3. Rejected.

~ JOCELYN~

“You're not Luna material. You never were.”

My knees weaken as those poisonous words stab straight into my heart and steal every ounce of oxygen from my lungs.

More gasps and loud whispers fill the air.

Did he really say that?

Did Caspian, my mate, my best friend, my love, my future, just say that to me?

In front of everyone?

The whispers from the crowd are not helping. I feel like fainting, but I don't give in.

I won’t embarrass myself further. I… I just want to understand why Caspian is doing this to me. To us.

“Caspian, I-I don't understand.” I stutter in a whisper, “Are you nervous? I am too, but… but I understand. So what's going on? Is this some kind of prank?”

He swallows, not saying anything. I hate the way he is looking at me like I am an embarrassment to him.

“Answer me!” I yell, my voice cracking. “Caspian, why—”

“I have to do what is best for the pack,” he cuts me off coldly, “And you’re not the best, Jocelyn Valdez.”

No!

This isn't my Caspian. He is speaking to me as if I am nothing. As if I mean nothing to him. As if I am not the woman he promised the world and his love and his whole heart.

This Caspian right in front of me is not my Caspian. He is ripping my heart out in front of everyone like I am worthless to him.

I stare at him, hoping and praying I heard wrong. That this is some horrible joke. That any second now, he will chuckle and pull me into his arms and say, "Got you, Fireheart. Of course I want you. Of course you’re my one and only Luna."

But none of that happens. None.

Instead, Lycena steps forward now, pride overflowing in her venomous green eyes as she snatches my bouquet of moonflowers. She places a hand on Caspian's arm again, boldly this time. Possessive.

“You’ve always bitten more than you can chew, Jocelyn,” she smirks. “Our Alpha will never make you his Luna. You're weak. Pathetic. And will never, ever be fit to be my Luna. Never.”

“Caspian?” I breathe, my eyes solely on him despite Lycena’s insult. All that matters is my Caspian. I want him to wake me up from this nightmare.

This is really an expensive joke.

“Please,” I clutch at the folds of my wedding dress, as if that might ground me, hold me together.

But I feel like I am falling. Endlessly falling and spinning into destruction.

“Don't beg me, Jocelyn.” I instantly flinch at the sharpness of his voice, “I won’t repeat myself.”

He turns and starts addressing not just me now, but the entire Nightfall Pack. “Jocelyn Valdez is not fit to be my Luna. She is not who I choose. She is…” He hesitates for half a second—half a second that could have changed everything.

But he doesn’t stop.

He continues. “She is unworthy. Weak. She is not of Luna blood. She was raised among us out of pity. But I will not let pity dictate the future of this pack.”

The look on his face is blank. Cold.

A stranger’s mask.

Like I am nothing to him.

Like I never was.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” I whisper. “This isn’t—”

“Silence!” Lycena barks at me. “Your Alpha is still speaking, you wench.”

I fall silent. I really, really want to punch that bitch in the face and make her pick up all her teeth from the floor, but I withhold myself.

“And so,” Caspian continues, pointing at Lycena, “from this day forward, I choose Lycena Bale to be my Luna and the Luna of Nightfall Pack. And we are getting married tonight.”

“Lycena?!” I choke. “She’s not your mate—she’s not even—”

“She’s my choice,” he cuts me off. “She understands what it means to lead, to be ruthless when needed. You… you’re too soft, too emotional. The pack needs strength.”

Tears blur my vision. My knees nearly buckle.

“But we’re bonded.” I keep insisting, still fighting, “You know this, Caspian. You feel it. The Moon Goddess—”

“Made a mistake,” he lies. “What I feel doesn't matter. This bond is a mistake.”

Gasps rise again from the crowd, but I barely hear them. My ears are ringing, my heart swelling like it is about to burst out of my chest. The glowing lights of the altar seem to be dimming, as if the moon goddess herself is pissed and has turned her face away from me. From this union.

I don’t realize I am backing away until my shoe heel catches on the hem of my gown and I crash to the ground.

No one catches me. No one lifts me up.

Shame swallows me whole. I burst into uncontrollable tears.

Unworthy?

Weak?

Not Luna material?

After everything?

After all the years of loving him from the shadows? After all the days I spent holding on to the hope of our bond like it was the only thing I had left in this cruel world?

My gown suddenly feels like worthless paper. My bouquet of flowers is now in another woman's hands.

