Rejected Before The Rejection

Bella's POV

The last candle flame burned out.

I was still seated beneath the rooftop pavilion, waiting for my alpha mate to join me for the dinner I had prepared, wanting to celebrate our third anniversary together.

"He's not coming, Bella. Five hours have already passed since you started sending for him."

The voice came from behind me. It was Sumi, my best friend.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before slowly rising to my feet and walking toward her.

"Let's leave," I managed to mutter.

"Jaxon is merely busy with pack duties and forgot to join me. He loves me. I'm his mate," I defended.

Even I knew those were nothing more than empty words I was using to console myself, trying to ease the humiliation of waiting for him outside in the freezing cold for hours without a single response.

Within minutes, I was already back in my chambers, the warmth of the room slowly reaching the skin that had nearly turned numb from the bitter cold outside.

A knock sounded the moment I stepped inside, and two servant girls walked in, carrying a decorated box between them.

My alpha husband loved me.

That was what I told myself as a smile spread across my face.

As the servants came farther into my chambers with the box still in their hands, I became certain that Jaxon, my mate, hadn't forgotten that today was our anniversary after all.

"Luna, Alpha Jaxon instructed us to bring these gifts over to you," one of the girls said.

I eagerly accepted the box, unable to hide the excitement on my face.

Inside lay a glittering wine-colored dress, and beside it rested a beautiful necklace.

Although the necklace was bare and hadn't been packaged, I excused it as a simple mistake.

He had been busy with pack duties as the Alpha of Moonstone Pack. Perhaps he had simply forgotten to tell the shop to package the necklace properly.

As I pulled the dress from the box, I immediately noticed it was slightly smaller than my size.

That was strange because Jaxon was supposed to know my measurements. We had been mates for three years, ever since I turned eighteen and the mate bond had snapped into place between us.

"Luna..." my friend's voice whispered as a folded piece of paper slipped from the dress.

I looked at her and noticed how quickly she bent down to hide it the moment she saw it.

"What is that?" I asked, but she hesitated.

"It's nothing, Bella," she forced out.

I could tell it wasn't merely nothing. Something was terribly wrong.

Sumi would never look at me like that, nor would she hide anything from me unless she was afraid of what it contained.

I stretched out my hand toward her until she reluctantly placed the folded paper into my palm.

"To the only woman I'd ever love, Peony. Accept these gifts as proof of my love and affection."

The dress slipped from my hands the instant I finished reading.

I couldn't believe the words before my eyes.

Jaxon had never bought gifts for me before. Nor had he ever spent money lavishly on me.

He always used the pack as an excuse, even though I had been the one who helped the pack rise to the heights it stood at today.

I had believed that three years by his side would be enough to make him see my worth, enough to make him finally accept me.

Yet three years later, the gifts I was receiving on our anniversary had been meant for my stepsister.

"Who sent you here?" I demanded, turning sharply toward the two servants who had brought the box.

The moment they noticed the change in my expression, as well as the dress now lying on the floor instead of in my hands, both women immediately dropped to their knees.

"Forgive us, Luna, but Alpha Jaxon truly was the one who ordered us to deliver the gifts!" one of them cried.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

"The gifts are clearly meant for Peony! Am I Peony? How dare you bring them here and lie through your teeth that they were meant for me?" I snapped.

"Bella..." Sumi called softly, trying to calm me before my anger consumed me.

"You're still not ready to speak?" I demanded again, no longer willing to stay calm. Not now. Not after being humiliated like this by nothing more than a mistaken delivery.

"Should I have the guards strip you of your jobs and throw you out of the pack?" I threatened.

"I'm sorry, Luna! Please forgive us! But the Alpha truly was the one who sent us to deliver the gifts to you."

"Yes, Luna, he was the one," the second servant hurried to add.

"The gifts had originally been meant for Lady Peony, but she didn't like the dress or the necklace. She advised the Alpha to send them to you instead as your anniversary gifts."

I nearly lost my footing as her words settled inside me.

"Get out!" I shouted.

The two servants rushed out of the room without another word.

The moment the door closed behind them, my tears came uncontrollably.

Three years had already passed.

Three years since I was the one who had been mated to Jaxon.

Then I had been just nineteen, the wolfless outcast of the pack, born from the beta's infidelity.

