Fated to rise

The Rejection

Aria’s heart thundered as she walked away from the training grounds, her footsteps heavy against the earth beneath her. The whispers of the pack followed her, their words sharp and bitter, biting at her heels like hungry wolves.

“Luna? She’s no Luna.”

“Didn’t you hear? She’s been rejected.”

“Who does she think she is?”

Aria clenched her jaw, trying to ignore the sting of their words, but it was impossible. The rejection had come so suddenly, so decisively. One moment, she’d been standing with Ivy, uncertain but willing to face whatever came. The next? The bond had slipped from her fingers like sand, and Ivy, her best friend, had stolen it from her without a second thought.

Aria’s stomach churned.

She wanted to scream. To break something.

But all she could do was walk.

The pack was turning against her already. She could feel their eyes on her, the silent judgment hanging in the air like a suffocating fog. She wasn’t just an Omega anymore. She wasn’t just the healer, the girl who stitched wounds and made potions. Now, she was something worse. She was the girl who’d failed. The girl who had been rejected by the Alpha King, and worse yet, replaced by her own best friend.

Her own best friend.

Aria’s fingers curled into fists, and she slammed them against a nearby tree, the sharp bark scraping against her skin. It hurt, but not as much as the hurt inside her chest. The betrayal.

She should’ve seen it coming. Ivy had always been the one with everything—beauty, charm, grace. All the things Aria had never been. While Aria had spent her days patching up injuries, scrubbing floors, and quietly avoiding the whispers of being the least desirable of the pack, Ivy had effortlessly commanded attention. And now? Now she had Lucian. The Alpha King. The mate bond that Aria had been tricked into believing was hers.

“I should’ve known,” Aria muttered to herself, her voice barely audible over the rustling of the trees. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

The sound of footsteps broke through her thoughts, slow and deliberate. Aria’s hand instinctively went to her waist, searching for the comforting weight of her small blade, but she stopped herself. She didn’t need a weapon for this. She knew exactly who it was.

Lucian.

The Alpha King.

Aria didn’t turn to face him. She kept her eyes trained forward, the bitterness of her thoughts choking her words before they could escape. She didn’t want to see his face. Didn’t want to hear his voice. After everything, after the bond, after everything he had just let happen—he had no right to be here. No right to speak to her.

Lucian’s voice, when it came, was a low rumble, the kind that reverberated through her bones. “Aria.”

She stiffened, her breath catching in her throat. The sound of her name from his lips felt different now—colder. No warmth. No affection. No claim.

“You’ve got some nerve,” she bit out, her voice sharper than she intended. “Coming here after what you did.”

“I didn’t—” Lucian started, but Aria cut him off.

“Don’t even say it,” she snapped, finally spinning on her heel to face him. Her eyes locked onto his, but there was nothing in them—no warmth, no regret, no understanding. “I know exactly what you did. I know exactly what happened. Ivy’s the one now, isn’t she? The Luna. The one who matters.”

His jaw clenched, his brows furrowing as if he didn’t quite understand what she was saying. But then his gaze softened slightly, and his voice took on that familiar, commanding tone, the one that made her blood run cold. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Don’t lie to me,” she shot back, stepping closer. “It’s exactly like that. Ivy’s your mate now. Your true mate. I’m nothing more than a mistake, a mistake you’ll throw away as soon as you can. Because that’s what you do with things you don’t want. You reject them.”

There was silence between them, thick and suffocating. His eyes were still locked on hers, the golden depths unreadable.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Lucian said quietly.

Aria scoffed. “Well, congratulations. You didn’t. You did something much worse.”

She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her again. “Aria, please.”

She froze, but didn’t turn around.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “I know you think I chose Ivy. But that’s not what happened.”

“Ivy stole the bond,” Aria spat, her words sharp and biting. “And you let her. You didn’t stop her. You didn’t stop anyone.”

Lucian’s eyes darkened. “I didn’t know.”

“No,” Aria said, her voice trembling with anger. “You didn’t know. Because you didn’t care.”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, the only sound the wind rustling through the leaves. Then, finally, Lucian spoke again, his voice softer, almost vulnerable. “I didn’t want to reject you.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “You didn’t get the chance to. You didn’t need to. You already had someone else. You just didn’t want to admit it.”

