CHAPTER 2 — Rejected

Vaelora’s POV  

The first thing I felt was pain. It was not the sharp, painful kind of pain that had preceded it—the kind that you wouldn't want to feel. Heavy. Deep. All my limbs had been broken and then mended.

It seemed like my eyelids were so heavy I couldn't open them. White ceiling. White walls. The regular sound of healthcare machinery. Very slight antiseptic odor. A hospital.

I just looked up for several seconds to see where I had come from. Then it all came rushing back—Kaiven, Nysera, the fight, the blood, the pain.

My hand went straight to my tummy. I was frightened. “No…” I tried to get to my feet, but my voice croaked out. The movement rippled through my body and caused me pain.

The door of the hospital room opened, and a female doctor came in. She appeared to be in her late 40s, and her dark hair was combed into a neat bun. When she saw that I was awake, she had a smile of relief cross her face.

“Mrs. Drax.”

I clasped the blanket in my hands. “My baby.”

The doctor's face turned into a mask. I could tell by her eyes that she was sorry, but before she could say a word.

“No…”

I shook my head. “No.”

The doctor came towards the bed slowly. “I’m very sorry.”

The room began spinning. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears. “No,” I replied again, tears immediately filling my eyes. “You didn't even look.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

I shook my head more intensely. “No.”

“Mrs. Drax—”

“No!” My voice cracked.

After a few seconds, the doctor said quietly. “A lady from your house brought you to the hospital in a faint.”

I froze. A maid? Not Kaiven. Not my husband. A maid.

The doctor went on gently, “She dialed 911 right away.”

My throat burned. Of course. Of course it wasn’t him. Tears started to roll down her face.

The doctor sat down next to the bed. “It was too much blood loss, we did everything we could.

I sobbed a broken sob. “My baby…”

“I’m sorry.”

There was a lot of silence in the room, save for my sobs. I couldn’t stop. I didn't want to stop. I felt pain in my chest, my heart, my soul.

My baby was gone. All the little life I had spent months protecting, was gone!

I cried until my throat was raw, my eyes burned, I could hardly breathe.

Finally, the doctor spoke again. I was immediately nervous when she said she was not sure about the event. “Well, there's something else we have to talk about.”

I slowly looked at her. I knew within myself that things were going to be more difficult.

The wounds you got were heavy, she said delicately. There was a lot of damage to your reproductive system done.”

A sense of fear slowly infiltrated my chest. “What is that?”

The doctor showed signs of distress. “It means that you will not be able to carry another pregnancy.”

I just couldn't get my eyes off the guy. I heard the words. I understood them. Still, I was not able to believe them.

“No.”

The doctor lowered her eyes.

“No.”

I shook my head again. “No.”

I kept repeating the word, over and over, like it if I repeated it enough times, reality would change.

I sobbed, “I'm only 24.” “Well, there's got to be something.”

The doctor did not say anything.

I heard nothing and it said so much.

I saw my future come to an end in front of me. Not only had I lost my child—I would never have another one. Never.

It took me aback and I felt like I almost lost my mind.

The doctor waited until I calmed down a bit before he spoke, more tears came down my face.

“As you were doing your tests, we found another problem.”

I let out a bitter laugh. Another issue? Of course. Why not? I had my life in shambles, so why not now?

The doctor carefully opened a file. “Cancer was detected in its early stages.”

I froze. The silence filled the room. I looked at her, and I knew I must have heard her wrong.

“What?”

“Early-stage cancer.”

I felt myself going numb all over.

“It's good news they found it early,” she hastened to add. Treating should be very effective if we start right away.”

I quickly glanced at my hands. I was no longer in the hospital, I was no longer in the room, I was no longer in my body, I was no longer in my life. I felt like I was watching someone else's tragedy unfold, everything felt distant.

The doctor kept talking about the treatment and recovery options. I didn't hear much at all.

One day she quit talking. Eventually, she left. In the end I was left all on my own.

That's when I just totally caved.

Hours passed. I sobbed until I had no more tears. Then I cried again. All my dreams had been shattered; my child, my future children, my marriage, my good health. Everything.

Eventually, it got to be evening. The room was getting darker.

The door suddenly opened and I was staring at the wall.

I was instantly overwhelmed with joy.