I carried that stain on my shoulders as though it were my fault that my father, Beta Maxwell, had forced himself on my mother, who had been nothing more than a servant.

I proved myself.

I helped Jaxon manage Moonstone Pack. My intelligence and wit over the past three years had placed Moonstone Pack on the map.

Many neighboring packs respected us and looked up to us.

I had believed all of that would finally be enough to make Jaxon accept me.

Instead, on the day of our third anniversary, after missing the dinner I had prepared for him, he humiliated me with gifts that had first been rejected by his mistress.

"What do you plan to do, Bella?" Sumi asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"With the way things are going, is Alpha Jaxon ever going to mark you?"

She hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Three years have passed, and he still hasn't. The priest said that if he marks you, you'll stand a chance of restoring your wolf. Three years have already passed, Bella. Are you sure he is ever going to?"

Her words stung, yet I couldn't deny them.

They were true.

I had believed my sacrifices for Moonstone Pack would make Jaxon recognize my worth, cherish me, and finally mark me before the entire pack as his rightful mate.

Yet after three years, I still had nothing.

"If Jaxon doesn't complete the mate bond tonight, Bella, you know the consequences are going to be severe. The mate bond itself is going to expire."

Another tear escaped despite my efforts to stop it.

The mate bond was the only thing still tying me to him, even if he had never truly wanted it.

And now, even that was slipping away.

With everything that had happened, was he ever going to mark me?

The question lingered in my mind, though deep down I already knew the answer.

It simply wasn't the one I wanted to accept.

Even so, I couldn't give up.

I couldn't bear losing the only man I had ever loved with everything inside me.

"I'll go and visit my father," I whispered as I slowly rose to my feet, forcing my trembling legs to obey me.

Sumi had been my greatest source of strength ever since I came of age.

I hated that, even now at twenty-one, I was still burdening her with my pain.

She nodded quietly before walking me to the entrance of my chambers.

Once outside, she let me leave alone for the beta's residence—the home of the man who was supposed to be my father.

Only a few minutes later, I arrived.

I had barely reached the door when voices drifted from inside.

"Bella needs to be quick about committing the crime, Paul," my father's voice said impatiently. "When are you going to bring in the servants who will accuse her of promiscuity? Peony isn't doing enough, and Jaxon needs to reject her today. Today is the final day, and you of all people should know the rules of the mate bond."

My entire body froze.

Without thinking twice, I shoved the door open.

The loud sound echoed through the room, immediately announcing my presence.

Neither my father nor Paul looked surprised.

It was as though I were nothing more than a stranger who had wandered into the room by mistake.

There wasn't a trace of guilt on either of their faces.

No panic.

No shame that I had overheard every single word they had spoken.

"What are you doing here?" Paul snapped, as though a daughter visiting her father was something I had no right to do.

"Do you ask Peony that every time she comes to visit Father from the West Hall?" I shot back.

Bitterness churned violently inside me.

He was the very one responsible for recruiting servants to accuse me of a crime I had never committed, all to force Jaxon into rejecting me.

"Peony is my sister, Bella," he scoffed. "My legitimate sister, born of beta blood. You're nothing more than an illegitimate urchin whose mother seduced Father. The fact that you're even allowed to bear our family name should make you grateful enough to stay silent whenever we're speaking."

Those words weren't new.

I had heard them for years.

When I was six, after my mother—who had spent years running away with me—died in a fire, Beta Maxwell finally took me into his home.

Acknowledging me as his daughter never meant accepting me.

I had only been brought into this house to become another servant.

His wife treated me like hired help.

My step-siblings treated me as though I ranked even lower.

I endured everything.

I clung to the hope that once I awakened my wolf, found my mate, and left this house, things would finally change.

But my wolf never awakened.

That alone was enough for Father to brand me a disgrace, worthless because traces of my mother's omega blood ran through my veins.

"Bella, dear," my father finally spoke, his voice disturbingly calm, pulling me from my thoughts. "When you return to the palace, you will request a rejection from Alpha Jaxon if you do not wish to be framed for infidelity. That is the only way you will be allowed to remain a member of this family."

I stared at him in disbelief, my lips parting without a single word leaving them.

After everything I had just overheard...

That was all he had to say.