The Alpha’s Rejection

Maya's POV

“Yes, Alpha… you’re so big. Make me yours again.”

Chloe’s high-pitched, shameless moans pierced through the heavy wooden door of the master chambers, driving straight into my chest like splinters of crushed ice. I stood completely motionless in the fortress’s icy hallway, my numb fingers gripping the rough handle of the heavy wooden bucket I held in my trembling hands. The gray, soapy water inside swayed gently, reflecting the dimness of a place that was supposed to be my home but had become my own prison of punishment.

Through the mystical bond of our union, a connection that the Moon Goddess had carved into my soul on the day I turned eighteen, I could feel every rapid heartbeat of Hunter. I could feel the friction of his skin, the suffocating heat of his arousal, and, above all, the absolute contempt he sent me like blasts of icy wind through our mental connection. He knew perfectly well that I was standing outside. He knew that his fated mate, the woman destiny had chosen to rule by his side, was silently listening as he devoured another she-wolf in his bed.

To Hunter, I was not a companion, nor an equal. I was nothing but a damned mistake of nature. A defective she-wolf born without an inner wolf, a useless orphan with overly wide hips, thick thighs, and a curvy figure that did not fit the beauty standards of the elite warriors. In the halls of Silver Moon, my only apparent purpose was to scrub the stone floors, carry heavy sacks of flour in the kitchen, and eat the cold leftovers everyone else left behind on their plates. A strong, slender, ruthless Luna like Chloe was what the pack demanded—not a fat servant who only wasted space and supplies.

The violent creak of the door flying open made me step back on pure instinct. Hunter appeared in the doorway wearing nothing but his black combat trousers. His muscular, tanned torso was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and his blue eyes, which had once looked at me with the warmth of childhood, were now clouded with superiority and disgust. Behind him, Chloe emerged with a feline stride, wearing one of Hunter’s silk shirts that barely covered her slender thighs, looking at me with a sadistic smile of pure triumph.

“What a shame you always smell like cheap kitchen grease and mud, Maya,” Chloe mocked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorframe. “It’s a genuine miracle the Alpha hasn’t banished you to the wastelands to starve to death yet. Just look at yourself. You’re pathetic.”

Hunter took one step forward, and the crushing pressure of his Supreme Alpha aura fell upon my shoulders like a slab of lead, forcing me to hold my breath. The air in the hallway became dense and suffocating, designed to force me to my knees. There was not a trace of guilt in his eyes, not the slightest hint of remorse for the betrayal he had just committed. There was only the cold determination to rid himself of what he considered a stain on his reputation.

“I’m tired of seeing your presence getting in the way in the halls of my palace, Maya,” Hunter declared, his commanding voice echoing through the ceiling beams, carrying a mystical vibration that struck me directly in the stomach. “Your father owed this pack far too much before he disappeared at the border, and you’ve worked like a slave long enough to repay that so-called blood debt. I don’t want you here. I, Alpha Hunter of the Silver Moon Pack, formally reject you as my fated mate and as a member of my pack.”

A choked, heart-wrenching gasp escaped my lips the very instant a stab of physical pain, so violent it made me see stars, split my heart in two. It felt as though an invisible claw plunged into my chest and ripped the mystical bond out by the roots, leaving behind an icy, bleeding void that made me stagger. My sturdy legs buckled, threatening to send me crashing onto the cold stone floor, but I forced myself to swallow the scream of agony fighting to escape my throat.

“From this very second onward, you are nothing to me but a nameless rogue,” Hunter continued, arching an eyebrow as he savored the pallor of my face. “You have until the first ray of dawn touches the walls to get off my lands with nothing but the clothes on your back. If my trackers find you wandering around after that, I’ll order them to hunt you down like the defenseless, useless animal you are.”

Chloe let out a shrill little laugh and, taking a quick step forward, stretched out the tip of her elegant shoe. With one sharp, perfectly calculated movement, she kicked the base of my wooden bucket. The impact overturned it completely, spilling all the gray, soapy, foul-smelling water across the marble floor I had spent three hours cleaning. The filthy liquid splashed over my worn boots and soaked the hem of my patched dress, covering me in grime right in front of them.

“Oops, how clumsy of me! My foot slipped,” the harpy pretended, casually adjusting a strand of her hair. “Pick up your trash right now and get out of our sight, you useless fat cow. No one is going to miss your deformed curves in this pack.”

Hunter turned away without giving me one last glance, closing the bedroom door behind him to return to his lover’s arms. They expected me to break down crying on the floor, to beg on my knees for them not to take away my shelter or to spare my life. But instead, the searing pain in my chest began to transform into a cold, dense, solid fury as unyielding as blessed steel.

I wiped my trembling hands on my dirty apron, straightened my back with majestic slowness, and fixed Chloe with a stare so icy and so laden with an unspoken promise of destruction that the harpy’s smile vanished instantly as she took a step backward toward the safety of the room.

Without uttering a single word of apology, I turned around and walked with firm, flawless steps toward the dark basement stairs. Hunter thought he had gotten rid of a simple, troublesome servant, but in his damned ignorance, the Alpha had just broken the chains that had been holding back an Empress.

His worst nightmare had only just begun.