THE REJECTED MATE - 004

ELENA'S POV

The pack celebration came without warning.

Serena told me the morning of. "Tonight. Big gathering. Every important family in the territory. I need you serving drinks. Don't mess up."

I nodded. Like it was nothing. Like my heart didn't drop.

Crowds. Noise. Him everywhere. No way to hide.

I spent the day preparing. Extra herbs. Double the normal dose. Checked my reflection a dozen times. Stranger's face. Safe face. He wouldn't know.

He couldn't know.

By evening, the house was full. People everywhere. Laughter. Music. Rich clothes and fake smiles. I moved through them with a tray of drinks. Invisible. Useful. Nothing.

Serena shone in the center of it all. Beautiful dress. Perfect smile. Playing the perfect Luna while her husband stood across the room, barely looking at her.

Caden was drinking.

I noticed early. He never drank much. Too controlled. Too careful. But tonight, glass after glass. Whiskey. Straight. His jaw tight. His eyes darker than usual.

Something was wrong. Pack problems? Marriage problems? I didn't know. Didn't care.

I kept moving. Kept serving. Kept my head down.

The crowd got louder. People got drunker. I dodged hands and bodies and kept working.

Then I felt him.

Not saw. Felt. Like a pull in my chest. Like something tugging me to turn.

I turned.

He was across the room. Looking right at me.

Our eyes met. Just for a second. Then I looked away. Kept moving. Kept serving.

But my hands were shaking.

I found a corner. Breathed. Controlled myself.

He was drinking. He was watching. He was feeling something he didn't understand.

None of that mattered. I was safe. Hidden. Invisible.

I kept working.

An hour passed. The crowd thinned slightly. People moved to the dining room for food. I carried drinks through the chaos, weaving between groups, tray steady.

Then someone bumped me.

Hard.

The tray flew. Glasses shattered. I stumbled forward, caught my foot on something, and fell.

But I didn't hit the ground.

Hands caught me. Strong hands. Grabbing my arm, my waist, pulling me up.

Skin on skin.

His skin on mine.

The moment I touched him, something exploded in my chest. Heat. Light. Pain. Like being struck by lightning. Like being burned alive. Like coming home after years lost.

I gasped.

He froze.

His hand was on my bare arm. My skin. His skin. Nothing between us.

For one second. One terrible, wonderful, horrible second.

Then I pulled away.

But it was too late.

He was staring at me. His eyes wide. His face pale. The drunk confusion gone, replaced by something else. Something raw.

"Who are you?"

His voice. Rough. Shaken.

I stepped back. Kept my face blank. "Elena. Your Luna's assistant."

He shook his head. Stepped closer. "No. Something else. I felt..."

He reached for me again. I stepped back faster.

"You're drunk, Alpha. You should sit down."

"I'm not that drunk." He kept staring. Kept searching my face. "I know you. I don't know how, but I know you."

My heart was pounding so hard I thought he'd hear it.

"You don't know me. I've been here two months. You've seen me every day."

"Then why do I feel like I've been looking for you my whole life?"

The words hit me like a punch. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

"CAden."

Serena's voice. Sharp. Angry. She appeared beside him, grabbed his arm.

"There you are. People are asking for you. The council wants to speak." She looked at me. Cold. Dismissive. "Clean this mess. Now."

She pulled him away.

He went. But he kept looking back. Kept staring at me until the crowd swallowed him.

I stood there. Shaking. Surrounded by broken glass.

Mira appeared. Started helping me clean.

"What was that?" she whispered. "What happened?"

"Nothing. He's drunk. He grabbed me when I fell. That's all."

She looked at me. Didn't believe me. But she didn't push.

We cleaned the glass. I went to the kitchen for more drinks. Kept working. Kept moving. Kept my face calm.

Inside, I was screaming.

He felt it. The bond. Through the blockers. Through the magic. Through everything.

For one second, skin to skin, he felt it.

And I felt it too.

That was the worst part. I felt it. The warmth. The pull. The rightness that made everything else wrong.

I hated him. I needed to remember that.

I hated him for rejecting me. For breaking me. For making me into this stranger who couldn't even recognize herself anymore.

But my body didn't hate him. My body remembered being his mate. My body wanted.

I finished my shift. Hours of smiling and serving and pretending nothing happened.

When it finally ended, I walked to my room. Slow. Calm. Normal.

Closed the door.

Locked it.

Sat on the floor with my back against the wall and shook.

He felt it. He asked who I was. He said he'd been looking for me his whole life.

Did that mean something? Or was it just the bond confusing him? Confusing us both?

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

But the bond wasn't dead.

How? How after five years? How after rejection? How after everything?

My grandmother's magic was strong. The blockers were strong. He shouldn't feel anything.

But he did.

And worse, I did too.

For one second, touching him, I forgot to hate. I forgot the plan. I forgot everything except how right it felt to be held by him.

Then I remembered.

I remembered the words. "I reject you." I remembered the pain. The months of wanting to die. The face in the mirror that wasn't mine anymore.

I remembered why I came.

I stood up. Walked to the mirror. Looked at the stranger.

"He felt something," I told her. "That's good. That's part of the plan."

But we both knew it wasn't that simple.

Because if he felt something, maybe I did too. And that wasn't part of the plan at all.

A knock on my door.

I froze.

Another knock. Soft. Careful.

I didn't move. Didn't breathe.

Footsteps. Walking away.

I waited ten minutes. Then looked through the crack.

No one.

But on the floor, a small piece of paper.

I picked it up. Unfolded it.

Three words.

"I remember you."

My blood turned to ice.

I read it again. And again. And again.

He didn't write it. Couldn't have. He was drunk, with Serena, surrounded by people.

Someone else knew.

Someone else was watching.

Someone else remembered Lily.

I crumpled the paper. Shoved it in my pocket. Looked down the hall. Empty.

Who?

I went back in my room. Locked the door. Sat on the bed.

Caden felt the bond. Someone left a note. Serena was suspicious.

Everything was falling apart.

And I'd only just begun.