Fated but Forsaken

Aria's POV

Pain shot through my chest like a thousand knives. I fell to my knees right there in the hallway, clutching at my heart as Alpha Rowan's words echoed in my head: "I reject you as my mate." The bond between us was breaking, tearing apart inside me. Each rip felt like my skin was being peeled away. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, trying not to scream.

"Get up, slave!" Trish snapped, grabbing my arm. "Whatever game you were playing with the Alpha ends now. Back to your duties!"

I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. The world spun around me as Trish dragged me to my feet. My legs felt like water as she pushed me toward the kitchen.

"Clean yourself up and get back to work," she ordered, shoving me through the door.

I stumbled to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. In the small cracked mirror above it, I barely recognized myself. My green eyes were dull with pain, my face ghostly white.

"Mate rejection," I whispered, the words bitter on my tongue. I had read about it in old pack books. The pain could last for weeks, maybe months. Some wolves never recovered.

A memory flashed through my mind - Elena's small white coffin, covered in flowers. My mother's face twisted with hate as she looked at me across the grave. "You shouldn't be here," she had hissed. "You should be in that box, not her."

I shook my head, trying to push the memory away. Ten years, and still her words cut deep.

"You okay?" a deep voice asked.

I spun around to see a tall man with messy black hair and sharp green eyes watching me from the doorway. I recognized him as Beta Caleb, Alpha Rowan's second-in-command.

"I'm fine," I lied, straightening my back despite the burning pain in my chest.

"You're not," he said simply. He stepped into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. "I saw what happened. Mate rejection is serious. You need rest."

I stared at him in confusion. Why would the Beta care about a rejected slave?

"I can't rest. I have work," I said, reaching for a dish towel.

"I'll handle Trish," Caleb replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial with purple liquid. "This will help with the pain. Take it."

I hesitated before accepting it. "Thank you, but... why are you helping me?"

Caleb's eyes softened. "Because what happened to you wasn't right. No one deserves to be rejected like that, especially not in front of others."

Before I could respond, he turned and left. I quickly tucked the vial into my pocket as Trish burst through the door.

"Enough lazing around! The Alpha's guest needs fresh towels," she barked.

By "guest," she meant Lyra. The woman who had watched me be rejected with a smirk on her face. The woman who would take my place by Rowan's side.

I grabbed the towels and made my way to the guest room, each step sending waves of pain through my body. The rejection bond was getting worse, not better.

As I approached Lyra's door, I heard voices inside.

"She's nothing, Rowan. A slave! What were you thinking, calling her mate in front of everyone?" Lyra's angry voice carried through the wood.

"I wasn't thinking," Rowan answered, his deep voice making my heart ache. "The word just... came out."

"Well, make sure it doesn't happen again," Lyra snapped. "I am your chosen. You rejected her. End of story."

I knocked softly on the door, wishing I could be anywhere else. The door flew open, and Lyra stood there, her red hair wild around her angry face. She grabbed the towels from my hands.

"Wait here," she ordered before turning back to Rowan. "We'll finish this conversation later."

She slammed the door in my face. I stood frozen, not sure what to do. Then the door opened again, and Rowan stepped out.

My breath caught in my throat. Up close, his silver-gray eyes were even more striking. The scar along his eyebrow made him look dangerous. The pull toward him was so strong I had to grip the wall to keep from moving closer.

"Aria," he said, my name sounding strange on his lips.

"Alpha," I whispered, lowering my eyes.

"Look at me," he commanded, and I couldn't help but obey.

For a moment, something flashed in his eyes - pain? Regret? But then it was gone, replaced by coldness.

"What I did was necessary," he said stiffly. "A pack Alpha cannot have a slave as Luna. The pack needs strength. Respect. You understand?"

I wanted to scream, to cry, to beg him to reconsider. Instead, I nodded.

"Good," he said, then brushed past me down the hall.

The pain in my chest flared worse than before. I leaned against the wall, fighting tears.

"He's wrong, you know," Lyra's voice came from behind me.

She stood in the doorway of her room, watching me with narrow eyes.

"It wasn't necessary. He could have kept you as a secret, a toy. But he didn't want even that." Her words were meant to hurt, and they did.

"Stay away from him," she continued, stepping closer. "If I see you looking at him, speaking to him, even breathing near him, I'll make sure you regret it."

"He's my mate," I whispered before I could stop myself.

Lyra laughed, the sound cruel and sharp. "He rejected you. You're nothing to him now."

She slammed the door in my face again, leaving me alone in the hallway.

That night, alone in my bed, I finally let the tears come. I pulled Caleb's vial from my pocket and drank the purple liquid in one gulp. The pain in my chest dulled to a throb.

As sleep began to take me, Elena's face floated into my mind. Not as the seven-year-old who had drowned, but older, how she might look now at seventeen.

"I'm not dead, Aria," dream-Elena whispered. "Find me."

I sat bolt upright in bed, fully awake. The voice had been so clear, so real. A chill ran down my spine as I remembered the words.

"I'm not dead."

I looked around the dark room, heart racing. Something shifted in the shadows by the door. I squinted, trying to see better.

A girl with long blonde hair stepped into a patch of moonlight. Her blue eyes - so much like my mother's - stared straight at me.

"Elena?" I gasped.

The girl smiled, then raised a finger to her lips. "They told you I was dead," she said softly. "They lied."