Rejected

The mate bond didn’t arrive gently.

It struck like lightning.

One moment I was standing near the back of the pack hall, half-hidden behind taller wolves, trying not to be noticed the way omegas learned to do.

The next, something inside my chest tightened violently, stealing the air from my lungs.

Heat rushed through my veins.

My heartbeat stumbled—then raced.

No…

No, this couldn’t be happening.

The doors of the hall opened.

Alpha Kael stepped inside.

Power moved with him, quiet but absolute. Conversations died without being told. Warriors straightened. Even the elders fell silent as he crossed the stone floor with slow, controlled steps.

He didn’t need to demand attention.

He owned it.

And inside me, something long silent woke up.

Mate.

The word echoed through my mind, soft and certain.

My wolf—who had never spoken, never stirred, never felt like more than an empty space—rose suddenly, as if she had only been sleeping.

My knees weakened.

Out of everyone in the world…

my mate was him.

Alpha Kael.

Leader of Nightclaw.

Untouchable. Powerful. Feared.

And I was—

Just an omega.

A quiet, forgettable omega who cleaned training wounds and kept her head down so no one would remember she existed.

This had to be a mistake.

But the bond pulled again, sharp and undeniable.

Real.

Cruelly real.

“Are you okay?” Lina whispered beside me, her fingers tightening around my sleeve.

I couldn’t answer. My throat had closed.

Sera leaned closer from my other side, eyes wide with worry.

“You look pale,” she murmured. “Do you need air?”

Air wouldn’t fix this.

Nothing could.

Because across the hall, Alpha Kael suddenly stilled.

Just for a second.

So brief no one else would notice.

But I did.

His shoulders tightened almost invisibly.

His head tilted a fraction—like he was listening to something distant.

Like he felt it.

Hope flared inside my chest before I could stop it.

Wild. Fragile. Dangerous.

Then he looked up.

Our eyes met.

The world disappeared.

For one heartbeat, everything went silent—the hall, the whispers, the fear.

There was only the invisible thread between us, pulling tight.

Recognition flickered in his gaze.

Not warmth.

Not joy.

Something darker.

Something… conflicted.

And then—

It vanished.

His expression hardened into cold indifference, smooth and controlled, like a door slamming shut.

He looked away first.

The bond twisted painfully inside me.

Lina nudged my arm. “You’re on service tonight. Take the Alpha a drink before the elders start talking again.”

My stomach dropped.

Every instinct screamed don’t go.

But refusing an order would draw attention, and attention was dangerous for wolves like me.

So I moved.

Each step toward him felt unreal, like walking through water.

The bond pulsed with every breath, aching for something I didn’t understand.

I placed the glass carefully on the table before him.

“Alpha,” I said softly, lowering my gaze.

Silence fell around us.

Too heavy.

Too watchful.

Kael didn’t touch the drink.

Slowly, deliberately, he looked at me.

Up close, his presence was overwhelming—dark eyes, sharp jaw, power coiled beneath stillness.

For a moment, something unreadable passed through his expression.

Pain?

No… I imagined it.

His voice, when he spoke, was cold enough to freeze the air.

“I don’t accept drinks from omegas trying to gain my attention.”

The words struck harder than any blow.

Laughter rippled through nearby wolves—quiet, but cruel enough.

Heat flooded my face.

My fingers trembled as humiliation crashed over me.

I stepped back quickly, wishing the stone floor would open and swallow me whole.

Lina reached me first, anger burning in her eyes.

“Ignore them,” she whispered fiercely. “He’s just—”

“Enough.”

Kael’s voice cut through the hall.

Silence slammed down.

“Step forward,” he ordered.

My body moved before fear could stop it.

I felt Lina’s hand slip from mine.

Sera wouldn’t look at me anymore.

Because everyone understood what was happening.

Even if they didn’t know why.

I stopped a few feet from him, barely able to breathe.

“You feel it,” Kael said quietly—so quietly only I could hear.

Not a question.

A statement.

Hope tried to rise again.

“Yes,” I whispered.

For the smallest fraction of a second, something broke through his control.

Regret.

It was gone so fast I almost believed I imagined it.

Then his voice rose, cold and formal, carrying across the entire hall.

“I, Alpha Kael of the Nightclaw Pack… reject you as my mate.”

The world shattered.

Pain exploded through my chest, violent and blinding.

A scream tore from my throat as my knees hit the stone floor.

My wolf howled in agony, the sound echoing inside my skull.

Every breath burned.

Every heartbeat felt like breaking glass.

“I will not take an omega as my Luna,” he continued, emotionless.

“This bond ends now.”

The words should have felt final.

But beneath the pain… something was wrong.

The bond didn’t disappear.

It strained.

Like something was holding it back from breaking completely.

“I release you,” he finished.

Silence followed.

Heavy. Suffocating.

When I forced my eyes open through tears, Kael was already turning away.

But just before he did—

His hand curled into a fist at his side.

Tight.

Trembling.

Like letting go was costing him more than he would ever allow anyone to see.

Then he walked away.

And I was left on the cold stone floor, broken in front of the entire pack.

Lina tried to come to me, but an elder’s warning glance stopped her.

Sera pulled her back, crying silently.

No one would stand against an Alpha.

Not for an omega.

As the hall slowly emptied, one truth settled deep into my shattered chest—

The Alpha who rejected me had looked at me like I mattered…

just before he destroyed me.

And somewhere beneath the pain, beneath the humiliation, beneath the breaking bond—

A quiet, terrifying question formed.

Why?

Because that hadn’t looked like hatred.

It had looked like sacrifice.