The truth

  CHLOE POV

     I take a deep breath as I make my way into the ballroom housing Logan's celebration. I am so nervous my palms have begun to sweat.

  This is the first time all day I have been around other people. And while the chance of finding my mate amongst all the mateless females showing up for Logan is low, it is still possible.

  I mean, we have male workers from the pack hanging around trying to catch females' eyes too. And I know a few males are over eighteen in our pack. They are waiting to go to Outcast, so they are definitely around here in hopes of saving themselves a trip. Maybe just maybe, one of them is mine.

  I have had crushes throughout the years within our pack. I have even prayed to the Goddess a time or two on who I wanted to be my mate.

   As I try to boost my hopes I will find my mate, I pass Melanie, who is dressed up cute to serve snacks.

  She gives me a wink, and I give her a thumbs up. Both my friends see me as the happy nothing can get me down girl, so she would be surprised to know how terrified I am right now. Because well...I think I'm pretty, but what if my mate doesn't. Maybe he prefers chocolate-skinned females, a female with dark hair, or females with blue eyes. I am none of those things...I could be rejected. I could be moving to Outcast in hopes someone will love me.

   I head to the punch table to calm my nerves, and on the way, I hear the voice of my old friend-enemy fake whispering about me.

  "Yeah, that's her. The omega who acts like her shit don't stink," she says, and my eyes roll.

  I don't even acknowledge her by turning around. She has been eighteen for about two months already and will be heading to Outcast soon if she doesn't find her mate. Logan and her have hooked up before. They've even dated; I bet she will be his mate. They are a perfect match.

  Oh goodness, maybe I don't want to find my mate in our pack. She will be worse than Luna Kandace!

  I snort out loud at the thought before grabbing a prefilled punch cup. Half the pack will ask to join another Alpha in a week of them taking over. Because even though Logan is strong and intelligent, he is a jerk to half his people. Add her into the mix.....oh geez. 

  "Chloe...don't you know you are supposed to look up at times like these? Can't make eye contact with your mate if you are staring at a cup of punch," Melanie whispers from beside me, and I grin before looking at her.

  "I know...but this punch looked really dreamy," I joke, and she gives me an eye roll before disappearing yet again.

  "Okay, focus, Chloe. Make eye contact with every male you see," I demand in my head as I turn around to face the crowd.

  My eyes lock with almost ten people doing the same thing in under a minute before I finally blink. I want to laugh at myself, but this is how these things are...everyone walking around wide-eyed and hopeful.

  I make a few rounds around the room and come to the conclusion that my mate is either very late or just not here. Which it's okay. The next Hunt is scheduled in less than three months, and I am bound to find my mate at Outcast.

I hear during the hunt thousands of wolves line up and walk past each other with their eyes open. And when they lock eyes with their mate, they just jump out of line. They spend the night getting to know each other and then shift together for the first time under the moon at midnight. In the morning they head back to the males' pack.

  So, going to Outcast to find my mate won't be so bad. Thousands do it! And if he isn't there during that hunt, I will stay at Outcast until the next hunt and so forth. My mate shouldn't be more than two years younger than me, so if he doesn't show...I am mateless and wolfless. It happens. I will be sad, but it happens. Fighting between packs kill thousands every year.

  "Attention, in just a moment, my son will be taking the stage. Luna Kandace and I would like to invite all the of-age ladies forward at this time. Please don't be shy; we are excited and hopeful that one of you are our future daughter," Alpha Patrick suddenly announces, and I am surprised to find I am already where I should be.

   Maybe a little too close, in fact. I have no hopes that Logan is my mate. And while I believe I would be a great Luna, I wouldn't want him for a mate. Yes, he is gorgeous, but he is the main reason my mother is gone. While the idea to go play outside was mine and Luna Kandace's, it was Logan who she fought tooth and nail to protect. It was Logan that they wanted and come hunting for.

  I take a deep calming breath as I hear Logan's feet make their way onto the stage. A trickle of fear runs down my spine, before I lift my head and look in the direction he is approaching from. I keep my face blank as he locks eyes with everyone he can. I am almost completely center, so he has about 75 girls, if not more, to get to before he gets to me. So I take this time to look him over.

  He is a fine male. Taller than even his father. His shoulders are wide, which is nice, and his curly hair he inherited from his chocolate-skinned father is adorable. But I personally love his brown and blue eyes. I complimented him often when we were little and he used to always to blush.

  Still to this day, I have never seen anyone with the same color. I have seen a lot of brown and green, or blue and green. But never brown and blue perfectly blended like his are.

  As I try to remember the exact shade his eyes are, a weird since of longing fills me. I find myself getting impatient. I want to look at his eyes again. I want to see that pretty color again. And right in the middle of that longing, it happens.

  Logan's big beautiful blue-brown eyes lock with mine, and something within me snaps together. As if a piece of me was floating within my chest, just waiting to be attached to my heart, and all it took was one look. One look from him, Logan, my mate. 

His long arms reach out towards me at the same time, mine lift towards him. He grabs me and pulls me up onto the stage with him without breaking eye contact, and we both smile.

  Every negative thought about our past floats away, and I feel nothing but happiness. This is him. This is my male. The boy I grew up with, is mine and I am his. His wolf and my wolf were made as one and will be sent to us tonight. I found him.

  "Mine," Logan breathes, and I nod.

  "Yours," I whisper back before a screech breaks our trance.

