The Rejection

***Marcella***

Tucking away the chaotic storm of emotions threatening to choke me, I pushed myself up from the rigid wooden armchair. Cassian stood in the doorway, a deep frown etched across his handsome face. He looked impatient, annoyed that I was wasting his time. I forced my expression into a mask of pure indifference, keeping my chin level as I took a few steps toward him.

My hand trembled just a fraction as I extended the freshly forged document.

"Just read it," I whispered. I injected a pathetic tremor into my voice, playing the part of the broken, devastated mate.

Cassian snatched the paper from my grasp. His dark brows pulled together in confusion. "What is this, Mar?"

The sound of that nickname—his special name for me—curdled the blood in my veins. I swallowed the rising bile in my throat and forced myself to look down at my shoes.

"It's a fertility test. Greta checked my ovarian function and reserve a few days ago."

Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating. The only sound in the room was the crisp rustle of the medical pages as Cassian flipped through them. I dared to peek up. The annoyance on his face melted into something much darker. The color drained from his cheeks, leaving behind a grim, terrifying pallor.

"You're infertile?" The word slipped past his lips like poison. He flipped back to the first page, his eyes darting across the false results.

Before I could even formulate a fake, stuttering response, a deep, guttural growl ripped through his chest. The sound vibrated against the floorboards. I stumbled backward, my heel catching on the edge of the rug. I scrambled to stay upright, putting distance between us.

His breathing turned ragged. The familiar, striking blue of his eyes vanished, swallowed by a vibrant, terrifying green. Brutus.

"You're infertile?!" The roar shook the glass in the windowpanes.

This was the exact reaction I needed to secure my escape, but the sheer force of his Alpha aura slammed into me. Panic flared in my chest. I knew Brutus. I knew his temper. The mate bond used to be the only chain strong enough to hold the beast back. Now, with the bond fractured by his betrayal, I had no idea if I was safe.

His glowing green eyes dropped to my stomach.

My breath hitched. Instinct took over. I flattened my hand against my belly, a desperate shield over the tiny, secret life growing inside.

A terrifying thought paralyzed me. Could he smell the change in my scent? Could Brutus sense the pup?

I took another step back and slammed hard into the drywall. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"Brutus," I squeaked. I squeezed my eyes shut. "I'm so sorry."

"You're sorry?" A dark, humorless laugh erupted from his throat.

Wood splintered. Plaster exploded. A deafening crack echoed through the room as his massive fist smashed into the wall, mere inches from my ear. Dust rained down on my shoulder. I flinched, real tears pricking the corners of my eyes from the sheer shock.

"You're sorry?" Brutus snarled, his hot breath washing over my face. "Sorry doesn't put a pup in your belly, Mar!"

He lunged. Thick fingers clamped around my jaw, digging into the soft flesh of my cheeks. He jerked my face up, forcing me to meet those blazing green eyes. The grip was brutal. I knew the bruises would bloom purple and black by morning.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now, huh?" he spat, his voice dropping to a lethal octave. "I need an heir. That was your only task as my Luna. Your only use to me."

The words struck deeper than his claws ever could.

A breeding mare. An incubator. That was the sum of my existence in his eyes. Every late-night stroll under the silver moonlight, every whispered secret, every stolen kiss in the packhouse corridors—none of it mattered. Our nights tangled in the sheets, sweating and breathless, were just a calculated effort to extract a pup. It was all a lie.

I opened my mouth to speak, to defend myself, to scream.

A heavy palm cracked across my face.

The force of the slap whipped my head to the side. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine. The world tilted, and my knees buckled. I crashed hard onto the hardwood floor, my hip taking the brunt of the impact. The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth. I bit the inside of my cheek.

I curled inward, immediately cradling my stomach. Please, Goddess, let the baby be safe.

Cassian had never struck me. Not once in our entire relationship. The shock of the blow sent a fresh wave of blinding bitterness through my veins. I stayed on the floor, cupping my stinging cheek, looking up at him through a curtain of hair. I let out a soft whimper to feed his ego, but inside, a cold, calculating rage settled into my bones. I would carve this memory into my mind. I would never forgive him.

