Rejection

XIMENA POV—

“Ximena, would you please pass the clothes?” Mother asked, waiting for me to pass the pile of laundry.

“It’s sunny and the best time to do the laundry.” Mother muttered as I passed the pile of clothes to her. 

Mother was a housekeeper and with a smile, I put the clothes in the basket, holding it as we both headed outside.

The moment I took a whiff of the air, the basket fell out of my hand. “Ximena—“ Mom was shocked as she turned to me and I began panting heavily, my heart was racing and it felt like I was having a panic attack only that this was better.

It was indescribable, serene and beautiful. My heart was skipping countless beats and I felt my legs taking a few steps away from mom.

“Ximena— Are you okay?” Mom demanded but I could barely hear her now because something else was drumming in my ears.

My heartbeat was drumming loudly in my ears and before I could say jack, I felt my wolf stir up with delight, she was purring loudly and wagging her tail with delight.

I had never been this happy in my entire life and my feet began walking, my tempo increasing with each step I took.

My legs had a mind of their own, my heart was experiencing bliss of a lifetime and my brain was swelling with so much joy even though I didn’t know what was happening to me.

The joy was unexplainable but it was real, it was mine and I felt the burden of years being lifted from my shoulders.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Why is this cursed being here?”

“She brings bad omen—“

Not the harsh words of people stopped me from running, the scent I was tracing growing thicker with each second that passed. 

I made my way to the market where hundreds of people were, and like one in trance, I began pushing my way through the crowd, I heard lots of people curse at me.

It felt like there was this great prize which the crowd surrounded and the prize was mine. The feeling was bigger than winning a million dollars, it was better.

My world lit up and the sunny day added to my delight. After pushing my way to the front where the most handsome and gorgeous person to ever walk on the earth stood, I froze.

I felt paralyzed for a moment with how magnificent and powerful he was, his aura was to die for and I felt myself instantly attracted to him like I’ve known him for hundreds of years.

For a moment we shared something— Sweet, sensual, beautiful, our souls were joined, there was this great flame burning inside of me and the more I stared, it increased.

“MATE” With great joy, the words slipped out of my mouth, a big smile on my face as I stared at my mate, the man I had waited for my entire life, THE ALPHA.

Alpha Alvaro’s face had a big smile before but now staring at me, it felt like I was with another person entirely.

“I reject you as my mate and Luna of the pack!” Alpha Alvaro announced, causing the once silent market square to explode with gasps of shock.

It felt unreal and I heard my heart shattering into a billion pieces. My face changed instantly and I became aware of my environment, my racing heart slowed down and increased almost immediately.

“No— No—“

One minute, I was thrilled to know the Alpha was my mate, I had bravely pushed my way through the crowd just to be before him and the next my fated mate rejected me easily without a blink.

In his disregard and indifference, the hidden haughty disdain in his eyes pierced through my soul as I felt my heart sink into my stomach.

“Alpha—“

“You’re not qualified to be my mate—“ His sharp words didn’t hesitate to slice my heart, I was still trying to recover from the nerve wrecking coldness that came my way.

He seemed impatient, looking at me in bored dislike. He looked disgusted and had this disappointed gaze, like he had been wronged by the moon goddess for mating us. I felt like a failure before him.

A deep sense of despair overwhelmed me because the person I had waited for for 23 years just rejected me like I was nothing.

 It was so great that I staggered back, the shred of dignity left in me holding me back from falling to the ground weakly.

“You can never be my Luna, you disgust me.” His harsh voice cut through my heart, his words were little but they were the sharpest object in the world.

“Why—“

“How dare you question me! You lowly omega!” He thundered, making almost everyone shiver with shock but it still wasn’t enough to make me back down.

The crowd were murmuring words to themselves, staring at me with disbelief as to where I got the boldness to exchange words with our Alpha.

“Because you’re nothing! You’re cursed, this is some mistake, the goddess would never make you my mate.” With these words, I felt the bond severing. It felt like an arrow followed the broken bond with a searing pain all over me, slumping me on the ground but was nothing compared to the dull ache from the bottom of my heart.

