The Cruel Rejection

“Stand straight, Aera, or I will make you. You wouldn't like it once I will,” my father, Antonio, scowled at me when he noticed that I was slouching.

Fear surged through me after hearing my father’s warning. I immediately stood straight and fixed my posture because I know my father won't hesitate to strike me using his wooden crane when he loses his nerves, even if we are in front of many people. Not that it was foreign to me since he chastised me a lot more than I can count. It’s just making a scene would be inappropriate in such a sacred mating ceremony. I don't want to disappoint the Moon Goddess.

“I-I’m sorry, f-father,” I stuttered and looked down when my father glowered at me, afraid that he might hit me if I continued to meet his gaze.

“Fix that disgusting stutter of yours!” he hissed through his teeth and then cluck his tongue out of disappointment. “Try embarrassing me today and I will whip that back of yours over and over again until it bleeds and I will starve you for a week. Mark my words, young lady.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and refused my father’s scathing gaze as I nodded delicately. When I heard a faint mocking laugh from my side, I glanced at Aena who was looking at me with repugnance. Not only was my sister giving me that look, but also the important members of the Calisto pack.

Everybody was spearing me a gaze like I was a disappointment, including my father, who was eager to send me off to my mate so that he will be free from the burden of having me as his stuttering daughter. Even the weather was gloomy and terrible when it started to pour suddenly. But it wasn’t as dreadful as the way others beheld at me that made me feel so small. For a moment, I just wanted to wither so I could give them the satisfaction of their long-time desire.

My mysterious mate was unpunctual in contrast to me, and we had been waiting for him for an hour. If he stood me up, I didn't know if my father would let it go easily. He will blame me for it for sure and I will probably get punished by hitting my back with a whip twenty times or worse more.

I winced in pain after I recalled how painful it was when he punished me for stuttering in front of his Alpha friends last week. I got sick after receiving twenty hits in the back. And nobody showed concern for me as I was beaten in front of the pack. Instead, they looked satisfied when I suffered.

I chewed on my lower lip out of my anxiety when that painful memory flashed in my mind like a toxic recording plate. I heard my wolf suddenly howl in agony.

“Stop trembling, damn it!” my father hissed through his clenched teeth, which made me flinch in my seat. “And cover that hideous scar of yours!”

With that, I immediately heeded my father's command and stopped myself from trembling by clasping my hands together. I was so nervous that I never noticed I was trembling. I also made sure that my line scars were concealed as well. My father doesn't want others to see it because he believes it was a sign of sin. It was ironic for my father to believe that killing own's life is a sin when he always inflicts pain on me, disregarding the fact that I was his daughter originally. He had never considered my feelings for once and always favored my twin sister Aena, who was born to be the opposite of me and the town's favorite.

I looked around at the banquet and received nothing but scrutiny. I wouldn't be appalled if my mate wouldn't like me. Nobody liked me. Even my own father doesn't like me and my sister despises me for being her weak twin. And I'm not expecting much from this event. I just want my mate to accept me. A part of me was hoping that once I would find my mate, I'd be able to leave our cruel packhouse and live free from being abused mentally and physically.

Apparently, my mate was my only hope to end this torment of mine.

I sighed and looked down, my tears forming in my eyes and importunate to be tolerated. I don't know what I would do if I got rejected in front of the pack. I don't think I can ever live up to their disappointment once that happens.

I craned my neck towards my sister who was standing beside her newfound mate and I almost snorted in envy. There was never once she hadn’t been hailed, never been glorified in Woodville as the town’s diamond. And I hate her for that because I couldn’t be like Aena. Even if I could, her confidence was a thing I couldn’t handle or dwell on for a long time. I was not the kind of person who enjoys abundant attention.

My sister raised her eyebrows at me as her retort and raised her hand to her mate's lips gracefully. When Aena’s mate kissed the back of her hand, I tried so hard not to frown by wearing a deadpan expression. She was making me jealous, I know, and it worked. I have always been jealous of her ever since I was young because she was the only one who was appreciated, while I'm the one who was being ostracized.

“See what my mate did to me?” Aena whispered in her spiteful voice before smirking wickedly. “That is the thing your mate wouldn't do to you, Aera. In fact, I had a feeling that he would reject you. Otherwise, why is he late, right? Lack of interest, is it not?”

I tried to shake Aena’s provocation by staying calm in my seat. As if on cue, my meek wolf agreed in silence and advised me to just wait patiently.

