Chapter 2: The mate I shouldn’t have

AVIONNA’S POV

The first time I found my mate, I had been ecstatic.

The second time, I wanted to run.

That first night with Lucien had been the worst of my life-a night that rivaled the day I learned my mother had been sentenced to death for murdering the Luna of one of the most powerful and respected Alphas in existence.

According to the news report that covered the incident, the Saturn Pack Luna had undergone a complicated birthing procedure due to the rarity of Alpha Fabian’s bloodline. His family carried an ancient strain that made their wolves resistant to most modern medicines, making traditional healing methods necessary whenever they fell ill or were injured.

Wolves gifted with traditional healing abilities were employed to treat members of his family and my mother had been the most revered healer among them.

When complications arose during the Luna’s labour, my mother had been summoned to safely deliver the Alpha’s heir.

But something had gone terribly wrong.

And by the time it was over, the Luna was dead.

“Renowned healer, Elara Vale, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Hillary Draven, the Saturn Pack’s Luna…”

The report had been the beginning of the end of the life I knew.

That night, I’d laughed in disbelief, the same kind of laughter that later spilled past my lips when I found my mate the night of Ivy’s coming of age ceremony and he rejected me before hundreds of wolves from our Pack.

I always knew Lucien despised me, I just didn’t know he hated me enough to reject a sacred bond ordained by the Moon Goddess.

But he hadn’t hesitated.

“I, Lucien Kael of Crescent Pack, reject you Avionna Vale, as my mate. I reject our bond and sever all ties.”

The words spilled past his lips and the pain that followed was immediate.

“No!”

I clawed at my chest as the bond tore apart, the agony so intense that my knees nearly gave out.

Please…”

I looked towards my Father. “Dad please…make him stop…”

He was the Pack’s Gamma. Surely, the Alpha would listen to him but all my Dad did was sigh.

“You’re an Omega, Avionna,” he muttered simply, as if that explained everything.

Deep down, I knew Lucien wasn’t rejecting me just because I was an Omega. It was also because of my Mother’s crime, a sin I’d paid for my entire life.

And still, I hadn’t earned that forgiveness. Not from my Pack, and certainly not from my Dad who believed my Mother’s action had robbed him of the position of the Pack’s Beta. Alpha Kael had demoted him after the incident, as a further action of appeasement towards the Saturn Pack who wanted two lives to be exchanged for the two lives that had been taken.

As though Lucien rejecting me wasn’t enough, his girlfriend, Aubrey, had come looking for me that same night, flanked by her lackeys and my stepsister Ivy.

Aubrey was the new Beta’s daughter, and had grown up with everything at the tip of her fingers. Yet, for unknown reasons, she bore immense hatred for me.

They found me curled beneath a tree in the garden I’d run to, my arms tightly wrapped around my chest as though I could somehow hold myself together and ease the unbearable ache tearing through me.

“How dare you?!” Aubrey roared in fury, simultaneously cracking her fingers across my face.

“How dare you get mated to Lucien?”

“I didn’t choose him,” I whispered, lips quivering. “The Moon Goddess did.”

“Do you think that makes you innocent?” She hissed, yanking my hair back.

“You must have wanted him to pick you. You really thought he’d dump me for you? For the stupid bond?”

“Never! You hear me? That will never happen. Lucien belongs to me, he’s mine!”

“Avi…” Ivy’s voice reached me right after. “You should have known your place,” she smirked.

My own sister, the one person that should have taken my side, stood with her arms crossed, relishing Aubrey’s continuous slaps on my face while I laid there shivering, unable to fight back.

That night I realized something. This wasn’t really about Lucien. Aubrey was scared.

She could pretend she had won, but somewhere beneath all that anger was the fear that Lucien might one day regret rejecting me. That the bond would eventually pull him back toward me.

So, she did the only thing she knew best. She tortured and humiliated me, constantly reminding me that Lucien belonged to her.

It had taken three days for me to break. I went to my Father and threw myself at his feet.

“Dad, please…I’m begging you.”

“Please let me leave. I swear I’ll never come back. I’ll never show my face here again. I’ll…”

I begged him until my mouth went dry and just when I was at my wits’ end, he agreed.

“Fine, you can leave. It’ll save me the annoyance of having to look at you.”

I didn’t question his reasoning, I was just happy to finally be free. That same night, I placed a call through to Aunt Morticia, my mother’s sister, informing her that I would be coming to stay with her.

That was two years ago. Tonight, I found myself in the same situation that had forced my departure.

My gaze swept to Alpha Fabian again, and my stomach churned.

How in the world was this happening again?

How was it that I had gotten mated to the man who had every reason in the world to hate me?

I had spent two years running away from the life I’d been forced into. And somehow, in a matter of minutes, fate had dragged me right back into it.

My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, seemingly oblivious to the danger standing before us.

Mate.

I clenched my fists.

“No,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

Through my confusion and disbelief, Alpha Fabian’s gaze never left mine, as though the rest of the room had ceased to exist.

Then, to my horror, he started walking toward me.

The crowd parted almost instinctively, making way for the Alpha of Saturn Pack as he crossed the hall.

My heart hammered against my ribs as he walked over.

Surely, he would reject me.

He had to.

There was no way a man whose mate had died because of my mother would willingly accept me as his own.

After what felt like a lifetime, he stopped in front of me. For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Up close, he was even more intimidating. His towering frame blocked out everything behind him, leaving me with nowhere to look but at the man fate had apparently decided to curse me with.

His eyes swept over my face, then he spoke.

“I accept you as my mate.”

The words struck me harder than Lucien’s rejection ever had.

I wasn’t the only one overtaken with shock, the hall erupted too. Gasps and murmurs spread through the room as everyone tried to make sense of what they had just heard.

I could barely hear them.

I stared at Alpha Fabian, certain I had misunderstood him.

“You… accept me?”

His expression remained unreadable.

“Yes.”

“But…” I scrambled for words. “You know who I am.”

His expression remained unchanged. “I know.”

My stomach twisted.

Then why?

Why would he willingly accept the daughter of the woman he believed had murdered the woman he loved?

Before I could ask, Alpha Fabian extended his hand toward me.

“Come with me, Avionna.”

My gaze dropped, and I stared blankly at his hand for a long while, unmoving.

Every instinct screamed at me not to take it, so even though my wolf was already reaching for him, I didn’t.

He kept his hand outstretched, his expression giving nothing away.

“Come with me,” he repeated calmly.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze to him, searching his face for an answer, for some indication of what he wanted from me, but I found nothing.

I had no idea why Alpha Fabian had accepted me, and no idea what he intended to do with me.

And somehow, that frightened me more than his rejection ever could.