4

Jane

I heard everyone gasp. I felt their pitiful stares burning into my body. My wolf should have been howling in contempt, clawing at my chest to protect what was ours.

But there was only silence where she should have been, an emptiness that echoed with each thundering heartbeat.

I knew what I should have done. Every fiber of my being screamed to fight back, to let rage consume the hurt, to walk away.

But I couldn’t. Couldn’t. Because losing him meant losing my last thread of hope—not just for a mate, but for the missing half of my soul that I’d spent eighteen years searching for in mirrors and dreams.

I swallowed what was left of my pride. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and dropped to my knees. The cold floor hurt, but not as much as my heart.

“Accept me, please.”

He stood over me like a giant. His presence filled the empty space where my wolf should have been. I hated how much I needed him, even when he looked at me with such disgust.

“Oh. A worthless girl like you thinks she deserves to be my mate. So pathetic, so desperate, she’ll grovel on the floor just for the chance to wear a Luna’s crown.”

“No, it’s not about the title.” My voice cracked. “It was never about that.”

“Then what?” He smirked, cruel and cold. “Maybe you just want me to fuck you before I throw you away like the garbage you are?”

I was so humiliated. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to melt into the floor and never come back. The whispering got louder and louder.

But he wasn’t finished. He never knew when to stop.

“That’s it, isn’t it? You want me to use you before you crawl away to accept my rejection. One taste before you’re nothing again.”

“Stop, please,” I begged. The tears came fast and hot. “Please, just.. stop.”

Hot tears carved trails down my cheeks. “Please.”

“I know what you want,” he continued, relentless. “I saw how you stared when I walked in. Like a starving animal eyeing fresh meat.”

My face burned with embarrassment. “I couldn’t help it. I’m not like that, I swear. When I see you, something inside me knew you were mine. Something broken recognized its missing piece.”

His eyes met mine, and I felt truly seen for the first time—and found completely worthless.

In his gaze, I saw my own failure reflected back at me, bigger and uglier than I ever imagined.

“Shut up and accept my rejection,” he snarled. “My time is worth more than this pathetic show.”

I forced myself to stand. My legs shook like I was dying, but I looked him in the eye. “I’m sorry. I can’t accept your rejection.”

“What the hell did you just say?” His hand grabbed my wrist so hard it hurt. For just a moment, I felt our mate bond through his touch—beautiful and terrible and everything I was about to lose. “Why can’t you just disappear like the mistake you were?”

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

I watched his face change from confusion to disgust to something like horror.

“What did you say?”

“I don’t have a wolf,” I repeated. “Not yet. Maybe never. If you rejected me like this, it wouldn’t just break my heart. It would kill me. Literally.”

He released my wrist so violently I stumbled. “You’re lying.”

“I hoped—” The words caught in my throat. “I thought meeting you might wake her up. I believed our bond could make me whole. You were supposed to save me from this emptiness.”

“Save you?” He laughed. “You’re not just worthless—you’re insane. Nothing will ever change what you are, broken girl. You’ll spend your whole miserable life incomplete.”

His words wrapped around my throat like a rope.

“Listen carefully, because I’ll only say this once. Don’t ever let me see your pathetic face again. Pretend I don’t exist, pretend this never happened, pretend you’re not the cosmic joke you clearly are.”

I was shaking so hard I could barely breathe. The pain spread through every part of me like fire.

This was supposed to be the best day of my life. Instead, it was destroying everything I was.

What did I do wrong? What sin did I commit that even the Moon Goddess would punish me like this?

Then I saw Mother pushing through the crowd. Her face was full of fury and love, and for a moment, hope flickered in my chest. Someone was coming to save me.

She stepped between us, small but fierce. “How dare you hurt my daughter, Alpha?” Her voice shook with anger. “How dare you make my baby cry?”

“Who the hell are you?” He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. “Get out of my way.”

“I am her mother,” she said with fierce pride. “And I will die before I let you destroy my baby girl.”

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

“You’re the mother of this broken thing, and you’re proud of it? That’s even more pathetic than she is. Take your disgusting daughter and crawl back to whatever hole you came from.”

A deep growl filled the air. My heart jumped with desperate hope. Father. Finally, he was going to defend me. Finally, someone else would fight for me.

“Alpha,” Father’s voice rumbled with rage. “I don’t care what you do with my daughter. Reject her, hurt her, throw her away—whatever brings you peace. But don’t you dare disrespect my mate.”

Hope didn’t just die—it rotted inside me, turning toxic and poisonous. Of course. Of course it wasn’t about me.

Even now, in my darkest moment, I was invisible. I watched Father defend Mother with the kind of love I’d spent my life dreaming of, and it hurt worse than any rejection ever could.

“No offense to your mate, Beta,” my mate said, calmer now. “I’m sure she earned your love through strength and worth. But why should I accept a girl who has nothing to offer? A girl so broken I wonder if she’s even your blood.”

“Some burdens can’t be escaped,” Father sighed. I heard my whole life reduced to a weight he had to carry. “That is why I supported your choice. If I could, I would have rejected her as my daughter long ago.”

The words didn’t just hurt—they hollowed me out completely. To know that even my own father saw me as a mistake he was forced to live with... it was like dying while still breathing.

“What are you saying?” my mother demanded. “Have you forgotten I’m standing right here, breathing, alive? How dare you side with this worthless excuse for an Alpha? The Moon Goddess cursed my daughter with garbage like him, and you dare speak about my child with your filthy mouth? You’re both trash that doesn’t deserve the gift of a mate!” She was screaming now, her voice raw with fury. “You both make me sick.”

“Watch your mouth,” the Alpha growled, his gaze turning predatory. “I won’t tolerate disrespect.”

His face was full of disgust. “Tame your woman, Beta, or else I won’t mind helping you tame her.”

“You are no Alpha of mine,” Mother spat, her hands fisting in his shirt despite the danger. “My daughter is worth a thousand of you.”

“Let. Go. Of. Me.”

“Never!” she howled. “She is my heart walking around outside my body. She is everything good in this world.”

“Enough!” Father roared. “Stop defending that mistake!”

“I’d rather die,” Mother whispered fiercely. “Than to stop.”

“Let go before I kill you,” the Alpha threatened. I saw death in his eyes.

“Mother, please,” I cried. “Let go. Don’t die for me. I’m not worth it.”

Finally, she released him and turned to Father. Her face was full of pain I’d never seen before. “Get ready, Beta. I’m going to reject you. You’re going to learn how it feels to be thrown away by someone who should love you unconditionally.”

“You can’t do that.” For the first time, Father sounded afraid. Genuinely terrified.

“Watch me do it,” she roared. “You worthless excuse for a father.”

“She brought this on herself,” Father said. “She is pathetic; so what did you expect?”

This was the breaking point. The pain went beyond anything I’d ever felt. It was the kind of hurt that changed who you were forever.

Exhausted, I ran. I didn’t remember deciding to move, but suddenly I was stumbling toward the door. Mother’s voice called after me, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to escape from Father and my mate, who had just rejected me.

The cold air hit my face as I burst through the front door, stinging my skin but failing to dull the ache in my heart.

This was supposed to be my beginning. Instead, it felt like my end.

Why did the Moon Goddess make me just to watch me suffer? What was the point of all this pain? I came here hoping to find my other half, to finally feel complete.

Instead, I learned that some people were born broken, and all the hope in the world couldn’t fix them.

Love wasn’t meant for girls like me. In the terrible silence where my wolf should have been, I finally understood the worst truth of all: some people spend their whole lives looking for something they were never meant to find.