CHAPTER 5: THE REJECTION

Time stopped.

Three hundred people stared at me. At Alpha Damon standing in front of me. At the golden thread of light only we could see connecting us together.

The mate bond.

It was real. It was happening. The Moon Goddess had chosen me. Chosen us.

For one beautiful, perfect second, hope bloomed in my chest.

Then I saw his face.

Damon looked at me like I was something disgusting he'd stepped in. His jaw clenched. His ice-blue eyes went hard and cold.

"No," he said quietly. Just that one word.

The hope died.

Vivian pushed through the crowd, her face twisted with rage. "This is a mistake! She can't be your mate! She's nobody!"

Whispers erupted around us.

"The Omega?"

"But she can't even shift."

"The Moon Goddess wouldn't..."

"This has to be wrong."

Each word was a knife in my chest.

The silver-haired stranger was still moving toward me, but Damon stepped between us, blocking his path.

"Stay back," Damon growled, Alpha command heavy in his voice. "This is Crescent Moon Pack business."

The stranger stopped, but his golden eyes stayed locked on me. I could feel his bond too. Warm. Protective. Pulling me toward him.

But all I could focus on was Damon.

My mate. My fated mate.

Looking at me like I'd ruined his life.

"Alpha, please," I whispered. My voice came out broken and small. "I didn't know. I didn't..."

"Silence." He turned to face the crowd, his shoulders rigid. "There's been a complication."

The room held its breath.

Uncle Marcus appeared next to Damon, his expression carefully neutral. "Alpha, perhaps we should discuss this privately."

"No." Damon's voice was sharp. "This needs to be handled now. Publicly."

My stomach dropped. Oh god. He was going to do it here. In front of everyone.

"Damon, think about this," Vivian hissed, grabbing his arm. "You don't have to..."

He shook her off. His eyes met mine again and something flickered there. Pain? Regret? But it was gone so fast I might have imagined it.

Then his face became a mask. Cold. Emotionless. The face of an Alpha about to make a hard decision.

"I, Damon Blackwood, Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack..." His voice rang out clear and strong across the silent ballroom.

No. Please no.

"...reject you, Aurora Sinclair, as my mate and future Luna."

The words hit me like a physical blow. I actually stumbled backward. The bond between us started tearing, ripping, shredding apart.

It hurt. God, it hurt so much.

Gasps echoed through the crowd. Someone laughed. Vivian's smile was vicious and triumphant.

But Damon wasn't done.

He stepped closer, looking down at me with those beautiful ice-blue eyes that would haunt my nightmares.

"Look at you," he said, and his voice was cruel now. Deliberately cruel. "You can't even shift. You're weak. Broken. Pathetic."

Each word was designed to destroy me.

"Did you really think I would accept you? That I would make you my Luna?" He laughed, and the sound was worse than any scream. "You're nothing, Aurora. You've always been nothing. A wolfless Omega who scrubs my floors."

Tears burned in my eyes but I refused to let them fall.

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake," he continued. "Or maybe this is punishment for something. Either way, I will not tie myself to someone so completely beneath me."

The crowd murmured agreement. I could see it on their faces. They all thought the same thing.

I wasn't good enough.

I would never be good enough.

"Accept the rejection," Damon commanded. "Say the words so we can both move on with our lives."

I tried. I opened my mouth to speak the acceptance that would sever the bond completely.

But my wolf roared inside me with a fury I'd never felt before.

*NO! He is OURS! Don't you dare!*

The words wouldn't come. My mouth moved but nothing came out.

Damon's eyes narrowed. "Say it."

"I..." I choked on the words. "I can't."

"You can't?" His voice dropped dangerously low. "Or you won't?"

"My wolf won't let me," I whispered.

He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging in hard. The touch sent sparks across my skin despite everything. The mate bond was still there, damaged but not broken, screaming at us to stop this.

"Listen to me carefully," he said, his face inches from mine. "I don't want you. I will never want you. You're an embarrassment. A mistake. The sooner you accept that, the better."

He released me and stepped back.

"Someone get the pack witch," he ordered. "If she won't accept the rejection willingly, we'll find another way to sever this bond."