I wished for one silly moment. Perhaps Kaiven was here to apologize. Perhaps he had come to understand what had transpired. Perhaps he regretted it.

After that, I saw that someone was walking with him.

Nysera.

I could feel my stomach turning in my belly.

As I was in my hospital room, the woman who had attacked me walked in as if she were part of my room.

I sat upright. What is she doing here?

They were not guilty looking. They didn't look guilty at all. In fact, Nysera rolled her eyes.

Kaiven closed the door behind them. “Relax.”

I just looked at him in amazement. “Relax? Where did you get her from?”

Nysera crossed her arms. “Oh please.”

I glared at Kaiven. “She attacked me.”

He shrugged. “You provoked her.”

I was speechless at the words.

“I provoked her?” The sound of my voice rang out in the room. “While I was pregnant she attacked me.”

“Disrespecting her,” Kaiven said coldly.

I laughed, a crooked, weak laugh. I can't believe that!

“I do.”

The room was silent.

I looked at the man that I loved and I abandoned my whole world for, and I realized that I don't know him anymore.

“Without me, you would have nothing,” I said in a hoarse voice.

Kaiven smirked.

“When I first met you, you weren't a respectable Alpha, you had debts, you had enemies, you didn't have any political backing. I have given you all of this.”

He laughed. “You gave me what?”

My support, “My loyalty, My family connections.”

“Your money,” he corrected, cruel amusement in his eyes. “That's all you ever had.”

The words resonated more than they did.

I knew there was truth in them, deep down, I knew there was truth in them.

Kaiven stepped closer. “But now? You do not have that even.”

My chest tightened.

“Your parents dumped you,” he went on. Nysera laughed quietly.

“They chose their pack over you. Their reputation over you. And honestly?” He shrugged. “I don’t blame them.”

The pain wasn’t enough to make me cry, but the truth I had been running from for years was enough to make me cry.

I oughta have obeyed my parents when they said Kaiven was no good.

I whispered to myself, "My father warned me. “My mother told me, everyone warned me. They told me you were a piece of shit.”

I wish I had paid more attention or listened more.

Kaiven laughed. “So that's how it works then, why didn't I know that?”

My hands clenched. “I was stupid.”

“Very.” He added. 

The answer was quick, without hesitation, without mercy.

The room was still.

I looked at him, and I'm trying to find any sign of humanity, any sign of regret. I found nothing.

Only cruelty. Only indifference. Only hatred.

“Have you ever loved me?” I asked before I could not help myself.

Silence.

Not even Nysera ceased her smirk.

Kaiven just gazed at me for a split second.

Then he answered.

“No.”

One word.

And, somehow, it hurt more than all these things put together.

It was because it meant that everything that had happened up to then had all been a lie.

Every promise. Every kiss. Every dream.

All of it.

A lie.

Kaiven took another step forward, voice cold, formal, final.

I Kaiven Drax, Alpha of Shadow Fang Pack, reject Vaelora Arden as my mate.”

The world shattered.

My body was in pain, and it was overwhelming. I cried out with pain that was far more than I'd ever felt before. It was like someone was tearing out a piece of my heart.

In my mind, my wolf howled, a broken and tortured howl.

The bond.

The mate bond.

It was breaking.

Tearing apart.

Dying.

I doubled over and another shriek came out of me. All of my nerves felt like fire. The room was spinning around and around.

Next, something else occurred.

Something worse.

A flash of movement of my fingers. My fingers were bitten by sharp claws, which ripped through my hospital blanket, I gasped in shock.

“What the hell?” Nysera screamed.

I looked at my hands, my breath was uneven. Dark fur started to creep over my skin slowly, unnaturally.

Panic flooded me. “No.”

My wolf was not at ease. It was all the rejection, it was all the grief, it was all the trauma, driving her to transform herself.

Kaiven stepped back, and grabbed Nysera’s hands. “Let’s go.” And with that, I was left alone.

“No!”

The claws became longer. The fur extended outwards. The pain intensified.

I couldn’t control it.

I couldn’t stop it.

I turned my head toward the door, empty hall, anybody who might be able to help me. My tears fell down my face, and my wolf howled again, louder this time, shakier, more frightened.

My hands shook, claws glaring under the hospital's harsh lights.

I was totally consumed by panic.

“Doctor!” I screamed.