I Accept Your Rejection
1815 Words
Pain.
There was no other word for it.
It ripped through me so violently that I forgot how to breathe.
My knees hit the stone.
“Elena!”
Someone screamed my name.
Maybe Vanessa.
Maybe someone else.
I couldn't tell.
The entire courtyard disappeared behind a wall of white-hot agony.
It felt as though invisible claws had entered my chest and were tearing my heart apart from the inside.
I pressed both hands against the ground.
Blood Moon light spilled across my fingers.
Lyra!
My wolf didn't answer.
Lyra!
Nothing.
Panic joined the pain.
I tried to reach her again.
There.
Deep inside me.
Curled into herself.
Whimpering.
Mate rejected us.
Her voice sounded so small that another piece of me shattered.
“I know.”
I hadn't realized I'd spoken aloud until I heard the whispers around me.
“She collapsed.”
“Is rejection supposed to hurt that badly?”
“I've never seen anything like this.”
“Look at Adrian.”
I didn't want to.
But I did.
My mate stood only a few feet away.
His face had gone pale.
His fists were clenched at his sides.
For one brief moment, the mask disappeared.
He looked horrified.
“Elena…”
He moved toward me.
I raised my hand.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
The pain was beginning to fade, but only enough for humiliation to take its place.
Hundreds of wolves were watching me kneel at Adrian Blackwood's feet.
No.
I wouldn't give them that image.
I forced myself upright.
My legs trembled.
Someone reached for my arm.
Vanessa.
I jerked away from her as though she'd burned me.
“Don't touch me.”
“Elena, please.”
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Hours ago, I would have wiped them away.
Now they made me sick.
“How long?”
She shook her head.
“Please, not here.”
“That's what he said.”
My laugh came out broken.
“How convenient.”
Vanessa glanced around.
People immediately looked away, pretending they weren't listening.
But everyone was listening.
This story would reach every corner of Blackwood territory before sunrise.
The orphaned healer.
The future Alpha.
The best friend.
What a perfect little scandal.
“How long?” I repeated.
Vanessa looked at Adrian.
That tiny movement told me everything.
“You need his permission to answer me?”
“No!”
“Then answer.”
She wiped her face.
“Seven months.”
My stomach dropped.
Seven.
Months.
I tried to remember what my life had looked like seven months ago.
Vanessa sleeping at my cottage after she'd had an argument with her mother.
Vanessa borrowing my clothes.
Vanessa laughing with me over breakfast.
Vanessa asking me whether I'd ever wondered who my mate might be.
Seven months.
All while she was sleeping with mine.
“Did you know?” I asked.
Her brow furrowed.
“Know what?”
“That he was my mate.”
“No.”
Her answer came quickly.
Too quickly?
I couldn't tell anymore.
“I swear, Elena. Neither of us knew.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
His voice was firm.
He seemed to have regained control.
The future Alpha was back.
Cold.
Collected.
Untouchable.
“So you were together before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“And after realizing I'm your mate, you chose her.”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“This is more complicated than you understand.”
“Actually, it seems incredibly simple.”
“Elena.”
“You love her?”
Vanessa inhaled sharply.
Adrian didn't answer.
That hurt almost as much as the rejection.
I nodded slowly.
“Right.”
I turned away.
“Wait.”
Alpha Marcus's voice stopped me.
I looked toward him.
The older Alpha's expression was furious.
Not at me.
At his son.
“This ceremony is not finished.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Father.”
“You invoked a formal rejection before the entire pack.”
“I know exactly what I did.”
“Then you know what comes next.”
A strange silence settled over the courtyard.
I knew what he meant.
Acceptance.
A rejection wasn't complete until the rejected mate accepted it.
Until then, the bond remained wounded but alive.
I looked at Adrian.
He looked back at me.
Something flickered between us.
Pain.
Anger.
Desire.
The bond.
Damaged.
Bleeding.
But still there.
Don't.
Lyra's voice suddenly returned.
Please.
My throat tightened.
He doesn't want us.
Mate.
He chose someone else.
A low whine echoed through my mind.
I wanted to hold her.
How ridiculous.
She was part of me, yet at that moment she felt like another broken creature I needed to protect.
Adrian stepped toward me.
“We don't have to finish this tonight.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“We can discuss it tomorrow.”
For a second, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Then anger rose through the pain.
“You rejected me in front of everyone, but I should give you the privacy you didn't give me?”
His expression hardened.
“I made a decision.”
“So will I.”
“Elena.”
I faced the altar.
The Moonstone gleamed red beneath the Blood Moon.
Elder Samuel watched me with pity.
I hated that look.
I didn't want pity.
Not from him.
Not from the pack.
Not from Adrian.
I turned back.
My legs stopped trembling.
