Rejected by my mate, Claimed by Alpha Ryder

~ Doris ~ Today was the mating ritual, and as always, I was still cleaning the room of my twin stepsisters, Vanessa and Veronica. My knees throbbed with pain from hours of kneeling, but I didn’t dare stop. I focused on a stubborn dark stain near Vanessa’s vanity, scrubbing until the skin on my fingertips burned. It wouldn't budge. Just like my life. They turned eighteen today. The whole pack knew they would find their mates. Meanwhile, I was nineteen, mateless, and treated like a ghost in my own home. I had woken up early, around 5 a.m., to start the cleaning and cooking. I cleaned all the rooms, including the twins' room. When I got to Henry’s room, I skipped it, as usual. He always told me not to clean it. “Don’t worry, sis I’ll clean it myself,” he would say. Most of the time, I never touched his room. I was still scrubbing the corridor when I suddenly remembered it was the mating ceremony day. Before I could even finish, my stepmother, Everlyn, walked in. I tensed, my heart leaping into my throat. "Doris," she sneered, “Don’t tell me you’re not ready for the ceremony yet. You need to get dressed, get out there, and find someone to take you off my hands today. I don’t care if you bring home a low-level Omega. It’s not like you’re worth anything better.” She paused, a cruel smirk playing on her lips. "Every time I look at you, I see your mother. You’re just like her. A pathetic, worthless slut." That word always hurt me. Slut. It was the only thing she ever called my mother, and every time she spit it, another piece of my heart withered away. Fighting back tears, I picked up my bucket and tried to hurry to my room. Before I could escape, Vanessa and Veronica strutted down the hallway, deliberately dragging their dirty feet over the place I had just cleaned. They laughed and walked away, and I had to clean it all over again for the third time now. By the time I finally reached my cramped attic room, my hands were raw. I opened my wardrobe, but "wardrobe" was a generous term for the pile of discarded rags inside. There was nothing decent. My entire closet consisted of Vanessa and Veronica’s hand-me-downs, clothes they had deliberately stained, ripped, or stretched out before tossing them to me like scraps to a dog. I pulled out a pair of faded jeans. They were so loose they practically slid off my hips; I had lost so much weight over the last year from stress and skipped meals. The tops I had were no better, resembling kitchen rags more than actual clothing. “So, what's the plan?” Candy asked, her mental tail wagging with forced optimism. “We have to find our mate today. We have to.” I didn't answer her. I couldn't bear to break her heart, but we both knew the harsh reality. No one wanted a mate who couldn't speak. I slipped out of the house and walked quietly toward the pack's mating arena. I didn't hold my breath for a miracle, but a tiny, foolish spark of hope flared in my chest. I just wanted to try. Just once. “Our dumb sister thinks she’ll find a mate,” Veronica mocked. “The Moon Goddess would never curse anyone with a mate like you unless it was a rogue.” Vanessa added, shoving me aside as they walked past me. "Unless it's some filthy rogue." I ignored them. When the mating ritual began, the air shifted. One by one, werewolves started perceiving the scents of their mates. Then, a scent hit me. It was intoxicating. Sweet, ripe strawberries mixed with the earthy scent of cedarwood after rain. Candy practically leaped inside my mind, howling with joy. “We have a mate! Doris, we found him!” My eyes scanned the crowd, landing on Julius Armstrong. He was the pack's Gamma, the third-in-command under our young Alpha, and a stunning specimen of a warrior. But the moment his gaze locked onto mine, any hope I had evaporated. His eyes didn't soften with recognition. Instead, a wave of sheer disgust and irritation washed over his face. And just as I had expected, he did exactly what I knew he would. "I, Julius Armstrong, Gamma of the Moon Park Pack, reject you, Doris Charles, as my mate." The laughter came right after. I closed my eyes, the invisible bond shattering inside my chest with an agonizing snap. It was a pain I was all too familiar with. This wasn't my first rejection. It was my second. Julius was twenty-one, standing alongside our young Alpha. He was arrogant and notoriously picky. This was actually his third time rejecting a fated mate The first time was when I was seventeen. Rumors said he rejected her because she was too fat, he called her a loser, someone unworthy of being his mate. The second time was when I was eighteen, he rejected his mate at the same time my first mate rejected me, this time, he said she was too short. And now it was my turn.