Chapter 3 The rejection

Sera's POV

Four days passed before my family decided to give the pack another reason to remind me exactly where I stood.

By then, the strange voice I had heard at the track had not returned, and I had almost convinced myself that exhaustion had made me imagine it. I had spent years training my body to the point where pain, fatigue, and overexertion were normal parts of my life, so it was easier to blame an exhausted mind than admit that something inside me had spoken.

I had never shifted, not once.

I had never seen the wolf everyone else insisted should have appeared when I reached adulthood, and because no wolf had ever surfaced, the entire pack had quietly decided what I was. An Omega. Wolf-less, perhaps, although no one used that word around my face unless they wanted to be cruel.

I had never corrected them.

What was I supposed to say? That sometimes, when I was alone, I felt something moving beneath my skin? That occasionally I heard a woman's voice inside my head? I had no proof, no wolf to show them, no explanation for what was happening to me, and after spending most of my life being treated like a problem, I had no intention of giving them another reason to look at me differently.

So I kept my mouth shut.

That evening, when one of the servants told me my father wanted everyone in the great hall, I already knew it wasn't going to be anything good.

The hall was fuller than usual when I walked inside.

My father sat at the head of the long table, his expression hard and unreadable. Alaric Ardyn had ruled our pack for years, and there was no mistaking the authority he carried. Beside him sat my mother, Evelina, her hands folded neatly in her lap while her attention remained fixed on the people gathered below.

The Veylors were there too.

Cairn's father and mother sat near my parents, both dressed formally, their expressions carrying the same quiet disapproval they had never bothered to hide from me. Cairn stood beside Elara, one hand resting possessively at her waist.

The sight should have hurt, but instead, I felt strangely calm.

Elara looked beautiful, of course. She always did. Her honey-blonde hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, and her blue-violet eyes appeared brighter beneath the warm lights. She wore a pale dress that made her look exactly like the princess everyone had decided she was.

Cairn looked at her as though she were the only person in the room.

I had known for years that he was my fated mate and I had also known for years that he did not want me.

There was no surprise left in that.

My father rose, and the room gradually fell silent.

“Tonight,” he announced, “the Veylor family and ours have gathered because Cairn has something he wishes to make public.”

I looked at Cairn and he did not look nervous, but he looked determined.

Elara lowered her eyes with an expression that would have convinced anyone who didn't know her that she was embarrassed by all the attention. I knew better.

Cairn stepped forward, and when his silver-gray eyes finally settled on me, there was no affection in them.

Only rejection.

“I have made my decision,” he said, his voice carrying clearly through the hall. “I have chosen the woman I want beside me, and that woman is Elara Veyne.”

A few people smiled and my mother looked relieved.

Cairn's mother reached over and touched Elara's hand as though welcoming her into the family she had already chosen for her.

I remained where I was.

Cairn continued speaking, explaining that his relationship with Elara was serious and that he intended to make their future official, but I barely heard the rest. I had already understood what this gathering was really about.

He wanted to reject me.

He simply wanted an audience.

When he finally turned fully toward me, the room became so quiet that I could hear the faint crackle of the fireplace.

Cairn's jaw tightened.

“I, Cairn Veylor, Alpha heir of the Veylor Pack, reject you, Seraphina Ardyn, as my fated mate.”

The words settled over the hall and nobody moved and nobody spoke.

My mother's eyes remained on me, and there was no sadness in them. My father's expression was just as cold. Cairn's parents watched with quiet approval, while Elara stood beside Cairn looking as though she had just been handed something she had wanted for years.

Perhaps she had.

I could have cried and I could have screamed and I could have asked Cairn why he had chosen her when fate had chosen me, but instead, I took one slow breath and lifted my chin.

“I, Seraphina Ardyn, accept your rejection.”

A murmur moved through the room.

Cairn's expression changed for the briefest moment, almost as though he had expected me to fight him.

I didn't because there was nothing to fight for.

I had known the truth for years. He had never chosen me, and I had never chased him. Tonight he had simply put words to something that had already existed between us for a very long time.

I looked at him steadily.

“You don't owe me love, Cairn. You made your choice, and I accept it. But don't expect me to stand here and apologize for something I never asked for.”

Elara's expression tightened and my father shifted in his chair, clearly unhappy that I had spoken at all.

I didn't care.

For once, I wasn't going to make myself smaller just because other people were uncomfortable.

I turned toward the doors.

“Sera.” My mother's voice stopped me.

I glanced back.

Her expression was cold. “You should show some respect for the people who have gathered here.”

I almost laughed.

Respect.

I had spent fourteen years being reminded that I was the unwanted daughter who had returned from a kidnapping nobody wanted to discuss. I had been compared to Elara until comparison itself had become meaningless. I had built my entire life around the one thing nobody in this room could take from me.

Running.

So I simply looked at my mother and said, “I have shown enough.”

Then I walked out.

Nobody followed me.

The moment the doors closed behind me, I released the breath I had been holding.

The night air was cold against my face as I crossed the grounds, but I kept walking until the lights of the main house disappeared behind me.

I went straight to the track.

It was where I always went when everything inside me became too loud.

I changed quickly, tied my shoes, and stepped onto the track beneath the dark sky.

Then I ran.

The first lap burned the anger out of my chest. The second loosened the tightness in my shoulders. By the third, the voices from the great hall had faded until all I could hear was my breathing and the steady rhythm of my feet striking the ground.

This was mine.

Nobody had given it to me and nobody could reject me from it.

I pushed harder.

The strange warmth I had felt days earlier returned suddenly, beginning beneath my ribs and spreading down through my legs. My breathing caught, but I refused to stop.

The sensation grew stronger.

For one terrifying second, I heard that same feminine voice deep inside me.

Run.

I stumbled slightly but recovered.

I should have stopped, but instead, I kept going.

I left the track and followed the road leading away from the pack territory, needing distance from everything that had happened. The forest blurred around me as my feet carried me farther than I had intended to go.

I didn't notice how quickly I was moving and I didn't notice how far I had gone, not until headlights suddenly appeared around the bend.

I froze.

A horn screamed through the darkness.

I turned toward the road, and the car swerved violently, its tires losing traction as the driver tried to avoid me.

I jumped backward, but there was nowhere to go.

The headlights filled my vision and then the car struck me, and the world disappeared into darkness.