Chapter 2 Under the night sky

Axl’s P.O.V

I was headed back to my pack but the path spread unseeingly before me, dark-edged, blurry, and hazy.

I could feel the rain pelting against my skin, soaking through every piece of clothing on me. Thunder boomed and usually would have startled me but nothing could drown out the echoes of his rejection. Kael rejected me. Kael…he didn’t want me. He severed the mate bond, leaving only a gaping hole where the seed of our bond was trying to grow.

It hurt, oh it hurts so much. Tears streamed down my face, icy tendrils that traced the burn scars etched on my soul. “Weak,” he said. “Wolfless and gutless mutt,” he spat. His words were like a knife, cutting and slashing into my very existence.

Years of yearning, of loving my childhood crush from afar all dissolved into nothingness.

And this was HER fault. She paired me with someone who had always despised my very existence. She made me into this….this!

Turning my face at the rain-drenched sky, I screamed, raw and broken. “Give me a wolf!”

I pleaded, my voice going hoarse as my knees gave out beneath me. “Anything but this shame. Please Goddess Selene, please.”

But the dark sky remained impassive. Nothing changed. Nothing happened.

Slowly, the storm within me abated, replaced by a chilling numbness. I wiped my tears, the rain mingling with the salty remnants. No more tears. No more begging. It’s Alpha Prince Kael’s loss, not mine. He didn’t deserve my pain. No one did. This broken heart, it would heal, even without a wolf to mend it.

Rising to my feet, I made a vow to myself. I would be strong, impenetrable. Never to be called gutless or worthless by anyone!

A week after my rejection, my father sent me a notice, inviting me to his office. It was with extreme reluctance and hesitation i forced myself to go to him after locking myself up in my room since my rejection. Not that I was still hurting. I didn’t just want my family to be anywhere around me or they might actually scent or feel my rejection from the prince. That would be hellish…for me.

“Hello, Father,” I murmured in greeting as I made my way into his office. Dark and heavily scented with tobacco, my father’s personal space offered no real comfort to be honest. It was almost as cold as he was.

“Hmm.” He made a rumbling noise of acknowledgment in his chest and waved me over to an empty seat at the corner of the study. I guess I couldn’t exactly complain about his barely-there attempt at talking to me since my three triplets' older brothers were already occupying the seats across his large mahogany table.

Elliot, Ellis, and Eric.

They were identical in every sense of the word. All with Alpha wolves, physically strong, perfect chiseled frames, and overly protective of me. If I hadn’t spent the last eighteen years growing up with them, I wouldn’t be able to tell who was who.

And yeah, you guessed right. They were my father’s and the pack’s favorite. Everyone loved the three E’s. From an outsider’s point of view, I probably looked adopted and my father really didn’t treat me any better than the pack’s dog. No surprise there since I failed to shift on my fifteenth birthday.

“AXL!” My father’s sharp flint tone cut into my reverie and I jerked upright, twisting the hem of my dress in my hands. I dared to meet his eyes, only to slant them back to the floor when I met with icy derision. “I’ve always you to stop zoning out during important gatherings like a redundant idiot and stop slouching, you’ll be hunched! No one would marry an ordinary, hunched, and wolfless girl.” Ouch.

He accentuated his words by slamming a fist on the table and I flinched. Swallowing the bile that formed in my throat, I blurted an apology and straightened my shoulders.

“Now, I was saying that my coronation to be the prime minister of the moon-wolf kingdom is in just a few days and it is extremely detrimental to this pack that you be on your best behavior.” He deadpanned, his mouth upturned in a light scowl. Why does he hate me so much? I wonder. Every time he has to speak to me always seems like a chore to him. A very irritable chore he’d rather not engage in.

“Of course, father. It’s Axl.” Elliot, the eldest cut in with a slight edge in his tone. He sort of hated the way everyone treated me. “She would not do anything to put us to make.”

My other brothers nodded in agreement and I showed them a small smile of gratitude as my eyes stung with tears. I didn’t know why I was getting emotional. Maybe because my father’s general disgust of me made my rejection from the prince hit closer to home. My heart spasmed in my chest and I bit on my lower lip to hold back a sob. Oh goddess no. no damn tears!

But my father shook his head sternly. “The royal family members and other important members of the Lycan Council are going to be in attendance. Axl, I am aware of how…ridiculously smitten you are with the crown Alpha prince.” He narrowed his eyes at me and my stomach caved in. “I won’t tolerate any misconduct or gaucherie that might be offensive to him.”