The vibrant green in his eyes flickered, dimming back to that cold, icy blue. Cassian was back in control. He didn't spare me a single glance of remorse. He stormed over to the walk-in closet, grabbed my large canvas suitcase, and hurled it onto the mattress.

"We're done, Marcella," he growled. He ripped my sweaters and jeans off the hangers, tossing them indiscriminately into the bag. "I want you out of here within the next hour. I don't care where you go. I don't care what you do. Just get out of my house."

He zipped the suitcase with a sharp tug and threw it onto the floor near my feet.

His eyes clouded over, taking on that distant, glassy look. He was using the mind link.

"The elders will be here soon to complete the rejection ceremony," he stated, his voice devoid of any warmth. He walked past me, heading straight for the door. "And so will the pack lawyer to deliver the divorce papers. I want you out the second we sign those papers. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," I whimpered. I kept my hand pressed to my bruised cheek, playing the broken victim until the very end.

Cassian stepped out into the hallway and slammed the heavy oak door shut. The click of the latch echoed in the sudden silence.

I let out a shaky breath, the facade crumbling the second I was alone. I spat the blood pooling in my mouth onto the floorboards.

"We're okay," I whispered into the quiet room. I wrapped both arms securely around my stomach, pulling my knees to my chest. "We're going to be free."

I smoothed my hands over the flat surface of my tummy. There was no bump yet, no physical sign of the miracle hiding within, but I could feel the hum of life. The knowledge that I wasn't leaving this hellhole alone brought a profound, quiet solace to my battered soul. The fear of navigating the human world without a pack was daunting, but the relief of escaping this toxic environment outweighed the terror.

"It's just me and you now, little bean," I murmured. I blinked back the moisture threatening to spill over my lashes. "It's okay. We don't need anyone else. We are going to survive this."

I forced myself off the floor. My hip throbbed in protest, and my jaw ached with every pulse of my heart. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. Cassian owned all the vehicles in the pack garage. I wasn't about to ask him for a ride. I quickly typed in a search for a local taxi service and requested a pickup at the edge of the pack borders for an hour from now.

With the ride secured, I sank onto the edge of the mattress. My hands felt clammy. I stared down at my left hand, my thumb instinctively rubbing against the cold metal of my expensive wedding band and the ornate Luna ring resting above it.

My mind drifted, pulled backward into the tide of memories. I thought about the beginning of our story. It felt like a lifetime ago. I remembered the terror and the intoxicating pull of those early days. Cassian had been relentless in his pursuit. His overwhelming possessiveness had frightened me at first, but foolishly, I had convinced myself it was a sign of devotion. I thought he protected me because I was precious to him.

I remembered the night he revealed his true nature. A moonlit picnic deep in the woods. The air had been crisp, smelling of pine and damp earth. I remembered the sheer horror of watching the man I loved contort, bones snapping and reshaping until a massive black wolf stood in his place. I had run screaming through the trees, terrified he was going to rip my throat out. I hid in my human apartment for a week, refusing to answer his calls.

But he came for me. He stood on my doorstep, eyes pleading, telling me he couldn't breathe without me. The mate bond was a magnetic force, pulling me back into his orbit. I embraced his werewolf nature. I fell in love with the primal, beautiful chaos of the pack life. They operated like a giant, fiercely loyal family. I wanted to be part of that family.

When he asked to turn me, to bite me and force the shift, I held my ground. I demanded he accept me as a human. The Moon Goddess made me human for a reason. He almost walked away, but the threat of losing me to an old flame pushed him over the edge. He marked me that night, his teeth sinking into my neck, claiming me, binding my human soul to his wolf.

The training had been grueling. I spent months under the harsh, critical eye of his mother, the former Luna. She pushed me to my physical and mental limits. I memorized ancient pack laws until my eyes bled. I learned the delicate political art of de-escalating conflicts between hot-headed Alpha and Beta wolves. I endured brutal physical combat training just so I wouldn't be a liability on the battlefield. I bled, sweated, and cried to mold myself into the perfect Luna for him.

The Luna ceremony had been the climax of my efforts. Standing on the cliffside, the wind whipping through my hair, looking out at hundreds of bowing wolves. Cassian slipping this very ring onto my finger, his eyes full of what I thought was pride.

