Rejected By My Alpha, Chosen By His Father

Aria Pov I had dreamed of this day for as long as I could remember. The day I would finally meet my mate. My hands trembled as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The silver dress hugging my figure wasn't expensive, but it was the prettiest thing I owned. Tonight was the Winter Moon Celebration, the night every wolf who had reached eighteen could discover their fated mate. And tonight was my eighteenth birthday. "Aria!" My best friend, Maya, burst into my room with a grin. "Come on! The ceremony is about to start." I laughed nervously. "What if I don't find my mate?" Maya rolled her eyes. "Everyone finds their mate eventually." Easy for her to say. She had confidence and I had doubts. Growing up in the Shadow Fang Pack wasn't easy when your family sat at the bottom of the social ladder. My mother worked tirelessly to support us after my father died. We weren't important. We weren't powerful, we were invisAlpha. The pack hall glittered with lights when we arrived. Wolves filled every corner, laughing and dancing beneath silver decorations shaped like crescent moons. Then I saw him. Damon Blackwood. The future Alpha. Tall, handsome, Powerful. The wolf every girl dreamed about. My stomach fluttered not because I expected anything but because he was impossible not to notice. The moment his eyes landed on mine, something inside me snapped. A strange warmth rushed through my body, my heart stopped, then raced. Mate. The word echoed through my mind. My wolf practically screamed with joy. ‘Mate!’ My knees nearly gave out. No, no way. Damon was my mate? The future Alpha? The Moon Goddess couldn't possibly be serious. For one brief second, I saw surprise flash across his face. He felt it too then his expression darkened and instantly the joy in my chest vanished. Something was wrong, very wrong. Damon stepped forward, the entire hall grew silent. Every eye turned toward us. I swallowed hard. This wasn't how I imagined meeting my mate. Not in front of everyone, not with hundreds of people watching.My heart pounded as Damon stopped only a few feet away. His gaze was cold, emotionless and cruel "Aria Nightshade," he said loudly. The hall became completely silent, I could barely breathe. Then he spoke the words that shattered my world. "I reject you as my mate." Gasps exploded throughout the room, my vision blurred, the pain hit instantly. Like someone had plunged a knife directly into my chest. "No.." I whispered. My wolf cried in agony. I stared at him, waiting for him to laugh. Waiting for him to say it was a joke but he didn't. His face remained expressionless. Beside him stood Selena Frost. Beautiful, rich, and powerful. Everything I wasn't. Damon wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm choosing Selena." The crowd erupted into whispers, humiliation burned through me. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole. "Please…" I whispered. I wasn't even sure what I was begging for, mercy, dignity, anything. But Damon looked away as though I meant nothing as though fate itself meant nothing as though I meant nothing. That hurt more than the rejection. Tears filled my eyes instantly I turned and ran.I ignored the whispers, the stares. Ignored the laughter that followed me out of the hall. By the time I reached the forest, I couldn't breathe. The pain of the broken mate bond ripped through every part of me. I collapsed beside a tree. My body shook violently. Why? Why would the Moon Goddess give me a mate only to take him away? For hours I cried beneath the moonlight. I was alone, broken and unwanted. But I didn't know then that my story wasn't ending, It was only beginning. Because somewhere far beyond the borders of my pack, a powerful Alpha King had just felt the pull of a mate bond. And it was leading him straight to me.