THE REJECTED MATE - 002

ELENA'S POV

I woke before dawn. Old habit. Back in my grandmother's cabin, there was always work to do. Animals to feed. Herbs to tend. Fires to start. Here, I had nothing but time and purpose.

The room was still dark. I lay on the hard mattress and listened. The house was quiet. No footsteps. No voices. Just the creak of old wood settling.

Today I started. Today I became Elena, Luna's assistant, invisible and useful.

I dressed in the clothes provided. Simple grey dress. Plain shoes. Nothing that drew attention. I pulled my hair back tight. Looked in the mirror. Stranger looked back.

"Today," I whispered. "Just get through today."

The kitchen was already busy when I found it. Cooks moving fast. Maids carrying trays. Everyone had a job. Everyone ignored me.

I stood near the door until someone noticed.

"You the new assistant?"

A woman my age. Brown hair. Kind eyes. Holding a tray of bread.

"Yes. Elena."

"Mira." She smiled. "You eat with us. Come on."

She led me to a small table in the corner. Staff ate fast, standing, between tasks. I grabbed bread and ate standing too.

"Luna's not easy," Mira said quietly. "Last assistant cried every night."

"I'll manage."

"She wakes early. Expects you ready. Talks a lot. Don't repeat anything she says."

I nodded. Good advice. I'd follow it.

"Also," Mira glanced around, "Alpha Caden eats dinner at seven. You'll serve sometimes. He doesn't talk. Just eat and leave. Don't bother him."

"Good to know."

Mira squeezed my arm. "You'll be fine. First day's hardest."

She was right about that.

Luna Serena's rooms were on the second floor. Big doors. Thick carpets. Everything expensive. She was already awake when I knocked.

"Finally." She waved me in. "You're slow."

It was six in the morning. I'd been waiting outside her door since five thirty.

"My schedule." She thrust papers at me. "Learn it. Know it. Don't make me repeat things."

I looked at the papers. Hours of meetings. Dress fittings. Visits with pack members. Social events. Travel plans. Her life was one long performance.

"You travel with me. You carry everything. You remember everyone's names. You smile when I need you to smile and shut up when I need you quiet."

"Yes, Luna."

She talked for an hour. About pack politics. About women who annoyed her. About dresses that didn't fit. About the gardener who needed replacing.

I listened. Stored everything.

Then she talked about Caden.

"He's distant lately." She said it like a complaint. Like he was a pet that wouldn't perform. "Always working. Always with the pack. Never home."

I said nothing.

"We haven't..." She stopped. Looked at me. Decided I didn't matter. "Never mind. Not your business."

But she wanted to tell me. I could see it. She needed someone to listen. Someone who didn't matter. Someone she could dismiss later.

"Children," she said suddenly. "He wants children. Every Alpha wants children. And I..."

She stopped again. Looked away.

I waited.

"It's been three years. Nothing." Her voice was hard now. Angry. "People talk. They say I'm broken. They say he should find someone else."

I kept my face still. Inside, I was smiling.

She was scared. Terrified. An Alpha's Luna who couldn't give him heirs had no security. No power. No future.

Good. Let her suffer.

"Anyway." She stood. "Dress fitting at ten. Don't be late."

The day passed in tasks. Carry this. Fetch that. Remember this name. Smile at that person. Don't ask questions. Don't exist.

By dinner, my feet hurt and my head ached. But I'd learned things. Important things.

Serena had enemies. Three women in particular who wanted her position. She was spending pack money on herself. Expensive things. Things the pack didn't know about. She and Caden barely spoke. Slept in separate rooms. Married in name only.

And she was desperate for a child. Desperate enough to try anything.

I filed it all away. Information. Power. Weapons.

Dinner was at seven. I helped serve. Carried plates to the long table where Caden sat alone. Serena was eating in her room. Headache, she said. Probably avoiding him.

Caden didn't look up when I set his plate down.

"Thank you."

Two words. Quiet. Automatic. He reached for his fork and kept reading whatever was in front of him.

I stood against the wall with the other servers. Watched him eat. Watched him work. Watched him exist without knowing I existed too.

He'd changed. Older. Tired lines around his eyes. His shoulders tight with stress. The pack was struggling, I'd heard. Territory disputes. Trade problems. Nothing like the confident Alpha who'd rejected me five years ago.

Good. Let him struggle.

After dinner, I helped clean. Carried dishes to kitchen. Wiped tables. Put things away. By the time I finished, it was almost ten.

I went to my room. Small. Dark. Quiet.

Sat on the bed. Let the day catch up.

Then I saw it. A box under the dresser. Old. Dusty. Probably left by someone before me.

I pulled it out. Opened it.

Photos. Old photos. Pack gatherings from years ago.

I almost closed it. Not my business. Not my past.

But my hand stopped.

I saw faces. People I didn't know. Celebrations I'd never attended. Then I turned one over and my breath stopped.

Me.

Lily.

Standing at the edge of a crowd. Plain dress. Plain face. Looking at someone off camera. Looking at him. I remembered that day. Pack gathering. He'd smiled at me. First time. I thought it meant something.

It meant nothing.

I looked at my face. The face my grandmother changed. The face I'd never see again.

Plain. Forgotten. Nothing.

Footsteps in the hall.

I shoved the photos back. Pushed the box under the dresser. Stood. Tried to look normal.

Knock.

I opened the door.

Caden stood there. Close. Too close. I could smell him. Pine and leather and something else. Something that made my chest hurt.

"You're new." He said it like a statement, not a question.

"Yes, Alpha."

"What's your name?"

"Elena."

He nodded. Looked at me. Really looked. For a second, I thought... something. A flicker in his eyes.

Then it passed.

"Good night, Elena."

"Good night, Alpha."

He turned. Walked away. Didn't look back.

I closed the door. Leaned against it. My hands were shaking.

He didn't know. Didn't feel anything. Didn't remember the girl he'd thrown away.

That was the plan. That was what I wanted.

So why did it hurt?

I pressed my hands to my face. Stranger's face. Lily's face was gone. Lily was gone.

But her heart was still here. Still beating. Still stupid enough to feel something when he looked at me.

"This is harder than I thought," I whispered.

No one answered.

I sat on the bed. Stared at the wall. Thought about the photos under the dresser. Thought about his eyes flickering for just a second.

He didn't know. Couldn't know.

I'd make sure of it.

Tomorrow, I'd be Elena again. Useful. Invisible. Dangerous.

Tonight, I'd let myself remember Lily. Just for a moment. Then lock her away again.

I lay down. Stared at the ceiling.

Five years of planning. One day in his house. And already my heart was causing problems.

I couldn't let that happen again.