As I left his study a few minutes later after Father curtly dismissed me, I could only pray for guidance and strength from the goddess.

Days blurred into weeks and in the blink of an eye, everywhere was brimming with activities and it was the coronation day.

“You look so gorgeous, Axl. Your mother would have loved to see you right now.” One of my mother’s maids whispered as she slotted in the last pin to hold up my hair in an elegant updo. Ignoring the sharp pain in my chest at the mention of my late mom, I took in my reflection with a flat look. A navy blue sequined dress that did nothing to my thicc, curvy frame. It’s either Nanny Sarah’s eyesight was getting poorer or she just wanted to bring a smile to my otherwise drawn face.

Either way, I forced my lips to tick up and mutter. “Thank you. I’ll join you downstairs soon to prepare the last things needed for the coronation.”

“What?” she sounded horrified. “No daughter of the prime minister would be reduced to a servant cleaning and serving the guests! Your father would kill me.” An affectionate look climbed into her eyes and she squeezed my arm. “Go and cousins at the doors instead, you can welcome the guest.”

I nodded at the door after she shut it behind her, leaving me to my sad, broken thoughts in this huge room. Plopping on my bed, I wagered the risk of crawling under the covers and hiding here till the whole camaraderie was done with. Everyone was so busy and the chances of anyone noticing my absence was really slim. But the warning of my father’s words drifted into my mind and I shook my head. Father would kill me if I didn’t come around.

So even though meeting a hundred powerful people was the last thing I wanted to do, I pasted something I hoped was a smile on my face and left my room.

‘wow,’ I blew out a breath as I stepped into the hall. The party was in full swing and extremely posh-looking people mingled about with flutes of champagnes. Soft, classical, and barely discernible music played in the background. A waiter was strutting towards me and when he was close enough, I reached for one of those bubbly drinks, only for him to swerve right away from me like I’ve got a plague or something. Wow. This night had only begun and it was terrible already.

I caught sight of my brothers on the other end of the hall, flirting with women who usually looked at me like I was an annoying lice trying to find a home in their perfectly coiffed hair.

Suddenly, the hall went silent and from the corner of my eyes, I could see it was the Royal family’s arrival. Everyone had their heads bowed as they regally walked into the room but no matter how much I tried to stop myself, I raised my head slightly, eyes directly searching for that tall, dark, and domineering figure. He wasn’t there.

The breath I didn’t know I was holding rose to my lips and I visibly relaxed. Thank the goddess, he didn’t come with his family.

“AXL!” slim arms threw themselves around me, almost knocking me off my feet. At first, I was rooted to the spot but as a familiar chocolatey scent filled my nostrils, I relaxed and buried my face into the mass of blonde hair falling down her shoulders.

“Jenny.” I squeaked. “I missed you so much.”

When she pulled away from me, her eyes were kinda wet. “I’m so sorry for putting you in trouble Axl…”

My heart skipped a beat and for a moment, I thought she knew but then she said. “I’d wanted to come over to yours after I heard that he told your father about what we did but you heard Kael that day, right? The asshole grounded me. He didn’t let me out and if not for this coronation, I wouldn’t see you till I leave for college.”

“It’s okay.” I forced a smile. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

“You look so pale and thin, Axl.” She groaned, holding me at arm’s length as she basically used her eyes to measure my body size. “Haven’t you been eating?”

Well, that and other small talk filled our conversation for the next couple of minutes and though I love my best friend with all my heart, I was so fucking glad to finally be able to extricate myself from her when her mother, the queen, called for her attention.

Nimbly and quietly, I stalked to the backdoors and slinked into the rose and hibiscus-scented darkness. The garden was often my safe place during events like this and all I wanted to do was sit by the fountain in the grove and count the tiny stars that dotted the night sky.

Sucking in a deep breath, I began walking down the cobblestone path, arms wrapping around myself like a sweater. Prince Kael wasn’t at the party or maybe I’d just missed his presence—that sounded impossible though. Anyway, I didn’t know how to feel about that. Some part of me was glad that I didn’t have to look him in the eye and act like nothing happened…while some delusional part of me kinda…hoped…hope for what I dare not say out loud.

Maybe if I’d paid attention to my surrounding or if I had stopped thinking of him for one single damn moment, I’d have heard it before it was too late.

Slam!

a piercing pain seared through my skull as something like a wooden stick…or iron rod connected to it with a damning force.

I dropped to my knees and the last thing I heard before darkness whisked me away was… “Hmmph. He has to make it work with this one.”