Chapter 3 A Rejected Womb

(Charlie)

Kaleb just stands there, the red mark of my palm flaring to life on his cheek.

The monstrous green-black glow in his eyes flickers, struggles, dims. For one agonizing second, I see my Kaleb.

"Charlie...?" he whispers, and his voice is his own.

My heart leaps. "Kaleb, listen to me-"

The sound of our house's front door slamming open rattles the windows. It's not so much a sound as a shockwave.

Purposeful footsteps sound in the hall. The tread is sharp and confident. Heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

My blood turns to ice. No.

Kaleb's head snaps toward the doorway. The flicker of recognition in his eyes is extinguished, snuffed out like a candle. The monstrous, oily glow surges back, stronger than before, as if answering a call.

Madilyn appears in the bedroom doorway and she’s the very picture of righteous fury. As if I’m the intruder here.

Her electric-blue eyes take in the scene in a single, sweeping glance. 

Kaleb, shirtless, his chest heaving, the unholy tattoo pulsing over his ribs. 

Me, clutching my half-open shirt, my hand instinctively covering my stomach.

Her eyes narrow. Her beautiful face hardens into a mask of pure, cold hatred.

"I leave you alone for five minutes," she hisses, her voice dangerously low.

Kaleb, my mate, the man I just slapped back to his senses, turns away from me. He turns to her.

"Don't worry, my dear," he says. His voice is chillingly smooth. There’s no inflection at all.

All the rage and hunger he showed me is gone, replaced by a calm affection that is meant only for her. "I was only here to say goodbye."

Goodbye.

The word knocks the breath out of me. What did he mean by goodbye? He can’t leave, he’s the Alpha. And I’m his Luna. 

Is he going to kill me? The monster in his eyes a second ago is definitely capable of that.

"Goodbye isn't good enough, Kaleb." Madilyn hisses as she stalks into the room. She doesn't look at me. I’m of no consequence to her.

"The bond is still there. I can feel it. It's... disgusting."

"Kaleb, please," I beg, my voice a desperate rasp. "Look at me. This isn't you. That thing on your skin, it's controlling you somehow."

He won't look at me. He keeps his eyes on Madilyn, like she's the sun and he's a devout worshiper.

"Reject her," Madilyn commands.

The world stops. The air evacuates my lungs.

"No," I whisper.

"Reject her," Madilyn says again, her voice louder, sharper. "Now. I want her gone. I want that bond severed. You’re mine."

"Kaleb, don't," I plead, taking a step toward him. "Kaleb, you can't. Please."

He finally turns, but there’s no trace of my mate in his gaze.

"Do it, Kaleb!" Madilyn shrieks. "Prove you love me."

He closes his eyes. Just for a second. Then he opens them and stares at me coldly as the words spill from his lips like poison.

His voice is low. Formal. The voice of an Alpha performing a sacred, terrible rite.

"I, Kaleb, Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack, reject you, Charlotte, as my mate and Luna."

No.

The word is a silent scream.

A searing, white-hot fire lances through my chest. It's not a feeling. It's a tearing. My soul, my very essence, is being ripped in half. 

I've heard rejections are painful. I never imagined anything could feel like this.

I scream, a high, thin sound of pure agony. My knees buckle. I clutch my chest, feeling the bond burn with icy heat before it slowly dies.

But the worst is yet to come. He turns his back on me while I'm screaming in pain and pulls Madilyn to him.

"And I, Kaleb," he says, his voice thick with a passion he hasn't shown me in months, "Choose you, Madilyn, as my true mate. My only Luna."

He kisses her, right in front of me, as I'm dying on the floor. And their tattoos... they glow.

His, on his ribs. Hers, on her arm. They flare to life, pulsing in perfect, sickening unison. A venomous light that fills the room, binding them together and sealing my fate.

The pain in my chest becomes a crushing weight. I can't breathe. I slide down the wall, gasping, the world dissolving into a blur of tears and agony.

Kaleb pulls back from the kiss, his breathing heavy. He looks down at me, crumpled on the floor. His expression is one of cold disgust.

"You are no longer Luna," he states, his voice flat.

"You are no longer anything."

He lets out a cold, cruel little laugh. A sound I’ve never heard him utter before.

"You gave up your Alpha-Heir title for me. All for nothing. A very bad trade, Charlie."

A tiny, stupid, animal part of my brain whimpers, He'll let me stay. I can win him back.

"You can stay in this pack, if you wish," he says, and my heart gives a pathetic little flutter.

Then he delivers the killing blow.

"But only as a servant. You will clean the floors. You will serve our meals. You are nothing but a rejected she-wolf. And you need to get out of here, this isn’t your home anymore."

He takes Madilyn's hand and doesn’t look back as they walk out of the room together.

I'm left alone, on the cold floor. My soul is a gaping, bleeding wound.

Then a new pain lances through me. A sharp, physical cramp in my abdomen.

My blood runs cold.

"No..." I whisper, my hands flying from my chest to my stomach. "No, no, please, not my baby..."

Madilyn appears in the doorway again, a vision of triumphant, radiant cruelty. 

Her eyes drop to my hands, protectively splayed over my womb.

A slow, delighted smile spreads across her face.

"Oh," she says, her voice lightly conversational. "You’re pregnant."

She walks over. She crouches down, her silk blouse whispering, bringing her face level with mine. Her scent is suffocating as it wraps around me.

"What a shame," she sneers. "That Rejection? It's powerful. Especially with the Mark's help." She taps her own arm, where her tattoo is hidden beneath the sleeve.

"It will take that baby from you," she whispers, her eyes glittering with victory. "Scour it right out of your womb. Like it was never there."

"You're lying," I sob, the words weak and terrified. "You're a monster."

"Am I? My prediction is that you'll be bleeding by morning. And you'll never bear his child again. The bond is broken. The Goddess won't bless a rejected womb."

She stands, smoothing her perfect blouse as she looks down at me with nothing but contempt.

"Welcome to your new life, servant."

She turns, and this time she doesn’t come back. Her laughter echoes all the way down the stairs.

I am alone. My world is over. My soul is severed.

And my baby... my baby is dying.