AYARU

CHAPTER THREE: In Which She Is Replaced.

AYARU’S POV:

Dustin’s outburst takes me by surprise, what does he mean, he was happy when we found out earlier today, what does he mean by we can’t be mates? It could be a prank, right? Today was only meant to get better. Goddess, I must be dreaming. I try to pull myself together.

“Ddddustin_ what_ do_ you_ mean?” I squeeze out.

“It’s a joke right, you are pulling my legs” happiness at the fact it’s just a prank.

“A wolfless cannot become my mate, never!” the happiness on my face disappears.

“I, Dustin Gunner, future alpha of the Alfheim Pack, reject you, Ayaru Starling, as my goddess-chosen mate and Luna” My heart breaks as each word of rejection comes from his mouth. A smirk forms on his face, mocking my shocked expression. A smirk, he is smirking. He is enjoying how I look right now. I surprise him in return.

“I, Ayaru Starling now accept this rejection and cease to be the goddess-chosen mate of Dustin Gunner, the future Alpha of the Alfheim pack”. His smirk turns into a frown, surprised that I could accept the rejection. I may be going through a lot of pain right now, but scum like him does not deserve to see me cry. I can’t believe I used to be mated to him.

“Bye Dustin” I walk away and wave, keeping my tears from falling. Apart from being wolfless and weak, now I have been rejected by the one person who is supposed to love me. Why, why, why. The moon has been completely covered by the clouds.

“What have I done to deserve this?” I cry

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!” I scream out, tears flowing from my eyes.

I sit on the grass, resting my back on a tree, I remove my shoes and continue crying. Here sits Ayaru, a weak, wolfless, and rejected being wearing a stained white dress. I keep crying wishing my sister or friends were here to comfort me, the feeling of loneliness creeps in.

“Ayaru!” I hear Aife call my name.

“Where are you?” Tyra calls. I wipe my tears and weakly reply

“over here” They rush over as soon as they hear my voice.

“Ayaru, we have been looking all over for you” my worried friends speak to me.

“You look like a mess,” Tyra says.

“Why do you look like this, what happened?” Aife questions my present state.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ITS TIME TO MEET YOUR SOON-TO-BE- LUNA!!!” The Alpha announces my breath hitches.

“Let’s go, let’s go” Tyra pulls me closer to the gathering, I’m trying to make her let go of her hand, but her grip is too strong.

“Dustin, get up here and announce your mate and future Luna” The Luna urges him to come make his announcement. My breath hitches, knowing that he isn’t going to announce anyone’s name, he rejected me anyway.

“Bellona Starling” He speaks, I gasp loudly. What, what the actual f**k, he rejected me a few minutes ago and replaced me with my sister, I look at my sister and see that she is as surprised as me. Aife and Tyra have shocked looks on their faces. I feel blood rushing to my head, people start applauding, cheering for their new Luna as she climbs the stage, My sister looks elegant on that stage, The Luna role will fit her better, she is beautiful, strong, elegant and above all she has a wolf. She possesses all the qualities of a Luna.

“What the f**k?” Tyra shouts, she is about to go to the platform.

“Why her, it was meant to be you, not her, what is he doing?” Tyra continues her rant.

“He called the wrong Starling” Aife speaks, her eyes suddenly widening, as if she put the pieces together.

“Tyra! Let’s leave this place, our friend needs us” Aife speaks to Tyra, Aife’s eyes glaze over, meaning she is mind-linking someone. I discover the person is Tyra, whose eyes glaze over, her first expression after the mind-link is pure anger, then it switches to confusion, then worry.

“Let’s go back to Aife’s house, we are sleeping over,” she says, they hug and we all go to Aife’s place. Aife informs her parents through mind-link about our departure. We walk to Aife’s house, and no words are spoken, my friends stand by me on each side, holding me. I keep thinking of all the events that have occurred today. It started well and ended on a bad note.

We get to Aife’s house and move to her room, as soon as I get into the room, I burst into tears, breaking down in front of my friends, my phone rings, but Tyra is quick to collect it and switch it off. They hold me, as I continue to cry.

“Why me? It's not my fault, is it” I continue crying, thinking of everything once again.

“Aya, it's not your fault, it never has been, and it’s just, uhm something beyond your control, uhm I mean you not awakening your wolf and uhm all” I tearfully look at an awkward Aife who is trying to comfort me. I don’t know where it comes from, but I begin to laugh, anyone who sees me now will think I’m crazy. I love these guys. I wipe my eyes. I stand up and hug them.

“Go freshen up, we’ll be here when you come out,” Tyra says as she holds my hand and guides me to the bathroom, giving me an encouraging smile.

