Chapter 1: He rejected me?

Ivy's POV

My eyes snapped open to the heavy, oppressive scent of cedar and rain.

The mattress sank beneath a suffocating weight beside me. I turned my head, my breath catching in my throat as my pulse hammered against my ribs. A man was lying next to me.

His broad, muscular back was exposed, painted with silver scars and the dark tracing of pack tattoos. My breath hitched.

“Who is—”

Then the memories slammed into my chest like a physical blow. The crimson glow of the blood moon. The agonizing, bone-snapping fever of my very first shift. The undeniable, soul-crushing pull of a bond snapping into place.

Cassian.

"Cassian?" I whispered, my voice trembling as panic surged through my veins.

He didn't move for a second, then his shoulders tensed. "You're awake," he said, his tone utterly devoid of heat.

"What... What happened last night?" I gasped, pulling the velvet sheet up to my chin, my heart hammering like a trapped bird.

"Nothing that matters," he answered flatly, swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up.

"Nothing?!" I sat up abruptly, the residual fever of the full moon flushing through my cheeks. "Cassian, look at me! You called me your mate!"

"Maybe, I was out of my mind," he stated casually, like it was nothing to worry about. But it is. He stepped out of the bed without turning around.

"You marked my scent Cassian!" I cried, staring at his broad shoulders, my soul aching from the sheer intensity of the bond still humming between us. "How can you say that was nothing?"

"It was the lunar surge, Ivy," he said coldly, snapping his trousers shut with a sharp, metallic click. "Nothing more."

"It wasn't just the moon!" Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I reached out, my fingers desperate to touch his skin. " Look… I felt it, Cassian! I felt your wolf calling to mine!"

"Do not touch me," he commanded, whipping his head around to glare at me with eyes flashing a dangerous crimson before darkening back to obsidian.

I flinched, pulling my hand back against my chest. "Will you... will you tell them?"

"Tell who?" he barked, pulling a black tunic over his head.

"Bianca... my father... the pack," I stammered, my chest heaving as a fragile, desperate hope surged in my heart. "We are fated, Cassian. The Moon Goddess chose us!"

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake!" he snapped, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle ticked under his cheek. "My Luna is Bianca and you know that."

"You're just a liar. She isn't your mate!" I sobbed, the words tearing out of my chest like jagged glass.

"She is my chosen mate, Ivy," he said, strapping his broad watch back onto his wrist. "And she will be the Luna of this pack."

"Cassian, please," I begged, sliding to the edge of the mattress, wrapped tightly in the sheet. "Look at me. You know what this bond means. You felt it too."

"It means nothing," he growled, grabbing his boots from the marble floor. "Last night was an error brought on by your sudden shift."

"Are you saying my shift forged the mate bond Cassian?" I yelled, the agony of his rejection slicing through my lungs.

"Shut your mouth, Ivy," he warned, his heavy Alpha aura flaring, pressing down on my shoulders like a ton of lead.

"Cassy you wanted me," I whispered, tears spilling over my lashes as I fought against his suppression. "You held me. You couldn't stop calling my name."

"Maybe I was intoxicated by the fever," he said flatly, pulling his leather boots on without a second thought. "It was all a mistake."

"You're lying," I whimpered, shaking my head violently. "Please tell me you're lying."

"I do not lie, Beta," he stated, stepping away from the bed as if my very presence repulsed him.

"So that's all I am?" I asked, looking up into his ice-cold eyes, starving for a single glint of warmth. "Just a mistake?"

"You are my future wife's sister," he answered, his voice stripped of every drop of humanity. "That is all you will ever be."

The bedroom door slammed open with a deafening crash, bouncing viciously off the stone wall.

"Ivy!" screamed my mother, Aveline, storming into the room with her claws already partially extended.

"Mother—" I gasped, shrinking back into the mattress as Bianca rushed in behind her, sobbing hysterically.

"How could you?!" Bianca shrieked, burying her face in her hands. "My own sister! You stole him from me!"

The force of Aveline's hand whipped my head to the side, burning my cheek like molten silver and sending me sprawling across the bed.

"You shameless, disgusting slut!" Aveline hissed, grabbing me by my hair and dragging me off the mattress onto the freezing marble floor.

"Mother, stop! Please!" I screamed, clutching the bedsheet around my bare body while trying to shield my head. "It wasn't like that!"

"You seducer!" Aveline roared, raising her clawed hand again. "You waited for her shift to trap him!"

"I didn't trap anyone, mother!" I sobbed, looking up at Bianca, who was leaning against the doorframe, her shoulders shaking with dramatic gasps. "Bianca, listen to me! I didn't mean to!"

"Don't look at her, you filth!" Aveline barked, kicking my side with her boot. "You laid with your sister's husband!"

