Rejected by the Alpha’s Son

Chapter5

Lyra

“W-what?” I stuttered out confused. Is he crazy?

I can’t be his mate. We don’t even know each other. Plus we already have mates. Oh. My heart turns into a tight fist in my chest at the thought of Dylan and Emery.

I stood in stunned silence, having an internal war with myself. “I am sure there are many women in your pack who would be happy to be with you. Why me?”

“I would not put another wolf through the pain of losing his mate.You already lost your mate and you were supposed to be a Luna anyway.” He says matter of factly.

I am still trying to find the right words when a delicious scent hits me.

Dylan!

What is he doing here? Did Xavier invite him? Was this some kind of test?

The familiar scent hits me hard as my wolf and body still recognize and react to him. My wolf recoiled, no longer reacting with the excitement she previously had. This breaks something in me. Xavier’s eyes sharpen when they narrow on Dylan, who just stepped into the clearing.

My stomach drops at the sight of Dylan. The morning light hits his face making it glow as he looks at Xavier first, as his eyes make their way to me I see something unexpected in them. Jealousy.

My blood boils. Where does he get off feeling jealous? This from the man who humiliated me just days ago?

He stops at the edge of the small river. The river flows between where he is standing and where we are and for a moment nobody says anything as Dylan assesses the situation.

Dylan’s gaze settles on Xavier and I see something pass between them. “Xavier Voss.” Dylan is the first to speak. “What are you doing in Ashveil territory?”

To his credit Xavier doesn’t move despite Dylan’s threatening gaze. He stands with his arms at his sides looking completely relaxed as the morning light casts a long shadow from behind him.

“I wasn’t aware this river belonged to Ashveil,” he says. “The last time I checked, this river sits at the border of Ashveil.”

“The border of my pack's territory.” Dylan’s voice is still controlled but I can hear the underlying anger in his voice. “Which makes this a conversation I should have been invited to.”

“Why?” I can help but interject.

Dylan’s eyes cut to me, there is accusation in them as though hurt that I’m choosing to side with Xavier. He steps closer, not crossing the river but close enough that I see the tension in his jaw. “What is going on, Lyra.”

“This is between Xavier and I.”

“You are a member of Ashveil Pack—”

“Perphas,” Xavier interjects, his voice cutting through the air without being raised. “You should have thought about that before asking her to leave.”

The words land in the space between us, above the river and Dylan goes completely still. “You know nothing of my pack affairs.”

“What I know is that she is standing here with me because you and your Alpha left her nowhere else to stand.” Xavier holds his gaze without effort and the contrast between them is staggering. Dylan agitated with his anger barely under control and Xavier so composed like we are discussing the weather. “I know you rejected your mate in front of your entire pack. I know you went to her the following day and asked her to leave. I also know that she has agreed to come with me to Blackridge.

The silence that follows is different from the one before it as Dylan's head turns slowly towards me. I can’t read the expression on his face, but I feel the weight of his eyes on me.

“What is he talking about?”

Our eyes lock, the morning air between us charged. I clench unsteady hands by my sides.

“I’m leaving Ashveil. I’m going to Blackridge Pack.”

The small river between us now feels both like too much distance and not enough. When Dylan speaks again his voice is low, seething with anger. “You barely know this man, and you’re going to follow him to another pack?”

“I’ve known him long enough.” I was still considering Xavier’s offer and hadn’t made my decision yet but I wasn’t about to tell Dylan that.

He steps to the very edge of the bank, a stone underneath his boot skips into the water with a sharp plink, cutting through the silence. “You’re just doing this to hurt me.”

The way he says this ignites a bout of anger in me and I struggle to control myself. He says it like he expects my whole world to revolve around him. “I am doing this to survive. I am doing this because the one person who was supposed to love me chose to humiliate me in front of the people he knows despise me. I am doing this because I am tired of being in pain whenever you have your fun with another woman. I am not doing this to hurt you Dylan. I am just choosing me.” Right there and then I realize I have made my decision. I am going to Blackridge pack.

His brows draw together, forming a V on his head. The tendons in his neck are visible from here. “You’re betraying your pack.” he growled. “Seeing a rival Alpha behind our backs. Making mockery of our mate bond—”

“I made a mockery of our mate bond?!” I snap.

Didn’t he listen to a word I just said?

“You rejected the bond. You stood in front of the whole pack and threw it back at me like it was nothing and I’m the one making a mockery of the bond? There is no bond Dylan. You can’t call it ours. Not anymore.”

“I am calling it what it is—”

“You are a hypocrite.” Xavier who has been quiet this whole time speaks up. “”You don’t have the right to be angry. First, you mated with a wolf who isn’t your mate. I didn’t fight you on that because I thought once you found your mate you would leave mine alone but what did you do? You rejected her and even went as far as telling her to leave your pack. You made your choice pup, live with it.”

Dylan’s nose flares at being called a pup. No wolf likes being called a pup let alone one with Alpha blood running through his veins. Dylan’s chest rises and falls as his eyes take in the proximity between Xavier and I.

“Alpha Voss.” He roared with barely controlled fury. “You have overstayed your welcome in Ashveil. Whatever conversation you are having here is over.”

Xavier tilts his head slightly, watching Dylan. “Lyra can make her own decisions,” he says simply.

“Lyra is a member of my pack.”

“Then you should have treated her as such.”

I fear that the throbbing veins on his neck will pop as his hands curl at his side, knuckles white, his hands ready weapons. “You want to take something of mine.” His voice is dangerously quiet. “You think I don’t know what this is? You think I don’t know exactly what you're doing?”

Xavier let out a dry laugh. “I’m not taking anything. You made this decision yourself. She was yours to cherish but you decided not to. What happens next is up to her.”

“If you walk away from this pack,” Dylan turns to me, his eyes narrowing to slits. “You walk away from everything and you won’t be able to return.”

“I don’t have anything to return to.” I whisper.

The air between us hummed under the weight of our locked eyes and I feel a shift in his demeanor. What is going on?

As he straightened his back, the uneasy churning in the pit of my stomach tells me something is terribly wrong. Something bad was about to happen. Even before he opened his mouth.

“I, Dylan Ashbourne, future Alpha of Ashveil pack, banish you Lyra Thorne and declare you rogue.”