The Alpha’s Mistake: Lila’s Rise from Rejection

LILA

"TYLER!" 

My scream echoed through the hallway like thunder before my palms flew to cover my lips. 

The wave of nausea I'd been feeling all day slammed into me as my whole body trembling, knocking the breath out of me. 

No... No... Tyler would never do this to me... No. 

My eyes, as much as it hurt, couldn't stop staring at the horrifying scene before me- my mate, Tyler, my boyfriend of two years, on the bed with my sister. A few seconds ago, they had been tangled under the sheets, their mouths locked. He didn't even look surprised, or sorry. 

"Shit!" Lyric gasped before pulling the sheet up to cover herself, but Tyler just looked at me, unbothered, like he'd been waiting for this moment. 

"Lia..." His deep, baritone voice carried across the room as he got out of bed, pulling up his briefs to hide his hard member. "You're not supposed to be here." 

He sounded like I was some kind of inconvenience and that sent me into an angry fit. 

"Not supposed to be here?" I whispered, my voice shaking. "I'm your fucking mate!" 

I took a shaky step inside, already a sobbing wreck. The air was thick with the smell of their affair. "Y-you said you loved me. You said I was the only one who ever saw the real you! You lied to me!" 

I let my angry eyes land on my sister. "How could you do this to me, Lyric! How could you?!" 

Her guilty eyes darted away and as much as she was blood, I wanted to wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze the life out of her. 

"Let's not do this right now, Lila. We can talk-" 

"No! I'm not leaving this place until you tell me what's going on?! You've been fucking my sister, and you want me to act like it's nothing." I shoved him in the chest, the tears pouring.

"Enough, Lila." 

"You don't get to tell me-" 

"Enough! I said enough!" He yelled so hard it sent a couple locks of my hair fluttering. 

His jaw was clenched so tight now and his eyes brimmed with latent danger. He stepped closer, and easily being a couple heads taller, his hulking figure made me cower.

Tyler would never do that. Tyler would never talk to me or yell at me like that. 

"You want to talk about it now?! Fine. You were a mistake, Lila. You were weak. You still are and I don't want you anymore!" 

My knees gave way, but I caught myself on the wall. "Tyler-" 

"Don't Tyler me!" 

Lyric stood from the bed, no longer looking guilty. She was now wearing that smug, victorious look she had on whenever she beat me at anything. 

"You were never good enough for him, sister. Everyone knows that." She said.

A searing pain twisted my heart like a dagger. "You're not my sister. My sister would never do this to me-" 

"Get out," Tyler cut me off sharply. His voice was like the snap of a whip. "We are done here. You always needed too much from me. And I'm done pretending I care." 

The rejection sent me staggering back as I gasped. My heart felt like it had ripped into a thousand pieces. My wolf whimpered inside me, as the rejection tore through her. 

"GUARDS!" Tyler called, glaring down at me with so much contempt and disgust. 

Almost immediately, two giants appeared at the doorway, ready to do his bidding. "Throw her out immediately and make sure she never sets a foot in the Packhouse again." 

"Tyler, please! I'm your mate.” I spoke in wheezed gulps, realising how damned I was. “Y-you can't do this-" 

The pain of the rejection blossomed across my chest again, sending the rest of my words down my throat. He turned away. He didn't even glance back. As I was being dragged out, the last thing I saw was Lyric smiling. When she came home that evening, I was outside, still shaking so bad anyone who saw me would've thought I was epileptic. 

That's when she walked in, hair tied up, her red lips beaming in victory. Before I could control myself, my wolf roared inside me, and I sprang to my feet before I could think. 

"You ruined everything!" I screamed and charged at her, grabbing her before she had a chance to defend herself. 

We both crashed to the ground, hands in each other's hair, fists flying. She hit me hard across the cheek but I struck back. I didn't care if she was my sister. She took from me, the one person that didn't see me as an anomaly. 

