Rejected By My Fated Mate

Chapter 1

Nora.

My mother had always prepared me for days like these. I have prepared myself for bad days like these—though I thought I could handle it until now that my faith was being played with by my cruel stepfather.

My mother had always taught me to fight through bad days, to earn the best days of my life—there isn’t going to be any good days anymore now that she’s no more. Why didn’t death take me instead? That would’ve been easier than staying in this hell hole I call home while my faith gets decided for me.

Greenbell pack existed for decades. The history of Greenbell can be traced back to medieval Europe, where real packs were built as fortifications for protection against invaders. Over time, Greenbell developed and grew stronger. It’s just like the human world—we live, have family, go to markets, go shopping, run errand, find mates and get married.

I was basically just like a princess in a castle. My grandfather passed away and handed the Alpha throne to my father. My father died also, leaving the throne in the hands of Betty, my mother, the Luna of Greenbell. Some might even say she was a better leader than my father, the late Alpha.

With time, things altered when Betty met Herman, My unkind stepfather. He changed everything and gave everyone a tough and difficult time in the pack. It made Betty to have doubts and somewhat regret mating with him.

I am an only child. I never had siblings until Herman came along with his two spoilt brat daughters and his kind son. Herman came from a far pack. He met my mother in town and they, at first clicked until he found out she was a Luna in her pack and it was his way to have what he wants—the throne of the Alpha to himself. He’s nonsensically fixated with ruling people and having power. It made my mother wonder if he actually ever loved her by the way he was more fixated with ruling Greenbell pack rather than focusing on their relationship.

It was a difficult change for me to accept but with time, I had to give up and face the fact that she was married to a self-centered, heartless werewolf who had two despicable daughters just like him and a son that’s as sweet as sweet pie—it even made me wonder if he’s even Herman’s son.

Now I’m sheltered up in my room while my faith was out there being decided for me by the so-called new Alpha. Herman just gave himself that title despite not being a blood of Greenbell.

He claimed that I had something to do with my mother’s death and I wasn’t old enough to lead the pack, therefore, as my punishment is; I’m forbidden to be the Luna and would be dealt with for the crime I didn’t commit.

I stare up at the ceiling with a heavy chest and numb body. Like a caged animal, I laid there. Paralyzed by the tragic feeling of isolation. It’s been three days since she was buried but it feels like she’s in the kitchen right now baking the badass muffins for me just before dinner. It’s hard to accept the fact that my mother was no more—it’s harder to accept that I’d be living with my brutal stepfather and his daughters.

My immediate reaction was to flee and forget.

I hear a rhythm knock on the door and it was no one but Miles. I look at the door as it gently opens. His head peeps through the door followed by his sweet smiling face. I wish I could return that smile but I was too blank and distressed to do that.

He cleared his throat and walked in, closing the door behind him. “It’s almost sunset, you don’t wanna miss the view.” His voice sounds so much like Herman’s. I sometimes felt sorry for Miles for having his father’s voice and exact face.

I return my gaze back to the ceiling because it looked more interesting than Herman’s look alike.

I hear him sigh—literally the only person I have to comfort me after Lizzie. He slumps in my bean bag chair and sighed again. He looks up the ceiling as though we were stargazing. Maybe staring up at the ceiling isn’t such a bad idea.

“I’m sorry about Betty…”

Like a knife to my heart—his words stab me in the chest. This was supposed to be comforting but it feels like he was apologizing to me in advance for what’s about to happen to my life.

Grief swept through my system, enveloping my body. Everything I had felt at the moment I came across my mother’s cold body suddenly comes crashing back at once. I swallow the bitter feeling and exhaled sharply.

“It is not easy to deal with times like this. It is certainly not easy to live in this time. I know this is like the most difficult time, I’m so sorry you have to go through this while facing my f****d-up father. You have to stay strong for me, for your mother.” I don’t know when he got off the bean bag—all I felt was his arms around me and I couldn’t thank him enough for that hug.

I wanted to tear up but the tears were hooked up somewhere in my bruised heart. Maybe flushed away by the hole punctured in my wounded heart. A sigh slipped through my lips as I close my eyes and gazed into field of nothingness.

“Do you think this pain will ever go away?” My eyes were still shut when I spoke. I could feel him looking at me with a smile despite knowing I couldn’t see him. When he doesn’t say anything, I open my eyes and locked gaze with him.

He looks at me in a way that steps siblings shouldn’t do. His ocean eyes search mine. He smiles at me again, staring at my dainty nose to my almond eyes.

“As far as I can see, grief will never truly end. It may become softer over time, more gentle, but some days will feel sharp, but grief will last as long as love does—forever. It's simply the way the absence of our loved one’s manifests in our hearts.

A deep longing, accompanied by the deepest love. Some days, the heavy log may return, and the next day, it may recede, once again, it’s all an ebb and flow, a constant dance of sorrow and joy, pain and sweet love.”

I stare at him for a moment, as I tried to condense what he had just said. Miles also lost his mother but at a very young age. He told me he barely remembers anything about her but I know he was just avoiding the conversation. I respect that though. He’d eventually tell me about it whenever he was ready.

“You’ll be alright, Nora, I promise.” He kisses the top of my head and got off the bed.

The door swings open with full force, making me to jump upright. My heart was pondering as though trying to fulfil a marathon. Seeing who it was, I heave a sigh—not because I was relieved or pleased with who just barged into my room.