FROZEN TIME: The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Chapter 1: The Frozen Birthday The music stopped the second I walked into the hall. Eighteen. Today I was finally eighteen, and in our pack, eighteen means your wolf wakes up. It means you find your mate. It should have been the happiest night of my life. Instead, every eye in the Frost Moon pack turned to stare at me. At my cheap dress. At the scar on my arm from the fire that killed my parents. "Elena." My best friend whispered, "He's here." My heart started to beat so fast I could hear it in my ears. And then I smelled it. Winter, pine, and snowstorm. My mate. I turned, and there he was. Kade. Not just any wolf. Kade Frost. The Alpha's adopted son. The most handsome, the most dangerous, the most wild boy in our pack. Every girl wanted him. And he was my mate. The Moon Goddess had chosen him for me. Our eyes met across the room. His icy blue eyes widened. He felt it too. The pull. The bond snapping into place. He started walking towards me. Slow. Predatory. The whole pack went silent. I thought he was going to kiss me. I thought he was going to claim me in front of everyone and finally erase all those years of being the orphan, the weak one. He stopped right in front of me. So close I could feel his cold breath. Then he looked at me with pure disgust. "I, Kade Frost, reject you, Elena Carter, as my mate." The world froze. What did he just say? My knees gave out. A sharp pain ripped through my chest, like someone tore my heart out with claws. The bond... he was cutting it. "No," I choked out, tears burning my eyes. "You can't..." "I can," he snarled, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I need a strong Luna, not a wolfless orphan who can't even shift. You are nothing." Laughter erupted around us. Cruel, cold laughter. And then something inside me snapped. The pain vanished. Replaced by cold. My hands started to glow with a faint blue light. The air around us dropped ten degrees. Frost started spreading from my feet across the wooden floor. Everyone gasped and stepped back. Even Kade's arrogant face twisted in shock. "What are you?" he whispered. I didn't know. I had never shifted. I was supposed to be wolfless. But the entire hall was freezing now, and the frost was crawling up the walls. And it was all coming from me. I looked straight into the eyes of the boy who just rejected me and said, "Your worst mistake."