chapter 2

Rejected Mate

Jane.

“What is your name?” He asks me, stalking me. I take quick, fearful steps backwards. I can feel my heart racing and my throat constricting. I open my mouth, but no words come out. I shiver in fear.

To begin with, he is incredibly tall, and I’ve never felt so lacking in height. Secondly, there is this tense aura around him that seems to be sucking the air out of me.

And more than all that, I have this weird feeling about him being so close to me. Is this a mate thing, or is it all in my head? His eyes are boring holes in my body, and his eyebrow quirks when I don’t give him a reply.

“I just asked you a question,” he says indifferently.

“My name is Jane Biller,” I answer, taking another step backward, but I almost bump into a waitress.

“Watch out!" he hisses, pulling me away by my hand. Once again, I feel that strange electric sensation.

I look up at him, my heart pounding. His eyes are intense, and I can feel the electricity radiating off of him. I gasp and jerk my hand away from his grip.

The horrific look in his eyes makes me think he felt it, too. He goes pale, giving me a beastly stare, like he would gladly opt to eat me up.

“My name is Richard Brown,” he announces suddenly. I am still trying to comprehend why he is telling me his name.

But then he seizes my hand in a tight grip, and the next thing I hear comes as a surprise to me.

“I, Richard Brown, reject you, Jane Biller, as my mate and Luna.”

I am shocked. It takes me more than a minute to realize what is going on. I can hear people gasping. Many eyes are on us, and they are all staring at me pitifully.

Is this a dream, or is it happening? Did I just meet my mate?

No, no, that’s not it. I mentally berate myself as I try to wrap my head around the situation. It isn’t the meeting. It’s the rejection. I just met my mate, but I am rejected immediately. Realization strikes me with a torrent of tears.

“Why? Why did you reject me?” I ask, unable to control the stream of tears already turning into a flood. It is a hard pill to swallow. The one I have been waiting all my life for to love me, cherish me, adore me, and help me. That mate, that fated mate, just rejected me?

Why? What kind of twist is this? ‘Dear goddess, please let this be a prelude to my real meeting with my fated mate. This can’t be it. I can’t be a rejected mate and live the rest of my life without a mate.’

“Are you seriously asking me that?” He scowls, tightening his grip on my hand. “Look at you. You’re like a gust of wind. I can blow you off right now, and that’ll be it for you. The moon goddess must have been out of her mind when she assigned me a weak wolf like you as my mate.”

His mean words are like a stab to my heart, and all I can do is cry.

“What can a she-wolf as weak as you offer me and my pack members?” he smirks. “With you as my Luna, my world will collapse. You will ruin my legacy and turn me into some sick joke. I’ll never let that happen. So you should accept the rejection, and we both go away like this disgusting meeting never happened.”

I wish and pray the earth would open up and take me in. His words crush my heart, and it bleeds. And I am trying to decide, even if I want to do what he asks. How do I accept his rejection when I don’t have a wolf?

“I can’t accept your rejection,” I whimper, staring at my feet. I can’t meet his blazing eyes. I take a deep breath, trying to steady my trembling hands. I look up at him, pleading with my words. “Please, don’t reject me.”

“Just shut your fucking mouth and accept my rejection,” he screams. “My time is gold.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t accept your rejection.”

“And why is that?” He asks, “Why can’t you accept my rejection?”

“I can’t accept your rejection because I have no wolf,” I admit.

“What?”

“I don’t have a wolf. Not yet.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” He scoffs, letting go of my hand, “So what the heck am I supposed to do with you? How can the moon goddess give me a girl without a wolf as a mate?”

“I was hoping that when I met my mate, our mate bond would unleash my wolf’s side,” I stutter.

“That’s horseshit!” He blasts me, “You’re useless, and nothing will change that. And I’m going to say this just once, so listen carefully. Never, ever show yourself in front of me again. Do you understand?”

I am shaking at his words, sobbing hard at the pain in my heart. This is the worst day of my life, and it keeps getting worse.

My mate didn’t just reject me. He also humiliated me in front of everyone. What did I do to deserve such cruelty? What did I do? What have I done wrong to deserve all this, Mother Goddess?

