2| Rejection.

The Alpha King was my mate!

The best thing that had ever happened to me in my twenty years of life. The moon goddess didn’t hate me after all.

The mate bond was as they said. So beautiful, pure, and extremely strong. I felt like I was being pulled by a magnetic force, and all I wanted to do was bury myself in his arms. The Alpha King’s arms.

I had been dreaming of a day like this to come—a day I'd finally be free from the loneliness and misery I was enveloped in. The day I’ll find someone who’ll love, cherish, and protect me at all costs. The day I’ll find my mate.

And he wasn’t just anyone. He was Alpha King Maximus. King of the seven kingdoms in the north. Aren’t I just the luckiest?

“An Omega?!” His voice echoed through the hallway, and the disappointment laced in his voice was palpable. “The moon goddess has got to be kidding me.”

Before the bat of an eye, he was already next to me, his large palm seizing my neck and pushing me violently to the wall. I struggled to breathe, gasping for air, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Who are you?!” He growled, baring his canines with his eyes glowing red.

“Starlette.” I choked out. “Starlette Cromwell.”

“The breeder.” He remarked. The murderous glare flicking in his eyes swept over me from head to toe.

I began to feel faint as the oxygen supply to my head diminished. I couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Please.” I choked out, begging him to release his grip on my neck before I gave up the ghost.

Suddenly, he withdrew his hand from my neck, and I collapsed on the floor, coughing repeatedly. I took my hand to my neck and massaged it, hoping to relieve the pain.

“Look here, worthless wolf.” He growled.

I whimpered as I hoisted my head up, my eyes welling up with tears.

“Let’s get things straight. I would never mark you. You can never be my Luna.” He declared, his voice holding unwavering finality.

Tears blurred my vision, and I clutched my chest, feeling his poison-laced words strike my heart, tearing it into multiple pieces. Just when I thought I had found someone who would free me from the misery I was engulfed in, my hope was crushed.

My world felt like it was crumbling. All over again.

“Just give me my pups, and after then, I, Alpha Maximus Northwood of the Royal Crest Pack, King of the Seven Northern Kingdoms, will reject you as my mate.” He pressed on, crushing my heart even further.

The swirl of pain bubbling through my body was nothing like I had ever felt before. It was so intense. So soul-wrenching. It felt like life had been sucked out of me.

If I could feel so much pain at the threat of being rejected, what would the actual rejection feel like?

My wolf, Iris, was in pain as well, rambling in my mind and howling in intense pain. Our mate hurt us. Deeply.

“Please!” I pleaded, the words escaping my lips before I could even stop them.

“Please what?” His eyes narrowed.

I didn’t know. I just wanted the pain to stop. It was too unbearable for my weak form.

“Look here; this should remain between the two of us. No one. I repeat. No one must hear that you are my mate. After giving me what I want, I’ll reject you, and you’ll be on your way. Easy peasy.” The words slipped off his mouth easily, without a care in the world.

“There he is. The love of my life.” A familiar feminine voice suddenly beamed from a distance, and I turned to see the blonde she-wolf from earlier scurrying towards us.

“Lauren. My love.” Alpha Maximus’s countenance suddenly softened as he addressed her, his lips quirking up into a smile.

“I can see that you’ve met the breeder.” She remarked, wrapping her hands around his arm loosely.

“Yes.” He simply replied.

“Guess what your so-called breeder did to me?” She turned to look at me, a knowing smirk touching her lips.

Before the Alpha King could reply to her, she continued with the accusation. “When she found out that I was your girlfriend, she pulled my hair so hard that I fell on my butt.”

What? My eyes narrowed as I gazed at her in disbelief.

Rolling her eyes, she scoffed. “She’s crazy.”

“I—I—I didn’t.” I stammered, too stunned to form a coherent sentence.

I turned to look at Alpha Maximus, and the scowl saturating his features as he glared at me caused fear to crawl up my spine.

“She’s lying.” I quickly defended myself.

I had expected him to shout out at me or punish me for laying hands on his lover as accused, but surprisingly, he didn’t.

Instead, he wrapped his arm around her waist, blowing out a sharp breath as he flicked his gaze at her. “Let’s leave here, babe.”

“What?!” Lauren batted her lashes, confusion saturating her features as he flung her head to the side to look at him. “Didn’t you hear what I said? She pulled my hair until I tripped to the ground.”

“I heard.” He sighed, glancing at me briefly before returning his gaze to her. “She’s just a stupid Omega, My Love. She’s not worth your time.”

Lauren gritted her teeth, shooting a malicious glare at me before suddenly darting her gaze at Maximus.

Standing on her tiptoe, she planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “You’re right, baby. She’s not worth my time.”

Returning her gaze to me, she flashed me a wicked smile.

“Let’s leave here.” He urged, seeming uncomfortable as he started walking away from me.

“Alright darling.” Lauren flashed me another wicked smile before promptly following him.

I couldn’t take it. Any of this. It was too much for me. Staying here would be torture worse than hell. I had to leave. And I had to do that while I still could.

Not many people knew me in the pack, so leaving shouldn’t be much of a hassle.

Running away from my mate would hurt as hell, but he had already threatened to reject me anyway. So it was baseless fighting for a lost cause.

I saw the way he looked at Lauren. The way his features promptly softened when he saw her. I should have been the only one he looked at like that. But apparently, that wasn’t the case.

If I decided to stay, I’d be emotionally tortured until I wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. I would become a breeding machine while I watched my mate fuck another woman.

No. I couldn’t live like that. Becoming a rogue was a better fate.

I promptly picked myself up from the ground and began to walk through the pack house, hoping no one would stop me. Luckily, until I made it outside, no one did.

As soon as I stepped outside, I began to run through the woods as fast as my legs could carry me. Without looking back.

My wolf howled in my head, demanding we stay with our mate.

“Didn’t you see what happened back there? He’ll never love us. He hates us, Iris. We can’t live like that.” I explained to her as I continued running on my feet.

“What if he changes his mind?” Iris continued to protest.

“He wouldn’t. Now, please, help us escape this place."

In a split second, she listened to my demand, and all the two hundred and six bones in my body cracked at once, unleashing the beast within me.

Turning to my wolf form made it easier and faster to run. Though Iris was not in complete support of us running, she just had to trust me.

I hadn’t made it far enough when the sounds of dry leaves crushing, followed by heavy thuds, suddenly started sounding from behind, indicating that we had been followed.

“Iris, faster.” I urged as panic washed through me.

But all attempts to run faster were futile as a larger and much more powerful beast leaped over us and spiralled to face us, baring its canines.

Fear gripped me by the throat, and a chilling shiver crawled up my spine.

He didn’t need to be in his humanoid form for me to know who it was. The power and the strong, intoxicating scent he exuded spoke for themselves.

I was utterly and royally screwed.