Chapter 1. Discarded

Ava

With an unusual agitation, he raised his voice and said, "Ava, I never loved you. I can't be your mate. You're an Omega and you're still a weak wolf carrying lower caste genes."

"Why would you say such words to me?" My voice trailed off.

"I just realized that this whole thing was a mistake," he said coldly, making everything appear to happen more quickly than it actually did.

I could hear Rae's best friend and beta, Kyle, laughing across the room, showing how gleefully thrilled he was to be present at that moment.

"I, Rae Dunn, reject you, Ava Steele, as my mate. You were a nobody before we were mated, now you'll go back to being a worthless she-wolf."

A stab of pain shot through my heart. Not only did I feel shattered, but my wolf also experienced the anguish of rejection. I questioned when I gave in to the delusion that Rae was genuinely in love with me. How on earth could he trick me for three years straight? I questioned myself.

"I, Ava Steele, accept your rejection, Rae Dunn," I said. He looked at me, his face cold. My heart was beating so fast.

He gave me a disdainful look and turned to go without looking back and I forced myself to suppress the need to tell him that I was pregnant.

Rae would definitely feel the bond between us being broken, even if I didn't feel it at the time.

Rae walked away without saying anything, showing no regret or expression on his face. I was saddened all the more.

Kyle stayed behind to relish this very moment. He always said I wasn't good enough for Rae.

"This is the time when you will desperately flee and never return to the pack." I heard Kyle say.

My voice lodged in my throat with the tears I refrained from streaming down my eyes. I realized that he wasn't just telling me, it was a command. With a growl, Kyle grabbed my neck and forced me up against the wall.

"Did you truly believe that a frail orphan such as yourself would be his Luna?" he asked with a smirk.

I was unable to respond because all I could feel was Kyle's resentment pulsing through my body.

He continued coldly, "Leave Ava, no one wants you here. You'll always be a nobody."

He let go of me right away and walked away, grinning contentedly, without waiting to hear what I had to say.

I couldn't stand up as my legs grew weak. I decided, as I lay there on the ground, that I was going to move on from my past and Rae's rejection.

I realized that before long, the whole pack would be aware of my rejection and would make fun of me for the rest of my life. So with all my might, I sprinted back to my room. I didn't have time to be sad and depressed. I unlocked the old box that held all of my possessions, removed everything, and sealed everything in a plastic bag.

In order to avoid being seen, I waited until dusk. My wolf kept sobbing because our mate had treated us so crudely. I vowed never to return as I took one final look at my house, my eyes blurry in the chilly, dark night. I wiped away my tears and ran deep into the jungle.

As I ran, memories of the day I and Rae were mated flooded my mind.

THREE YEARS AGO

An ambush claimed my parent's life. My aunt, Larisa never discussed it, so I never found out how it had actually happened. Seeing me shift for the first time was all I wanted my parents to witness. Though my wolf was starting to show signs of being different from the other wolves of the pack, I still didn't want to shift.

My eighteenth birthday wasn't really thrilling. Nobody knew the whole thing except for my aunt. The omegas in the pack, however, had always been ignored, and nobody had bothered to find out what happened to my parents.

Anytime I turned a year older, my confusion and uncertainties returned and they plagued me. Things got worse as I was enslaved by my aunt Larisa and her husband, Colin. I was under their vicious care till Rae entered my life and saved me from her wicked grasp.

I was snapped back to reality when I noticed Kyle's presence in the room.

"Get dressed immediately, the Alpha's son is waiting for you." Kyle said with contempt laced in his voice.

"Th- the Alpha's son?" I whispered, shocked at what I just heard. I met Rae at a party when I was 15 and since then, I haven't been able to get him out of my head. I felt pulled towards him and I could only watch him from afar and well, have wet dreams about him. Who was I kidding? He's the Alpha's son and way out of my league. But I was confused. Why was he here and why was he waiting for me?

"Are your ears as useless as you are?" he growled, "Worthless orphan, don't keep him waiting."

I could no longer hear Kyle's thundering footsteps as they gradually disappeared. But the pressure he had placed on my shoulders the moment he walked into my room continued to fester, virtually immobilizing me. He hated me because, in his eyes, I was of a lower caste and hence unworthy of being Rae's mate.

Thinking about what Rae wanted with me made my body shiver. I'd wondered for a long time what the son of an Alpha would want with an omega like myself. Maybe Kyle was correct to say that I wasn't deserving of the future alpha. What made me Rae's mate of choice? I was hated by my aunt and she used me as her personal slave while raising me as an orphan.

I was once told that although I wasn't as powerful as I should have been, I had a beauty that no other girl in the pack had. Perhaps there was something about me that Rae found endearing. Did he really think I would be a good mate? Despite his reputation as a ruthless and unrelenting wolf.