"He's my fated mate Mom!" I shouted back, terror and agonizing grief clawing through my throat.

"Enough!" Cassian's voice boomed through the chamber, vibrating through the stone foundation and silencing the room instantly.

"Cassian, look at what she did!" Aveline spat, pointing a trembling, clawed finger down at my shuddering frame.

"I said, enough, Aveline," Cassian said quietly, though his tone carried the crushing weight of an Alpha's absolute authority.

"Did you lay with this viper?" Aveline demanded, her chest heaving with rage.

"Last night was an accident," Cassian replied, his face an unreadable, stone mask as he looked over my head toward Bianca. "The full moon compromised my control."

"An accident?" Bianca wailed, running over to throw her arms around his waist. "Cassian, you slept with her?"

"It changes nothing," Cassian said firmly, wrapping an arm around Bianca's shoulders to hold her close. "Our engagement stands. You are my chosen Luna."

"You hear that, you wretched little snake?" Aveline sneered, glaring down at me with pure disgust. "He doesn't want you!"

"Cassian, tell them!" I begged, staring up at him through a blur of tears. "Tell them about the bond! Tell them what you felt!"

Cassian’s hands clenched so hard into fists that his knuckles turned stark white, a sudden muscle ticking violently along his jaw. For a fraction of a second, his eyes softened, flicking down to my bloody lip before his stone mask slammed back into place. He didn't look at me again. "There is no bond to speak of," he said coldly to the room.

"You lie!" I screamed, the soul-crushing rejection tearing a ragged breath from my lungs.

"Hold your tongue!" Aveline snarled, backhanding me again until blood bloomed across my lip.

"She ought to be executed for treason against the future Luna!" Bianca sobbed into Cassian's chest.

"She will not be executed," a deep, booming voice declared from the threshold.

My heart stopped beating. "Father..." I whispered, looking toward the door.

Sabastian Frey stood in the doorway, his graying beard sharp and his eyes harder than flint as he glared down at me.

"Do not call me that," Sabastian said, his voice dripping with icy disdain.

"Father, please," I sobbed, crawling toward his heavy boots on my hands and knees, dragging the bloody sheet along with me. "It was the moon! I didn't plan this! I swear to you!"

"You have brought unspeakable shame upon the Frey lineage," Sabastian said, stepping back so my trembling fingers couldn't touch his polished boots.

"I am your daughter!" I cried out, my voice cracking under the crushing weight of his coldness. "Please, Father, look at me! I'm your Ivy!"

"You are no daughter of mine," Sabastian answered coldly. "You never were."

The words struck deeper than any silver blade, slicing straight through my heart. I had always known I wasn't Aveline's biological child. She had made sure I felt like an intruder my whole life while doting on Bianca, but Sabastian was different. He was the one person whose approval I had starved for, the father I spent my entire life trying to make proud.

"Father, don't do this," I wept, curling into a shattered ball on the floor. "Please, just listen to me."

"I have heard enough," Sabastian said, turning his harsh gaze toward Cassian. "Alpha Cassian, how do you wish to handle this disgrace?"

"She is your pack member, Alpha Sabastian," Cassian replied neutrally, resting his chin atop Bianca's head. "Handle her according to your law."

"Cassian..." I gasped, looking at him with desperate, bleeding eyes. ‘Mindlink me,’ I screamed frantically through our pack connection, trying to force my thoughts into his mind. ‘Tell them it was fated! Don't let them do this to me!’

Cassian slammed a mental wall up so hard it felt like a physical blow against my skull. He didn't even blink.

"Effective immediately," Sabastian declared, his voice echoing down the corridor, "Ivy Frey is stripped of her Beta rank."

"No..." I breathed, shaking my head in horror. "No, Father, please!"

"She is hereby demoted to an Omega," Sabastian continued without a flicker of emotion. "And she is banished from the high pack manor."

"Father!" I screamed, reaching for him again, but Aveline kicked my hands away with her heel.

"You will clear your things from this territory by sunset," Sabastian commanded, looking at me with absolute contempt. "If you set foot in the main house again, you will be hunted as a rogue."

"Did you hear him, slut?" Aveline laughed bitterly, grabbing my chin forcefully and yanking my face up. "You tried to climb into the Alpha's bed, and now you're lower than the dirt outside our gates."

"Cassian..." I whimpered, turning my wet eyes toward the man who had held me all night, the man whose mate mark still burned faintly on my soul. "Please..."

Cassian stared back at me, his face utterly devoid of mercy, holding my sister tightly against his chest.

"Guards!" Sabastian roared, waving his hand dismissively toward the hallway. "Drag this filth out of my sight."

Two heavy enforcer guards grabbed my arms, ripping me off the floor as I screamed, my desperate cries ringing out into the cold morning air while my fated mate watched silently, refusing to say a single word.