"Logan! Come here now," Luna Kandace screams, and both our arms drop.

   I watch the happy light in his eyes dim as he backs away from me. Luna Kandace grabs his arm and yanks him towards her in front of all the visiting wolves, and I feel a strong level of protectiveness wash over me.

  "Don't grab him like that," I snap, and her head whips towards me.

  "Shut up," she orders with her command power, and I freeze.

   Logan watches his mother order me and doesn't say a word. He almost seems like a whipped puppy now that her hand is on his arm. And the image would be comical in any other circumstance.

   "Logan! Listen to me! She is an omega. Her human body is weak. The wolf she will get will be strong, but she is weak. She was born an omega. I told you what to do if you get an omega mate, now do it," Luna Kandace snaps, and Alpha Patrick growls.

  "Kandace! How dare you force my son to reject his mate. Chloe comes from an amazing bloodline. Her mother was the strongest female before getting her mate. She even pinned me! Chloe is an amazing wolf, just like Hannah was," Alpha declares sounding as if his crush on my mom never truly died.

  "That female was weak, and so is her daughter. She couldn't even fight off three wolves. If only I had been there with her and the pups...Logan listen to me reject her," Luna Kandace lies, and my rage fights against her command.

  I want to spew the truth so bad but her command is stopping me. I had no idea she had lied and said she wasn't with us. I guess she thought I was too young and would forget what happened that day. She thought she could tell the adults a lie and no one would believe my version!

   Logan's eyes meet mine, and I see his defeat. He is going along with his mother's order. He is throwing me away because of her lies. Because she has convinced him omegas are weak, when we aren't. We are strong and compassionate. We nurture the pack when the Luna can't. We are the backbone!

  I try to plead with him using my face and body, but he closes his eyes so he can't see me. He opens his mouth, and dread fills my stomach. I want to vomit. Fifteen minutes ago, I didn't want to be his, but now I can't imagine life without him.

  "I, Logan Thurman, reject you, Chloe Patterson as my mate and life partner," Logan says sadly, and the piece of myself that attached to my heart moments ago when we locked eyes, breaks right back off.

  Pain fills my chest, and I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. I fall to my knees, and the whole crowd gasps as they watch me twitch and battle the pain within me silently. Logan tries to rush towards me, but Kandace's hand stops him.

  After a minute of wrathing on the ground, Alpha takes pity on me and comes to my aid.

  "You may speak," Alpha commands, and my scream erupts from within me instantly.

  Logan flinches hard, and the sound of my pain echoes throughout the room as my body fights against his rejection. My fingernails cut the inside of my palms, and my forehead beads with sweat as I repeatedly scream out.

The entire time I scream, my eyes don't leave Logan and Kandace. I watch as my pain hurts him, and I watch as Kandace smiles at my agony with nothing but triumph.

  She thinks she has won. She thinks she has proven me to be weak! She thinks she has finally outdone my beautiful mother. I will show her.

  "You have to accept the rejection for the pain to stop...I'm sorry, Chloe. But you have to," Alpha whispers as another blade of pain slices through my heart.

  I grind my teeth together as I lock eyes with only Kandace. I force myself to my feet on pure adrenaline as pain rips my insides apart. I swallow back my screams and fight with all my might to keep the pain from showing on my face.

   As I stand up, a different look crosses her face, and I wish I could manage a smile.

  "I, Chloe Patterson, accept your rejection," I barely manage to whisper before everything goes dead within me.

  Logan grabs his chest with open panic, and I know exactly what he just felt.

  "Yeah, that was our bond dying Logan. Congratulations," I sarcastically say before I whip around and face the massive crowd that just witnessed my public rejection.

  "I want to set something straight, that should have been set straight years ago. When my mother Hannah Patterson died, she died defending our future alpha, Logan Thurman! Luna Kandace, my mother, Logan, and I had all been at the clearing right next to the old park! We were there because Luna Kandace suggested we play outside as an early birthday celebration. Logan had cried and said no, and I had said yes. Not twenty minutes after arriving we were attacked! Luna Kandace, ran! She left my mother, A WEAK OMEGA, to defend her pup and me. Logan got knocked unconscious when the first wolf attacked, and my mother, IN HUMAN FORM, immediately sprang to action. She attacked the warrior wolf trying to kill the Alpha's son, and Kandace ran like a coward. SHE RAN AWAY INSTEAD OF PROTECTING HER OWN PUP. MY MOTHER BRAVELY TOOK DOWN THAT WOLF AND THE NEXT TWO WHO SHOWED UP, ALL IN HUMAN FORM. She kept yelling to me, "Don't worry, Chloe, Kandace went to get help." But my mother was wrong. Luna Kandace ran and hid away. She had no plans to return or get help, because she was too weak and scared to even think straight! My mother died in my arms after defeating the last warrior. Her human body was basically shredded as our border patrol finally caught scent of the blood and came to her aid! OUR LUNA IS LIAR AND A COWARD. SHE IS JEALOUS OF A DEAD OMEGA'S ACTS OF HEROISM AND JUST FORCED HER SON TO REJECT HIS OWN MATE BECAUSE OF THOSE JEALOUS FEELINGS. I AM HAPPY TO SAY I WILL BE LEAVING FOR OUTCAST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. ENJOY HAVING HER AS YOUR LUNA,"  I scream to the shocked crowd before jumping of the stage and heading straight for the exit.

  I don't look back, and I never will. My mother should have let those warriors have him!