TWO: The Rejection

"Mate."

           That word resonated in my head, and for a heartbeat the rest of the world simply vanished. The cheering crowd, the sting of the chilly night air, the glowing Moon Stone—everything vanished till only Alpha Damian remained in my cosmos.

"My mate. The Moon Goddess had in fact selected him for me," I said to myself.

           A weak grin shook my lips and tears clouded my sight. Every lonely evening, every harsh word, every single minute of feeling totally invisible unexpectedly seemed worthwhile. I had a mate. And he was the strongest wolf in the pack, not just any random person.

            But the fairy story burst before it could even start. Damian's face darkened, his jaw clenching so tight the muscle ticked. I never got the warmth I had hoped to see in his eyes. Instead, they filled with a volatile mix of anger, humiliation, and deep disgust.

             A great cold spread down my back. 

"No. No, no, no. This isn't right."

             The shocked silence around us gave way to a sea of quick whispers.

"His mate is Aria?"

"The orphan girl?"

"The feeble wolf? You have to be joking."

"Impossible."

             My hands started shaking wildly. Damian moved closer, and the crowd—like the Red Sea—split at once for him. His oppressively strong aura covered the yard and caused every wolf to bow in submission. Each wolf aside from me. I was unable to turn away. I wanted him to say something, anything. I wanted him to reassure me everything would be OK, that this was only shock, a misunderstanding.

Instead, he stood a few feet away and stared down at me as if I were a challenge he had to address.

               My wolf whimpered and folded her tail.

"Damian," I murmured, the desperation evident in my voice.

               Saying his name aloud seemed to break something in him, but before he could talk another voice tore the silence.

"Alpha," Lila said.

               Under the silver moonlight, my stepsister moved forward looking stunningly beautiful. Her golden curls shined, and her green eyes glittered with un-shed tears. She was the ideal future Luna, the girl everyone admired, and the girl Damian was expected to pick.

               Her palm closed firmly over his forearm. Tell them this is not factual.

My heart sank to my belly. Damian stayed close to her. He consoled her by resting his hand over hers.

               The crowd exploded into furious murmurs. I got sick physically; the link within me was yelling at seeing my mate clutching another lady.

"Lila..." I panted, though she wouldn't even gaze at me.

               The chest discomfort grew worse and squeezed like a vice. Then Damian at last spoke, his deep voice carrying without flaw across the quiet courtyard.

"I refuse,"

               Agonizing silence followed. I first believed my mind was fooling on me. My ears rang and my knees went to jelly.

"What?" Almost never did the word escape my mouth.

              His eyes met mine, totally without feeling. Cold as ice. 

"I won't let you be my mate."

              The people around gasped. My heart stopped. Every wolf there understood the weight of those words. A rejection. Public, vicious, and altogether humiliating.

And he still had work to do.

"You are weak," he murmured, every word like a punch physically. "You lack status. You would never survive as Luna."

               I found it impossible to breathe. Tears streaming over my eyelashes blinded me. The crowd observed the death of my dignity; yet, no one spoke up. Nobody spoke up for me. Not even one person. Damian was the Alpha, and his word was law, therefore even the pack elders stayed unemotional and quiet.

"Mate..." My wolf cried in utter agony inside my head. The agony running through our severed link grew intolerable.

"Please," I said, loathing myself for the pitiful, pleading tone.

                Damian's face showed guilt for a split second, then it vanished as fast as it showed. His voice booming with Alpha power, he squared his wide shoulders. 

"I, Damian Stone, Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, reject Aria Blackwood as my mate."

                The world shattered. A terrible agony burst across my chest, so intense that a scream tore from my throat. The pure force of the rejection sent me to my knees. It felt as though hidden claws were ripping my heart out from within.

                While some just stared openly, taking in my public catastrophe, the crowd gasped, some turned away out of secondhand humiliation. Gasping for air, I crumpled onto the stone patio. Every breath seemed like taking in glass. Every heartbeat was agony. My bond to Damian burst horribly, and for a terrifying second I really believed I was dying.

                Rising above the cloud of agony, I turned up and saw Lila beaming.

               The sight almost destroyed my meager remaining spirit. She had won. She invariably emerged victorious. She had taken friends, attention, love, everything from me all my life, and now, she had stolen my partner.

                 Once the agony at last subsided enough for me to get up, I pushed myself on shaking, resistant legs. Nobody came to assist me. I search about at the foggy faces among the crowd. Pity, laughs, relief... not one face gave any comfort at all.

                My eyes spotted Damian one more time. He was not even looking at me. He was staring at Lila as if I had never mattered. As though the Moon Goddess herself had erred.

               Inside me, something quite fundamental fractured. I turned and sprinted without another word.

               The people moved quickly, nobody stopped me, and nobody called my name. The dark shadows of the night swallowed me completely.

               As I sped blindly into the black forest, branches slashed at my clothing and smacked at my face. I only knew I had to get away from the pack, the shame, and the stifling memory of Damian's face; I had no idea where I was headed. Though my lungs screamed for oxygen, I didn't slow down; tears flowed down my cheeks.

               Though I welcomed the risk, the forest got darker, denser, and totally erratic. Anything was preferable to being there.

                At last my legs just gave out. I dropped against a mossy, fallen tree into a tiny clearing. Above, the moon shone, lovely, remote, and merciless.

                I let out a harsh, gasping laugh. 

"Why?" My voice broke into a weeping. "What should I have done wrong?"

               There was no response. Just the deep stillness of the woods.

                Trembling, I rested my hands on my face. The phantom pain where the link had been felt like a hollow hole in my chest. Eight years had passed since I had been fantasizing about the day I would discover my partner, and now that ambition was dead. Maybe everybody had been correct regarding me. Maybe I truly fell short. Perhaps Damian had simply spoken out what the whole pack already thought: I was weak, useless, and basically rejected.

                  Nearby a loud rustle in the undergrowth could be heard. I froze. The surrounding noise of the forest abruptly stopped. It was too still. My wolf's senses went on red alert as she quickly emerged from her sadness.

                  I raised my head deliberately. Before I saw anything the scent hit me—crisp pine, fresh rain, and a surge of raw, overwhelming power. Every survival impulse I had yelled at me. This was a predator. Not a typical wolf, but rather something far stronger.

                  My heart knocked on my chest. The deep shadows at the edge of the clearing moved, and a tall shape appeared in the moonlight.

                 His dark hair, broad, strong shoulders, and golden eyes seemed to shine in the dark. Every last inch of him screamed a terrible degree of power. Even the air about him felt thick and bent to his presence. Right away I understood he was not part of my pack. And based on his lethal aura, he was the last person I should be by myself with late at night.

                 Still, his strong, unwavering stare stayed fixed on me, as if he had been looking for me. As though he knew just who I was.

                An odd, electric shiver went down my back.

                As the stranger breathed in the air, his nostrils opened. His golden eyes opened in sudden, great surprise, then right away a look of intense, unyielding possessiveness flashed across them. The expression was so strong it literally stole the breath from my lungs.

              He moved a step ahead. After a short while he took another one forward.

              I ought to have run. I ought to have yelled. But I froze totally because my wolf was abruptly quiet within me. She was not terrified. She was not threatened, she was just waiting.

             The stranger stopped a few feet away, his golden eyes flaming into mine. His deep, velvety rumble of a voice altered everything when he started speaking.

"There you are."