Evelyn: The Rise Of The Rejected Luna

Chapter 1

“Was it a crime to be born as an omega?... Or did the world just decided to punish her for something she had no control over?

Whatever it is, but being born as an omega in the family of alphas was her biggest sin.”

_______________________________________

Evelyn’s POV

“Alpha Marcus… please… trust me…”

I begged in low, trembling voice. My fingers desperately clutching onto his wrist. My aching heart pounding in my chest.

The entire pack stood around us, their eyes burning into me—some filled with pity, some with mockery and others with disgust.

My husband, Alpha Marcus, the man with whom I had spent the past year, the man I loved with my everything, stared down at me with nothing but hatred in his eyes.

With a snarl, he yanked his hand out of my hold and pushed me away. “Don’t you dare touch me with your filthy hands,” he growled.

I gasped as his push sent me crashing to the cold floor, my knees and palms scraping against the hard surface.

The sharp sting of the impact bit into me, but it was nothing compared to the way his words tore through my heart.

Tears streamed down my face, no matter how hard I tried to fight them back.

I didn’t want to cry. Not in front of these people who had never seen me as anything more than the weak, unworthy omega who their Alpha was forced to take as Luna. A disgrace wearing a stolen crown.

But I couldn’t stop them from falling. Not when my whole world was crumbling in front of my eyes, not when I was being accused of doing something I never did.

I bit the inside of my cheek and swiftly wiped my tears with the back of my palm, trying to gather whatever pride I had left.

I slowly lifted my head to stare up at him. My tear-filled eyes silently begged him to see the truth. But all I found was cold indifference.

The look he was giving me was so scary as if I was something he despised the most in this world.

I can’t believe this is the man I saved by putting my own life in danger. If it wasn’t for me then he would have died six months ago, because of his deadly curse.

But he knows nothing. He knows nothing about my sacrifice, about my love.

All he saw was her.

I shifted my gaze from him to Madison—my older sister, the one whose place I had been forced to take one year ago.

She stood there, trembling, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, her face a perfect picture of innocence and sorrow.

But I knew better. I know she is nothing but a liar. A manipulator. The same woman who had abandoned her mate to save her own life had now returned, playing the victim.

And he believed her.

Memories flooded my mind like a cruel, unrelenting storm, pulling me back to a year ago…

The Red Moon Pack had been bustling with celebration. My father, Alpha Victor, had finally secured an alliance with the powerful Blood Moon Pack. My step sister, Madison, was set to marry her mate, Alpha Marcus, one of the strongest alphas in the kingdom.

The whole pack had been drowning in excitement, eager for the grand mating ceremony. But then, everything changed.

A few weeks before the wedding, Madison suddenly disappeared without a trace. One moment she was getting fitted for her mating ceremony dress, and the next…she was gone.

Panic consumed the entire pack. Guards were deployed. Patrols doubled. I remember my heart thudding in my chest when they finally received news—news that shattered whatever hope was left.

She had been attacked, they said. Ambushed on her way back from the boutique. Her body has been found lifeless near the borders of Red moon pack. Her face completely destroyed by her attackers. The guards could recognise her only because of her scent.

The entire pack mourned, except one person.

My father.

He didn’t shed a single tear.

No, Alpha Victor looked more troubled by the potential collapse of the alliance than the death of his daughter. And that’s when I came into picture.

His Illegitimate daughter. An omega-born disgrace in his family of Alphas. A breathing stain on his perfect lineage.

I was daughter of his mistress, the daughter he never acknowledged, never protected, never cared for.

There was no proposal. No discussion. Just a command. I was to take Madison’s place and marry Alpha Marcus. I had never been given a choice.

‘Anyways, you have already been rejected by your own mate? And no one else is going to choose a low life like you as their partner. So, you shouldn’t have any problem with this arrangement. In fact you should be grateful that you are being given such an honour.’ I was told.

They dressed it up as sacrifice. Said it was for the pack, for the alliance. That it was my duty.

And Marcus… he agreed, to fulfill his duty. Because the alliance was important for his pack too. He never looked at me the way he looked at her. His eyes were devoid of affection, only duty and emptiness.

I was a placeholder in a story never meant to be mine.

And I might have accepted that fate—if not for the truth I uncovered just two days before the mating ceremony.

Madison wasn’t dead.

She had never been attacked.

It was a lie. A beautifully woven deception to fool the entire world. But actually in reality, Madison had been sent away to another country, far from Marcus, far from his curse.

And in her place, I had been thrown in the face of death.

I had been heartbroken.

I knew that no one in the family ever cared for me. They never even considered me the part of their family.

I was always treated as nothing but an omega slave, who served every high rank wolf in the pack house.

My father, who was supposed to protect me, never stopped his wife or his daughter Madison from bullying me. He let them torment me to their heart’s content until I was broken beyond repair.

But even after all this, when the man who was supposed to be my father, without any hesitation forced me to exchange my life for a mere alliance, I couldn’t believe it.

That was the time I realised how worthless my life was in his eyes.

I blinked my eyes to push back the tears as well as those painful memories.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to speak. My voice was raw, heavy with pain, but I refused to let it waver.

“I have not done anything wrong, Alpha Marcus.”

I lifted my chin, forcing myself to look him in the eyes, despite the agony in my chest.

“I never tried to kill Madison.” I forced the words out, though I knew they would fall on deaf ears. “She is lying.”

Marcus’s jaw clenched, his blue eyes darkening with fury. He didn’t believe me.

Of course, he didn’t.

With furious steps, he marched toward me, his wolf’s golden eyes flickering for a moment, burning with rage.

Before I could react, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me up, forcing me to stand.

