Rejected By My Alpha Mate

Chapter 3 - In Front of Everyone

Elder Mira glanced between them, her face struggling to stay neutral but failing.

"Alpha-heir." Her voice was careful. "Someone marks the bond."

"I'm aware." Ryker's voice was even. He hadn't looked away from Kaela yet. She almost wished he would. His direct gaze felt unique, like standing in the path of a searchlight. "Conduct the rejection."

The word dropped into the clearing like a stone into still water.

The ripple went out.

Kaela heard someone behind her take a sharp breath. Luna stood close at her shoulder. She was careful, like when she readied herself to catch something.

Kaela did not look away from Ryker.

She would not look away.

She was hell-bent on surviving this. So, she would face it with her eyes wide open. She wouldn’t give any of them, neither Ryker nor Selene, the comfort of seeing her look away.

"The rejection protocol requires that both parties be present," Mira began.

"Then call her forward," Ryker said.

The crowd parted.

Of course, it did. Crowds always parted for the person who needed them to stay closed.

Kaela walked through.

She kept her breathing even. She kept her face still. She practiced for twenty-one years at keeping her face still during humiliating situations. She needed that practice now more than ever. As she walked past one hundred pairs of eyes, she wore a dress Luna had spent two weeks altering. Ahead stood a man whose face was as blank as a mask.

She stopped five feet from him. The bond thread still stretched between them. It had shrunk, revealing more detail and a faint golden glow.

She looked at him.

She wasn't sure what she wanted. Was it recognition or the person she had seen for a moment before the mask came back? The c***k in the door.

They closed it.

"Kaela Nightshade," Ryker said. His voice was Alpha-deep, pack-carrying, designed to reach the edges of the clearing. "Ward of Shadow Pack."

"Yes," she said.

Her voice was steady. She felt a slight sense of pride about that.

"This bond is real in its ID, but it doesn't need either party to accept it." He was reciting this; she could hear the formal structure of it, the protocol he was using as armor. "An Alpha-heir's bond carries more weight. The pack's stability, alliances, and legacy are considerations that supersede."

"Ryker." Selene's voice, from behind him, light as silk. "You don't need to explain yourself."

His jaw flexed.

Something passed through his eyes; she couldn't name it.

He looked at Kaela.

"As Alpha-heir of Shadow Pack," he said, "I reject you as my fated mate."

He spoke in a soft voice. It was almost worse than if he had shouted it. The silence felt heavy. It seemed final. He made it sound regrettable, yet right. Like trimming a dead branch.

The bond broke.

Kaela had no idea what breaking the bond felt like. She had never felt it form before. But now, it felt like something was pulling out of her. Not from her chest, deeper than that. Somewhere, the body doesn't have a name for.

Her knees tried to buckle.

She caught herself.

Only those who were attentive would see the brief moment when her legs paused. She locked them and shifted her weight. She stood firm, determined not to fall in front of these people.

She heard Selene whisper something comforting to Ryker behind her. She moved to wrap up what they had planned. She realized that someone had arranged this. The pack around her shifted back into ceremony formation. The interruption was set aside, and the entertainment was over.

Luna's hand found her elbow.

Kaela hasn't moved yet.

She stood in the center of the clearing and looked at Ryker one more time.

He turned his body enough to avoid direct eye contact. Selene’s hand rested on his arm. Elder Mira approached to register the chosen match. He wasn't looking at her.

Then, at the last possible moment, he looked back.

She didn't know what he saw in her face. She had a mix of pain, rage, and deep humiliation inside her. It was all locked away behind a door so thick that nothing could get through.

What she showed him was nothing.

And then she turned and walked out of the clearing.

She did not run.

She walked at a normal pace through the crowd that parted again, out to the far forest edge into the dark.

Behind her, she heard the ceremony resume.

Ahead of her, the trees.

And in the forest beyond the ceremony light, Kaela stopped.

Put her hand flat against a pine tree.

Breathed.

One breath. Two. Three.

The shadow at her feet stretched long in the torchlight. It was too large and not quite shaped like a girl. The edges blurred, like something unsure of its form.

She didn't notice.

She was too busy surviving.