The Rejected Mate’s Dark Rise

Jane They say everyone has a breaking point. Mine should have been reached years ago. "Loser!" someone shouted behind me. Not whispered. Shouted. So loud that everyone in the hallway heard it and turned to stare. Loser. That's what they've called me since I was ten years old. Sometimes I forget I even have a real name. I kept walking, my hands shaking as I held my old school bag. I pretended I didn't hear them. I pretended it didn't hurt. But Goddess, it always hurt. "Hey, Big Loser," another voice called out, sweet like honey but poisonous like a snake. "Walking all alone again?" I stopped. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did. I turned. I already knew who it was. Lissa. It was always Lissa. Her father was one of the pack's strongest warriors, which made her think she was royalty. She decided I was nothing the day we were supposed to get our wolves. Everyone got theirs. Everyone except me. She stood there with her two followers, Tara and Celine. They were beautiful and cruel, like poisonous flowers. "I can't wait," Lissa said with a fake sad voice, "for what's about to be the worst day of your sad little life." Tara gasped like she was shocked. "Oh my Goddess, do you think she actually believes he'll want her? That some poor guy will be stuck with her as his mate?" "Please," Celine laughed. "He probably doesn't even know she exists. Who would notice a ghost?" My stomach felt sick, but I didn't let it show on my face. They thought my mate would never accept me. They were wrong. I would prove them all wrong. I looked straight into Lissa's eyes. Calm and steady. "You're right." She blinked, surprised by my answer. "I am alone," I smirked, "but at least I don't need a pack of wild dogs to feel powerful." Her face twisted with anger. For a second, I thought she was going to hit me right there. "Watch your mouth, you worthless mutt," she hissed through her teeth. I smiled. "I always do, bitch." I turned to walk away, but someone grabbed my hair and yanked hard. "HOW DARE YOU!" Lissa screamed so loud it echoed off the walls. "A pathetic loser like you thinks she's better than me? BETTER THAN US?" "Let me go!" I screamed, trying to break free. "GET OFF ME!" "What can you do about it?" Celine mocked me. "Who do you think you are?" "Let's remind her what she really is," Tara said, and I could hear the excitement in her voice. My blood went cold. "Let's show her she's nothing." Then my world became nothing but pain. I screamed as all three of them started hitting me. Punches. Kicks. And they were laughing while they did it. No one helped me. No one ever did. I tried to fight back, but I wasn't strong enough. I had never been taught how to fight. The pack didn't allow private training sessions. Even my own father refused to teach me. He hated me for being a failure. They didn't want to kill me. They just wanted to break me. A punch to my ribs. A kick to my leg. Pain everywhere. Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, they stopped. Lissa crouched down beside me and brushed my bloody hair away from my face. "Next time you forget your place, we won't be so nice." Then they were gone, leaving me hurt, cold, and dirty on the ground. I forced myself to stand up, grabbed my bag, and limped home. "Jane, my precious girl," my mother's voice rushed toward me the moment I walked through the door. "You're home, thank God—" Her words stopped when she saw me. Her face went white as snow. "Oh, baby. My sweet baby." She ran to me, her hands hovering in the air, afraid to touch me and cause more pain. "Who did this to you? Don't you dare lie to me. Don't you dare say you fell down." I always lied. Every time. I tripped. I fell down stairs. I walked into a door. She never believed me, but I kept lying anyway. My mother was the only good thing in my dark world. In a pack of hundreds of people, she was the only one who loved me. She was the only one who thought I was worth saving. "I fell," I whispered. "Don't worry about me, Mama." "I will always worry about you," she said angrily, her eyes blazing with fire. "Who hurt my daughter? How dare they touch you! You're worth more than all of them put together! You're the Beta's daughter! How dare they treat you like garbage when you belong here as much as anyone!" The Beta's daughter. I wanted to laugh, but I had forgotten how. That title meant nothing when your own father looked at you like you were a stain on his life. Even the Omegas, who were the lowest rank in our pack, looked down on me like I was dirt. "Mother," I tried to keep my voice gentle, but I was so tired it cracked. "You keep forgetting. I don't belong here. The Alpha made that very clear. I was the only one who didn't get a wolf. Maybe I deserve everything that happens to me." "My precious baby." She pulled me close to her. For a moment, I felt like I was five years old again—safe, loved, whole. "You don't deserve this. I love you more than life itself. And someday, someday soon, your mate will love you even more." "Did you really believe that, Mama?" She had always told me stories about mates—two people chosen by the Moon Goddess to be together forever, bound by love stronger than anything in the world. She said I would feel that connection even without a wolf. That my mate would see me for who I really was. "Yes, darling. You're not without a wolf forever. You're just waiting for the right moment," she whispered into my hair. "He will accept you. He will mark you as his. He will help your wolf come out." Tears finally spilled from my eyes. I wanted that day more than anything in the world. To meet my mate. To feel that special connection. To finally have someone choose me. "What the hell is this pathetic show?" My whole body froze. That voice. Cold. Full of disgust. My father. The Beta. The man who gave me half my DNA and regretted it every single day. "You're home," my mother said, trying to smile. She loved him. He loved her back. That made everything worse somehow. "Our daughter was—" "Mother," I cut her off quickly, trying to stop her. "Beaten up again," he finished for her. His gray eyes stared at me with pure hate. "What did you expect? That's what happens to trash like her." I looked down at the floor. I couldn't stand to see the hatred burning in his eyes. "She's worthless. Useless. A waste of space," he said with disgust. "And to think my blood runs in her veins... Sometimes I wonder if I should have killed myself the day she was born." "HOW DARE YOU!" my mother roared. "She is your daughter!" "YOUR daughter," he corrected her coldly. "Not mine. I stopped claiming her as mine a long time ago. I can only pray that the Moon Goddess finds some desperate mate willing to take damaged goods off my hands. Though what self-respecting wolf would want her?" My heart broke into a thousand pieces. "Maybe I should sell her to the rogues," he said casually, like he was talking about the weather. "Though even they probably have standards." "Father," I whispered. He snarled at me, his claws extending. "Don't you ever call me that again. I am Beta to you. Nothing more." Before another fight could start between my parents because of me, I grabbed my mother's hand. "I'm okay, Mama," I lied, forcing myself to smile. "Don't fight with your mate because of me. I'm not worth it." "You are worth everything!" she cried, but I was already backing toward the stairs. "I'll deal with you later," my father promised, his threat following me as I ran. "Jane!" my mother called after me, but I was already running up the stairs. I knew the people in my pack didn't love me. But I also knew I was stronger than they thought I was. All I wanted was my mate. Someone who would love me not despite my problems, but because he could see who I really was inside. Someone who would hold me when the world tried to crush me. Someone who would look at me, really look at me, and smile. Someone who would help me remember what it felt like to be happy. Someone who would finally make me feel like I was worth something. Please, Moon Goddess, I prayed as I curled up alone in my bedroom. Let him find me soon. Let him be kind. Let him be mine. Before this world destroys what's left of me.