From the corner of my eye, I see Mother storming towards us. She is fuming with anger; I can see it in her eyes and pace. She gets to where we stand and steps before me, shielding me from the Alpha with her body.

“Alpha, how dare you humiliate my precious daughter?” She howls, not seeming to mind that he is the ‘ruthless Alpha.’ “How dare you make my daughter cry?”

“And who the hell are you?” He yells in frustration, ruffling his hair.

“I am her mother, and I won’t stand back and watch you humiliate her,” she responds.

He lets out a dry chuckle, taking Mother in with disdain written on his face.

“Oh! You’re the mother of such a weak creature, and you’ve got the guts to say it out loud? That’s sad and pathetic!” He retorts, “I know you have no choice but to love her, but just get the hell out of my face and take your disgusting creature of a daughter with you.”

I hear a loud growl, and I flinch. I think it is from my mate, but I am wrong. The dangerous growls come from my father. My heart leaps with joy. Finally, my father is taking my side in a situation like this. It is the first time he has ever defended me, or so I think, until he speaks.

“Alpha,” he roars angrily, “I am less concerned if you reject my weak daughter as your mate, but I won’t stand by and watch you insult my mate. You are free to humiliate, kill, and do whatever you want with your mate, but I won’t watch you disrespect my mate.”

My joy dwindles, and my heart sinks into an ocean of tears. To think Father is here to defend me — how stupid of me. Still, I see the way he defends my mother, and I admire it. For once, I want a mate who might love me like my father loves my mother.

No one can ever love me the way I dream of being loved. My mother loves me, and I sincerely appreciate every act she has done to show that, but that’s not close to being enough.

I need a mate’s bond, a mate’s love, and it hurts me to know that I might never get that in this lifetime of mine.

“No offense, Beta; I am not referring to your mate. I’m sure you didn’t marry her without any wolf. I’m sure you married her because she is brave and strong, as it should be. So, why should I marry your daughter who is neither brave nor strong, and to make things worse, she doesn’t have a wolf?" he says with a sneer. “On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that you are the biological father of such a weak girl. Look at you, so strong and brave, and yet you fathered this weak girl. Are you sure you are her biological father? It just doesn’t add up.”

“It’s a fate I can’t escape, no matter how much I loathe it,” Father sighs, visibly ashamed. “That’s why I don’t mind you rejecting her. I would have rejected her as my daughter if I could.”

“What are you talking about, Beta?” My mother demands. “Have you forgotten that I am here, alive, standing beside you? How dare you support this useless Alpha? The moon goddess has given cheap trash like him as a mate to your daughter, and you dare say hurtful and silly things about my daughter with him with your filthy mouth? You both are trash that doesn’t deserve a mate!” she screams. “You both disgust me.”

“Look here, woman, I want you to watch your nasty mouth,” the Alpha growls. “I won’t let it slide if you continue disrespecting me. Tame your woman, Beta, or else I won’t mind helping you to tame her.”

“You are no Alpha of mine, and I am not a coward of a mother who will sit back and watch her daughter get bullied by a nasty freak like you. You don’t deserve my beautiful girl,” she says, moving closer to him. She holds the hem of his clothes.

“Let go of my clothes,” he warns.

“Enough!” my father screams at her. “Enough, woman!”

She lets go of his clothes before facing my father and uttering, “Be ready to be rejected by me, Beta. I will make you understand what it feels like to get rejected by your mate.”

“What do you mean?” my father inquires, his voice shaking. “You can do that to me.”

“Watch me do it,” she roars. “Cheap bastard.”

This is the breaking point; their cruel words have pushed me too far. Exhausted, I can’t stay here any longer. Tears blur my vision as I flee from the hall, my mother’s voice fading behind me. I need to escape from Father and my mate, who just rejected mate. The cold air hits my face as I burst through the front door, stinging my skin but failing to dull the ache in my heart. The pain is unbearable. Why is this happening to me? Why did the moon goddess choose me for this suffering? What have I done to deserve this? I had hoped to find love and acceptance without a wolf, but it seems like wishful thinking now. I will never experience love in this lifetime.