere in the distance, wolves were howling to one another.

Her own wolf lifted its head.

Are we going to him?

Lila looked toward the Alpha's territory.

“Yes.”

Tomorrow?

She took a slow breath.

“Tomorrow.”

This time, there was no hesitation in her voice.

She wasn't going there to beg.

She wasn't going there to force him to accept a bond he had already rejected.

She wanted the truth.

If he had stopped caring about her, she would hear it.

If he believed she was too weak, she would make him explain.

And if there was another reason behind everything that had happened, she would not leave until she knew what it was.

Lila stood and walked to the mirror.

Her eyes were still tired, but the fear was gone.

She tied her hair back and looked at her reflection for a long moment.

“I'm going to ask you myself, Kael.”

Her wolf stirred quietly inside her.

Lila turned away from the mirror and climbed into bed.

For the first time since the ceremony, she knew exactly what she would do next.

Tomorrow, she would stand in front of Kael again.

But this time, she would not be the girl running toward him because the Moon Goddess had chosen him.

She would be Lila.

And she was going to demand an answer.