Maybe because there was nothing left to fear.
He had already done the worst thing he could do to me.
I looked directly into Adrian's eyes.
“I, Elena Vale…”
His entire body went rigid.
“…accept your rejection.”
“Elena.”
For the first time, his voice cracked.
I continued.
“I accept Adrian Blackwood's rejection of me as his mate.”
Something snapped.
Not metaphorically.
I heard it.
A sharp c***k inside my head.
Then the bond broke.
Agony exploded through me.
I screamed.
This time Adrian screamed too.
He fell to one knee.
Gasps erupted around us.
My vision went black at the edges.
Lyra howled inside me.
Adrian's wolf answered.
The sound wasn't something I heard with my ears.
It came through whatever remained of the bond.
Grief.
Rage.
Loss.
Then—
Silence.
The connection vanished.
I swayed.
But I refused to fall again.
Adrian wasn't so lucky.
He remained on one knee, one hand pressed against his chest.
Blood trickled from his nose.
“Adrian!”
Vanessa rushed toward him.
That was when I knew I needed to leave.
I couldn't watch her comfort him.
Not after this.
I turned.
“Elena!”
Vanessa called after me.
I kept walking.
The crowd opened.
Nobody stopped me.
Some looked sympathetic.
Others curious.
A few almost excited.
By tomorrow, they would have chosen sides.
By next week, I'd become gossip.
I didn't care.
At least, I tried not to.
I reached the edge of the courtyard.
“Elena.”
Adrian.
I stopped.
I shouldn't have.
But some stupid part of me still reacted to his voice.
I looked over my shoulder.
He had stood again.
Vanessa held his arm.
His eyes were fixed on me.
“You shouldn't be alone tonight.”
I stared at him.
Then at Vanessa's hand around his arm.
Something inside me became very still.
“You lost the right to worry about me.”
I walked away.
I didn't remember the journey home.
One moment I was leaving the Blackwood estate.
The next I was standing inside my cottage with the door locked behind me.
Silence.
For years, I had loved this place because it was quiet.
Tonight, the silence felt unbearable.
I took off my mother's necklace and placed it carefully on the table.
Then I saw myself in the small hallway mirror.
My mascara had run.
My eyes were swollen.
My silver dress was stained with dirt from when I'd fallen.
I looked pathetic.
I laughed.
Then I started crying.
Not graceful tears.
Not the kind heroines shed in romantic stories while somehow remaining beautiful.
I sobbed.
I sank onto the floor and cried until my chest hurt.
For Adrian.
For Vanessa.
For myself.
For the future I had been given and lost in less than an hour.
Eventually there were no tears left.
I leaned against the wall.
“Lyra?”
Silence.
Fear returned.
“Please talk to me.”
Nothing.
I closed my eyes.
I'm sorry.
A faint warmth moved through my chest.
She was still there.
Thank the Goddess.
But she didn't speak.
I sat there for what felt like hours.
Then someone knocked.
Three times.
I froze.
“Elena?”
Vanessa.
Of course.
I remained silent.
“I know you're inside.”
Go away.
“I need to explain.”
No, you don't.
“Elena, please.”
My fingers curled into my palms.
She knocked again.
“Open the door.”
I stood.
Maybe I should ignore her.
Maybe that would be smarter.
But I had spent seven months unknowingly sharing my best friend with my mate.
I deserved answers.
I opened the door.
Vanessa stood outside.
Her eyes were red.
She had changed out of her ceremonial dress and was wearing jeans and a sweater.
For a second, she looked like the Vanessa I knew.
The girl who had held my hand at my father's funeral.
The girl who knew every secret I'd ever had.
Then I remembered Adrian.
“What do you want?”
“To explain.”
“You already did.”
“No. I didn't.”
She stepped closer.
“Please.”
I hesitated.
Then moved aside.
She entered.
I closed the door.
Neither of us sat.
Vanessa looked around my cottage as though she'd never seen it before.
Finally, she spoke.
“I met Adrian seven months ago.”
“I know.”
“Not like that.”
I folded my arms.
“Then how?”
“My father was having financial problems. Serious ones. Adrian helped him.”
I said nothing.
“We started talking.”
“And then you slept with him.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
“While sleeping in my house twice a week.”
“Elena—”
“Did you ever laugh about me?”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“When you were together. Did you talk about me?”
“No!”
“Did he know I was your best friend?”
“Of course.”
That answer somehow made it worse.
I looked away.
“I should never have come.”
“No. You shouldn't.”
“I love him.”
There it was.
Three words.
Quiet.
Simple.
Devastating.
I turned toward her.
“You love him.”
“Yes.”
“And does he love you?”
She hesitated.
One second.
Two.
That hesitation interested me.
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