“Don’t try anything stupid in there Aya, I will kill you myself if you do” Aife says looking at me carefully, I nod and enter the bathroom. I look inside, I see my pyjamas on the counter, which is not surprising. I quickly enter the shower, I avoid thinking of anything painful. My sister, that scumbag picked my sister. The pain is almost forgotten, replaced with pure anger. I step out of the shower and dry my body with a towel, I look in the mirror as I dry my hair.

“Don’t blame yourself Aya, it’s not your fault, it never has been your fault” I speak to myself, yes its not my fault, he doesn’t deserve me, for failing to accept me for who I was, he doesn’t deserve to see me cry or feel pain. Encouraging myself brightens up my mood a bit, I smile at myself in the mirror.

“It still hurts” I speak lowly before I dwell on the painful events of tonight, I leave the bathroom, enter back into Aife’s room and meet my friends on the bed, waiting for me. They see me and rush too quickly to stand up, causing them both to knock their heads against each other, they both fall back on the bed. There is silence everywhere.

Laughter erupts as the three of us begin to laugh with one another. I laugh to the point tears fall from my eyes. They hug me as we laugh, and we continue laughing as we hug. Then the laughter dies out.

“It hurts,” I say with all sincerity. My friends nod in understanding. They guide me to the bed, as we lay down. Aife pats my hair, I swear she will be a good mother when she has her children.

“Don’t think too deep, sleep, my friend” she urges. Tiredness takes over, I already feel sleepy.

“Yeah, you can tell us all about it in the morning” Tyra adds. I nod and drift off to sleep. I must have been really tired, I needed to think of the next step, I’m too tired to continue, I need to sleep. Sleep welcomed me with open arms. A comfort from all the pain experienced tonight. In my head, I hear a very faint tune, a voice I hear every night as I sleep

“twinkle twinkle_ little star_ how I wonder_ what you are_ up above_ the world so high_ like a diamond_ in the sky…” I struggle to hear the words properly, the voice sounds familiar

“Twinkle twinkle little star_ how I wonder_ what you_ are” The tune ends, but I can barely hear the words, but I know that it is a lullaby.

“sleep_ my-” I can’t hear anything anymore, can someone turn up the volume?

“-or the_ jour-_ ahead_” the voice keeps cracking, I can barely hear the words.

“_is far_ too g-” The voice stops, hello, I didn’t hear a word, could you please repeat? I can’t hear anything. I wake up, I look around wondering where I am. Oh, I am in Aife’s room, but how did I get here? The memories of yesterday fill my head, and the pain rushes to my head, I stand up quietly to avoid waking up my sleeping friends, and I scan the room for my bag, I’m guessing Tyra kept my phone in my bag. I see my bag on the bag stand, I pick it up, thinking about the missed calls I might have gotten from my family, especially my sister.

I turn on my phone to see no missed calls surprisingly, I see text I neither typed nor sent. It stated that I was sleeping over at Aife’s. I’m guessing Tyra sent it. I see the brown envelope and remember the conversation I had with the Alpha and Luna yesterday. I smile thinking deeply. I needed to leave the pack, I needed to heal from my pain. I needed to get away. I think deeply and I agree with leaving, it’s the only way I can discover more about myself, I bathe and dress up, and I meet my friends awake already.

“Hi, good morning” I hear a mumbled response from Tyra who is still sleepy.

“I want to tell you, guys, everything, but promise me, no violence, no fighting” I request from my friends. They both nod. I tell them everything that happened yesterday, from when Dustin was happy when we discovered that we were mates to the conversation I had with the Alpha and Luna, to the point Dustin rejected saying I was weak. I tell my friends everything.

“There is a solution to your condition, we are so happy for you, I can promise not to fight my brother, but I cannot promise that I won’t hate him” Tyra says, I nod in understanding.

“I am so sorry that all this happened to you Ayaru, you don’t deserve this” Aife speaks and I smile widely, truly I don’t deserve this. Then I finally informed them of my decision and they both nodded in agreement and we all left to accomplish the set goals for today. Today is Sunday, which means we are leaving tomorrow.

I arrive at my house, I enter the dining room to see only Mum and Dad, I don’t see my sister anywhere. My mum rushes to hug me, there is something about motherly hugs that just make you let loose.

“Fawn, we were really worried about you, we didn’t see you after the party yesterday” Dad states looking at me with worry in his eyes. I contemplate whether I should leave or not

“Then we get a text saying you were tired and that you were sleeping over at Aife’s place” Mum finishes.

“Which is very unlikely of you, normally, you would tell us you were so as not to make us worry, you even did that when you were sick,” My mum says while holding my face, worry swirling in her eyes. She knows me too well, when I was feeling sick at a pack gathering, despite how weak and tired I looked, I still came to meet them when I wasn’t feeling good. I sigh

“I am leaving the pack,” I say calmly