Rejected in Winter

First-Person POV:

"Seraphina, it's been ten years." Axel Ravenscar's voice cut cold across the birthday celebration. "I gave you everything. I opened my heart to you and gave you a home, yet how did you repay me?"

He pointed at Vanessa Nightshade beside him, his hand trembling. "Just because I found my fated mate, you went and threw yourself at some Rogue on my birthday? You make me sick!"

"No! Axel!" I crawled toward him through my tears.

"I was set up! I opened my eyes and I was already there... Please, you have to believe me..."

"Believe you?" His eyes were bloodshot, but he laughed bitterly. He threw a stack of photos in my face.

The photos showed 'me' in the woods and in the stables, tangled up with different male wolves.

"No... These are fake... They were edited! Axel! I've never even been to these places!"

"Fake?" Axel descended the stairs step by step, closing in on me.

"When that intelligence leak got six of my best friends killed, the investigation pointed to you. You said the evidence was fake, and I believed you. Then, someone said you were meeting with outsiders. You called it a misunderstanding, and I believed that too!

"But just now, I walked into that lounge and saw you underneath that piece of garbage with my own eyes. Was that fake too? Do I need to catch you cheating a thousand more times before you'll finally admit what you are?"

"It's not true... None of it is true... I've loved you for ten years! I've never done anything to hurt you..." I threw caution to the wind and clung desperately to his legs.

"Love?" Axel let out a bitter laugh, like I had just told the world's funniest joke.

He pulled out the Luna crown studded with moonstones. That crown was the honor I had dreamed of my whole life.

I came from a decimated border pack, and Axel and I were not fated mates. For ten years, the Council of Elders constantly pressured us, but he always swore that he would put that crown on my head. He said true love could beat destiny.

Every birthday, he vowed to the Moon Goddess that in this life, he would only accept me as his Luna. However, as he stared at the crown at this moment, veins bulged on the back of his hand.

"I stood against the council's pressure for you. I was even ready to sever my fate bond with Vanessa and give you everything! And you? What did you give me? One hell of a betrayal!"

He swung his arm sharply, and the crown landed in Vanessa's hands.

"It's yours now," he said coldly.

My heart shattered. I thought his heart shattered too, only we shattered in two different places. Our hearts could never be pieced back together.

How ridiculous. He could stand against the whole world for me, so why would he not believe me one more time? Why, when I was being humiliated and violated—when I needed him most—did he stop believing in me?

All those promises of forever were destroyed by a few fake photos.

My chest burned, and tears kept streaming down.

"She still has the nerve to cry?"

"Cheating and then playing the victim. Pathetic."

The whispers around me grew louder. I used to carry myself with dignity and pride in front of everyone, never shedding a tear. Now, it was all over.

Vanessa smugly linked her arm through Axel's. "Axel, don't be like this... Maybe she just made a mistake. She came from a small pack, after all. She's used to running wild. And you've been spending so much time with me lately. She was probably just lonely..."

She sounded like she was defending me, but really, she was painting me as trash by nature.

"You're lying!" I jerked my head up and pointed at her. "That spiked drink came from you! You wanted to destroy what Axel and I had built over ten years so that you could swoop in as his fated mate! You have no shame!

"If you love him so much, where were you ten years ago when he was buried under a pile of dead wolves?"

"Enough!" Axel pulled Vanessa into his arms protectively. "You're filthy yourself, so you want to drag everyone else down with you? What gives you the right to compare yourself to Vanessa?

"She's kind-hearted. She wouldn't even hurt a fly. And you? A feral wolf from outside the pack who could never be tamed. Your blood is tainted.

"She may have come ten years late, but she's pure. She's better than you in every way! You can't even survive without throwing yourself at the nearest wolf!"

I froze. This was how he saw me?

"Axel..." My voice came out hoarse as I tried to reach him. "Is this really what our ten years mean to you? It's worth less than the one month she's been here? Fine... since you think she's so perfect, let me see if her heart is really as pure as you think it is!"

Rage took over. I lunged forward to claw Vanessa's face, but before I could touch her, Axel kicked me hard. I slammed into a pillar and crumpled to the ground. A sharp pain tore through my stomach.