LOGINShare
Public Rejection
Last Updated:
2025-08-07 00:27:23Chapter 10
Public Rejection
POV: Adelina McKenna
They say fate can’t be broken.
That the bond, once ignited, is forever.
But I learned that day beneath the torches of the Circle, with a hundred eyes burning into me that even destiny can be manipulated.
Even fate can be twisted.
Even love, when placed in the wrong hands, becomes a weapon.
It should have been a victory.
After standing my ground before the Council. After Dax took my hand in front of his entire pack. After the bond flared like the moon itself had blessed us.
For one beautiful, impossible moment, I thought it was over.
That I’d found my place. That the worst was behind us.
But wolves don’t forget challenges.
And those who feared what I represented… had been planning longer than I’d known.
It happened two days later.
The Silver Fang Council called a “formal proclamation.” Not a ceremony. Not a celebration.
A proclamation.
Cold. Legal. Final.
I should’ve known something was wrong when Maren refused to look me in the eye that morning.
She delivered a ceremonial cloak deep indigo, trimmed in silver.
“Wear this,” she said, voice clipped. “No jewelry. No weapons.”
“Weapons?” I echoed. “Why would I need ”
“Don’t be late,” she said and walked out before I could finish.
The air in my chest turned to frost.
When I arrived at the central courtyard, the pack had already gathered.
The space was wide and open, stone flags stretching in every direction. Torches lined the outer walls. A raised stone platform stood in the center, where the Council sat like judges at an execution.
Dax was already there.
His shoulders square. His face unreadable.
But his scent…
It was wrong.
Something was off. Muted. Distant.
The bond between us didn’t flare. It pulsed weakly, like a candle about to gutter.
I stepped into the circle, cloak fluttering behind me, every nerve on edge.
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
“She’s really here…”
“Didn’t think she’d show.”
“She doesn’t know.”
Didn’t know what?
The Council leader stood.
“Two days ago, Alpha Daxon Reyes acknowledged a fated bond,” she began. “Tonight, by ancient rite and pack law, that bond will either be sealed… or sundered.”
My stomach dropped.
Sundered?
I looked to Dax, heart racing.
He still wouldn’t meet my eyes.
The Councilwoman continued, “A formal challenge has been raised by members of the high bloodline council. The claim to Luna status is hereby contested due to inconsistencies in lineage verification and lack of ancestral witness.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“You have no surviving pack,” she said. “No sponsor. No Alpha family to defend your blood.”
Caleb stood from the outer circle. “That’s not true—”
“Silence,” barked another councilman.
“This is a violation of her rights!” Caleb snarled.
“She has no rights here,” the Councilwoman said smoothly. “Not yet.”
My wolf surged against my skin.
Fight.
But I couldn’t move.
Because Dax…
He still said nothing.
Not a single word.
“Alpha Reyes,” the Councilwoman said. “You now have the opportunity to uphold your claim and name Adelina McKenna as Luna of the Silver Fang pack…”
The crowd held its breath.
I did too.
Dax turned to me.
And I saw it.
The guilt. The conflict. The pain.
And the fear.
He opened his mouth.
And spoke six words I will never forget.
“I reject the bond. By law.”
Gasps exploded.
The crowd roared.
My body went still.
But my soul…
It shattered.
The silence afterward was worse than the noise.
The Councilwoman nodded.
“So noted. The bond is severed.”
The phrase echoed inside my skull.
Severed.
Severed.
SEVERED.
Pain ripped through my chest like claws. My vision blurred. The world tilted.
My wolf screamed.
I fell to my knees.
It wasn’t just emotional.
It was physical.
The mate bond doesn’t vanish quietly.
It breaks like bone.
Splinters like glass.
One moment, I was tethered to Daxon Reyes by something eternal.
The next, it was gone.
Ripped from me.
I gasped, choking, my fingers clawing at the stone beneath me as the agony flooded my body.
My heart spasmed. My blood turned to fire. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t shift.
I couldn’t feel.
And still, Dax stood above me.
Unmoving.
Unflinching.
Untouched.
Caleb was the only one who ran to me.
He broke from the circle, dropped to his knees, and wrapped his arms around me as I convulsed.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely. “I’ve got you.”
His voice was a lifeline in the chaos.
But even he couldn’t stop what was happening.
The mate bond had been torn.
And I wasn’t ready.
They left me on the ground.
The Council rose and filed out like they’d just finished an opera. The pack dispersed in tight knots, whispering and glancing over their shoulders.
Dax walked away without a word.
And I bloodied, breathless, broken watched him go.
That was the moment my love died.
And something else was born in its place.
Back in my room, I lay curled on the floor for hours.
Caleb had carried me there, silent and furious.
He didn’t try to make excuses for Dax.
He didn’t tell me it was a misunderstanding.
He just stayed.
Guarded the door.
Let me fall apart.
Sometime around dawn, I rose on shaking legs.
Tore off the ceremonial cloak.
And dressed in jeans, boots, and my father’s pendant.
The pain was still there.
The betrayal still burned.
But beneath it all… something had shifted.
Something cold.
Something sharp.
I wasn’t here to be chosen anymore.
I was here to survive.
And soon…
To reclaim.
