Reborn as the alpha's obsession

Chapter 3: Rejected

Jaxon's POV

Lisa is shaking in my arms, tears cutting clean lines down her face.

"Jaxon... did I do something wrong?" Her voice comes out thin, wrecked.

"No, baby. You did nothing. This is her fault. All of it."

I look across the hall at Tara. My Luna. My wife. And it hits me all at once, the whole picture snapping into focus, the wine glass changing hands right before Lisa hit the floor, the stain spreading dark across white silk. I saw it happen and didn't understand what I was looking at until now. I knew Tara had her jealous streak. I never thought she'd go this far.

"Guards! Grab the Luna! Lock her in the dungeon!"

Tara's face goes slack with shock. "What? Jaxon, you can't be serious. You can't do this to me."

"Shut up, Tara." My voice comes out louder than I mean it to, bouncing off stone. "Guards. Chain her if she fights you."

I don't look back at her again. I gather Lisa up slow, careful, like she might c***k down the middle if I move too fast, and carry her out of the hall while she presses her face into my shoulder. Zibo is already clawing at the inside of my skull, frantic.

*I told you. I told you Tara wasn't good for us. I told you this would happen.*

*Zibo, please. I never saw this coming. All I ever saw was her being kind.*

Me and Tara go back to childhood. Training grounds, summer camps, the whole stretch of growing up side by side. She's the only daughter of Silver Crest, an Alpha in her own right. I lead Moon Coluse. On paper we made sense, two strong packs, two strong bloodlines, a match anyone could have drawn up on a map. Even after I found out she wasn't my fated mate, I didn't care. I chose her anyway. I thought we'd run this pack together for the rest of our lives.

Zibo warned me. More than once. But every time she looked up at me with those eyes, I only ever saw devotion staring back.

And she played the part well. Good wife. Good Luna. The whole kingdom loved us, the merger that made me the strongest Alpha in the territory, the couple everyone wanted to be. Nobody ever said a bad word about me. I was careful. I was good to her.

All she had to do was keep being that woman. Instead there was this other side of her I never once got to see until tonight.

I lay Lisa down on the bed, gentle, and send for the doctor myself. She just lost her whole pack a month ago. Now this.

"Jaxon, it's okay." Lisa's hand finds mine, weak but steady. "I don't blame you. Nobody would've thought Tara could do something like this. She's the Luna."

"Some Luna." The words come out through my teeth. "If she'll do this in front of me, in front of the whole pack, what has she been doing when I'm not watching?"

I leave the doctor with her and walk back to the hall fast, jaw tight the whole way. The guards have Tara pinned to the floor, four of them holding her down while half the pack stands around in a loose circle, watching. I push through until I'm standing over her.

"Tara. I always thought you were kind. I never thought you'd stoop this low, trying to kill my fated mate in front of everyone I lead."

She laughs. It's not a sound I recognize coming out of her.

"Funny. I also thought my husband was a good one."

Something in my chest pulls tight. I crouch down, grab her chin, force her face up to mine.

"Admit you're wrong. Accept Lisa as my fated mate. Do that, and I'll forgive you. You stay Luna.”

Then she smiles.

It's the wrong kind of smile, the kind that doesn't belong on her face, and her eyes go bright purple right in front of me. I know that look. Basi, surfacing.

I jump back half a second before the air cracks open around her.

The guards holding her down go flying, both of them, crashing backward into the banquet tables behind them. Wood splinters. Chairs scatter across the stone floor. Glasses shatter against the far wall in a spray of wine and crystal, and for one long second the whole hall just stares at the wreckage like nobody can quite process what they're looking at.

"Tara! Are you insane? You attacked your own guards!"

"Yes! I'm insane!" she screams back, eyes still glowing, chest heaving.

Her dress hangs torn at the shoulder. Her hair's come loose from whatever careful style it was in an hour ago, falling wild around her face, and there's a smile on her that I've genuinely never seen before in six years of knowing this woman. I hate admitting it, even just in my own head, but this version of her scares me.

She turns away from me, finds the center of the room, and her voice carries clean over every head in the hall.

"I, Tara of Silver Crest, reject Jaxon of Moon Coluse. From this moment, I am not your Luna."

"What the hell are you saying?"

I'm moving before I decide to, closing the distance, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face me.

"You don't understand?" Her sneer cuts deeper than I expect it to. "We're done, Jaxon."

"You dare reject me?"

I hadn't even gotten to punish her yet. I hadn't decided what happens to her. And she just... took that choice away from me, stripped it out of my hands before I could even open my mouth.

No.

"You'll regret this, Tara." My voice comes out somewhere I don't recognize, low and flat and final. "I, Jaxon of Moon Coluse, accept your rejection. You're under arrest for the attempted murder of my fated mate. Guards! Take her to the dungeon. Now.”