Rejected by my Rival Alpha

CHAPTER ONE

Amelia

I'm already nineteen, and I've never even shifted. As a weak omega wolf, it’s something I should have expected. My wolf’s presence is barely ever there. On days, I get nothing from her.

Not a yawn, a growl or even a little huff. Just.. silence.

I try not to think of things like this. The details of my life that could shatter the heart of a lesser man. But on some days, that feet seem harder than anything I’ve ever had to accomplish.

Today is one of those days.

It’s the Winter Solstice.

Olivia, Becky, and Roselyn, the girls I’d come with, might find their fated mates, but I've never even experienced being in heat. So is it something even possible for me?

“Hey Liv,” Rose whispers into Olivia's ear, her voice filled with excitement, “I heard the prince of the Mad Wolves Pack is going to be here tonight.”

As Olivia's face lights up, I feel a knot tighten in my stomach. The mere mention of the prince of the Mad Wolves pack sends shivers down my spine. The Mad Wolves are our rivals, have been for decades past, and still to come, they’re the very reason we were warned to stay away from the Winter Solstice.

“M-mad Wolves?" I stammer, my voice barely audible. The fear swirls inside me as I try to comprehend the implications of encountering any single Mad Wolves pack member let alone their Prince!

Would he recognize us? Would he automatically know we’re from the Wild Roars?

“Oh, Millie,” Liv responds, rolling her eyes, her voice tinged with wistfulness as she shakes her head in amusement to my dismay. “Yes, the Mad Wolves are our rivals, but there are whispers that their Prince, what was his name? Oh, I don’t even know, is quite the dream boat.” She shoots me a sidelong glance, before darting it to Becky.

“He is hot!” Exclaims Becky, “And very, very wealthy! The Mad wolves have the kind of money we wouldn’t even be able to smell back in Wild Roars.”

Roselyn gnaws on, shaking her head in agreement, her mouth full of the butter biscuit chocolates she grabbed from the limo we arrived in.

Unsurprisingly, their words only seem to deepen my apprehension. The Mad wolves were bloodthirsty enemies of the Wild Roars Pack. It didn’t matter if they were rich or powerful they were, had my friends suddenly gone insane?

A sense of unease settles upon me as we continue to converse. The warnings my father gave us to stay away from the Mad Wolves pack resonates in the back of my mind, and it reminds me of all the potential dangers that lie ahead if my father ever found out I snuck out to attend this party even though he has always given me explicit instructions not to.

You are barred from going to the winter solstice ball Amelia, I don’t want a lone female like you anywhere there!

I am so dead.

“Here, drink,” Olivia smiles, handing me a champagne glass The three of them stare at me expectantly. It’s less than satisfying to watch their eyes widen just a tad after I accept the drink from Olivia's hands.

She gives me a faint smile, followed by a quiet ‘good girl’ and a wink. I smile back, of course.

I crave her approval.

“Lunaris College is so beautiful,” Becky says, grinning at me. I return it, taking a slow sip of my champagne.

Olivia shrugs her shoulders. “It’s alright, but I hated school. Everyone knows it's a useless waste of time. We’ve had a tradition that has lasted us for generations. What really makes wolves happy is family, it’s love.” She pauses, “You’ve never been in heat, right, Mills?”

“I uh… uh—” I stammer, blindsided by the question.

“Awww Millie, you can never have a family! No wonder you have to attend more school, that's so sad," Becky says, and I can feel my cheeks start to turn red. I... I didn’t even see it like that. I was happy to…I was happ—

“Shhhhh Becky, you’re so rude," Liv gives me a half-smile. "Can’t you see she’s embarrassed?"

The other two girls pout at me before turning their attention back to how this is going to be ‘the best night of their lives' while I bite back my tears.

What did they say that should have me crying? I wasn’t really embarrassed, was I?

I thought I had made peace with my fate, but maybe I’m not really over it. I down my terrible-tasting glass of champagne and dart for another. I stumble clumsily across the clearing to get another one. Amongst the clad of males and she-wolves, I really don’t belong. The long stares and muffled giggles were enough to make me feel terribly self-conscious, like they could feel my low rank as though it poured off me in waves.

It's all in your head, Amelia. You’re invisible, no one even notices you.

