Revenge of the Rejected Luna

Chapter 3

Eleanora's pov

I stood before the floor-length mirror staring at the stranger reflecting on it.

My dress clung to my body but in all the wrong places!

Every single time I moved, the fabric rustled softly like an insult to the storm brewing inside of me.

I stared and I had never been so angrier in my life. The ball gown was dull and unworthy of the event I was supposed to attend.

The gown was a dull shade of grey, too simple and too plain for someone of my calibre. It was a far cry from the lavish gowns I used to wear, the designers Tristan had bought for me.

But that was before, before Violet had stolen everything from me.

But wearing it felt like taking poison wide-eyed.

I stared hard, almost hearing her laugh echo in my ears. I blurred it out not wanting to hear the sound of a woman who had no guilt or conscience. She had everything now. Stile everything now — Tristan, the respect, the status. Every. Single. Things.

While I?

I'd become nothing.

The Luna who once commanded loyalty from the entire pack now walked the halls as a lowly Omega — discarded and forgotten.

Tonight wasn't just about attending a party.

It was about survival.

My throat thickened with an acidic taste and I swallowed hard.

Alpha Aaric was coming.

The Alpha-Lykan.

Aaric. The name alone sent cruel shivers down my spine.

I had heard the stories of the whispers of a monster dressed in flesh, of a Lykan who could tear through anyone in his path without a second anyone in his path without a second thought. Rumours had it that his temper was infamous — unpredictable and dangerous. And what had made him even more terrifying was the rumours that surrounded him.

He killed for fun.

His eyes, they said, were like a predator's — cold, calculating, waiting for the first mistake to pounce on.

And me? I was the one person who could easily make a mistake.

Eleanora, the rejected Luna.

The title stung more with every breath I took. It wasn't enough that I had been pushed aside by Tristan, but now, I had to face the most dangerous Alpha of them all — Alpha Aaric. The Alpha-Lykan who doesn't tolerate weakness nor forgive.

I tugged at the dress again, willing it to fit better, to look like anything other than what it was — a shoddy, useless piece of cloth that made me feel like I was suffocating in my own skin. I couldn't wear this. Not to his party or even face the pack looking like this, looking like a widow.

But I had no choice.

I didn't.

“Eleanora!”

I turned sharply, startled by the voice that broke through my thoughts. It was Lyria, one of the Omegas who still had a semblance of pity for me. Even the expression on her face was wary as if she was afraid of getting close to me, the ruined Luna.

“You look…” she hesitated. “You looked fine.”

It felt like my lips were made of stone but I forced a smile and repeated. “Fine?”

My words were empty.

Fine? She knew this dress wasn't fine.

Lyria lowered her gaze avoiding mine as if it were a sin to look at me. “You know you don't have a choice. The … the pack wants you to wear it — ”

“—But Alpha Aaric is not kind to those who step out of line.” I cut her off mid-sentence.

The fear… I could taste the fear in my voice and I was startled but I was also right.

I had heard the whispers. I had read it in books. Alpha Aaric was not one to tolerate mistakes. He was not one to tolerate imperfections. The smallest flaw and slightest misstep was punishable by death and here I was wearing a grey dress like I had shown up for a funeral. This would be the end of me.

“Alpha Aaric doesn't like disarray.” I added. “If I slip up, I'll die.”

Those words fell from my lips before I could stop them but the truth sank deep in the pit of my stomach.

The scene unfolded in my mind's eyes — Alpha Aaric’s cold crimson eyes, dangerously scanning the room and looking for anyone to lash out. And when he found the dress I was wearing, the failed Luna, he wouldn't make an example out of me.

Lyria’s eyes softened as they filled. “That means you'd have to be careful tonight, Eleanora. You … you know how he is...”

“I know.” I said with a nod. “I’m always careful.”

It was true. All my life, I had always been careful. Careful enough to stay away from my dad's ways. Careful enough to please Tristan, to make him love. Careful enough to keep the illusion of perfection. But after all that carefulness, it brought me nothing. Nothing but misery.

I walked towards the door, the cold stone floor seeping through my thin, flat shoes. Every step I took was a betrayal. The person I used to be was confident, a fearless Luna who once stood beside Tristan. Now, I was nothing like her.

I made my way towards the gathering. The pack had already started to assemble, the hall eerily quiet.

Maids hurried to prepare everything, but their hurried glances told me they knew what I was thinking.

There was no point.

I had already been discarded. Tonight would only prove it.

I took one last look at the dress in the glass wall, my reflection a mockery of everything I had once been.

I was not Luna.

I was not the princess.

I wasn’t even the Alpha's mate anyway.

I was a woman who had been left behind, standing in the ruins of a life I thought I had built.

And Aaric was coming.

But I wasn't ready.

Still, there was nothing left for me to lose by the end of the night.

Nothing at all.