Latest chapter
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM An Unspoken Name
Chapter 27 An Unspoken NameThe moon hung low that night, a pale coin suspended in the darkness, glinting off the frost that crept across the eaves of the cabin. I could smell the forest stretching for miles, heavy with pine and wet earth, yet there was something else threading through the air a scent that twisted in my gut, familiar and unwelcome. It was faint, like the memory of smoke after a fireI had been at the desk for hours, hunched over the scraps of parchment and digital files I’d been given by the Seer’s courier, cross-referencing them with the journal my mother had hidden for me. Every page smelled faintly of lavender and old paper. My eyes burned from staring at the curling script, but the words were stubborn, like they knew I wasn’t ready for them yet.It all kept circling back to one entry, written in my mother’s neat, deliberate hand. A warning. A name partially blotted out by a spill, or maybe erased on purpose. Only the first letter remained: C.It shouldn’t have me
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM Lux's Light
Chapter 26 Lux’s LightThe camp was quieter than I’d ever heard it.Not peaceful never that but the kind of quiet that comes when exhaustion drapes itself over every living thing. The fight was over, but its echoes clung to us: the metallic tang of blood, the acrid stench of gunpowder, and the low, ragged breathing of those too injured to move.I sat on the edge of my tent, staring at my hands. The mark on my palm had faded back to its pale silver etching, but I could still feel its heat lingering under my skin. It was the same heat I’d felt during the fight an impossible, guiding warmth that had pulled me away from death more than once.It was the same warmth I felt when I thought of her.Lux.The WoundedGarrick came up behind me, his voice a rough scrape. “We’ve moved the injured to the north alcove. Miri’s tending to them. Two more might not make it through the night.”I stood, the weight in his words sinking into my bones. “Take me there.”We walked across the camp, the ground s
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM Discovery of the Seal
Chapter 25Discovery of the SealPOV: ADELINAThe deeper we walked into the tomb beneath what remained of the Ember Shrine, the colder the magic became.This place wasn’t just dead it was sealed. Shut tight by something ancient. Older than Hollow Moon. Older than the Council. Maybe even older than the Flameborn themselves.The air was heavy with static and silence. Every breath echoed. Every step felt like trespass.“Still think this was a good idea?” Caleb whispered, brushing cobwebs off an archway carved with runes neither of us could read.“No,” I said. “But it feels like a necessary one.”Asha trailed behind us, sword drawn, eyes alert. She didn’t speak. Her silence was its own kind of trust or warning. I hadn’t decided which yet.The shrine had once been a place of lunar offerings. That much was clear from the stone rings, the dried moonroot vines hanging from the corners, and the central pit that led down into the underchambers, where Matrons once came to bury their relics.This
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM Digging Through Files
Chapter 24"Digging Through Files" POV : Adelina)It started with a smell.Old paper. Burned corners. Mold that had grown over memory.Caleb pried open the rusted cabinet door with the back of his knife, and the scent hit me all at once. Like wet dust in a mausoleum. Like truth buried in rot.We were deep beneath the old Crescent Fang embassy once a neutral stronghold, now abandoned since the Council’s collapse began trickling from within. I’d only heard rumors that archives still remained. That not everything had burned when the rebellion sparked.But now, here we were.Lit only by a flickering lantern, standing in the belly of what looked like a council sub-record room that had been intentionally sealed. No magic wards. Just human methods bricks, rust, chains.That meant someone had wanted it forgotten, not destroyed.Which made me even more certain we were in the right place.“We don’t have long,” Caleb said, his voice low. “We hit two old alarms when we came through the eastern c
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM Sylvia's Cold Truth
Chapter 23 Sylvia’s Cold Truth POV: SYLVIA The world looked better from above.Sylvia Reyes had always known that.From the east-facing terrace of the Silver Fang estate, Aspen sprawled below her like a docile pet gleaming rooftops, ribboning streets, and, beyond it all, the jagged winter peaks. This high up, the air was thin and biting, but it sharpened her mind.A cup of perfectly brewed black tea steamed in her hands. She let it warm her fingers, even as the rest of her body sat poised, unyielding, in the tall-backed chair.Control the view, she thought. Control the game.The Silence Between Mother and SonDaxon hadn’t spoken to her in three days.Not since their last argument in the council chamber, when he’d dared to accuse her of manipulating the pack’s archives. He had stood there in front of the elders her son, her heir and all but called her a liar.In some ways, Sylvia almost admired his courage. He’d inherited that streak of steel from her.But he hadn’t yet learned the
THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM Sleepless Alpha
Chapter 22Sleepless AlphaPOV: DAXONI hadn’t slept in three days.Not real sleep. Just flashes. Fractured images. The kind that haunted more than they healed.Adelina.Her face, bloodstained and defiant.Her scream when I said the words.Her silence when she vanished.The mark that appeared beneath her skin fire kissed, ancestral.And now… the reports.Whispers carried by wind and fear.The Ritual Circle had flared to life for the first time in a century.Flames had risen.A new crest never seen before burned into sacred stone.A Luna had risen.And she wasn’t mine.I stood on the balcony of the safehouse in Red Ridge, looking out over dead pine and silver clouds. The mountains should have been beautiful tonight, but they felt like a cage.They used to say I had a wolf that never slept. That I was built for war, not love. That I carried the old blood.They were wrong.I wasn’t sleepless because I was strong.I was sleepless because I couldn’t outrun what I’d done.Caleb found me bef
You may also like
Mapula-The Rain Queen
Lady Tamia17.1K viewsMe And a Vampire
Sheenzafar15.2K viewsBride of the Vampire Lord
jobless.dreamer46.8K viewsFreya Rose Book One ~ Adored By An Alpha
L.P. Dillon57.9K viewsThe Vampire's Desire
Deborah1.5K viewsThe Vampire King
Zhavia brook3.4K viewsSearch for the Three Drops of Blood
ATua4.3K viewsCaptured by Florest
K. pearl1.7K views