Now, I sat alone in a bedroom that felt like a prison, waiting for my husband to toss me out like garbage while I secretly carried his only heir.

The bedroom door clicked open.

I jumped, my hands dropping into my lap.

Gamma Gideon poked his head into the room. His face was a stoic mask, devoid of the friendly warmth he usually reserved for me. The sight of him twisted the knife in my gut. He knew. He had known about Sabrina and Cassian all along.

"The Alpha requests your presence, Luna," Gideon said. His voice was clipped, professional, and cold. He didn't wait for a response. He pulled the door shut, leaving me to stare at the wood.

I stood up, squaring my shoulders. I twisted the heavy rings off my finger, the metal sliding over my knuckle. I gripped them tightly in my palm. It was time.

The walk down the packhouse hallway felt like a death march. Every portrait on the wall, every scent of pine and cinnamon, mocked me. I kept my chin high, my spine straight. I would not cower.

I pushed open the double oak doors to the Alpha's grand office.

The room was packed. Cassian sat behind his massive mahogany desk. The three pack elders stood near the fireplace, their expressions grim and unreadable. The pack lawyer, a slim man in a tailored suit, stood off to the side with his briefcase open. Gideon and Beta Soren flanked the door.

And then there was Sabrina.

My sister stood near the window, shifting her weight from foot to foot. I caught her scent—vanilla laced with Cassian's deep musk. A wave of nausea hit me, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of my gaze. I locked my eyes forward, staring straight past her, treating her like a ghost. I focused on the man who had shattered my world.

I stepped into the center of the room and offered a curt, formal nod to the elders.

The lawyer stepped forward, clearing his throat. He handed me a thick stack of papers on a clipboard.

"Mr. Vance has asked that all your assets be divided as per the standard separation agreement. Pack assets, real estate, and business holdings will remain under his sole ownership. Personal property, your specific bank accounts, and—"

I snatched the pen from his hand before he could finish reciting his legal garbage.

I flipped to the signature pages, my hand flying across the dotted lines. I pressed hard, the ink bleeding into the paper.

"He can keep everything," I said, my voice steady, betraying none of the chaos inside me. "I only want my personal bank accounts left untouched. I worked hard for that stipend. I earned every penny of it running this pack, and I deserve to keep it."

As Luna, managing the pack finances, settling disputes, and organizing events was a full-time job. I wasn't walking away empty-handed.

Cassian gave a short, dismissive nod to the lawyer.

The lawyer scribbled a note on his pad, ripped off a copy of the final page, and handed it to me. "The funds will be transferred to your external account by the end of the week. Excuse me." He clicked his briefcase shut and slipped out the door.

The financial ties were severed. Now came the spiritual ones.

Elder Alden stepped forward. He reached into a velvet bag and pulled out the heavy, ancient obsidian pack tablet. He set it down on the center of the coffee table. The black stone was etched with intricate carvings of howling wolves, a small, concave bowl carved right in the center. Next to the tablet, he placed a wicked-looking dagger with a bone handle.

"Luna Marcella," Elder Alden began, his voice echoing in the large office. "Your Alpha has requested that you be stripped of your title and leave this pack. Do you have any objections to this proceeding?"

I glanced over at the corner of the room. Soren was staring at the floorboards, refusing to meet my eyes. Gideon was inspecting his cuticles, a blank look on his face. The men who had sworn to protect me, the wolves I had cooked for, bled for, and guided, were turning their backs on me. The isolation crushed the breath from my lungs.

"No," I managed to say. I forced the corners of my mouth up into a small, defiant smile. "No, I don't."

Elder Alden's eyes softened with a fleeting look of pity. He gestured toward the obsidian stone. This tablet was the heart of the Iron Fang Pack. It was the same stone I had bled over to bind myself to these people. Today, it would be the instrument of my exile.

"You must first hand your title back to the ancestors of the Iron Fang," Alden instructed. "Raise your right hand."

I lifted my hand.

"Do you, Marcella Vega, admit that you have failed to uphold your fundamental duties as Luna of the Iron Fang Pack?"

