CHAPTER 2: Rejected By My True Mate

Ariana’s POV

My wolf shattered inside me and the pain hit so hard that I grabbed the edge of Damien’s desk to stop

myself from falling.

Selene smiles beside him like she enjoyed watching me break apart but Damien said nothing.

Not one word, not after spending three years in my bed, not after last night.

My fingers shook badly around the pen.

“Ariana,” Selene said sweetly. “Don’t make this difficult. You already got enough from Damien.”

I finally looked at her.

“Enough?”

She shrugged. “You got his name, his house, his body.”

My chest burned and Damien finally spoke.

“Sign the papers.”

Just like that, like three years meant nothing.

I then stared at him through blurry eyes. “Did you ever love me?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

There was silence and Damien’s jaw tightened and then he said the words that destroyed me completely.

“No.”

I stopped breathing and Selene smirked proudly beside him.

I then looked down at the divorce papers again.

My name stared back at me like a joke.

Ariana Vale Blackwood.

Not anymore. Slowly, I signed the papers and the moment the pen left my hand, Selene smiled wider and Damien took the papers immediately.

Not even one second of hesitation, like he feared I may change my mind but I could not stay there anymore.

I then turned around and walked toward the door but Damien suddenly grabbed my wrist and my breath caught and for one stupid moment, hope rose inside me again.

Maybe he regretted it, maybe he wanted me to stay and then his voice turned everything dark again.

“Leave the Luna jewelry before you go.”

My heart broke all over again and I slowly removed the silver bracelet around my wrist.

The one he gave me during our first year together.

That night flashed inside my head immediately.

Rain outside and Damien pulling me onto his lap and his mouth against my neck.

“You belong beside me,” he whispered that night.

But he was a liar.

I then placed the bracelet on the table carefully and then I left and nobody stopped me, nobody followed me.

The moment I stepped outside the Alpha house, the servants began whispering already.

“She finally got dumped.”

“I knew Alpha Damien would never keep her forever.”

“Selene is better anyway.”

I kept walking, one step, then another, then another but the pain kept growing inside my chest.

By evening, my room was gone and an omega dragged my bags outside carelessly.

“You don’t live in the Luna wing anymore.”

I stared at her. “Where am I supposed to stay?”

She pointed toward the servant quarters.

“With the other omegas.”

The women nearby laughed immediately and one of them threw dirty clothes at me.

“Wash these first.”

Another pushed a bucket into my hands.

“Hurry up. Omegas eat after everybody else.”

I bit my lips hard and carried the bucket away before they saw my tears.

That night, I scrubbed clothes alone behind the pack house and the water froze my fingers.

My wolf cried silently inside me and every corner of this place reminded me of Damien.

That tree over there?

Damien kissed me against it during winter after a pack party.

That hallway?

He dragged me there one night because another Alpha touched my waist during a meeting.

I still remembered the way he growled into my ear.

“Don’t let other men touch what belongs to me.”

I believed him. Moon Goddess, I truly believed him.

Suddenly, thunder shook the sky and I froze.

Storms. Damien always became different during storms.

Possessive and needy and sometimes he held me the entire night like he feared losing me.

Once, after a nightmare, he carried me back to bed and stayed awake rubbing circles on my back until morning.

But now?

Now he acted like I disgusted him.

My chest hurt badly again.

The next evening, the entire pack prepared for the Moon Ceremony.

Every year, unmated wolves attended the ceremony to find their fated mates, music filled the pack house.

Women wore beautiful dresses and men laugh loudly downstairs.

I stood inside the servant room staring at my reflection.

I should not go. Divorced women do not belong at mate ceremonies, especially disgraced women but something inside me refused to stay back.

Maybe the Moon Goddess still remembered me, maybe she would finally give me one good thing.

So I wore my simplest dress and sneaked into the ceremony quietly and nobody noticed me at first.

Candles lit the massive hall and music played softly.

Wolves danced together under the moon symbol hanging above us and then suddenly, the doors opened and Damien walked inside and everything stopped.

My breath caught immediately, black suit, sharp eyes and dangerous face.

The entire hall watched him and then his eyes landed on me and the world exploded.

Pain slammed into my chest violently and my wolf gaspsed.

“Mate.” I froze completely. No. No no no.

Damien’s body went still too and his eyes darkened instantly.

The entire hall felt it. The bond.

Whispers spread everywhere immediately.

“Mate bond.”

“The Alpha found his mate.”

Tears rushed into my eyes instantly. It was him. All along.

That explained everything, the possessiveness, the storms and the nights he lost control touching me.

Moon Goddess…

Damien was my true mate, my actual mate.

He then walked toward me slowly like he could not stop himself and every step made my wolf shook harder.

When he finally reached me, his hand grabbed my waist roughly and I gasped softly and then his eyes glowed darkly.

“Mine.”

I feel the word through the bond and hope exploded inside me so fast it hurt.

“Damien…” I whispered emotionally and for one dangerous moment, he stared at me like he wanted to pull me into his arms, like last night, like every night he held me too tightly after sex.

Then suddenly…Selene appeared beside him and everything changed instantly.

She wrapped her hand around Damien’s arm possessively and his face hardened again and then the entire hall fell silent.

Damien released my waist slowly and my heart started pounding badly.

“No…” I whispered and Damien looked  directly into my eyes.

Then he said the words that destroy my soul.

“I reject Ariana Vale as my mate.”

The world stopped and a painful scream tore through my wolf instantly and I almost collapsed.

The pain burned through my entire body.

“Damien…” I cried. “Please…”

But his face did not change.

“A thief’s daughter can never stand beside me as Luna.”

The hall became silent with shock and tears poured down my face uncontrollably.

“You don’t mean that,” I whispered desperately and Damien stepped closer.

His next words sliced through me completely.

“You were good enough for my bed. Nothing more.”

My wolf screamed again and I grabbed my chest painfully as the rejection tore through me and then suddenly Selene turned toward the guards.

“Throw her out of the pack territory immediately.”

Two guards grabbed me roughly and I started crying harder as they dragged me away from the ceremony.

“Damien!”

He did not move and the guards pulled me toward the exit while the entire pack watched and then suddenly..

Damien’s wolf roared violently inside him. Like it regretted the rejection instantly.