Rejected By Fate, Bound By Blood

Chapter3: Take My Life

Vaelora

I was smiling so hard, I literally felt my cheeks turning red.

When he began speaking, it felt like we were the only two people in this entire ballroom.

I only saw him when I looked at the crowd.

I was standing in front of the love of my life, and he was about to claim me in front of everybody.

But the moment those words landed, I felt the smile disappear.

I couldn't believe what the hell I had just heard.

I strained my ears to make sure I was actually hearing correctly.

The entire crowd erupted.

I could barely breathe.

I just stood there, frozen.

Alaric had this unreadable expression on his face.

"What did you just say?" Moira asked, clearly confused, because I knew I wasn't the only one who was confused by what the f**k I was hearing.

"I'm sorry, Vaelora," he said, looking at me and not at Moira.

"I reject you as my mate."

The whispers became louder with each passing second.

I turned to the crowd, and I saw Lisa standing there, with devastation written all over her face.

Some people were whispering, while others were laughing.

They had this mocking expression all over their faces, and I wanted the ground to open and swallow me.

Because I couldn't believe my ears.

I couldn't believe this was actually happening to me.

No, no, no, no.

And when I looked at Alaric again, he had no atom of remorse.

He just walked away and left me standing there in front of everybody, completely humiliated.

Without a single word, I just moved toward the exit, and the entire crowd divided into two, giving me enough space to walk out.

My dress was so heavy.

It kept flowing behind me.

I tried carrying it.

I tried running.

But my feet, my body, wouldn't correspond with my mind.

I just kept walking, one foot in front of the other.

"Vaelora! Vaelora!" I heard Lisa call my name, but I didn't turn back.

I walked past where the carriages were, and I headed straight into the night.

My heart was beating so painfully.

It felt like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart.

I just kept walking.

I wasn't sure what direction I was taking, but I just kept walking.

I just kept moving.

My entire face was covered with tears, but I did not make a single sound.

The dress felt so heavy, and I just wanted to rip it off, but I could not.

I walked for what felt like forever.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to break something, hit something.

But I didn't.

I just kept walking, one foot in front of the other.

Why would he do this to me?

Why would he hurt me this much?

I tried thinking about what exactly I had done wrong, if I had done something so horrible to deserve such treatment from him.

I tried to wrap my head around it.

I tried convincing myself that none of this was happening.

But it actually was.

This was real.

I slapped my face.

"Vaelora, wake up."

This had to be a nightmare.

This had to be a horrible nightmare.

I was trapped in my worst nightmare because I kept having this recurring dream that he was going to reject me.

And Lisa convinced me that he wasn't going to do such a thing.

Usually, things like this happened because, of course, I was mated to him, and this was normal.

I wasn't living this.

No, no, no, no.

This had to be a dream.

But no matter how I tried to convince myself that none of this was real, deep down I knew all of it was.

At some point, I just fell to the ground, and I stared at the sky.

It was a full moon.

Everywhere was bright as day, and at the same time, everywhere was so quiet.

I sat on the ground for so long.

I did not want to move.

This wasn't happening to me.

It felt like something very heavy was pressing against my lungs.

I could barely breathe.

No, this couldn't be happening to me.

"This isn't happening to me," I told myself over and over again.

But I knew it was.

That was the most painful and most shocking part.

I actually knew it was happening to me.

I sat on the ground, and I just stared at the moon.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Moon Goddess, why?" I said, unable to stop the tears from rushing down my cheeks. "Why would you allow this to happen to me? Why? I thought you were meant to protect all your children. Or am I not one of your children because I am cursed?"

The more I spoke to someone who wasn't there, the more the anger accumulated, and I just screamed, the sound echoing through the night.

I fell back down on the ground, my face facing the sky.

"Take my life," I whispered in a low voice. "I know you can hear me. Take my life. I don't want to live anymore. I don't want to exist in a world where I have no peace. My life is always miserable. When everyone is happy, I am never happy. When everyone feels joy, I don't count."

"When you made him my mate, I was more than happy because I thought I had found my person."

The memories came back so f*****g fast. It was overwhelming.

"And now he humiliated me in front of everyone. Almost every Alpha was there. People came from everywhere, and he had to do it. How exactly was I going to show my face around after this?"

I felt my heart breaking over and over again.

It was too much.

Wasn't I too young to be experiencing all of this?

For crying out loud, I was just eighteen.

"Give me a break," I yelled.

Suddenly, I felt this strange tightness around my chest, and I knew exactly what it was.

After every rejection came the pain, and I had heard it was like nothing anyone had ever experienced before.

I was so certain I was never going to experience it.

But now here I was.

And the rush of pain started.

It was excruciating.