“Bu—But—“ I paused, trying to get the words out of my mouth as tears streamed down my cheeks.

“You said you’d love your mate and make her the envy of the world—“ I muttered, recalling the words he’d said clearly to the whole pack. He had stood in front of the thousands of pack members and said the words compassionately.

When he’d said it, he made it seem like he’d accept anyone the moon goddess gave him and that fate was all that mattered, but now that I was before him, this pain in my heart, I realised I could have never been more wrong.

“You’re not worthy of being called my mate.” He told me, coldly. He didn’t even care that I would never recover from whatever was happening right now. Did he really hate me this much? I felt my heart clench even more at this.

“You vowed to cherish her forever—” I sounded like a desperate and stupid high schooler begging to be accepted. I was shamelessly pleading for him to accept me.

“We—“ I moved forward, trying to grab his arm, hoping he’d reconsider but to my horror, a hot slap across my face, causing me to stagger as I felt my vision go blurry for a short period.

A few laughter followed but I was more concerned about myself, my breathing was ragged as tears rolled down like a flood.

I did my best to remain on my feet, but my body failed me as I felt my legs give way, causing me to fall to my knees, the tears gushing out as I sobbed like a fool. I was foolishly in love with someone I had just met one on one today.

I was stripped of my dignity in front of the whole pack and they were all staring at me with pity, disdain, anger and contempt. As I bit my lips, I looked from the corner of my eyes and I could see some of the maidens stare at me mockingly.

I was sure their thoughts ran along the lines of “It’d been so peaceful when he hadn’t found his mate, why’d she have to ruin it?”

“Sparks can be felt with anybody, grow up, this isn't a fairytale, it’s reality and it’s high time you get it into your empty small skull that I can never be with you, not now, not in the next life to come.” He continued and I began panting heavily.

“Even in your dreams, you can’t be with me, don’t be foolish, I’m an Alpha, do you think I’d stoop low and be with someone like you?” He burst into laughter, mocking me.

I had been exposed to all brutalities but never have I been brutally rejected by the very person who was supposed to be my soulmate.

He walked out without sparing a glance at me, my brown eyes turning red with so much agony at the thought of having a mate who didn’t give a shit about me.

My wolf struggled with the pain. Unlike me, she couldn’t maintain any calm as the pain was overwhelming her, she was maimed for life, immediately I felt the severing of the bond, I felt her retreating into darkness.

“This isn’t you— You were never cold— You vowed—“ I sobbed uncontrollably, my palms wet with tears.

More than half of the entire pack were staring at me, they were thrilled and mesmerised. 

I was left soulless and empty, my heart longing for nothing more than peace and rest. After sobbing for more than five minutes, weakly, o stood up, my heavy legs began retracing their steps back to the house.

Back to tell my whole family who had seen me dash out that I had just been rejected by my mate and I would forever live my life in misery and pain.

“What does she think she is? Why would the Alpha choose her?”

“The nerves of an omega—“

“She wants to inflict the alpha with her bad luck—“

“She’s trying to destroy the pack at this crucial time—“ 

Initially my future had been unclear, rough and somewhat uncertain but now it was nothing, I had no future— other than the life of mockery and shame that awaited me from this.

“Would I spend the rest of my life working for peanuts just to pay my family debt or cater for us?” The question was too big to be spoken.

A female child was always the hope of the family because after marriage, she’d extend a helping hand to her parents but my case was different.

I was supposed to be the hope of my family— In a pack where the weak never made it to the top and where the strong oppressed the weak.

I was the miserable liability of the family with failed relationships, not worthy of being a chosen mate of a fellow omega and the rejected one of the pack.

“What will I do? Why must I return home to disappoint my parents whose eyes would be filled with despair knowing that I’m hopeless?” 

Life is already miserable because day in and out I was constantly bullied, in the presence and absence of my parents, I was an object of ridicule among my peers who were all mated and a few had families of their own.

My mate had been the only hope of my family, my life and now, he was— My heart clenched even tighter. 

While all these plagued my mind, there was still one huge thought— “Who would be his chosen mate now that he had rejected me?”