Rejected by Another, Chosen by His Brother

Chapter 5:The Land of Rejects

Serena's POV

I swallowed a lump of spit down my throat before knocking on the steel gate, a guard appeared dressed in the same uniform I recognized with ease.

Four years ago, I had walked away from all of this, for a life I thought was a million times better.

Who knew I would eventually come crawling back? And with nothing more than betrayal weighing down my heart and rags on my back.

I would have not been able to even make it back if it was not for Ravena, I hated being in debt for her but she seems to be the only person in her family with a speck of conscience, she slipped me copied keys to the door and I had pretty much memorized the layout of the pack house so she gave me directions to routes that the guards missed.

Initially, I wanted to argue with her because I had always made sure guards were posted along those routes. Even the smallest gap in security could lead to a major disaster.

Clearly no one was doing my job of making sure everyone did theirs.

I shook my head not already picturing the inevitable downfall of Bloodstone once more.

Not because I cared anymore.

Just a simple fact that all my efforts had been for nothing.

She slipped me some money. I felt ashamed taking it, especially with how much rage I was burning inside, but rage wasn't going to pay my way back home.

It was pathetic depending on the kindness of a traitor, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Who goes there?" The guard barked at me not recognizing me and I couldn't even blame him. I looked like a shell of myself.

If anyone else had told me that the raggedy woman dressed in rags was the daughter of a High Moon Council member who helped determine the fate of the Northern Kingdom, I'd have assumed they were one thought away from spiraling into madness.

But a promise from my past was on my heels, I needed my family's help.

"I'm Serena..." I said my voice coming out cracked and unpleasant, "Lady Serena Valgrave."

The guard stood very still for too long and then burst into a sudden belly laugh.

"Sure, you are," he replied sarcastically wiping off a tear from the corner of his eye, "and I'm the honorable Lord Valgrave himself, aren't I?"

"What is going on here?" That voice feminine and commanding, a blade of wits wrapped in elegance. I whipped my head around but not because I was not already aware of who the voice was coming from but rather a reflex.

"Mother..." It almost came out like a soft cry.

But she didn't look at me as a mother would to a daughter that she hadn't seen in over 4 years, perhaps it was more akin to looking at trash that should have been taken out since yesterday but still remained in place.

"I don't have a daughter anymore," she said sharply but still dismissed the guard. “If you are going to address me you will do so by calling me my proper title,"

My mother had never exactly been as warm as sunshine but still...

"I made a mistake..." I said trying not to cry, "... I want to come back I'll do anything I will be whatever you and father say, I'll -"

"Enough!" She held up her hand like listening to me made her physically sick. "Don't you have any shame? Any pride? Nothing of that left?"

Her words burnt as hot as actual fire. I remember the last time we had been in this position, back then I had my bags packed but it was no fuller than my sense of purpose.

"Hawk is nothing like the rest of the guys you throw at me mother!" I told her, those men were robotic and seemed to operate on a shared script, but Hawk was charming and free.

At least he was at the start.

"I'm sorry I left the way I did mo - , please just take me back!"

She looked at me as if she was actually considering it then she shook her head as if it was an opportunity that she wouldn't be able to give because her hands were tied.

"I can't take you back. What use would damaged goods be to me?" she said without missing a beat. "It's bad enough that your body has already been wrung dry by that man."

She lifted her chin and sniffed the air in front of her. Shame flooded me, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

"You have no wolf. No scent. Even with your father's name, no man would want you. It would be no different from sharing his bed with a piece of plywood."

"What will I do now? Where will I go?"

She did that thing again where she pretended to think when the answer was already on the tip of her tongue.

She looked down with a frown.

"There is one place for people like you,"

••••••••

The land of rejects stretched as far as four average pack territories combined. It was officially unclaimed but only officially.

It was the land of scum, the place where all rejectsogues go to rot and die.

As I marched along its plain valley with one or two tenacious flowers popping out, I thought about how perfectly I fitted that description now.

Unwanted, discarded and rejected.

My whole body felt like lead and it burnt like a flame carelessly lit. Making each step unnecessarily heavy until I couldn't walk anymore and just collapsed in a heap on the ground, the sky spun anticlockwise until I was forced to crush my eyelids shut to evade some of the dizziness.

Slowly it migrated from a mild discomfort to intense pain, the heat in my body kept climbing up as if I was being burnt from the inside, I clutched my arms around myself wondering; Is this where I end?

In order to stop a man like my father from interfering with my relationship with Hawk, I had made a promise to the Moon Goddess in front of her blessed statue that for the rest of the days I would love 'the son of Bloodstone' now I had severed ties with him and my heart was no longer his.

Which means I'm going to die.

Just like that.

I could feel the darkness covering the edges of my vision and I couldn't push myself to cry, I closed my eyes to accept my pitiful fate. But suddenly the heat began to leak out of my body until it settled into a comfortable warmth.

My body turned towards the source of the comfort, clutching it like my life depended on it — it did.

"Don't leave me," I said, desperation clouding my senses.

Surprisingly a response came back, one that pushed a violent tremble through my being.

"And why would I leave my mate?”