The Rejected Mate's Awakening

Chapter 2

Elara’s POV

I was on the ground, dust in my mouth, blood in my nose, pain pulsing through my body like a drumbeat. I tried to breathe, but each breath came with a stab in my ribs.

Above me stood Nyla Voss, arms crossed like she was queen of the world. That smug smile on her face, it made my blood boil.

“You never learn,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.

I didn’t respond as I didn’t have the strength to. My muscles were already burning, and my insides felt like they were on fire.

I tried to push myself up, that was stupid of me, I know. Before I could even get to my knees, she kicked me again. Right in the stomach, I folded like paper.

And then it started, her little lap dogs joined in. Two girls with too much makeup and too little sense, slapping me, laughing, pulling my hair, hitting me wherever they could. I didn’t scream as I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.

But gods, it hurts.

I was coughing so hard, and I could feel something wrong, maybe cracked. My wolf, Ryn, was fighting to help me heal, but we hadn’t shifted in months.

Our healing was sluggish compared to the others, every bruise stayed longer, and every wound took its time.

Still, Ryn pushed me. “Get up,” she whispered in the back of my mind. “Fight.”

So I tried to as I struggled to my feet again, legs shaking under me like branches in the wind. I barely got upright before Nyla kicked me back down, hard and fast.

My knees hit the ground, and the next thing I felt was the sharp heel of her shoe pressing into my neck.

I was stunned. She leaned in, voice cold and full of delight. “All I need is one little push, and you’ll finally be gone.”

I didn’t want to die, not this way, and not at her hands. Ryn surged forward inside me, and I let her. I swung my leg out and caught Nyla right in the shin. She yelped and crashed to the ground.

For the first time in forever, they looked afraid, and I lost it.

I climbed on top of her and let the anger take over. All the pain, the years of abuse, the silence, the rejection, it poured out of me in punches. I didn’t hold back as my fists slammed into her over and over until her lip was split and her hair was soaked in blood.

She screamed but I didn’t care.

Around us, people gathered, warriors, and pack members. I could hear them, some gasping, some cheering, some whispering. But none of them stopped me.

No one ever stopped them when they hurt me. Why should I stop now?

But then I felt it strong hands grabbing my waist, pulling me off her like I weighed nothing.

My body thrashed, Ryn still raging inside me. “Let go of me!” I screamed, kicking wildly. I landed on my feet, spun around, and raised my fist.

Then I saw him, Kael Thorn.

The man girls swooned over. The man I secretly, stupidly, had crushed on for years. Even now, with sweat on his chest and his dark hair a mess, he looked like a dream carved out of stone.

And yet, he was my nightmare.

He smirked when he caught me staring, and I hated that I blushed.

“Starting trouble again, Omega?” he said, voice sharp, cold.

“She started it,” I snapped back. “She jumped me.”

He didn’t even blink.

“She’s your Luna.”

And then he slammed me into a tree.

My back exploded with pain. I choked, trying to breathe as his hand clamped around my neck.

“You just attacked your Luna,” he hissed. “Do you have any idea what that means?”

I clawed at his wrist, and he didn’t move. He was like stone.

When he finally let go, I collapsed again, coughing so hard I couldn’t speak. He crouched next to me, eyes studying me like I was a broken thing he wasn’t sure what to do with.

Then he stood.

“You’ll be thrown into the dungeon for the next few days,” he said.

“No, ” I breathed. “Please.”

He ignored me.

Then, just as he was about to turn away, he looked over his shoulder and added, “Oh, and before I forget, I, Kael Thorn, reject you, Elara Quinn, as my mate and future Luna.”

At that moment, my heart shattered. So he was my mate? And he’d known?

He’s twenty-four, and he had to have known for a while now. And still, he watched me get beaten, starved, thrown in the dirt. And he said and did nothing.

And now this?

I didn’t cry, but everything inside me just stopped.

“Guards!” he called.

They came running, warriors of the Silverhollow Pack, bowing low before him like he was some god.

Behind them limped Nyla, her perfect hair was a mess, her face bruised and bloody. But she still smiled.

She walked up and whispered something into Kael’s ear, and he nodded.

She turned to the guards.

“Whip her,” she said. “Every day, until I say otherwise.”

I barely heard it and I was still staring at Kael, at the face of the man who was supposed to be my protector, my mate.

One of the guards slapped me, and I barely reacted.

They grabbed me by the arms and dragged me toward the dungeons.

The stone floor was freezing, but they tossed me in like garbage and slammed the door, and finally, I broke.

Tears ran down my face, I cried so hard my body shook. I cried for the little girl I used to be, for my parents who abandoned me, for the wolf inside me who no longer spoke, and for the mate I thought would love me.

But he never did.

Each morning, the guards came in with their whips. I screamed until my voice crack, I bled until my clothes stuck to my skin.

They gave me a piece of stale bread and a cup of dirty water once a day.

I didn’t see light and hope. I didn’t even feel Ryn anymore as she’d gone quiet, retreated somewhere deep inside me, too hurt to come forward.

One morning, I sat up on the cold floor, clutching my chest. I could barely breathe.

But I had to do this, even if it broke me more than I already was.

“I, Elara Quinn, accept your rejection, Kael Thorn,” I whispered into the darkness.

And I truly meant it.