Chapter 6 : The Public Rejection
1132 Words
The silence that followed his words was cruel.
Not the peaceful kind Aderin had always known — this one was sharp, mocking, and alive. The torches hissed against the night air, as though even the fire pitied her.
Aderin’s lips parted soundlessly. She wanted to scream, to ask why the Moon would bind her to a man who despised her. But no sound came. Only her tears — hot and unrelenting — slid down her cheeks.
All around her, the pack whispered.
“Did he just reject her?”
“The Alpha’s mate is that girl?”
“She can’t even hear him — how pathetic!”
Mama Ireti’s frail hand clutched her heart as she tried to push through the crowd, shouting her granddaughter’s name. But Aderin couldn’t see her anymore; her vision blurred with tears. All she saw was Kael’s back as he turned away, walking toward Selena.
Selena’s gown shimmered crimson in the firelight. Her lips curved into a cruel smile before she leaned in and kissed Kael before everyone — sealing Aderin’s humiliation.
The crowd erupted in approval, the noise crashing around Aderin like thunder she could not hear.
But she felt it — the tremor beneath her feet, the vibration of boots stamping, hands clapping, voices laughing. Every soundless echo stabbed her deeper.
---
Aderin’s wolf, Seya, whimpered inside her mind.
> “He chose pride over us…”
Her heart splintered. Her body felt cold, like her blood had frozen. She stood there, trembling, until Mama Ireti reached her at last. The old woman knelt, wrapping her arms around her shaking frame.
“My child,” she whispered, voice breaking. “Don’t let them see your pain.”
Aderin clung to her, burying her face in her grandmother’s shoulder. Why me? she mouthed over and over again. Why me, Moon Goddess?
Ireti looked up at the sky — at the glowing full moon that had watched everything. “Because you were chosen,” she whispered, tears running freely. “And the chosen always bleed before they rise.”
---
Up on the dais, Kael’s chest felt like it was being crushed.
He had walked away. He had said the words.
But his wolf — Zion — was raging inside him, clawing, screaming.
> “You fool!” Zion thundered. “You tore our bond apart. Look at her — she’s breaking!”
Kael shut his eyes, fists trembling. “Enough,” he muttered. “She’ll be fine.”
> “No, she won’t. And neither will we.”
He turned to look once more, against his will. Aderin was kneeling on the dirt, white dress stained with tears and dust, Mama Ireti holding her close. The Moon’s light bathed her like a blessing — or perhaps a warning. For a heartbeat, Kael’s chest burned with the urge to go to her.
But Selena’s hand gripped his arm tighter. “You did the right thing,” she whispered. “An Alpha cannot be bound to weakness.”
Kael’s eyes darkened. “You call her weak?”
Selena flinched but masked it quickly with a smile. “I meant—unsuitable. She can’t even hear you, Kael. How could she lead beside you?”
Her words slithered into his mind like poison, and he turned away again — this time for good.
---
Later that night, the celebration resumed.
But for Aderin, the world had gone dark. She and Mama Ireti walked home under the heavy moonlight, her steps unsteady. People still whispered as they passed.
“Rejected on her birthday…”
“Unlucky girl.”
“Maybe she bewitched him.”
Aderin’s jaw clenched. She didn’t look at them. She couldn’t. She only watched the stars, their glow blurred by tears.
When they reached their cottage, Ireti pulled her inside, shut the door, and held her close again.
“You must rest,” she signed gently, tracing each word with her hands.
Aderin shook her head violently. Her fingers trembled as she signed back, I can’t sleep. It hurts too much.
Ireti cupped her face. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. You’ll see.”
But Aderin couldn’t believe that anymore. Not tonight. Not after the way Kael had looked at her — as if she were something to be ashamed of.
---
Elsewhere, in the Alpha’s mansion, Kael stood alone on his balcony. The night wind bit his skin. He stared at the moon that refused to hide behind clouds. It glowed fiercely — accusingly.
Zion’s voice broke through the silence again.
> “You’ve defied destiny.”
Kael growled softly. “Destiny can be rewritten.”
> “Not when it’s carved in blood and moonlight.”
Kael shut his eyes, pressing his fists against the railing. Every time he breathed, he felt the faint pull of the broken bond — a thread that still connected him to her, humming with pain. He had thought rejecting her would free him. Instead, it chained him to guilt.
Down below, Selena entered the balcony, wrapping her arms around him. “Still thinking about her?” she asked sweetly.
He didn’t answer.
“She’ll get over it,” Selena continued, tracing a finger along his chest. “You did what an Alpha should do — protect the pack’s image. That’s all that matters.”
Kael didn’t respond. He only stared at the forest in the distance, where Aderin lived.
And though he didn’t say it aloud, one thought haunted him.
> Then why does it feel like I just destroyed myself?
---
Back in her room, Aderin lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw his face — the anger, the pride, the cold rejection.
Her chest throbbed with an ache deeper than heartbreak — it was the pain of a bond torn apart before it ever had a chance to grow.
Seya whimpered again inside her mind.
> “Our mate turned away, but our destiny hasn’t. The Moon still watches.”
Aderin turned her face toward the window. The moonlight spilled across her skin, soft and silver. Her tears glittered like stars.
“I wish I could stop feeling,” she mouthed into the night. “I wish I could forget him.”
Outside, a cold wind swept through the forest — carrying a whisper she could not hear.
But if she could have, she would have known it was her name on the wind…
A whisper from the Alpha who couldn’t sleep.
---
That night, the Moon shone brighter than ever, as if refusing to close its eyes to the tragedy it had birthed.
Two souls — bound by fate, divided by pride — wept under the same light.
Neither knowing that the night had only begun.
- Writer
