Rejected by My Alpha

The first time my wolf ever spoke to me was the night my mate rejected me. I knew something was wrong long before the Blood Moon rose over Silver Ridge. I was on my knees scrubbing the Alpha’s kitchen floor, breathing in pine soap and smoke, trying not to think about the ceremony waiting outside. Every unmated wolf in the pack was expected to attend. Every girl dreamed of the moment fate would touch her shoulder and change her life. I had stopped dreaming a long time ago. I was Seraphina Voss, nineteen years old, an omega so forgettable that most wolves looked through me instead of at me. My mother had vanished when I was three. The elders said she ran. The pack called her a coward. I grew up in the shadow of that shame, learning early that invisible girls survived better than hopeful ones. Then Maren Holt walked into the kitchen, beautiful and sharp as a polished blade. “You’re still here?” she asked, looking down at me in that cool way she always did, like I was something inconvenient left out in the open. “Ceremony starts soon.” “I’ll be there,” I said. Her eyes narrowed, and for just one second, I saw something strange in her face. Not contempt. Not amusement. Fear. By the time I reached the courtyard, lanterns were glowing, and the pack had gathered in rings by rank. Alphas at the center. Betas behind them. Omegas at the edges, where we belonged. That was when it happened. The mate bond hit me like my chest had been split open. One violent pull. One blinding certainty. I looked up. Alpha Caelum Drake was already staring at me. He was everything an Alpha should be—tall, cold, powerful, impossible to ignore. And in the second our eyes met, I saw shock on his face. Real shock. Then something darker flooded in and erased it. Rage. He crossed the courtyard toward me while the entire pack went silent. My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe. He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could feel the force of him. “I, Caelum Drake, Alpha of Silver Ridge,” he said, his voice flat and merciless, “reject you, Seraphina Voss, as my fated mate.” The bond snapped. Pain exploded through me so hard my knees nearly gave out. Gasps rose around us. Someone whispered. Someone laughed. Humiliation burned hotter than the agony in my chest. But I did not fall. I forced myself upright and lifted my chin. “I accept your rejection, Alpha.” For one split second, something flickered in his eyes. Regret. Then it vanished. He turned and walked away. I stood there alone, broken in front of hundreds, and suddenly I knew the truth. This wasn’t fate. This was planned. “What do you think happens next?”