A surge of hot anger boiled in my veins. Failed? I had never failed them. I had pulled all-nighters balancing their budgets. I had brokered peace treaties with rogue factions. I had sacrificed my human life to serve them. It was a vile, disgusting lie.

But pride wouldn't get me out of this room. Pride wouldn't protect my baby. I needed this rejection to finalize the break. I swallowed the thick lump of indignation in my throat.

"Yes," I forced the word through gritted teeth.

"Do you accept that you have failed to uphold your duties to your Alpha as his Luna and his wife?" Alden pressed.

I shot a venomous glare at Cassian. He sat back in his leather chair, a smug look on his face. He knew exactly who the failure in this room was. But I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted fresh blood. I needed my freedom.

"Yes." The word scraped against my throat.

"Then by the power vested in me by the ancestors, I hereby relieve you of your title and your duties to this pack."

Alden picked up the bone-handled dagger. He grabbed my left hand, turned it palm up, and pressed the sharp edge against my skin. With a quick, practiced motion, he sliced a shallow line across my palm.

I hissed at the sting. He guided my bleeding hand down, pressing my palm flat against the cold, unyielding surface of the obsidian stone.

A sudden, frigid gust of wind swept through the closed office. It chilled me to the bone, sweeping away the comforting, warm hum of the pack bond that used to reside in my chest. The connection was gone. I was untethered.

Alden wiped the blade and turned his attention to the corner of the room.

"Gamma Gideon," Alden called out. "A Gamma's bond to his Luna is profound. You may choose to break your tie and follow your ward into exile, or you may choose to remain here in service to your Alpha."

I looked at Gideon. A desperate, pathetic sliver of hope flared in my chest. Just one person. I just wanted one person to choose me.

Gideon stepped forward, his posture rigid. "I choose my Alpha, Elder." There was no hesitation. No remorse.

He wouldn't even look at me.

I was profoundly alone. I pulled my hand back from the stone, pressing a cloth to the cut. Without the protective barrier of the pack bond or the loyalty of my Gamma, I was exposed.

I looked back at Cassian. He wasn't even watching the ceremony anymore. He was leaning over his desk, whispering something to Sabrina. She threw her head back, giggling shamelessly, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger. They were openly flirting while my life was being dismantled piece by piece.

The disrespect was a physical blow to my pride.

Elder Alden cleared his throat loudly, shooting Cassian a disapproving glare. "Alpha. Whenever you are ready, you must begin the formal rejection."

Cassian straightened up in his chair. He pulled his gaze away from Sabrina and locked it onto me. The warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold, unadulterated disgust. He looked at me like I was a diseased rat that had crawled into his pristine office.

My chest tightened. For a fraction of a second, the naive, broken human part of my soul wanted to drop to my knees. I wanted to beg him to stop. I wanted to plead for the man who used to hold me in the dark and promise me the stars. Even after the cheating, the lies, and the violence, a twisted thread of the mate bond still yearned for him.

But Cassian didn't love me. He never did. I was just a vessel, and now that the vessel was deemed useless, he was throwing it away.

"I, Cassian Vance, Alpha of the Iron Fang Pack, reject you, Marcella Vega, as my mate and my Luna."

He said the words casually. It sounded like he was ordering a cup of coffee, not severing a sacred soul bond.

The reaction was instantaneous.

Agony exploded in my chest. It felt like a thousand jagged, glowing hot knives were driving themselves through my ribcage all at once. The pain radiated down my limbs, turning my blood to battery acid. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My knees hit the hardwood floor with a loud crack. I curled into a ball, clutching the carpet, gasping for air that refused to enter my lungs.

Through the haze of pain, I saw Gideon flinch. He shifted his weight, a look of extreme unease crossing his face. I could see the glint of tears in his eyes, but it didn't matter. He had made his choice.

"Alpha," Elder Alden's voice cut through the ringing in my ears. "Your wolf must reject her as well. The bond must be severed on both planes."

Cassian stood up. He walked around the desk, his boots heavy on the floor. His eyes flickered wildly, flashing between ice blue and venomous green. The shift happened in a blink. The green settled, glowing with an intense, feral light. Brutus took over.

Brutus stepped closer. For a fleeting second, I saw a flash of raw panic in the wolf's eyes—a deep, instinctual fear of losing his mate. But the hesitation vanished, buried under the Alpha's dominance.

