chapter 3
1549 Words
Chapter Three
Ana
I sat inside the quiet room of the rejection law bureau, looking down at the heavy paper folder resting in my lap. Lily sat directly next to me on the bench, her shoulders tense with worry. She knew exactly why we were here and what I was about to do—break my sacred bond with Desmond and formally apply for a rejection.
I still hadn't told him about the baby growing inside me. It was much better to keep the child a secret for now. What was the point of telling a man who ignored me, who walked right past me every single time Ema called his name? He didn't care about my life anymore.
Just this morning, I had woken up with a sharp ache flaring in my lower stomach. I had dialed his number, crying into the phone, but his voice was cold and hurried. He told me Ema had just injured her finger and that he was currently rushing her to the pack hospital. I was enduring a terrifying physical crisis, and all he cared about was a tiny scratch on her hand.
The moment he hung up on me, I called Lily. She came over right away and drove me to the clinic.
"Are you really going to go through with this?" Lily asked softly, breaking the silence. "Are you really going to reject the Alpha?"
I stared down at the official rejection file. His first love was back in the pack. Why should I keep fighting for someone who treated me like a stranger?
I gave her a firm nod. "It's for the best, Lily. He's going to be happy when he sees this paperwork anyway."
She reached across the bench and squeezed my hands tightly. "Whatever decision you make for your life, I am ready to stand by you. Always."
I managed to smile at her. We walked out of the bureau doors together, and I held the paper file tightly against my chest. To make absolutely sure nothing went wrong, I had requested five exact copies of the rejection forms.
Lily took my arm and led me down the sidewalk, insisting on taking me to a new restaurant that had just opened up down the main pack road. She told me I looked completely pale and wanted to treat me to a good meal.
We sat down at a quiet table near the front window. Lily immediately placed a large order with the waiter and told me to eat as much as I could. I ate my food slowly, my mind completely lost in heavy thoughts about the future. But as I lifted my glass, my eyes caught something moving outside the window.
A sleek, vibrant red Bentley pulled up and parked directly in front of a luxury jewelry boutique across the street. The driver's side door opened, and I saw exactly who walked out into the sunlight. My hands began to shake so violently that my fork clattered loudly against the edge of the plate.
Lily noticed my sudden change in expression and turned around in her seat to follow my gaze.
Through the clear glass window, I watched Desmond walk around the front of the luxury car and gently open the passenger door for Ema. Ema stepped out onto the sidewalk, looking incredibly happy and proud.
I sat frozen as a painful memory rushed back. I remembered the exact day Desmond had bought that car. He had held me close and softly promised me that I would be the absolute first person to ever ride in it with him. Now, his ex-girlfriend was sitting in that passenger seat.
Lily slammed her hand down hard against the wooden table, making the glasses rattle. "How can he be so completely shameful and heartless? He doesn't show a single ounce of care when you are practically dying in pain, and here he is spending his afternoon buying expensive jewelry for that woman. I heard one of those custom diamond pieces costs at least a million dollars."
I didn't answer her. Instead, I slowly looked down at the simple, modest ring resting on my left finger, given to me the day we privately got married. On that afternoon, he had promised that when the pack grew wealthier, he would replace it with a much bigger, more beautiful stone. From that day until this exact moment, he hadn't bought me a single piece of jewelry.
I pushed my chair back and stood up. "I lost my appetite, Lily. Please, just take me home."
We drove back to the estate house in total silence. The moment I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, I froze. Desmond was seated right there on the main couch in the dim living room, waiting for me.
"Where are you coming from?" he asked, his deep voice slicing through the quiet room.
I stood by the doorway, my fingers tightening around the straps of my bag. I needed to keep my answer simple. If I mentioned seeing them together, his temper would flare and he would immediately accuse me of being difficult and jealous again.
"I went out with my friend," I said flatly.
Desmond stood up from the sofa and walked slowly toward me, his posture rigid and commanding. "You are a Luna. Stop acting like an irresponsible child. And stop walking around the public roads like that. What will the pack members say when they see their Luna acting this way?"
A bitter feeling washed over me. Did he honestly care about what the pack members said about me? Where was this protective concern when the elders called me a barren, useless female to my face? Where was his anger when the pack women spread rumors that I was just a desperate, wolfless girl who had slept her way into the Alpha's bed? He had never said a single word to defend me back then.
I chose not to say a single word in response. As I looked away from him, my eyes caught sight of a small, wrapped box resting on the coffee table. I pointed to it and asked him what it was.
Desmond picked up the box and handed it directly to me, his voice softening slightly. "I brought it for you. I met the pack high priest today, and he gave me this. He said it's a blessed charm. If you wear it, you might get pregnant."
I took the box and carefully popped the latch open. Inside was a very old, worn-out jade pendant, faded and ordinary. But as I held it, a small spark of hope flickered in my chest. He had actually gone out of his way to get a blessing for me from the high priest. Did he still love me after all? Did he truly want a family with me?
Because of that tiny spark of hope, I made a sudden choice. I decided not to pull the rejection file out of my bag just yet. Maybe I could give our marriage one final chance to survive.
Before I could say anything, Desmond cleared his throat and turned away. "I'm going to take a shower. Go rest."
I watched his broad shoulders disappear up the stairs. Once he was gone, I sat down on the edge of the couch and turned on my phone. The moment the screen unlocked, a social notification popped up from Ema's official account. I tapped the app open, and my entire body froze completely.
The main image was a photograph of her sitting on a luxurious bed, completely surrounded by a mountain of expensive gift bags and blue jewelry boxes. The caption printed beneath the photo read: Gifts from the Alpha #Desmond.
My thumb instinctively scrolled down to see the rest of the uploaded images. When I saw the very last picture in the slide, my heart stopped beating entirely.
It was a close-up photograph of Ema's hand holding the exact same worn-out jade pendant that Desmond had just handed to me. The unique scratches on the stone were identical. It was the exact same charm.
Ema's caption for that specific picture read: "Say it's blessed, but I'm already blessed with what I need. Don't need it. Maybe I can give it to someone who needs it more."
The phone almost slipped from my numb fingers. I couldn't draw a single breath into my lungs.
Desmond hadn't gone to the high priest to get a special blessing for me. He had bought a mountain of luxury jewelry for Ema, and the high priest had simply thrown in this old pendant for free. Ema didn't want the cheap charm, so she had tossed it back to him. That was the only reason he had brought it home to me.
I wasn't his cherished mate. I was nothing more than a trash bin for the leftovers his first love didn't want.
I stood alone in the quiet room, clutching the gift tightly in my hands, and the last shred of my hope finally died.
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