"That won't be necessary."

The silver-haired stranger's voice cut through the tension like a blade. He moved through the crowd with liquid grace, and people scrambled to get out of his way.

Up close, he was even more striking. Tall and powerful with an ancient quality to him that made my skin prickle. Those golden eyes softened when they landed on me.

"Who the hell are you?" Damon demanded.

"Kai Thorne." He said it simply, but the name made several people gasp. "And you just made a grave mistake, young Alpha."

"This doesn't concern you."

"It concerns me very much." Kai's gaze never left mine. "She's my mate too."

The ballroom erupted.

"Impossible!"

"Two mates?"

"That's never happened!"

Vivian's scream was the loudest. "This is insane! She can't have two mates! She's nobody!"

But Kai ignored everyone except me. He stepped closer, and I could feel his bond too. It was different from Damon's. Warmer. Steadier. Like coming home.

"You're in pain," he said softly. "The incomplete rejection is hurting you."

I nodded, not trusting my voice. The torn bond with Damon felt like fire in my veins.

"I can help." He reached out slowly, giving me time to pull away. When I didn't, his hand cupped my cheek. The touch was gentle and sent a different kind of warmth through me. "Come with me. Let me protect you."

"She's not going anywhere," Damon growled.

"You just rejected her in the cruelest way possible in front of your entire pack," Kai said, his voice turning hard. "You have no claim on her anymore."

"The rejection isn't complete."

"Because her wolf is smarter than she is." Kai's thumb stroked my cheekbone softly. "She knows what you are. A coward who cares more about appearance than the sacred gift the Moon Goddess gave him."

Damon's face flushed with anger. "You don't know anything about me or my pack."

"I know enough." Kai turned back to me. "What's your name?"

"Aurora," I whispered.

"Aurora." He said it like it was precious. "You don't have to stay here. You don't have to endure this humiliation. Come with me. I'll take you somewhere safe."

It was tempting. So tempting.

But this was my pack. My home. Despite everything.

"I can't just leave," I said.

"Why not?"

"She's bound by pack law," Uncle Marcus spoke up, his eyes gleaming with something dark. "She can't leave Crescent Moon territory without the Alpha's permission."

Kai's expression turned dangerous. "Is that true?"

Damon's jaw clenched. For a moment, something that looked like conflict crossed his face. Then it was gone.

"Yes," he said coldly. "She stays."

"Even though you rejected her?"

"The rejection isn't complete. Until it is, she's still technically pack. And I don't grant permission for her to leave."

"You're really going to keep her here? After what you just did to her?" Kai's voice was deadly quiet now.

"What I do with my pack members is none of your business." Damon stepped closer, getting in Kai's face. Two powerful males, both pulling at me through separate bonds. "Now I suggest you leave before I have you removed."

The air crackled with tension. Violence felt inevitable.

"Stop," I said quietly. Then louder. "Stop. Both of you."

They both turned to me.

"I need..." My voice cracked. The pain from the damaged bond was getting worse. "I need to go. Please. Just let me go."

"Where?" Uncle Marcus asked sharply.

"Anywhere. Away from here. I can't..." The room started spinning. "I can't breathe."

"She's going into shock," Kai said urgently. "The bond rejection is too much for her body."

"Aurora!" Esme's voice cut through the crowd. She rushed to my side, her face pale. "Child, you need to sit down."

But I couldn't sit. Couldn't stay. Couldn't exist in this room one more second with three hundred people staring at me like I was a circus act.

I ran.

Through the crowd, out of the ballroom, down the stairs. Behind me, I heard shouting. Footsteps. But I didn't stop.

I burst through the front doors and into the night. The cold air hit my face as I ran across the lawn toward the forest.

"Aurora, stop!" Kai's voice. Close behind me.

I didn't stop. I ran into the trees, my stupid servant shoes slipping on wet leaves. My chest burned. My whole body burned.

Behind me, I heard Uncle Marcus's voice, cold and calculating. "Let her go. She won't get far."

But I was already gone.

Deep into the forest where no one could see me break.