3

Jane

“What is your name?” he asked me, stalking me. I took quick, fearful steps backward. I could feel my heart racing and my throat constricting. I opened my mouth, but no words came out as I shivered in fear.

He was so tall I had to crane my neck to look at his face. There was something dangerous about him that made it hard to breathe, like the air around him was too thick.

But there was something else too—something that pulled at me deep inside, making me want to step closer even though every instinct screamed at me to run.

His eyes burned into me, studying me like I was some kind of bug. When I didn’t answer right away, one eyebrow lifted like he was amused by how pathetic I was.

“I just asked you a question,” he said indifferently. “Answer my question.”

“My name is Jane,” I answered, taking another step backward, but I almost bumped into a waitress.

“Watch out!” He grabbed my hand, pulling me away from her, and—

Oh Goddess.

It was like lightning shot up my arm and spread through my whole body. Every nerve ending came alive.

It was more than just a touch; it was a sense of recognition and completion, as if I had found the missing piece of my soul that I never knew was lost. Every inch of my body hummed with an electrifying energy that felt like fate unfolding.

I gasped, jerking away as if his touch burned, because it did - it burned with promise and possibility and a future I was suddenly desperate to claim. When I looked up at him, his face had gone white.

His eyes were wide with shock, then they narrowed into something that looked like disgust. Like touching me made him sick.

“My name is Richard Brown,” he said suddenly. I didn’t understand why he was telling me this, but before I could think about it, he grabbed my hand again.

That electric feeling shot through me, and then he said words that shattered my world.

“I, Richard Brown, reject you, Jane, as my mate, my partner, and the Luna to my pack.”

The world stopped.

Everything stopped.

Time, breath, and hope.

The world went quiet except for the sound of people gasping around us. It took a full minute for his words to sink in, and when they did, it felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart out.

“What did I tell her!” Lissa’s voice cut through the silence. “No one will want a loser like her.”

This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare. I had met my mate—the other half of my soul, the one person in all existence meant for me—and he had taken one look and found me so repulsive he couldn’t reject me fast enough.

He rejected me before he even knew my last name.

“Why?” I asked, unable to control the stream of tears already turning into a flood. It was a hard pill to swallow. “Why did you reject me?”

I couldn’t stop crying. This was supposed to be the beginning of everything good in my life. The mate who would see past my weaknesses, who would love the broken pieces of me and help me become whole.

Instead, I was staring into the face of my salvation as he explained exactly why I didn’t deserve to be saved.

“Are you seriously asking me that?” He squeezed my hand tighter, and it hurt. “Look at you. You’re like a gust of wind. I could blow you off right now, and that’d 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.”

Each word was like a knife to my heart. I knew I was weak. I knew I was nothing special. But hearing it from him; from the person who was supposed to love me no matter what, made it hurt a thousand times worse.

“What can a she-wolf as weak as you offer me and my pack members?” His smirk was the cruelest thing I had ever seen, beautiful and terrible.

“With you as my Luna, my world will collapse. You will ruin my legacy and turn me into some sick joke, and I’ll never let that happen. So you should accept the rejection, and we both go away like this disgusting meeting never happened.”

Disgusting. Our meeting—this immense moment that should have been the most beautiful of my life—disgusted him. I disgusted him.

I wanted the earth to crack open and swallow me whole, to disappear so completely that this moment never existed. But I was still here, still bleeding, and still faced with an impossible choice.

How did I accept his rejection when I didn’t even have a wolf to complete the ritual? How did I let go of the only chance at love I would ever have?

“Are you still thinking of a way to convince me to accept the pathetic self of yours?” he snapped at me. “Accept the rejection now before I do my worst.”

“I can’t accept your rejection,” I whispered, staring at my feet because I couldn’t bear to look at his face. When I finally looked up, I was begging with my whole heart. “Please, don’t reject me. I’ll get stronger. I’ll be better. Please just give me a chance.”

I didn’t care about my pride anymore. Nothing mattered now—not dignity, not self-respect, not the humiliation burning through me.

Without him, I was nothing. Without a mate, I would forever be the pack’s favorite victim, their punching bag, and their reminder that even fate could make mistakes.

“I should accept you.” His voice softened, and for one impossible moment, hope bloomed in my chest.

“Yes,” I breathed, nodding so hard my neck ached. “All I want is for you to give me a chance. A chance to prove my worth.”

“You don’t have to listen to her, Alpha,” Lissa called out. “She’s nothing but trash. Even the lowest omega is better than her. Don’t let her fool you. She’ll never be worth anything.”

Rage, pure and cleansing, flooded through me. “Shut up,” I snarled. “Don’t poke your nose into what isn’t your business. He is mine.”

“Ha.” His laugh was bitter and empty. “I never thought there would be a day I would be humiliated like this, by the moon goddess herself.”

Even the idea of having me as his mate embarrassed him. I wasn’t just unwanted—I was shameful.

“Please,” I pleaded desperately.

I could feel it. The pull, the bond, and the way my soul reached for his. Only he could love me the way my mother had promised someone would. Only he could see worth in the worthless, beauty in the broken.

This bond that made my whole body ache for him, made me need him like I needed air to breathe. He was the only one who could ever love me. I knew it with every fiber of my being.

“Kneel,” he ordered. “Maybe I can consider accepting you.”