Fate Chose the Prince, I Chose the Alpha

"I reject you as my mate, Janiah Cross."

Pain hit my chest so hard my knees bent. I planted both feet and forced myself to stay standing. People laughed. I looked at Alpha Prince Tyler Moore and tried to breathe.

Less than a minute earlier, he had walked into the Moon Assembly and my wolf had recognized him at once.

Mate.

Tyler stopped. His eyes locked on mine. His body went still. Tyler had been away from Crown territory for years. That was why we had never recognized each other before tonight. I still knew who he was. Everyone in Crown Pack did. He was the Alpha King's son and the man expected to inherit the Crown.

I was a low-status pack member who spent most public events trying not to give people another reason to laugh at me. I had never expected Tyler Moore to notice me. I definitely had not expected my wolf to call him mate. For a few seconds, I had been happy.

I had come to the Moon Assembly with one goal. Get through the event without giving anyone another reason to compare me to my younger sister, Nadia. That was what I worried about at public pack events. Nadia was the beautiful Cross sister. I was the fat one standing beside her. People had compared us for years. I knew what they thought of my body.

So when my wolf recognized Tyler, I thought he might not judge my body the way other people did. He was my fated mate. The way Tyler stopped and stared at me told me he had recognized the bond too.

I did not expect love from a man I barely knew. Tyler and I had no relationship before that night. He had not asked me one question. He did not know what I wanted, what I could do, or what kind of mate I would be. I only expected him not to reject me because of my body before he knew anything else about me.

Then Tyler looked around the room. People were watching us. He looked at Nadia. Then he looked at me again. His mouth tightened.

The first whispers started before he reached me.

"Janiah Cross?"

"She's his mate?"

Someone laughed. Tyler heard it. He did not tell them to stop. He walked over to me and rejected me in front of everyone.

Now the bond hurt so badly I had to concentrate on staying upright. My wolf was in pain too.

Tyler had recognized me. Then he had looked at the people watching. Then he had rejected me. I knew he had made that choice after checking who was watching.

Nadia touched my arm. "Jaya."

I pulled away. I did not want her to comfort me. Not there. Not while everyone was watching to see what I would do next.

Tyler stood in front of me and waited for me to answer. That made me angrier. He had fractured our bond in front of the pack. Now he wanted me to finish the rejection for him. I pressed my hand against my chest.

When one mate rejected the other, the rejected mate could accept the rejection and let the severance finish. Tyler knew that. So did I. He was waiting for my answer.

If I accepted, I would be helping him finish what he had started. He would reject me, I would say the required words, and everyone could watch the Alpha Prince walk away from the mate he did not want. I could not stop him from rejecting me. I could decide whether I made it easy for him.

"Accept it," he said.

I stared at him. "What?"

His jaw tightened. "Accept the rejection, Janiah."

Tyler was the Alpha King's heir. I knew he was used to being obeyed.

My body was still shaking. I said, "No."

Tyler stared at me. "What did you say?"

"I said no."

The whispers started again.

He stepped closer. "Do not make this harder than it needs to be."

I almost laughed, but nothing about that moment was funny enough. "Harder for who?"

Tyler lowered his voice. "Crown Pack needs a Luna who looks the part. I will not put a fat woman beside the Crown."

More laughter came from behind him. My face burned. I wanted every person in that room to stop looking at me. I wanted my chest to stop hurting. None of those things happened.

Nadia did not laugh. She stared at Tyler, but she still did not speak. I looked away from her.

I had heard comments about my weight for years. I already knew people could be cruel about my body. Tyler was different for one reason. He was the mate the Moon Goddess had given me.

He had found me and rejected me almost immediately because he did not want a fat woman standing beside him. He had made that decision before we had one private conversation. He had made it while the pack watched. He cared more about how I looked beside the Crown than about the mate bond.

I no longer wanted him. But I was not going to accept his rejection just because he ordered me to. He chose to reject me in front of everyone. I could refuse to obey him in front of everyone.

I looked straight at him. "Are you done?"

His eyebrows pulled together. "Excuse me?"

"Are you done talking about my body?"

The room went quiet. Tyler stared at me. I turned away before he answered.

"Janiah."

I started toward the doors.

"Stop."

I kept walking.

"I told you to accept the rejection."

I did not turn around. My chest hurt with every step. My eyes burned, but I refused to cry before I got out of the room. Nadia called my name behind me. I kept going.

I knew refusing the rejection meant the bond was not fully severed yet. I still did not expect what happened when I reached the doors.

All of a sudden, the bond pulled hard inside my chest.

I gasped. My body jerked backward one step before I caught myself.

Behind me, Tyler made a sharp sound. "Janiah, wait."

I stayed where I was and held my chest. The pull came again. I heard footsteps behind me.

Tyler was coming after me.