"Stop it!" I heard my father's voice boom behind like a thunderclap, before he grabbed me and hoisted me off. 

I sprang up, ready to attack a crying Lyric again but she was hiding behind him. I looked up to him, hoping for some support, for comfort.

"Have you lost your damn mind, Lila? Do you want to kill your sister?" 

I exploded. "Why? Why do you always take her side? You think I'm not justified if I kill her right now?!" I cried, my cheek bruised and my lips bleeding. 

His glare hardened. It was a cold, disgusted glare. Just like Tyler. 

"I'm only taking her side because the Pack priestess has seen it. Aethera said Lyric will lead the Crescent Moon Pack one day. So don't vent your spleen on her because she was born for greatness. Besides, she is the perfect match for the Alpha." 

His words obliterated every strength I had left. Why did he hate me so much? He always had. Since I failed to shift, he's always hated me, always chosen her over me. 

"So... I was never meant to be anything to you?" 

He didn't answer. Instead, he warned me sternly not to speak to Lyric before helping her inside while I was left to grapple with the reality of my situation. I stayed in the next morning, still shattered from the previous day's events. 

But Aethera, to my shock, came. I rushed to the window the moment I heard her chants and the clinking of tiny bells which were annexed to her dress. She floated more than she walked, wearing a long silver dress that shimmered as it caught the light of the sun. 

Her face was calm, but her eyes held the kind of power that stared into the rot of your soul. These disconcerting qualities, among many others, was why she was revered by all and sundry. 

I opened the door and let her in, not offering her anything because I was still angry. Her stupid prophecy made Tyler reject me. 

"Lila." She said the moment the door closed behind her. "You have been abandoned, but not by the goddess." 

My thick, raven-black brows came together in confusion but it wasn't surprising since she spoke in parables a lot. 

"You carry inside you a light. A new life. The life of a King." 

My jaw dropped. Was that what I thought it was? Or was it her way with words? 

"What..." I couldn't resist asking. "What did you say?" 

"You are with child, Lila. The blood of an Alpha runs strong in your womb. The goddess has spoken." 

Before I could ask more questions, she turned and hurried out in the same fashion she'd come in. 

I fell to my knees and my hands trembling as I held my stomach. "No... no, this can’t be happening..." 

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. I didn't want to be forced to live with him because I was carrying his child. I wanted to be with someone who really loved me, and wanted to be with me not because they were forced. 

Tyler, however, didn't love me anymore. I felt a storm inside me. Pain. Fear. Rage. How could I carry his child after what he did? Still, I knew I had to tell him, so I left to the Packhouse immediately. 

However, the guards stopped me at the gate. "Please, I need to see him. It's important." 

"You’re not allowed here," one of them said rather calmly, but the way his jaw ticked told me he would soon lose his patience. "It's about the Tyler. I swear- he needs to know!" 

"He gave us orders. You step one foot past this gate and we will hurt you. Don't make me do that, and address him like the King he is, he's no longer your lover." 

They weren't bluffing. One of them stepped back, as if daring me to take one step. But oh, that wasn't it. I could hear other guards, the ones watching the fort from above. 

"That's her... the weak twin." 

"Didn't he reject her?" 

"The girl's probably desperate. Who wouldn't be?" 

With the snide remarks came short bursts of laughter. The shame was unbearable. 

Unable to stand it anymore, I turned and ran, brimming with stultifying anger and pure rage. I couldn't stay in this Pack anymore. 

Not with Lyric smiling anytime she saw how devastated I was. Not when everyone looked at me with disdain, which would only get worse the moment they learned I was with child. Tyler would probably deny it, and they'd call me a whore.

The prospects were terrifying.

So I left. 

I packed a duffel bag that night, and the next day at midnight, I snuck out, and took a train to the Raven Pack, a neighbouring Pack. 

But deep inside, the pain still hurt. 

The wound still bled. Because no matter how far I ran... I was still Lila Green- the rejected, the weak. 

But not for long.