Minutes later, a tall man with a vicious but rugged look holding a cut head of a rogue werewolf arrived at the banquet with his men. He was drenched because of the rain, covered in blood, and had a strong aura surrounding him, making his presence strong enough for me to fathom. Without saying a word, he threw the rogue’s head, blood dripping in the middle of the banquet, horrifying everyone with his unanticipated behavior.

“Seems like a rogue werewolf's been accessible in this area,” he stated with an arrogant tone and looked at me for seconds, piercing his gray eyes at me.

My eyes widened when I felt an unexplainable connection with him almost instantly, which I had never felt for anyone before. I drew on a deep breath and a musky mint with a hint of chocolate scent suddenly teased my nostrils when the wind blew. I never inhaled such an alluring scent before and my heart skips a beat as the scent wafts through the thin air, intoxicating me and my wolf and sullying our pure sterling.

When the man's gaze darted toward me again, I immediately understood what he was about to do. Disappointment danced on his face as he stared at me with contempt and I could no longer meet his gaze. I could feel from where I stood that he was the one I'm expecting today, my handsome and rugged mate, who obviously disliked me the first time he laid his eyes on me.

“This is a mistake,” he said with disbelief before looking around the hall in exasperation. “There was no way she was my mate. Thin, pale, and meek. Can't even look me straight in the eye without fear. I can already tell that she's weak and vulnerable at first glance. It's never going to happen. Only a fool would let this happen. She can't be my Luna.”

I looked down, my hands trembled with his blunt remarks. Suddenly, the idea of escaping the cruel life with my father and sister has become unfathomable now, making my wolf and I crestfallen. Just like what I assumed, my mate wouldn't appreciate me. Nobody ever did.

“I, Alexei Volkov, reject you, Aera Alvarez, as my fated mate,” he said without an ounce of hesitation and left the mating ceremony in dead silence.

With that, I lost hope and felt my heart slowly shattering inside my chest. My shoulders dropped to my side as I watched my mate Alexei leave the place without turning his back.

“N-N-No...” I stuttered as I shook my head, hoping that he could change his mind once I begged.

I almost ran towards my mate when my father stopped me by grabbing my hair as tight as he could, pulling me back on my seat with all his might, making me wince in pain silently. I saw how the current Alpha of the Triton Pack saluted my father as a sign of their respect before following his son. Every member of the pack followed their leader and my sister walked toward me as she haughtily flipped her long black hair.

Her brown orbs are now darting at my blue ones with spite.

Aena brought her face towards my ear and whispered, “Dream on, Aera. That next in line Alpha will never accept you. Do you know why? Because you are not me. You will never be me.”

I looked at Aena with trembling, envious eyes until I started glaring at her when I couldn’t contain my anger anymore. My father glared at me after seeing my reaction and pulled my hair to stop me from giving Aena, his favorite daughter, a sharp look.

Blinking to fade the tears that were pooling in my eyes, I looked away and pretended that I was never affected by my father’s blunt favoritism and Aena’s punitive words. I wouldn't want to cry and that's what she always wanted to see.

To see me in pain.

My father kissed Aena's cheeks when she decided to leave with her new mate, while the important members of the Calisto Pack remained at the banquet, criticizing me as they shook their heads in dismay.

When my father turned to glance at me, his reaction changed from pleased to disgust.

“I told you she was going to be rejected,” one of my father's betas said before clicking his tongue. “If I were her mate, I would have too. Hair was hideous red!”

“I know. I mean, look at her freckles as well. Aren't they ugly?” one of the omegas said and looked at me in a rather condescending way. “If she just looks like her twin Aena, then we wouldn't have a problem now.”

“For all I know, the Triton pack was one of the strongest packs in Canidae, If the Alpha’s daughter managed to charm her mate, then that would be a great alliance for our pack,” one of the gammas said, the tactician of the pack who had eyeglasses perched on his nose.

“Well, what do you expect from her?” asked the first beta of his father, the strongest next to the Alpha in terms of strength and fighting, as he looked down on me. “Alexei is smarter than he looks. Of course, he probably looked into the Alpha’s daughter's profile before coming here. Besides, she has an annoying stutter, almost everybody knows that. Who would want to mate with someone like that? Can’t even say a single word without stuttering. What a pity.”

I looked down, lips quivering as I restrained my tears from descending out of my eyes. My only hope has been quashed and fallen into the bottomless chasm. There was no way to escape this cruel life.