Iris’s POV

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“Ada” I say in a whisper, because right now my voice no longer has the power to be heard. “What is he doing?”

“He just rejected us.” my wolf says and she starts to howl in my mind.

Is not like you have probably heard. Yeah, you feel the pain of rejection, you feel that you lost something important. It hurts worse than a human feels when he or she is dumped by the loved one, and that’s because having a fated mate should be something magical.

But I guess that it was magical only from my point of view. For he was nothing, just something to fill up his days until he reached this moment.

And that’s exactly why right now I feel like dying. He made me think that he accepted me. I love him. I never thought that O could love someone the way I love him. I accepted our mate bond completely and gave him everything, so I just look at him and I know that I look like a wreck.

“But, he can’t…” I whisper and I burst into tears. “We are lovers. We are mates and we have been together for almost a year. He…”

“I Alpha Liam Brown, Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, reject you as my mate and my Luna.” he repeats, loud enough so that everyone gathered here to be sure that there was no mistake.

“He can’t do this to us!” Ada growls and I barely control her because she wants to transform and mark Liam by force and kill the woman who sits near him.

“Let me teach him a lesson!” Ada growls again but I can’t even breathe right now. "He challenges the goddess by rejecting us!" she growled but I simply let Ada alone.

I know where I stay. I know who I am. Finding that he is my mate scared me, exactly because who he is and who I am, but he stood by my side a whole year for the goddess sake! It was all a lie?

I need to find if this was his plan form the beginning. I need something to hang on. A reason to hate him. I just need something or I am going to die loving him.

“Why Liam?” I ask him and he looks at me a little bit taken aback. I suppose he didn't expect to ask him that.

“You knew from the beginning, Iris, that there is no future for us. I am an alpha and you are just a poor omega. This will never work. It was great while it lasted, but the fun is over now.” and I see him taking that beautiful girl’s hand in his hand and I feel that I will die in the next second.

“I choose a mate. Someone who will help me to rule this pack and protect my people. It is not personal, Iris, but you know that I am right. You are not a Luna material.”

I am not a Luna material? Is he kidding me? I stood by his side a whole year and Crescent Moon Pack members love me. I was there for them as weak as he sees me, but I did my best even if I wasn’t their Luna yet. Knowing that I am Liam’s mate made me feel responsible for them. I did my best for him! And now what? He just had the revelation of his life?

“Is this going to take long?” the woman asks and kisses his check as she places her arms around his waist in front of the pack.

This is his Alpha ceremony. We’ve been together in the morning and he acted like everything was normal. He said nothing. NOTHING! And now he is suddenly rejecting me?

“Say no, please!” Ada says, crying. “I can’t survive without him.”

Right now everyone is whispering.

I never felt more humiliated in my life. I never thought that I could feel lower than being an omega, well, Liam just helped me to cross that bottom line.

He just annulled me as a human being, as a lover, as a fated mate. Who the fuck rejects his fated mate?

“You should have told me” I tell him with calm and gentleness and this time I simply look into his eyes. I am not crying anymore. And why should I? Was everything a bad joke? Yes, it seems that it was, because now I have the whole picture.

“Look omega, we don’t have the whole day “his future Luna said. “I came here for my Luna ceremony and I can’t have it until you accept the rejection.”

“Iris, please, say no” Ada cries again but this is beyond her wishes. He judged me by my status in this pack. What about my feeling for him? What about all the love I put in our relation during the last years. All the smiles he gave me. All the kisses and all the promises that he will take care of me? He's just fucking lair!

“No, Iris...Please don’t do it!” Ada started again but even if I am dying right now, I will never let him see me down.

“Iris Gerber", his father’s beta asked me “Do you accept Alpha Liam's rejection or do you have any objections?”

Is this a fucking joke? Do I have an option here? And I start to laugh, making everyone look at me as if I just lost my mind.

Oh my goddess, this is not a joke. This is real.