Brutus dropped to one knee beside me. His massive hands reached out, gripping my shoulders. Sparks of residual mate magic prickled across my skin at his touch. He hauled me up from the floor, tilting my head to the side to expose the mating mark scarred into the crook of my neck.

I glared up at the wolf through a veil of tears. I clamped my teeth together to trap my sobs. I wanted to wrap my arms around my stomach, to shield the baby from the stress, but I forced my hands to stay flat on the floor. I would not give away our secret.

"Do it," I hissed at him.

Brutus stared into my eyes. The feral energy in his face hardened into stone.

"I, Brutus, Alpha of the Iron Fang Pack, reject you, Marcella Vega, as my mate and Luna," he growled. The sound vibrated against my collarbone.

He dipped his head. He opened his jaws and sank his sharp canines directly into the scarred tissue of the mating mark.

I threw my head back and let out a blood-curdling scream.

The initial prickle of his touch transformed into a raging inferno. It felt like someone had poured gasoline over my neck and struck a match. The sacred bond tying our souls together was catching fire, burning away the spiritual connection muscle by muscle, vein by vein.

Brutus pulled his teeth back. He swiped his rough, wet tongue across the bleeding puncture wounds, a mocking, gentle kiss to seal the destruction.

He leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear.

"Goodbye, Mouse," he whispered into my hair.

Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks. He was using the pet name he had given me during our very first month together, twisting the knife one final time.

He released his grip, letting my limp body collapse back onto the floorboards. Brutus stood up and walked away, not looking back.

I writhed on the floor. The skin on my neck was blistering hot to the touch. The fire spread down my spine. My lungs spasmed, desperately trying to pull oxygen into my system. My cries degraded into pathetic, wheezing gasps.

Elder Alden dropped to his knees beside me.

"Marcella," Alden urged, his voice tight. "You have to speak the words. You must accept the rejection to close the loop and complete the ceremony, or the pain will kill you."

I panted furiously, my chest heaving. I dug my fingernails into the wood grain, clenching my fists until my knuckles turned white. I squeezed my eyes shut, riding a massive wave of agony. I nodded at the Elder. I forced my jaw open, pushing the words past the fire in my throat.

"I-I, Marcella Vega, accept your rejection."

The second the words left my lips, the burning on my neck intensified to a blinding peak.

Across the room, a loud thud echoed. Cassian doubled over. A raw, guttural groan tore from his throat as the severing of the bond finally hit his side. He slammed his hands onto his desk to keep from falling.

Sabrina didn't waste a second. She rushed to his side, her hands instantly roaming over his back, cooing softly, murmuring sweet comforts into his ear while he gritted his teeth in pain.

Watching her comfort the man who had just destroyed me stoked the fire of hatred in my gut. I hated her. I hated them both.

Minutes dragged on like hours. Finally, the suffocating pressure in the room began to lift. The sharp, stabbing pain in my chest dulled into a deep, hollow ache. The skin on my neck still burned like a bad sunburn, but I could breathe again.

"Your body will continue to physically reject the Alpha's mark over the next three days," Elder Alden explained in a low voice, helping me sit up. "It will act like a fever. And then, the scar will disappear."

I nodded slowly. I planted my hands on the floor and pushed myself up. My legs shook, but I locked my knees. I dusted the imaginary lint off my jeans and wiped the drying tears from my cheeks.

I took a deep breath. The hollow space in my chest felt strange, but beneath the ache, a wild, triumphant sense of liberation bloomed. I had done it. I had survived the trial. My grand deception had worked perfectly. I was no longer chained to this toxic man, and my baby was safe from his grasp.

I was free.

I turned on my heel, ready to walk out of those heavy oak doors and leave the Iron Fang Pack behind forever.

"I would like to claim Sabrina Vega as my chosen mate and Luna."

Cassian's booming voice shattered the silence, stopping me dead in my tracks.

I froze. The triumphant feeling in my chest turned to ash.

Cassian stood tall behind his desk, his arm wrapped securely around my sister's waist. He looked directly at the stunned faces of the pack elders.

"Make it official, Elder."