Chapter 6

Waking the next morning Naomi decided she was not going to be a victim. First thing she did was pack all her belongings. She was going to go, let the alpha do whatever shitty thing he wanted to do and then she was leaving them all behind. This pack was meant to be her family and her home, but this was not either to her now. She packed up her car and then took a long bath and decided to spend the day preparing to look her best. If she was going down, she was going to do it looking stylish at least.

Her phone message alert went off and it was a text message from Theon telling her he was back and how much he couldn’t wait to see her that afternoon and how special it was going to be. Naomi didn’t even bother replying. She saved all her numbers to the device and then took the sim card out and destroyed it.

Rhys appeared in her bedroom doorway. “You look amazing Naomi” he said in an earnest voice. “I am so proud of you. Shall I drive you?” he asked.

“No” she answered, “go on ahead I will be there shortly. He looked back at her, regret and sadness etched in his face “I will be waiting for you afterwards” he said and walked away slowly.

Naomi took one last look in the mirror and gave a final practice at the icy resolve she had been working on all day. She was a smart girl and she pretty much guessed how today was going to go she was driving her own car and as soon as it was over she was getting the hell out of town and never looking back.

Arriving at the ceremonial grounds Naomi could see it had been decorated beautifully like an outdoor wedding would be in flowers and sashes, chairs with pretty bows around them and tall tables with drinks and canopies. She walked to the left side where a small one-story building stood that she knew she was to meet the Luna in and as she was about to step in she heard voices coming from inside.

“Oh Lilian you are just so beautiful and graceful. You will be the Luna we truly deserve.” This voice was Alpha Theon’s sister Marie. “God, imagine if he hadn’t met you are we had been stuck with that church mouse Naomi.” Several people inside chuckled at this thought. Naomi thought she’d been prepared for the potential humiliations and trials of today, but her face burned with shame and hurt hearing this from a girl she had grown up and even used to look after.

“Thank you. You flatter me,” said a low feminine voice.  Naomi assumed this was whomever Lilian was “I’ve never met her, but I have yet to meet anyone with a good word to say about her!” taking a deep breath Naomi knocked on the door. When she Did the Luna opened it and Naomi saw Marie, the current Luna, two maids and a woman she never saw before all glaring at her like a piece of rubbish had appeared. Lilian was a few inches taller than Naomi with honey blonde hair that came down in soft waves over her shoulder, she was beautiful and dressed in a delicate ivory gown looking like an angel. But there was a darkness in her blue eyes that she couldn’t hide when she looked at Naomi. A hate that shocked her with its fierceness.

“What the hell do you want?” asked Marie in a tone suggesting she was taking to a naughty toddler.

“It’s my mating ceremony” Said Naomi playing along like she still believed it was.

“Oh yeah, you think that don’t you” Marie said almost too quietly for Naomi to hear and louder she said “Oh yes of course. Go wait by the dais” and shoed Naomi out of the room.

Naomi went and took her place out the front of the crowd and the whole pack were seated before her. Normally at this point all eyes would be on her but most of them were actually making a point of not looking in her direction and defiantly not looking directly at her or making any eye contact with her, What a bunch pathetic cowards she thought. She was tempted to make it harder for them and ask out loud what the issue was when she saw Theon walking towards her.

He wasn’t alone he was holding the hand of Lilian and she looked like she had won the grand prize at the fair.

“I am not here to drag this out today.” Stated Theon, looking Naomi in the eye all she could see was a blankness in his gaze, like he barely registered her. “Naomi Clark you are charged with trying to use witchcraft to trick the Alpha into believing you were his true mate and if it wasn’t for the moon goddess sending me Lilian, my real mate, in time to stop this I would have marked the wrong woman. So today, I Alpha Theon of the Halfmoon pack reject you, Naomi Clark, as my mate and my Luna.” He sneered at Naomi his face showing anger and disgust.

Although she felt like she was being crushed inside and her heart felt like it was slowly shattering into tiny pieces Naomi somehow found the strength to calmly respond “I Naomi Clark accept your reject Alpha Theon” for a moment there was just shock on everyone’s faces. If it wasn’t so painful Naomi would have been amused at how surprised Theon and Lilian looked at her lack of reaction.

Theon narrowed is eyes at Naomi “You what?” he asked in disbelief.

“I accept.” She replied simply

For a moment he seemed lost for words and then he turned to the crowd dismissing Naomi entirely. “Tonight you will be given the Luna you all deserve and the mate that is my equal and that will be Lilian” he roared lifting her hand high In the air.

Everyone clapped and cheered and Naomi stood there trying not to let the urge to cry overwhelm her. Not much longer and she could go and cry her heart out. “But you, Naomi Clark, are not going to witness this as you are no longer part of this pack. You have 2 days to leave. You are banished.” With this the crowd went silent, stunned by his word. Rejecting her was one thing but banishing her was another thing entirely. Naomi just smiled sweetly, held up her car keys and said “Fine by me. Bye!” and walked off stage to her car. As she started to pull out of the parking lot she saw her brother and Alpha Theon running out looking for her. Her brother looked shocked and worried but Theon’s face amused her the most. He was enraged. She assumed it was because he had not got any of the reaction he had been expecting and that had been her plan. Nothing upset a bully more than when you didn’t behave how they expected. Heading towards the boarder of the parklands Naomi put the Halfmoon pack firmly in her rearview mirror vowing to never go back