Chapter 6. A rejection.

**Stella's POV**

When I wake up, it's morning and everything hurts.

My head throbs, my cheek burns where he hit me and my throat aches where his fingers wrapped around it.

I try to sit up and immediately regret it. The room spins, and nausea rolls through me.

Where am I?

I blink, trying to focus. The room is small and plain. A single bed. A small dresser. One window with thin curtains.

That is when I realize I'm in the servants' quarters.

He actually did it. He moved me while I was unconscious.

I push myself up slowly, ignoring the way my vision blurs at the edges. I need to find Maya. I need to talk to her. Make her understand that Sabrina is lying to her.

If I can just get Maya to see the truth, maybe I can convince her to leave together.

It's a desperate plan.

But it's all I have.

I gather my strength and wobble out of the tiny room to find Maya in the playroom upstairs. She's sitting on the floor with her dolls, humming to herself.

"Hey, Maya, sweetheart." I kneel down beside her, wincing at the pain in my head. "Can we talk?"

She looks up at me, cold and assessing. "What do you want?" she asks nonchalantly.

The tone makes my chest ache. She sounds like a tiny adult. Like Sabrina. But I ignore it. She is my daughter. She must listen to me...

"I want to talk to you about... about what's been happening." I reach for her hand, but she pulls away. "Maya, you know Mommy loves you, right?"

"You're not my mommy." She says it so matter-of-factly, like she's stating a simple truth. "Mommy Sabrina is my real mommy now."

What?!

For a moment, it feels like my heart has been shredded into pieces all over again. But I force myself to stay calm. I don’t have the luxury to break down—not when Cole could walk in and find me here any second.

I move closer to Maya, swallowing the ache burning my throat.

"No, baby," I whisper, trying to keep my voice steady. "I am your only mommy. I'm the one who carried you inside me… who brought you into this world." My voice trembles despite my effort. "I'm the one who's loved you every single day of your life."

"Stop lying to me. You're embarrassing yourself like yesterday." Maya returns to her dolls. "Sabrina says a real mommy won't cry in front of their pups like you did yesterday."

"Maya, please—"

"And Daddy says you're weak." She arranges one of the dolls carefully. "He says I shouldn't be like you when I grow up."

When did Cole and Sabrina turn my daughter against me? I try to swallow but each word is a knife in my throat. I can't.

"Who told you to say these things?" I ask just to confirm my suspicions. "Who's been teaching you to—"

"Nobody told me." She looks up at me with those cold, cold eyes. "I just know. You're embarrassing. You're not suited to be Luna. Mommy Sabrina is better."

"Maya—"

"I hate you." She says it so simply and easily. "I wish you weren't my mommy."

Something inside me shatters. I feel numb and angry at the same time.

"Maya, please don't say that—"

"What's going on here?"

I freeze because Cole is standing in the doorway, his arms crossed.

"Daddy!" Maya jumps up and runs to him. "Mommy was bothering me."

"I wasn't—" I start, but Cole's look silences me.

I catch Maya's eye and shake my head slightly. Please don't tell him. Please.

But she's already talking.

"She was trying to make me leave with her," Maya says. "She said Mommy Sabrina is a bad influence and that we should run away together."

Cole's expression darkens.

"Maya," he says quietly. "Go to your room."

"But Daddy—"

"Now."

She pouts but obeys, shooting me one last hateful look before disappearing down the hall.

Cole steps into the playroom and closes the door behind him.

The click of the lock makes my heart race.

"I warned you," he says softly.

"Cole, I just wanted to talk to her—"

"I warned you not to try to take my pups."

"I wasn't—"

"You were trying to manipulate her." His voice is deadly calm. "Trying to poison her against Sabrina. Against me."

"No—"

"If you ever—" He moves toward me, and I scramble backward until I hit the wall. "If you ever try something like that again, I will cut your tongue out. Slowly. Painfully. Do you understand?"

I can't speak. I can only nod.

"I can't hear you."

"Yes." The word comes out strangled. "Yes, I understand."

"Good." He turns to leave, then pauses at the door. "Sabrina is moving in tonight. I expect you to stay in the servants' quarters. Out of sight. Out of the way."

"Cole—"

But he's already gone like the wind... I can't believe I can't believe I love this man...

---

That evening comes quickly, I watch from the servants' quarters window as Sabrina's car pulls into the driveway.

She steps out dressed in a sexy two piece red pant suit, laughing at something Cole says. He wraps his arm around her waist—the way he used to hold me—and leads her into our house.

Suddenly something in me just give up.

Enough is enough. I can't stand this torture anymore. And so I make my decision.

If Cole won't reject me to spare me all this drama, I'll reject him.

I don't care if it kills me. I don't care about anything anymore.

I just want this pain to stop.

I walk through the house, my bare feet silent on the cold floors. I pass the playroom where Maya's dolls are still scattered. Pass Noah's nursery where he's sleeping peacefully, unaware that his mother is about to break.

I find Cole in the living room, pouring himself a drink. Sabrina is curled up on the couch beside him, her hand on his thigh.

They both look up when I walk in.

"Stella." Cole's voice is annoyed. "I thought I told you to stay in the servants' quarters."

"Yes you did but first I, Stella Matthews of crescent hollow," I say clearly, my voice surprisingly steady, "reject you, Alpha Cole Grant, as my mate and Alpha."

The room goes silent.

Cole stares at me for a long moment.

Then he laughs.

"You're serious?" He sets down his drink. "You're actually serious?"

"Yes."

"You know this will kill you."

"I don't care."

He studies me, something like surprise flickering in his eyes. Then he shrugs.

"Fine." He stands, walking toward me. "If that's what you want."

He stops in front of me, so close I can smell Sabrina's perfume on his clothes.

"I, Cole Grant," he says slowly, "accept your rejection, Stella Matthews."

The bond snaps and it doesn't break gently. It explodes pain through my chest—sharp and searing and all-consuming. It feels like someone reached into my chest and ripped out my heart with their bare hands.

I can't breathe.

Can't think.

Can't do anything but scream.

My knees hit the floor. My hands claw at my chest, trying to stop the pain, but it's everywhere. In every nerve. Every cell.

'Stella!' Piper's voice is distant, panicked. 'Stella, hold on—'

But I can't.

The pain is too much.

Through the agony, I hear Sabrina laugh. "Well. That was dramatic."

"Clean this up when you are done being dramatic," Cole says dismissively. "I don't want you staining my carpet."

Staining the carpet?

I look down, stunned. Blood coats my hands and seeps through my shirt, dripping onto the floor one slow drop at a time.

When did I start bleeding?

"Cole..." I try to reach for him, but my arm won't move. "Cole, please..."

But he's already walking away, Sabrina on his arm.

The last thing I see before the darkness takes me is their backs as they climb the stairs together.

And then nothing.