Chapter 2: The Rejection Ceremony – A Humiliation Like No Other
1137 Words
Serena’s POV
The rejection bond may be broken, but the pain lingers. My chest still aches, and my wolf, Selene, has been howling in agony since last night. But I don’t have the luxury of falling apart. Not here. Not now.
I stand in the center of the pack’s gathering hall, my back straight, face impassive, even as I feel the weight of a hundred eyes on me. They whisper, their judgment heavy in the air. I hear the pity in their voices, the amusement in some, the cruel satisfaction in others. They love a scandal, and this? This is the biggest one they’ve had in years.
“She must be humiliated.”
“I heard Jaxon was never truly interested in her. Just an obligation.”
“And now, her own sister? Goddess, that’s brutal.”
“She should just leave the pack. No rejected mate ever stays.”
The words hit me like knives, but I don’t react. I keep my breathing even, my face cold. If I show even a flicker of emotion, they’ll tear me apart.
Jaxon stands proudly in front of me, in his ceremonial Alpha robes, smug as always. He seems every inch the future leader he thinks he is. Beside him, Lily hangs on his arm, her brow oozing with false sympathy. It makes my stomach turn and burn with disgust.
Alpha Damon, Jaxon’s father, sits in his customary place at the head of the gathering and stares callously through the whole scene with unreadable eyes. There’s something almost unnerving about how he studies me, but I push it aside.
Jaxon coughs, getting the attention of the pack. “We are here today to officiate,” he announces, his voice steady, unyielding. He makes it seem this is just a standard job. Like my whole world hasn’t just been blown to pieces.
He looks at me, a small smile touching his lips. “Serena Nightshade, in front of our pack, I hereby reject you as my mate. I announce that our tie is broken and that you are unworthy to be my Luna.”
A few gasps ripple through the crowd, but mostly, they just wait, not saying a word, for my reply. This is when they want me to break, to plead, to show weakness.
My fingers twitch, my nails pressing into my palms. The words stab at me like silver-tipped daggers, and for a beat, my body acts on instinct, a shiver passing through me. It hurts, my soul being shredded, and yet I know I must stand.
The laughter, the whispers, the weight of eyes boring into me — I feel all of it, but I won’t let it break me.
I bring my gaze to Jaxon’s cold, unblinking. “I, Serena Nightshade, accept your rejection.”
A raw, agonizing pains shreds through my chest again, and I do my best to hide it. I won’t give him the satisfaction of breaking me. Now the bond is finally gone, the last traces of it burned away like ash in the wind.
Lily smirks. “Now that this little formality is taken care of, we can forget about it,” she says, slinging her arm through Jaxon’s possessively.
My hands form fists by my sides, but I manage to keep my voice steady. “Have fun until it’s gone,” I respond coolly. “Because one day you’re going to be sorry you did this.”
Lily scoffs, but Jaxon’s face hardens just a bit before he ducks it in indifference. He knows. Somewhere deep inside, he realizes he’s wrong.
Bits of conversation in the crowd grow louder.
“She didn’t even cry.”
“I’d be devastated. See her — she’s not shaking at all.”
“She’s probably planning something.”
Before anyone else has a chance to say anything more, Alpha Damon stands. The room is instantly silent. Just his presence commands total attention.
“Stop,” he says, his voice deep and commanding. He looks at Jaxon and Lily who are passing by, but then looks at me and lingers longer than I expect. “This matter is settled. There will be no more debate.”
His tone brooks no argument, and one-two-three, the ceremony is done. The pack starts to break up, some of the girls eyeing me with final pity and others whispering behind their hands.
I pivot and walk away, my head high. I might have lost my mate, lost my future, but I’m not broken for them.
Selene’s voice rumbles in my head, low and dangerous. This isn’t over.
And for the first time since the betrayal, I agree with her.
I return to my room, limbs leaden, heart empty. The silence is suffocating. I press a hand to my chest, but it doesn’t silence the nothingness welling inside me. The mate bond is broken, but the ghost of it remains, a bitter reminder of what was meant to be.
My mind replays everything—Jaxon’s smirk, Lily’s gloating, the pack’s judgment. It fuels the fire inside me, turning the pain into something sharper, something colder.
Selene growls again. He took everything from us. They all laughed. They think we’re weak.
I close my eyes, breathing deeply. No, I answer her. We are not weak.
Jaxon thinks this is the end of me. He thinks I’ll fade into the background, forgotten, discarded.
He has no idea who he just rejected.
I lift my head, my gaze hardening as a dark thought takes root in my mind.
Jaxon is nothing. But Damon? The Alpha? The man Jaxon fears?
That is where true revenge begins.
I rise to my feet, my lips curling into a slow, dangerous smile. If Jaxon wanted a Luna who could match his ambition, someone strong enough to stand beside an Alpha, he should’ve looked closer.
Because now, I have my own plans.
I look at the face in the looking glass. Now my eyes are colder, sharper, a mirror of the storm within me. The pain remains, a raw ache in my heart where the mate bond once existed, but a determination rises beneath it.
They want me to disappear, to fall apart under the crushing blow of rejection, to vanish like every moments of unwanted partners before. But they don’t know me. They don’t understand what I’m capable of. My fingers skim the mirror, as if promising myself to come back and return the favor. If Jaxon thought he could embarrass me and get away with it, he was wrong.
Revenge won’t be impulsive; it will be carefully planned, executed with precision. And it starts with the one person Jaxon fears the most.
My lips curve into a slow, dangerous smile, my voice a whisper.
“Let’s see if the mighty Alpha can resist me.”
- Writer
