Chapter 6: Rejection denied

AVIONNA’S POV

Alpha Fabian’s words rang in my head like a persistent alarm bell refusing to be silenced.

Welcome to hell.

Through the night, I had presented myself with different variations of that statement, as if that could somehow change the meaning.

I desperately wanted to delude myself into thinking it meant something different, that he was only trying to frighten me. It was easier to attempt to believe that than accept the alternative.

Unlike what I stubbornly hoped on the way here, there was no kindness behind Alpha Fabian’s actions. He’d made it clear enough last night and opened my eyes to the fact that I may have hauled myself from a storm into a hurricane.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts and I jolted upright, clutching the quilted mattress to my chest.

My heart thumped once then stopped beating altogether.

It wasn’t until I realized that my wolf hadn’t stirred in that familiar way she always did whenever he was near that I allowed my tense shoulder to relax.

It wasn’t him.

“Luna?” A familiar voice rang out, confirming my conjecture. “It’s Martha.”

“I brought breakfast.”

“I’m not your Luna, my name is Avionna,” I corrected after she let herself in.

She paused, stared at me a second then gave a simple nod. I was thankful she didn’t insist.

Being called Luna only made it hit home how untrue the address was. I wasn’t Alpha Fabian’s Luna, he didn’t even consider me his mate.

Calling me his foe was a much better fit. The thought wedged itself in my throat like a dry, unswallowed pill, bitter and acidic.

Martha moved round the room, setting the tray in her hold on the bedside table next to me. “I figured you were hungry.”

I stared down at the plate of food then shifted my gaze to her face. She wasn’t smiling, but the look she gave me was filled with warmth and some sort of quiet understanding.

Ordinarily, I would have appreciated it but after what happened last night, I couldn’t help thinking she was wearing a guise. Like the one Alpha Fabian had worn, lulling me into a false sense of security that I shouldn’t even have felt in the first place.

“Thank you,” I muttered, keeping my interaction with her minimal.

Although her looks suggested otherwise, she didn’t say more to me and just walked out of the room, leaving me with a tray of food I found unappetizing.

Food was far from my thoughts, so I got out of bed and headed out.

My goal was clear.

I would find Alpha Fabian, break off this bond between us, then get the hell out of here.

The thought had barely landed when my wolf whimpered. She was against the idea of rejecting our mate.

I ignored her. I’d survived Lucien’s rejection once, I could survive whatever pain came with rejecting Alpha Fabian too.

That thought held me together as I made my way down the hall in search of him. The house was freaking huge and I had no idea where I was headed and was counting on my wolf to help me find him.

A whiff of his scent hit me when I rounded a bend, and without thinking, I headed in that direction, tracing it like I had once done until I came before a door.

I paused before it, heart pounding like a war drum. I had no idea what I would say when I saw him.

Maybe I would simply tell him that I didn’t want to do this. That I didn’t want to be the object of his animosity, or an outlet for his frustration. All I wanted was to go home.

By home, I meant to Aunt Morticia. Life in the Juniper Pack had been peaceful. It was my escape from the misery that my life was.

However, the moment I knocked on the door, every carefully rehearsed word vanished from my mind. He didn’t answer immediately and I tapped a knock on the door again, before I could chicken out.

Still, silence was the answer I got. Just when I turned around to leave, the door was suddenly yanked open.

His scent thickened around me before I even saw his face.

Alpha Fabian stood in the doorway, dressed in nothing but a pair of dark trousers, his hair slightly disheveled as though I had interrupted something. His steel-gray eyes settled on mine, and the coldness in them immediately transported me back to last night.

The fingers around my chin. That cruel smile. Welcome to hell.

My stomach twisted.

“I need to talk to you.”

For a moment, he simply stared at me. Then, without saying a word, he turned and walked back inside. I hesitated before following him.

The moment I stepped through the doorway, I stopped.

A woman was standing close to the edge of his bed, dressed in very little, her long hair falling over her shoulders as she watched me with an expression that made my cheeks burn.

My gaze snapped back to Alpha Fabian, questioning, before I caught myself. I swallowed, forcing myself to remember why I had come and pretending the woman didn’t exist.

“I want to reject you.”

His expression remained unchanged. He didn’t even blink. His complete lack of a reaction made me even more uneasy than anger would have.

I had expected outrage. Perhaps disbelief, or at the very least, some sign that my words had affected him.

Instead, he simply stared at me, his face an unreadable mask.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to steady my trembling voice.

“I, Avionna Vale, reject you, Fabian Draven, as my mate. I reject our bond and sever all ties.”

Then I waited.

I waited for the familiar agony to rip through my chest, for the bond to tear apart with the same merciless force it had when Lucien rejected me. I waited for Fabian to flinch, to stagger, to show me that he felt even a fraction of the pain I had once endured.

Instead, his lips slowly curled into a strange smile.

My brows furrowed.

Was it because he was an Alpha? Was his strength the reason he could withstand the pain of a rejected mate bond without so much as a reaction?

I barely had time to finish the thought before his voice cut through the silence.

“I reject your rejection.”

I stared at him, certain I had heard him wrong.

“What?”

His smile remained. “I said I reject your rejection.”

My mouth parted, but no words came.

That wasn’t possible.

A rejection was a rejection. Once spoken, the bond was supposed to be severed. There was no taking it back, no refusing it. At least, that was what I had always believed.

“You can’t do that,” I whispered.

Fabian’s expression finally changed, the strange amusement in his eyes deepening.

“Apparently, I can.”

My stomach dropped.

Before I could question him further, he turned away from me and walked back toward the bed. He sat down with the same calmness of someone who hadn’t just shattered everything I thought I knew about mate bonds.

I remained rooted to the spot, my mind struggling to catch up.

Alpha Fabian glanced toward the woman standing quietly beside the bed.

“Begin.”

She nodded immediately.

“Yes, Alpha.”

My blood ran cold. I looked between them, confusion giving way to unease.

“Begin what?”