Rejected By My Mate: The Alpha's Second Chance

I, Amaka Okeke, had waited twenty-one years for this moment. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. My wolf was supposed to wake up, my mate was supposed to find me, and my pack was supposed to finally accept me. But none of that happened. Instead, I stood in the middle of the grand hall of the Moonstone Pack, dressed in my white dress, while every eye in the room stared at me with pity and disgust. Because I still couldn't shift. "Amaka Okeke," Alpha Chike's cold voice echoed across the silent hall. He stood on the podium, tall, handsome, powerful. The most desired Alpha in all the four packs. And he was my fated mate. I had felt the pull the second he entered the room. My heart was beating so fast, my soul was screaming his name. "Do you, Amaka, daughter of the former Beta, accept me as your mate?" the priestess asked. I opened my mouth to say yes, tears already forming in my eyes. But Alpha Chike spoke first. "I, Alpha Chike of Moonstone Pack, reject you, Amaka Okeke, as my mate and Luna." The hall gasped. My world stopped. The pain... oh goddess, the pain was indescribable. It felt like someone tore my heart out of my chest and crushed it in front of me. I fell to my knees, clutching my chest, screaming as the mate bond broke. A bond that had just formed was already being destroyed by the one person who was supposed to protect me. "Why?" I whispered, looking up at him, tears streaming down my face. "Why are you doing this?" He looked down at me, his eyes cold and emotionless. No regret. No pain. Nothing. "Because you are weak," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "You are twenty-one and you cannot even shift into your wolf. You are wolfless. A disgrace to this pack. I cannot have a wolfless Luna. The Moon Goddess made a mistake." Laughter erupted around me. My own pack members were laughing at my pain. My mother ran to me, trying to hold me, but I pushed her away. I couldn't breathe. "You will never be worthy of being my Luna," Chike continued. "From this day forward, you are banished from Moonstone Pack. Leave and never return." Banished. Rejected. On my twenty-first birthday. I wiped my tears and stood up slowly. My legs were shaking, but my eyes found his. "You will regret this, Alpha Chike," I said, my voice shaking but loud. "One day, you will beg me to come back. And I will be the one to reject you." I turned around and walked out of that hall, out of that pack house, into the dark forest. I had nowhere to go. No wolf. No mate. No pack. But what Chike didn't know was that as I stepped into the forest, a strange, powerful energy surged through my body. My eyes flashed silver. My wolf wasn't gone. She was just... different. And she was waking up. This was not the end of my story. It was only the beginning.