I look into his eyes and ask him one more time.

“Is this what you want Liam?”

He looks perplexed at me. He opens his mouth as if he was ready to say that he changed his mind, but his future mate grabbed his hand, squeezing it in her hand.

The pack is mute and everyone breathlessly awaits for his answer.

“Is that what you want Liam?” I ask him again, this time raising my voice, to his shock.

“Yes,” he says at the end. “Of course I am sure. Just accept my rejection or I will force you to accept it. I don’t want you. The real Luna of this pack stays at my right” and he looks in Victoria’s eyes and gives her a very diplomatic smile.

“There is no need to force me, Alpha Brown “I tell him and for the first time since this stupid ceremony stared I feel him hurt. He is not “my love” anymore. Not even Liam. He is just Alpha Brown from now on.

But why is he looking at me as if I said something wrong? He is not my mate from this day on.

I see his hand slipping from Victoria’s hand, and his face becomes a little bit pale.

He asked for this. He shouldn't look at me as if I am doing something wrong right now, isn’t it?

“I, Iris Gerber” I say and lift my gaze to be sure that he is watching me.

I am not as weak as you thought, you fucking bastard! I will not beg you to be with me.

“I accept your rejection!”

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Liam’s POV

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She said yes?

So simple, she didn’t fight back? She didn’t ask for anything for the time we spend together? She just said yes as if the last year together didn’t count at all?

“Of course she said yes” Kaden, my wolf says. “She knows that she can’t fight against this. You’ve got what you wanted.”

“What about you?” I ask Kaden, because I feel that he is not one hundred percent with me in this rejection. I know that he loves Ada, Iris’s wolf.

“I didn’t stop you, didn't it?” he says and I feel him retreating in the back of my mind.

Well, he found the perfect moment to be alone…What a jerk!

Iris starts to walk off stage. She turned her back at me and walks as if nothing counted? Why the hell do I feel regret about this? I wanted this! I wanted a strong woman as my Luna not the woman who washed the toilets in the packhouse and cooked for my warriors until one year ago! Having her as a Luna would have been like a slap on my alpha ego.

But from where did she find that pride to look in my eyes and end this without collapsing? She even looked at me disgusted.

“I pronounce you Alpha and Luna of this pack,” my father’s beta says and lifts my hand and Victoria’s hand in the air, making me come back to reality. What the hell, did I missed my own ceremony?

“You can kiss your Luna” he says.

I see Victoria approaching me, and pouting her lips but my eyes are on Iris, she just went down the stairs. I was expecting for her to stay there and watch me as I become her Alpha, but she just walks away. I really mean it when I told her that I will take care of her, but not in the way she was expecting it.

What the fuck is she doing?

Where is she going?

I feel Victoria’s lips almost touching me, but I push her and jump from the stage.

“Iris! Stay right there!” I command to her.

Fucking woman! Why isn’t she stopping?

“Iris!” I growl and everyone gathered looks at me I shock.

“Liam!” Victoria yells at me. Well, she is pissed off. I will fuck her later and mark her and I suppose that she will be alright. Iris was melting in my arms when I was with her, my Luna should act the same. There is no difference between a fated mate and a chosen one, isn't it?

“Iris!” I call my mate again. I mean ex-mate but she continues to walk away from me, while the people of my pack make some space for her to walk and some of them are looking with sadness at her and even bow before her. What the fuck is wrong with them?

She was not good for them. They will understand why I have to deprive them of their rights to have a natural and fated Luna, but first I must stop Iris. What’s the point of her acting like this? She agreed with this. She accepted my rejection, there is no need for her to leave.

“Iris, where the hell do you think you are going?” I shout at her and I feel that my hear tighten in my chest. “I command you to stop!” I yell again.

“Stop it, woman!”

This was not a part of my plan!

But Iris didn’t answer. She didn’t look back. Not even for a second. She left me for good.