A sharp yelp of pain escaped my lips as my scalp burned from his rough grip. My trembling fingers wrapped around his wrist in futile attempt to free myself.

But he was too strong for an omega like me.

“Don’t you dare accuse her!” Marcus growled, his face inches from mine, his warm breath fanning my face. His grip on my hair tightened, his rage undeniable.

“She is not a liar and a cunning woman like you—” he sneered, his voice dripping with disgust. “You dared to hurt your own sister just to take her place in my family, in my pack?!”

“She is an innocent woman who is still begging me to forgive an ungrateful b***h like you.” He shook his head in disappointment. “How could you stoop so low, Evelyn?”

Each word felt like a blade tearing through my heart. I couldn’t do anything but stare at his face, tears blurring my vision.

I searched his eyes, hoping—to find even a trace of the man I had once loved.

But there was nothing. He wasn’t that gentle man anymore. He was a ruthless man who didn’t care even a bit about me.

A flicker of movement behind him caught my attention. My gaze shifted to Madison, standing there with a delicate, fake sadness painted across her beautiful face.

And then—she smirked.

A slow, victorious smirk meant only for me to see.

I stiffened.

How could Marcus not see it? How could he not see the deception so clear in her eyes? How could he, a powerful alpha, a man trained to sense lies and deception, be so completely blind to the truth?

He was still the same lovesick fool he had been a year ago.

But again, Madison has made up her story perfectly.

According to her, she had somehow survived the rogue attack one year ago. But she had been in a coma, unable to return, unable to reach out. And when just a few days ago, she had miraculously awakened— the first thing she had done was return to her mate.

How convenient.

And, to add the final nail to my coffin, she has accused me—of orchestrating that attack a year ago.

And like a fool, Marcus believed her.

I couldn’t take his insults anymore. His anger, his disgust directed at me, I couldn’t just accept it anymore like a fool I have always been.

With all my strength, I ripped myself out of his grasp and shoved him back, making him stumble a step.

The entire pack gasped.

Marcus’s expression turned from rage to shock—he hadn’t expected me to fight back.

“Innocent?” I snapped, my chest rising and falling with my ragged breaths. “Are you really so blind, Marcus?”

A murmur spread through the crowd at the way I addressed him. I had never called him that before. And for sure haven’t talked to him in this tone ever.

I took a step closer, refusing to cower.

“Can’t you see past her façade? Do you even know what really happened a year ago? Did you even bother to investigate whether she was actually attacked or if it was all just a lie?”

The room went silent for a moment.

Marcus’s brows furrowed as he glared at me. “What are you playing at now?”

I let out a bitter laugh.

“I am not playing at anything.” My voice trembled with suppressed rage. “I am trying to tell you the truth. I didn’t instigate any attack against her because—” I took a shaky breath “—because there was never an attack in the first place. She ran away, Marcus. She left you. She abandoned you because she didn’t want to marry you.”

Marcus stilled.

His eyes flickered with something I couldn’t quite decipher.

Was it shock? Doubt?

But before he could respond, Madison’s voice rang out.

“Why are you doing this to me, Eve?” Her voice was soft, broken, laced with the perfect amount of trembling.

I turned my head to face her, my fists clenched at my sides, knowing exactly what she was doing.

“What have I ever done to you?” Madison whispered, fresh tears cascading down her face.

And then, in the most brilliant act of deception I had ever seen, she dropped her gaze and murmured,

“Are you angry because the Moon Goddess gave him to me and not you?”

My heart stopped.

I blinked. “What?”

She sniffled, her lower lip trembling. “I know you’ve always loved Marcus, Eve. You’ve always wanted to be with him. But the Moon Goddess chose me as his mate. Is that why you hate me?”

My lips parted as I stared at her in utter disbelief.

This lying, manipulative woman.

She was twisting the truth, making it look like I had been the one trying to steal her mate, as if my own forced marriage had been my choice all along.

I turned to Marcus.

“It’s not true—” My words died in my throat when I saw the deadly expression on his face .

His burning eyes locked on me, filled with nothing but pure rage and disgust.

And I knew.

He believed her.

Again.

My lips parted, but no words came out. My chest tightened painfully, as if someone had wrapped a chain around my ribs and was squeezing it with all the strength.

Marcus took a step toward me, his voice cold as ice.

“I feel ashamed that I didn’t see your true colors earlier,” he muttered. “I should have never chose a cunning woman like you to become my Luna in the first place.”

A sharp pain stabbed through my heart.

“No, Marcus… you got it all wrong—”

“Enough.”

His voice sent a final, devastating chill down my spine.

“I will correct my mistake.”

And then, before I could even brace myself for what was coming, he spoke the words that shattered me.

“I, Marcus Williams, Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, reject you, Evelyn Carter, as my mate and my Luna.”

The moment the words left his lips, a searing pain exploded in my chest. I felt his mark on my neck burning.

A whimper tore from my throat as my entire soul burned, the mate bond ripping apart violently, leaving me raw and hollow.

My wolf, Emma who was already very weak at the moment, howled in agony, the sound echoing in my head

I felt my knees give way. But I didn’t fall.

I refused to fall. I refused to show any more weakness.

Using all of my strength I stood strong and I embraced the pain.

I won’t beg anymore. I tried to tell him the truth, I did my best to save him from woman like Madison. But he chose to believe her, not me. So I won’t worry about him anymore.

I swallowed the pain and carve it in my head as a reminder that this man standing in front of me, never deserved my love in the first place.

And then, I lifted my chin, squared my shoulders, and, with a firm voice, I spoke, taking everyone by surprise.

“I, Evelyn Carter, accept your, Alpha Marcus’s rejection.”