RejectingTheAlpha
Selene’s POV
I felt him before I saw him. A sharp pain hit my chest like lightning and my knees felt so weak that I had to grab the treaty table to stay upright. Two hundred wolves turned their heads towards the door, their breaths stopped all at once as they waited for the newcomer to walk in.
My mate bond had woken up even after I had spent the past eleven years telling myself that would never happen to me.
The doors opened and Alpha Damon Ashgrove walked in. My whole body screamed at me to run up to him, my knees still shook and my breathing was unsteady. He stopped in his tracks too and the powerful Alpha mask on his face cracked for a split second.
I looked behind him and saw the crest on the wolves that came in with him. Ashgrove, the same pack that burnt my family home to the ground while I stood three miles away unable to so anything. I could hear my mothers helpless scream and I still hear it some mights when I struggle to sleep.
The whole hall buzzed with whispers. A Voss and an Ashgrove, mated? After everything our packs had done to each other? I had ten seconds to reject the bond, maybe less.
Damon took a step towards me, he had a dangerous look in his eyes. “You feel it too,” he said in a low voice, even though the whole room could hear him. “Tell me you feel it.”
I stepped away from him and stood upright. It didn’t matter whether I felt it or not. This was the wolf whose family destroyed mine, sent me into hiding for eleven good years. I looked him straight in the eyes and said the words that would change everything.
“I, Selene Voss, reject you, Damon Ashgrove, as my mate.”
It felt like my ribs snapped in half, a sharp pain went through me immediately and I had to hide the pain from showing on my face.
Not a single wolf said anything, they stared at Damon and I, trying to understand what they had just witnessed
Rejected Alphas were supposed to rage and cause a scene so I braced myself for his wrath, but he didn’t. He just looked relieved.
“Selene Voss,” he said. “There’s only one Voss left alive.”
My blood ran cold in my body. “I use a different name now,” I said, glaring at him.
“I know, I’ve known exactly who you are since the day you arrived six months ago.
“What are you talking about? That’s not possible.”
“I have had someone watching over you this whole time, I’ve been expecting the last Voss to come looking for the truth and I needed to find you first, before the real enemy did.”
“What do you mean by real enemy?” I retorted. “Don’t try to lie your way out of this, your pack burned my family alive.”
“That is what you saw, but you never saw who lit the fire.” Behind him, his council members exchanged nervos glances and even Damon looked a little nervous.
“My father sent wolves into Voss territory that night, but we didn’t start the fire,” he continued. “We went in to save your family, but we were too late and I’ve spent the past eleven years trying to find out who really did it.”
The broken bond gave one last painful pull in my ribs, like it already knew that I wanted to believe him.
“You’re lying,” I whispered.
“I have never lied to you, you have just never allowed me to tell you the truth.” he said.
A council member cleared his theoat loudly, reminding the hall that a formal rejection had just happened and pack law had to stand.
“I won’t fight your decision to reject me in front of everyone,” he whispered and i let out a breath i didn’t even know I was holding.
“Rejected bonds fade with time, but this one won’t, it’s too strong. When the pain gets too unbearable, you’d have to choose…live with the pain forever or come back and let me tell you the truth about your family.”
I didn’t trust myself to answer, I just gave one sharp nod and I stepped back
“Until then, the treaty stands and so do I,” he said, stepping back too.
He turned and walked back to bis people and the hall finally exploded in whispers. My knees began shaking again and I gripped the table like my life deepened on it.
I hadn’t ended anything tonight, I had just made everything worse.
