Chapter 2 : rejected.

Sierra's POV

My birthday should be the day I celebrate, right? Should I enjoy it with those I love and those who love me? I wish.

Not in my book ...I don't get to celebrate, I don't get to enjoy these moments anymore and I don't think I get to give myself that moment to even think about my birthday, In the last decade since my parents passing, since I was last out of the house, since I even remember what the city I live in looks like, I haven't Celerbrated my birthday. I'm not allowed to.

But today though ... well today is a completely different story because I turned 18 today and I have this amazing feeling that it will all start looking up.

Starting with a walk to the little house 5 minutes away in the woods.

My old home.

My parents' home is run down. It's probably due to be a demolition project but this is where I felt safest and I still do. Anyone can easily walk in and I wouldn't be strong enough to handle them but no one comes to this part of the woods I believe and if they do then I haven't seen them or felt them so that's a little bit of a bonus.

This house hasn't been used since they passed, and a part of me—the part that longs for them to be here, to see how much I have grown up (In some ways) the part that aches without them—knows that deep down, I am strong enough to handle the things that are thrown my way.

It's 4:30 a.m., and I'm due to be at the pack house in an hour. The scent of hazel drifts around me, and I'm instantly hit with that realisation.

It's a mate smell. Does that mean...

"Your mate is close by mi amor," someone giggles, and it sounds so close behind me yet so far behind me.

Spinning around I find nothing. No one. But that voice sounded close. It sounded calming and caring.

"I'm your wolf silly, I'm in your head. I'm Mina. Goodness Sierra I have waited so, so long to finally talk to you!" She, meaning Mina, my wolf, is excited to see me and to talk to me. It's the way she says it as she purrs inside my head.

How is this real? I didn't realise it could feel this weird but here we are.

The questions come in rapid fire to myself and because I don't talk but my wolf somehow knows what it is that's currently travelling through my mind she answers each and every thought that I have had and she does it without getting annoyed at me.

'Happy birthday to me' I whisper to myself in my mind as I stretch up and let my achy muscles loose for a moment and turn the cold shower on. I haven't been able to have a warm shower in...I don't even know how many years so I have to suffer with a freezing cold one.

Once I'm out of the shower, I get the bread that I managed to stash away in my ruined and stained pocket of my work outfit which is a little too small and I start heading toward the pack house once again. The bread is a small piece which isn't a lot because we have to share whatever scraps we can find through the Omega's which isn't enough to make me feel full. At all.

Walking through the door, I halt on the spot when I spot everyone already piling into the small dining room. It's then that I spot the scowl Rosie Harvey is sending my way.

Oh no.

"Mutey" she sneers at me and I want to crawl under a rock and never come out. Rosie is one of those women who likes to make someone else feel completely small just so she can feel on top of the world and I guess with her wanting to be Zade's chosen mate has everything to do with the hostility that she sends other people's way if they so much as look in his direction or breathe the same "Royal" air as him.

I got used to her being rude and the name-calling a long time ago but some how, today she seems to be more ... brutal in the stare.

I don't bow my head to her and she hates that. She hates that she doesn't have the control on me that she wants to have where whereas everyone else around here asks how high when she says jump.

"Unfortunately..." she says with a flick of her manicured hands "-You're wanted in the dining room. Courtesy of your lordship" she says and flags her puppets close to her who are just like her.

Bitter.

Cruel.

Empty.

Making my way to the dining room, my feet dragging instead of happily walking, the scent gets stronger and it's dizzying.

"Ah good ... come here" Alpha Zade says as he stands up and that's when it hits me.

He's my mate.

The only thing screaming at me right now is my gut telling me that this isn't what is supposed to happen. Something is terribly wrong.

I do the sign for Alpha to which he rolls his eyes to and then silence around the room as he speaks.

"Sierra...oh sweet, naive Sierra" he says with a cruel tone.

"I called you here today to let you know you're going to repeat what I tell you-" he says and I can feel my heart beating rapidly. Frantically now.

I took a step forward, nervous, terrified, but still holding onto that flicker of light.

My fingers moved again, a little faster this time:"Please... don’t reject me."

He narrowed his eyes, and for the first time, I dared to lift mine to meet his gaze.

"I can be better," I signed. "Stronger. I’ll prove myself. Just… give me a chance."

Silence.

Then he smiled. But it wasn’t kind.

"I, Zade Matthew's, Alpha of the HighClaw pack, reject you, Sierra Whitmore to be my mate and Luna. You are to work here and obey my every command to accept my rejection" he says and he does it without even flinching

But me ...

My whole damn hearts just shattered in my chest at the ruins this man can inflict.

It felt like a mountain had collapsed onto my chest—I couldn’t breathe. My hands were still shaking, fingers ice-cold, and the laughter echoing through the room felt like it was peeling the skin right off me.

I don’t even remember how I made it out of that dining hall. Maybe I was pushed out. Maybe I ran.

Every step felt like walking on cotton—soft, unstable, unreal.

I ended up back at the abandoned house, curled up in the corner, my back against the old wooden door that still faintly smelled like my parents.

That’s when I finally broke.

There was no sound. Just silent tears dripping down one after another, like they were taking the last pieces of my hope with them.
“He’s my mate,” I screamed inside. “How could he do this to me?”
“He’s not your destiny, mi amor,” Mina whispered gently. “You deserve better.”

I stayed quiet for a long time. Long enough for the sky to shift. Long enough for the warmth in my chest to cool into something else.

I didn’t know who I could trust anymore.

But I knew one thing for certain:

I would not be the Omega everyone steps on forever.

I would remember today. I would remember Zade’s face.

And I would make sure he regrets every second of what he did.