I down a glass of champagne for my nerves and squirm bitterly, grabbing another for the road back to the girls. My mind is focused on where the girls stand to gossip when suddenly it’s interrupted by a tall blonde female. She carries the intensity of an Alpha Blood, it wafts even stronger than her expensive perfume. My gaze lifts to her face, her eyes. Eerily blue. Dark. And staring at me as though I’m her next meal.

“Can I-”I’m pushed to the floor before I can complete my sentence.

“Who said you could speak, trash?”

Who are these girls?And what did I ever do to them? My eyes catch Olivia’s from afar. Almost the whole party has stopped to get a view of the show. The ground couldn’t open up in enough time to hide me from my shame.

The tall blonde opens her mouth. Her lipstick, a ruby red that feels like it could be the center of the world. “You have a lot of nerve, little Omega wolf, attending an event that I would be at.”

Omega wolf.

“I don’t even know who-” I’m kicked by the same girl who’d just pushed me to the ground. I whirl in pain. The blonde girl smiles like she’s just getting started with me.

“What’s going on here?” Olivia interrupts. The blonde girl immediately drops her smile.

“And who are you to interrupt?”she asks.

Olivia doesn’t answer. She looks to Roselyn and Becky, signaling to go help me up. The blonde girl watches Olivia with disgust. She does nothing to stop her though. Between the two, I couldn’t tell who was scarier. I was just glad that one of those monsters was on my side.

“Th-thank you.”I can barely get the words out, still reeling from the pain. Olivia’s focus is still on the blonde girl’s retreating back.

“Next time you want to wander off, Amelia, stick to the wall and make yourself invisible. You got that? You’re a princess, but you walk like a commoner. People smell your weakness from a mile away. Don’t challenge them with your presence by acting like you belong here,” she says angrily.

I nod, and her face softens, and she nods back. Olivia could be cruel, but she understood how the world worked. She wasn’t a bad person, and I knew that.

I guess I could get through the night if I just did everything Olivia wanted. I take a sip of my glass, continuing to take in the scenery. My nose tickles, a warm scent meeting my nostrils. I inhale, deeply. A sigh escapes me as I release the breath. Deciding to take a stroll, I turn my neck around to the girls drinking and gossiping with a bunch of very handsome wolves, dressed in expensive and finely tailored suits. They won't miss me. I let the scent carry me, hoping to find its source, drunk on its allure.

It could be the alcohol, but I feel it seep into my pores.

Titling my head back, I fight the tremble as a cold breeze moves through me, prickling the skin of my arms with goosebumps. It's only the richly textured smell of fresh pine leading me now. With every step I take, the scent seems to wrap around me. Settling in the crevices of my body, making my breasts feel heavy and delivering a soft warmth between my legs. My breaths come out in short pants.

What the hell is this feeling?

I stumble into something hard as a rock. Immediately, I'm pulled back into my body, made fully aware of the mess I had just created in front of me. The rest of my surprisingly delicious champagne, which I had been nursing the whole evening, is now a huge blotchy stain on what I think is an original Armani suit.

But my body remains frozen.

My eyes move up his frame, my head tilting back… and back, till I meet his gaze. Deep, deep green eyes, a stark yet beautiful contrast to his pale skin. Dark brown hair, framing the top of is head in a tiny curtain of loose curls. His skin falls over the angled slants of his face perfectly, highlighting the sharp cut of his cheekbones, the strong tension in his jaw.

There isn’t any oxygen.

I feel a stirring inside my chest, and momentarily it distracts me.

“Aren't you ever the ladies' man, Calwood,” exclaims a man with a deep, rich voice, and what seemed like an Australian accent. “You’re getting old mate, how’s you not see her coming?”

The man with his cold looking exterior shrugs his shoulders in reply.

Calwood.

That would be a weirdly uncommon first name.

The glass of champagne has been forgotten though, and I cant seem to take my eyes off this male.

My chest warms, a sudden tension unfurling like a ball inside me.

Calwood’s mouth curls back in a snarl, and before he even opens his mouth, I hear the word he growls loud and clear inside me.

My wolf.

Standing at attention, her curiosity and desire consuming me with a potency I can't keep up with, as she hums the word, “Mate.”