… the third time, he was rejecting me just because I was a mute girl obviously. I had expected it. But the humiliation still hit harder than I cared to admit. It wasn't just embarrassment. It was the quiet, sinking feeling that maybe this was my life. Always rejected, always invisible, always alone. I looked around. Some faces held pity. Most looked straight through me. "Thank goddess the Gamma rejected her," a girl whispered nearby, nudging her friend. "Could you imagine a mute Gamma's mate? It’s embarrassing." "Honestly, what was she even thinking showing up?" another sneered back. "No sane wolf would ever want her." I forced my gaze away and turned my head to the other side and saw Veronica already standing close to the Gamma, showing herself off as the chosen one. They had been secretly dating for months, so I wasn't surprised. I knew she wanted him, and now she had him, free of any pesky fated-mate bond. While Vanessa was hovering near the young Alpha, practically throwing herself at him. The Alpha looked at me, our eyes met for a moment, but he said nothing, he didn’t seem interested in Vanessa at all, even though she kept forcing herself on him. I stood there, a solitary island of misery, wishing the earth would open up and swallow me whole. I wasn't born mute. My stepmother and stepsisters had done this to me, stealing my voice in a way I couldn't even explain, all while pretending to the pack that I had always been broken. "Doris!" A warm hand grabbed my shoulder, pulling me out of the suffocating spiral of my thoughts. It was Henry. “Hey, Doris,” he said. “Tell me you’re okay, please.” I shook my head, then nodded, I didn’t know what else to do. He squeezed my hand gently, shielding me from the mocking stares as he guided me away from the arena. “Just because you didn’t find your mate today doesn’t mean you won’t find him in the future,” he said. “Try to stay positive.” I squeezed his hand back and nodded. Nodding was my only language now. Whenever I absolutely had to communicate, I relied on the small notebook I always kept tucked into my back pocket. As we neared the house, my stomach twisted into tight knots. I knew what was waiting for me. My stepmother would be furious that I had returned without a mate to take me off her hands. Sure enough, she was waiting on the porch. My father was there too, but the moment he saw me he walked back inside. He couldn’t even look at me. He never did. Whenever my stepmother or the twins tormented me, he simply faded into the background, a silent accomplice to my abuse. I didn't know if he secretly enjoyed seeing me broken, or if he was just too much of a coward to care. How could a father watch his own flesh and blood be treated like dirt and just walk away? As I approached Everlyn, she glared down at me. The twins had already bypassed us, and they were back in Everlyn’s good graces, laughing beside her. Before I could even reach the threshold, Henry stepped slightly in front of me, “Stop right there,” Everlyn snapped the moment I almost stepped inside. "Did you think my warning was a joke?" she hissed, stepping closer. "I told you not to come back to this house without a mate. I’ve endured your useless presence for nineteen years, Doris, and I am finished. You are nothing but a parasite, a constant headache." She pointed a manicured finger toward the dark forest. “I told you to go find a mate, and right now, go look for anyone, bring back a stray dog or any animal I don’t care, but just stop coming here empty-handed. You are a demonic reminder of your mother… a slut!” The twins joined in, their voices cruel and loud. "Yeah, Mom!" Vanessa chimed in, "Her mother was a filthy slut, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! She’s just a useless mute slut!" Veronica laughed, a high-pitched, grating sound. “Stop it! Stop treating her like this!” Henry interjected, trying to defend me. “It’s not her fault she got rejected by her mate. What do you expect her to do? She doesn’t even have a chance to meet anyone else. Can’t you have some sympathy?” My stepmother’s face contorted with rage. She slapped the wooden railing of the porch. "Get inside, Henry! Do not raise your voice at me!" she roared. "And stop defending her! I will not have you coddling that slut's mistake!"