Chapter 2

Archer.

"I reject you as my fated mate, Archer Ellington."

It feels like my heart has been stabbed by a knife multiple times when my mate, Katrina, uttered those words.

She said it with determined eyes. I could feel her wolf clawing at her chest, wanting to come out, but she was fighting against the mate bond.

"I don't want a lowly omega like you as my mate."

I hid my pain by flashing a devilish grin. "And I don't want my mate to be a fucking hypocrite, too."

She swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked away from me. "You already know... that I'm going to marry Damien Smiths. I will be the future Luna of the pack."

"Everyone knows, baby. Your love story is flashed in every magazine, billboards, and on TV like a fucking cliche movie." I took a step forward, while she was trying to control her thirst at me.

I can feel it, too.

Her wolf wants my wolf. She was hungry for me; like she wants to fuck me.

When I found out that Katrina, the popular and beautiful Katrina, was my fated mate; it felt like I won the lottery.

But I can never get the reward money.

It fucking hurts.

Her eyes widened when she saw me strode towards her. "Stay away from me! Just please... accept my rejection and we will pretend that this encounter never happens!"

I grinned at her and cupped her chin. Her mouth shivered as her eyes wandered on my lips.

"What if... I say no, hmm?"

"N-No? Why? Do you like me?" she asked, her eyes widening in fear.

Did she really think that omegas like us are pathetic and hard to love?

I want to crush her head right now.

"Of course, my wolf wants you. I wonder how it feels to fuck you and bed you every night while your boyfriend doesn't even have the ounce of information that he's not your fated mate - "

She slapped me hard. Hard enough, too, to get my dick turned on.

"Don't you dare tell him! Or else... you're going to regret it!"

"I have nothing to lose," I flashed a grin at her. "I'm just a lowly omega in your eyes, correct? While you..." I push the strand of her hair from her face. "You will lose your Luna title because there is somebody out there who is mated to your long-term boyfriend..." I whispered in her ears.

Her hair stands to its tip. I resist every urge to mark her bare neck while I'm still sober.

"What do you think, Katrina?" I asked her. She looked at me like she wanted to hit me again, but this time, I didn't let her hand hit my face.

"Oh no, baby... not my face." I flashed a grin at her. She gasped and removed her hand away from me as if she was burned by my hand.

She looked at me teary-eyed like she was ready to break down.

Why am I hurting her? Damn. It's my ego speaking. I've always loved and looked out for her.

My friends even call me crazy because of my obsession with her. It just worsens when I find out that we're fated mates.

But she doesn't want me. I already expected it.

To my shock, she begged on my knees. "Please don't tell anyone that we are fated mates. I beg of you! If you don't want to reject me, at least respect my decision that I don't want others to know. My future will be ruined! And Damien... oh gosh, Damien will go crazy - "

I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Stand up," I said, my voice dangerous.

"Huh?"

"I said fucking stand up, Katrina!"

She immediately stands up.

"Fix yourself," I whispered at her and looked at her directly in the eyes.

"I, Archer Ellington, a lowly omega of the Hawthorn pack, reject you as my mate, Katrina Mae Brown."

After rejecting her, I turned my heels away from her and removed the collar of my uniform.

As soon as I saw Leon, a friend of mine, I threw it away and pushed his chest.

"Hey, how was the conversation with your crush - "

"Cover me tonight, man! I'm going to Teddy's!" I hissed at him. He didn't question me anymore and I hop on my big bike and put on my helmet.

When I arrived at the club, Teddy spotted me quickly. He probably saw the expression on my face, so he gave me my favorite drink; whiskey. I drank it straight; the acid felt good in my throat.

He continued bartending as I drown myself to alcohol that night.

I hate the students of HawthornHigh. They want us either dead or executed in front of their eyes.

To them, we are dirt on their shoes. I should hate all of them. They made us feel like animals, yet one of them caught my heart.

Katrina Mae Brown.

"What's wrong?" My friend, Leon, asked me with a worried voice.

It has been three days since Katrina rejected me as her mate.

"Nothing," I answered Leon, took the bottle from his hand, and sipped it.

"Woah, easy, dude!"

He let out a baritone laugh and patted my back simultaneously. "You're still thinking about her?" he asked, but there was no humor in his voice now.

"What do you think?" I answered sarcastically.

"Man, she's not for you."

"I know."

We fell silent.

I got up from the seat and patted Leon's shoulder. "I gotta go and see my mom and baby Cassandra."

He nodded at me. "Send my warmest regards to your mother, Archer."

Without further ado, I got out of that trailer and jumped on my motorbike. I raised my hand to bid goodbye to my friend and drove out there as fast as I could.

“Mom?” I yelled inside our apartment when the light was on. Looking at a middle-aged woman wearing a checkered apron, I knew that I wasn’t dreaming.

My mom’s here after six months of waiting. I couldn’t help but run towards her and pull her into a tight hug.

“Archer!” she shrieked when my biceps tightened around her shoulder.

“You’re back,” I whispered to her. She pulled out our hug and looked at me with teary eyes.

“Yes, how are you?” she asked and her eyes looked at me up and down, gazing at my body and face. When her eyes squinted at the little tattoo on my hand she inspected, her smile immediately curled down.

“Archer, you didn’t – “

I cut her off. “How’s baby Cassandra?” I asked, looking at the three-month-old baby on the bed.

She was sleeping, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“She’s sleeping. Don’t wake her up.”

My hand found the small hands of the baby in front of me. She’s not my blood-related sister.

I’m an adopted child of Ellington. That’s what I knew when my mother told me at the age of ten. She thought she was not fertile enough to have a child.

That is why she adopted me when I was still a baby. Now that her husband had become a fugitive, they were blessed with a baby.

However, the situation with her husband whom I refused to acknowledge as my foster father, became worse as the police kept on searching for him.

I’ve seen my mother cry every night. And I goddamned know the reason why. She was thinking about her husband – where he was hiding, and if he was eating, or even barely alive.

So, when there was a chance to go with her husband to a remote island and cherish every day together with their baby as one happy family, I let her go, even if I didn’t want to.

“Archer, school is coming. Do you have enough money to sustain your needs and miscellaneous fees?"

“Don’t worry about it, Mom,” I answered, still looking with admiration at baby Cassandra.

“Just tell me so I can budget it.”

“I told you, Mom. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Why? Because you’re not going to school?”

I fell silent. Then, I sighed and looked at her.

“Mom, you forgot again. The school opened last month. I’m okay. For the third time, don’t worry about the money.”

“I’m your mother, Archer. Of course, I worry about my son’s future. Are you studying well? Please don’t be heavily influenced by your friends. They are bad influences on you.”

I didn’t argue because if I did, it was going to be a long sermon about how my mother despised my frat friends and how I should distance myself from them.

Little did she know I was the one who led them.

"Archer, I have good news for you. Someone offered to pay your miscellaneous fees that can cover your expenses for a year. We can budget the money to baby Cassandra and you won't go to that illegal and dangerous underground fight anymore to earn money."

I froze in my place and looked at my mother.

Her smile vanished when I glared at her. "Who?" I asked, but I already had a hint of who it came from.

"She refused to say her name. But I know her from the billboards. I think she's the future Luna of our pack."

My blood boils because of what my mother said. I fought the urge to punch a wall.

"Archer! Where are you going?" My mother yelled at me, but I already grabbed my leather jacket and hopped on my bike to go to the Brown's mansion.