The rejection

I stared back at Damien in shock and disbelief as his words rang through my mind, echoing until it was the only thing I remembered. My body trembled in fear and dread as I averted my gaze from his face to look at the expression on the faces of those who were present at the banquet.

I needed reassurance that what I heard wasn't true and that I was the one mishearing things, but the shocked expression on their faces told me all I needed to know. I didn't mishear. Damien has said what I heard. "What do you mean by that? Answer me, Damien! What do you mean by what you said?" I asked tentatively, a foreboding feeling overwhelming my heart as his expression changed from his usual loving gaze to one filled with disgust and indifference.

"I meant what you heard, Mitchell. We can't be together, you can't be my mate," he repeated with a sneer. I could feel my heart shattered into a million pieces at his words. I felt suffocated, my world turned upside down as I heard the snickers and whispering in the background.

All my life I've never felt so embarrassed and ridiculed, as the only daughter of the second strongest alpha in the country, I've always been looked up to, been cherished by those around me and yet, right now my mate who had been so sweet and caring in front of my father became indifferent and unloving.

Publicly rejecting me in front of his whole pack members who had come to attend our banquet. I couldn't help the tears that soaked my face and the trembling of my body as I thought about the implications of his words.

"Why? What did I do?" I choked out, my voice trembling alongside my body "Why did you suddenly change your mind after bringing me to your pack? After marking me and permanently branding me as mated! What do you mean we can't be together!" I screamed in desperation, sobbing as I felt the pain from the strain of the most bond, my wolf paced back and forth in my head, howling and whining at the rejection from our mate.

"If I didn't mark you, your father would have never let me leave with you," Damien replied indifferently and went stiff in shock.

"You never loved me? Was it all a lie?" I whispered, hoping, praying that somehow all this was some dream, a joke a prank anything but true.

"I never did, at first I was blinded by the mate bond and that was why I followed you around like a lost puppy" he replied casually, every of his words and his indifferent actions sent a knife into my heart.

"If you didn't want me, why would you need to bring me here? Why mark me? You should have rejected me from the beginning instead of making me fall in love with you!" I cried out helplessly with no one to comfort me. Everyone stayed afar off watching the scene unfold, silently mocking the fall of the novel daughter of the Golden Forest pack.

Oh, how that mighty have fallen. Their judgmental stares sent me deeper into the abyss of self-loathing and despair. 'Why?' that was the question that kept repeating itself in my head.

'Why did this have to happen to me? '

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked, sincerely curious as to what I might have done to deserve such cruel treatment from my soulmate. My other half.

"It has nothing to do with you specifically, so don't feel too important. I did it for my goal. You were just too naive to see it." he replied mockingly

"Since you are alpha Harris's only child, whoever marries you will be the next alpha of the second strongest pack in the country, who would pass on such a big cake?" Damien snickered. "I already have a chosen mate and I don't need you. However, you would remain in this pack until my plans succeed and I become the alpha of the Golden Forest pack."

"I would never allow you to become the alpha that would take over my father's pack, never over my dead body! You integrate! I trusted you! My father trusted you and this is how you relay us?" I growled determined to foil whatever his plans were.

"You can die all you want, but that would be after I have succeeded in my plans to be the alpha of the golden Forest pack. I have already exhausted your value and you are of no use to me anymore, so you can't threaten me with your life." Damien gritted out with a chilling glare.

"Your father has already begun the process of signing the necessary paperwork to hand the pack over to me as your mate" Damien explained casually. "Without a tangible reason he won't stop and what tangible reason would he find against his son-in-law who cares so much for his daughter?" He mocked and I felt even more defeated, knowing that his words were true.

With my knees buckling beneath me, I fell to the ground in a crumpled heap as I watched the man I loved, my soulmate, mark another woman as his mate. My heart ached and my stomach churned as I felt the mate bond that I had once adored now being torn apart before my very eyes, hanging on its last thread. He turned to me with a cruel smirk on his face, relishing in the pain he was causing me. I could only watch in despair as the woman he had chosen gloated in victory, knowing that she had replaced me in his heart. I felt completely and utterly defeated.

I screamed out in pain as the bond began to burn my heart, my eyes watered and became blurry. "I will not complete the rejection with you until I achieve my goal and I completely have the golden pack in my hands" Damien spat out.

"Till then, I hope you enjoy the show, and be a good puppet."