Lucian’s silence told her everything she needed to know.

And that was enough.

Without another word, Aria turned and walked away, leaving him standing in the forest, lost in the same emptiness that had consumed her ever since the night everything had changed.

She didn’t need him. She didn’t need any of them.

She was done.

Aria didn’t stop walking until the village was a distant blur behind her. She needed space. Air. Something that didn’t reek of betrayal.

Her feet eventually led her to the quiet edge of the forest, the familiar path where she used to pick herbs and wildflowers before her life had turned into a twisted joke. It was peaceful here, far enough from the suffocating stares and sharp whispers of the pack. The silence was a fragile comfort, but it was all she had left.

She dropped onto a flat stone near the riverbank and stared at the shimmering mating mark on her wrist. It was still there, stubborn and faintly glowing like some cruel brand she couldn’t wash away.

“Stupid thing,” she muttered, rubbing at it as if she could scrape it off.

She didn’t notice Ivy approaching until the familiar sweet scent of wild honey filled the air.

“Oh, you’re here,” Ivy said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to find Aria sulking alone in the woods.

Aria’s muscles tensed, but she forced her voice to stay calm. “Congratulations, by the way. You got what you wanted.”

Ivy blinked, her expression wide-eyed and perfectly innocent. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the Alpha’s mate now. His Luna. The whole pack is already celebrating.”

Ivy’s brow furrowed, and she sat down beside Aria, close—too close. “But I didn’t plan this, Aria. You know that. It just… happened.”

Aria laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Yeah, funny how that keeps happening to you. Lucky little accidents, right?”

“Aria,” Ivy’s voice softened, dripping with carefully constructed guilt, “I would never take something from you.”

“You mean like my scent?” Aria snapped, finally turning to face her. “You were there. You saw what happened. You touched the cloth. You pressed your wrist against it.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“Didn’t mean to? Come on, Ivy. You always mean to. That’s what you do. You smile and flutter your lashes and ‘accidentally’ end up exactly where you want to be.”

Ivy’s lips trembled, her eyes shining as if tears were just waiting to fall. It was a look Aria knew too well. Ivy had perfected the art of crying without ever actually crying. A performance.

“You’re being unfair,” Ivy whispered, her voice cracking in all the right places. “You’re my best friend.”

Aria’s chest twisted painfully. Best friend. The words tasted bitter now.

“Were you my best friend when you let them turn on me? When you let them call me a liar? When you smiled at Lucian like you belonged to him all along?”

Ivy’s hands twisted nervously in her lap. “It was fate, Aria. I can’t fight fate.”

Aria’s jaw clenched. “Then you and fate deserve each other.”

Ivy’s face finally cracked. Not fully—but enough to let something slip through. Something cold. Something smug. It was gone in a blink, but Aria saw it.

“You’ll see,” Ivy said softly. “This is what’s best. For everyone.”

“No,” Aria said, her voice firm, sharp as a blade. “It’s what’s best for you.”

Ivy reached out, fingers brushing over the edge of Aria’s mating mark. “It’s already fading, you know. The bond. I heard the elders whispering. Bonds that aren’t completed… they die.”

Aria yanked her arm away, her pulse hammering in her ears. “Good. I hope it dies.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

Ivy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Then let it die, Aria. Let me have this. You were never meant for this life anyway.”

The words landed like a slap.

You were never meant for this life.

Never meant to be Luna. Never meant to be powerful. Never meant to be chosen.

Always the Omega. Always less.

Aria stood, her hands shaking but her spine straight as steel. “You know what, Ivy? Maybe you’re right.”

Ivy’s expression flickered, just briefly. “I’m glad you understand.”

“Oh, I understand perfectly,” Aria said, her smile sharp and cold. “I understand that I’ve wasted years thinking you were my friend.”

She turned, walking away without another word.

Let the pack think she was rejected.

Let them think she was nothing.

Because Aria had finally decided—

She wasn’t going to chase anyone’s approval.

She wasn’t going to fight for a bond she never asked for.

And she certainly wasn’t going to let Ivy or Lucian define her story.

From now on, she would write her own.

And the first chapter?

Revenge.