02 Rejection

~Winter~

I should have walked and not waited through the whole thing, but my feet won't budge an my heart wont let me.

Some people laughed, and some people gasped, but tears just streamed down my cheeks and his cheeks. If this was hard for him to do, then why was he doing it?

"I have waited for my fated, and I must say, I was disappointed when I found you. I tried to love you. I tried to make excuses for you in my head, but I just couldn't. The day I knew I couldn't go ahead with this was when I could not introduce you to my foreign friends. Your sense of fashion is terrible, you have no taste, not an ounce of sophistication, and you do not seem like you care to learn. Hayland needs a Luna that would build it and help it survive these trying times. You aren’t that person, Winter. I wanted you to be so badly, but you aren’t that person," He said and released my hands.

"I must say, only a foolish alpha in my position would settle down with you. If I were a peasant or a commoner, with no responsibilities and no standing in society, then a union between us would have been okay," he said.

Pamela yelled his name to interrupt him, but he continued. Brandon pushed through his heart-wrenching words. He was shaking, and tears streaming down his cheeks. I had never seen him cry before, but even his detached expression could not stop his tears.

Was someone forcing him to do this, to say these things, or did he mean them? Did he really mean them?

"I really tried to find a reason to go ahead with this, but there is no way I want to be stuck with a boring, classless woman like you. I will be a miserable Alpha. My people will suffer and they don't deserve that. I also want a woman that would add to Hayland's value, not be a burden. You can't afford to care for your children at the orphanage; how would you take care of my people?" he asked.

 "I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that if I felt this way all along, why wait until now? Well, it took me a while to come to this conclusion. My mother was attached to you, and I felt trapped, but there is no way I am sacrificing my people’s future for this. Know that I bear no grudge towards you and will continue supporting your orphanage. You can continue to live in Hayland, but you will never be my Luna. You aren't qualified for the position. I do not care what the moon wants. I know what I want, and it definitely isn't you, Winter," He said and then turned to the crowd. By then, I felt like I was nothing. I was broken, yet my feet won't move. Why won't they move?

"This is when you leave, Winter," I told myself, but I remained frozen on the spot.

I should have turned to my friend, Summer, but I knew she would be crying, too. I could hear her sobs. 

"We will have a wedding today and a joining at night when the moon is high; it just won't be between Winter and me," he announced, and I watched him. He seemed regretful and under pressure, but I might have just been deluded.

All my life, I kept myself from getting entangled in matters of the heart, and the one time I took a chance on love because the moon willed it, this happened to me. 

I felt like nothing. His mark on my thigh burned painfully. I regretted the night I gave him my body and every time after that. He was my first, and he had sunk his teeth in my thigh. How the fuck was I going to move on from this?

My feelings didn't matter to Brandon. It didn't matter at all. He gave me no say in the matter.

My tears fell freely, and my heart was completely shattered. Still, my feet won't move. Why was I frozen? Why were my tears the only moving part of me?

"I have chosen a mate, Lesley Adamson, The hidden granddaughter of Beta Adamson from the Whitemoon pack. She will be my, your Luna." He announced, and as if on cue, the doors opened, and a bride walked in with a veil over her head.

I could see the brilliant smile behind the translucent veil. She was his ex, and she heard everything he said to me.

I guess this was payback for stealing him. She had accused me a few times of stealing Brandon because it seemed he ended whatever they had after we met. I guess I was the joke all along. I was just a phase, a fucking phase. 

Her dress was prettier than mine. It seemed he went all out on it. What I didn't understand was why.

I stood there shaking like a leaf.

I felt a hand grab my upper arm gently, and I turned to look at who it was. It was Summer, and she was in tears.

"Let us go, Winter. Come on. It's over. Let us leave," She pleaded, but I couldn't move. I couldn't fucking move. 

How could Brandon do this to me? He hand ruined me for life.

He could have just rejected me or told me this in private before he marked me with his scent. He didn't have to humiliate me like this. 

What was my crime?

I never did anything to him.

If he had issues with certain things, he could have told me. He could have complained to my face, and I would have fixed it. I would have compromised.

This was just wrong. I felt small. I felt so little. I felt like shit, and he was trampling and squashing me.  

I stood still.

My body shook, and my mind reeled with thoughts while Summer tried to pull me away.

 Brandon then faced me and spoke the words I dreaded.

"I, Brandon Knight, reject you, Winter, as my fated mate," He said, and the pain that shot through my heart and travelled over my body helped me realise what had happened. 

I screamed in agony, and I couldn't hear anything anymore. There was ringing in my ears and pain in my chest. My wolf was howling, and my veins were on fire. I felt like I was going to die. So much pain. I wanted to physically hurt myself just to transfer the pain, but I couldn't. I couldn't even stand up.

"Accept Winter! He won't change his mind, You have had your fun," I heard Lesley say to me.

Brandon was in pain, too. I wanted to accept it, but I was in so much pain that I couldn't speak.

"Accept," She yelled again, and I nodded, trying to handle the pain.

"I...I... I accept," I said, and I heard Brandon groan in pain. 

“Please don’t,” he linked me faintly, but I was fighting black dots by then. My world was slowly going dark.

"Take her away," Lesley commanded, and I felt strong arms carrying me out of the place. Soon, I gave in to the pain and then to the darkness that ensued.