At 18, My Mate Tricked Me into Exile, So I Rejected Him

On the night of my awakening ceremony at 18, Elias Thorne and Holden Cross, the two guys I’d grown up with, pulled me into a game of dares. When it was my turn, Mia Harper, a she-wolf who’d only just joined the pack, asked shyly, “Who’s brave enough to volunteer for guard duty on the far northern border? Conditions there are brutal.” One by one, they nodded and held up transfer orders bearing the official seal. Elias slid the northern transfer orders toward me, then smiled and pointed to my original assignment in Central City. “Brave enough to give up Central City for the northern ice fields? Anyone who backs out is a coward.” That night, in front of everyone, I bit my fingertip and signed the northern transfer orders in blood. With everyone cheering him on, Elias accepted me as his mate and promised to mark me on the next full moon. Then, on the day the transfer took effect, I arrived outside his apartment. “Her northern posting’s been entered into the Elder Council’s system, right?” “Already locked in. The three of us took a risk forging those transfer orders, but it worked. She volunteered for the far north. I’d say that’s a win.” “Gotta say, Mia’s the smart one. She made up some random game and shipped that idiot off to the border.” Then I heard Mia’s apologetic voice. “But Elias... it’s so unfair to you. You had to pretend to accept the mate bond just to trick her into signing.” “Whatever.” Elias sounded like he couldn’t care less. “I just have to play along with her until the full moon. “Once she’s on that armored transport to the border, it’s all over.” With a soft click, the door slid open. I didn’t make a scene. I called in a witch and calmly severed the faint mind-link Elias and I had only just formed. Then, right in front of them, I uttered the ancient words of rejection. “I, Chloe Ward, reject you, Elias, as my mate.”