07. Reject Me, Dorian!

My head throbbed as I struggled to sit up. Instead of my ‘new’ room, I was in Dorian’s room. Even though the design had changed since the last time I was here, I could still tell at a glance. 

My attention was pulled by the sound of the door and my face lit up as Dorian entered the room. In my darkest moment, he ended up saving me.

“Dorian, thank you for...” I started but stopped as he raised his hands up. 

“You have the Alpha’s blood in you, yet you are even weaker than the people you should lead. Do you still dare to argue that your father was weak?” he asked with a blank face that was devoid of any emotion. 

I struggled to find the right words to reply. While Papa was not the strongest Alpha or anything, he was certainly not weak. Somehow, Dorian seemed to hold…

A sweet and alluring scent pushed through my nostrils and I felt every part of my body tense from it. 

It tinged my nostrils, and I felt a powerful tug towards Dorian!

My eyes widened in shock and I got up from the bed despite my aching muscles. What was going on? 

I was trying to be strong and stubborn, but I felt like jelly, and my knees were weak and buckling under me.

My skin felt hot and flushed. I felt my wolf, in my head, prancing around happily.

“Mate!” the voice exclaimed excitedly.

I froze and stared at Dorian. He was my mate. No. He couldn’t be.

How could it be him?

I stared at him, my heart beating uncontrollably. I was panting and sweating, my head felt dizzy, and my body felt hot. I locked eyes with him, watching as they slowly transitioned from green to deep blue. They swirled in a dizzying circle before returning to normal.

His face looked twisted, and he gazed at me in disbelief. I desperately wished it was all a trick, that my imagination was playing pranks on me. I hoped I could pinch myself and wake up from this terrible dream, but the same sight greeted me each time I opened my eyes.

Dorian was my stepbrother and the person who hated me the most. I couldn’t be mated to him. The Goddess wouldn’t make such a grave mistake. He couldn’t be the one. He just couldn’t.

Dorian smirked wickedly, running his hands through my hair and gripping it, causing me to wince in pain. He acted like nothing was wrong, as if everything I had just felt was an illusion. I hoped it was.

He smirked and grabbed my face. I looked at him in disgust, closed my eyes, and felt my wolf prancing in my head. She sat still, and then a silver cord erupted from her. I was stunned. What was she trying to do? The cord extended and drifted towards him—a bond only I could see.

She was trying to create a connection, but I couldn’t allow it. I cut it off, and I felt her sit still. I couldn’t let her establish a bond with someone who didn’t care about me.

‘April, what are you doing?’ she asked. Although this was my first time talking to her, it felt so easy. So natural.

‘He won’t accept me. He doesn’t love me,’ I replied telepathically.

‘Just give him a chance. He might—’

‘No,’ I snapped. I have given him many chances in the last month. I knew how every one of them ended.

Instantly, she fell silent.

Suddenly, Dorian pinched my chin harder and pressed himself closer. I was breathing through my mouth. His scent made me dizzy, and I felt an ache and longing for his touch. My heart kept racing, and Dorian pulled me even closer.

“Leave me alone, Dorian. You’ve tortured me enough. I don’t want to be with you. I’d rather be lost and left in a ditch to starve to death.”

He chuckled. “Wherever your little legs take you, even if it’s into an abyss, I swear, I will find you. Besides—” His smile widened. “How can I keep torturing you if I can’t find you? I made a promise to Stacie. You will pay for everything you did to her.”

A tear almost escaped my eye. Why was he doing this to me? Why did he want to make my life a complete misery? He had become the Alpha of the pack just a month after my dad had died. He tore down everything my dad built and made him look like a villain.

Dorian made my life miserable and made me look like a slave. He hated me. Hadn’t he destroyed me enough? And what was he even talking about? I didn’t do anything to Stacie.

“You are a monster. You used to care about me, but now, you treat me like trash. I know you don’t care about me, and you would never date me even if I were the last girl in the world. Why don’t you do us all a favor and reject me?”

“I don’t want to be with you, and you certainly don’t want me. Reject me, Dorian!” I exclaimed in frustration.

He smiled at me like a maniac and began to play lightly with my hair. Tears were building in my eyes. Dorian had really changed. He was a monster. The loving stepbrother I once knew was lost forever.

“April, I am going to take my time to break you and ensure you never live. I am going to make you suffer, and after I am done with you–” He grabbed my hair and pinned me roughly to the wall, “–I’ll reject you and watch your heart break in agony as I say those words.”

I felt tears run down my face, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I freed myself from his grip and pushed him away. I wasn’t going to give him the liberty of playing with me like a toy. If he weren’t going to reject me, I would do it myself.

I tried to speak, but the words felt like they had formed a lump in my throat. I was filled with fear; I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was a coward.

I stared at him with tears in my eyes and ran down the hallway. Just when I thought that life couldn’t get any worse, it suddenly did. What did I do to deserve all of this? Did the Goddess hate me too? She saw the way that Dorian treated me.

I fell to the ground with a soft thud as Dorian released me and walked out of the room. Despite how much he hated me, he wanted to keep me in his confines. 

Without thinking twice, I dragged my aching and still healing body out of his room. 

This was my only chance. If I wanted freedom, I had to leave now. 

I made it almost to the forest when I suddenly felt someone pulling at me.  I froze, my heart thumping against my chest. Who was it and how didn't I hear their footsteps?

Unfortunately, before I can fight back or even determine who it is, I pass out.