Just like how my Caspian belongs to someone else. Choosing another woman right in front of me.

I am shaking. I think I am going to throw up.

I should have known better that nothing good lasts forever. Especially for someone like me—a lowly, orphaned nobody in a pack that has only tolerated me because I was close to the Alpha.

No, scratch that. Because their Alpha PITIED ME.

Foolish me. I fell in love with him.

And now, I have nothing left. Nothing.

Lycena steps forward, kicking my gown out of her way. Her white dress shines like betrayal.

“You're an embarrassment, Jocelyn.” She mocks and slips her arm around Caspian's waist like she has always belonged with him. Like this is some kind of well-strategized, mapped out plan made to disgrace me on my special day.

I am his mate. I am his FATED.

But I guess fate means nothing now.

Not in the face of humiliation.

Not in front of everyone sitting like statues and doing nothing.

The elders are whispering among themselves. The Head Elder looks visibly shaken, but she doesn’t intervene. The rest of the pack stares at me like I am some victim of tragedy absorbing all their piteous whispers:

“He turned her down.”

“The Alpha picked someone else.”

“How pitiful.”

“She thought she was enough.”

I want to scream.

I want to vanish.

But my voice is gone, trapped behind the lump in my throat and the storm in my chest.

“Say something,” I whisper to Caspian, my voice breaking. “Look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t a mistake.”

“I, Alpha Caspian King of the Nightfall Pack, reject you, Jocelyn Valdez, as my mate and Luna.” He says, staring down at me with a look of pity in his eyes.

That… that wasn't what I was expecting him to say. However, I don't need his pity, but I think my ears must have heard wrong.

“Accept my rejection, Jocelyn,” he says quietly. “Let’s end this.”

“You mean let's end us?” I chuckle a sad laugh, looking up at him.

“Yes.” His response is cold.

I bite down on my bottom lip until I taste blood. I want to stop crying, but I can't.

Why reject me? Why now? Why Lycena?

I don't want to accept his rejection, but he is leaving me no other choice.

“Well,” I gather all my strength, “I, Jocelyn Valdez, accept your rejection, Alpha Caspian King.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, I feel like a knife is butchering my heart into pieces. The pain of accepting his rejection is so intense and so merciless that I can't breathe properly.

I feel like I am dying.

“You're a moron, Caspian,” I choke out, “and trust me, you will never, ever be happy.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lycena laughs. “Alpha Caspian has me, and I'll make him perfectly happy, especially in ways I bet you've never made him happy.”

As she speaks flirtatiously, her free hand roams his chest. Her face inches closer to Caspian.

And right before my very eyes, she kisses him.

Not a soft kiss. Not an innocent one.

A filthy, vengeful kiss.

She doesn’t even glance at me. Not once.

But I feel her victory all the same.

Poisonous. Deadly.

And Caspian, he kisses her back.

He doesn't push her away.

Those lips used to be mine to kiss.

Unable to watch them, I turn to the crowd, hoping that someone, anyone, will have the decency to stop this madness.

But everyone is just watching.

A group of she-wolves are smirking behind folded fans, already whispering to each other. I even recognize a few faces; Callan, the Beta, who later lowers his head with guilt after his eyes meet mine. Judith, his mate, is sitting there beside him, her mouth open in disbelief as she watches Caspian kiss another woman.

Worse of all, that woman is Lycena Bale. My bully. And Caspian knows.

Everyone knows.

Something inside me finally snaps.

I stumble up to my feet. Caspian and Lycena stop kissing.

The Head Elder coughs.

“A-Alpha, h-how do we proceed?” she asks in a stuttery voice.

“What sort of dumb question is that?!” Lycena snarls. “Get us married!”

“Do as she says.” Caspian tells the Head Elder. The woman spares me a glance of sympathy before she goes ahead to obey her Alpha and her new Luna.

“We are gathered here today to witness the union of Alpha Caspian King and his Chosen Bride and Luna, Lycena Bale. Now……”

I can't hear her anymore. Her words drone on and on as the whispers from the crowd grow louder. A cruel chuckle breaks the night.

I don’t even know who laughed. But it doesn't cut deeper than anything Caspian has said and done to me tonight.

In the end, he didn't choose me. I wasn't enough for my Caspian.

And I can't stay here anymore. Not at this altar. Not in this pack. I have nothing left here.

Without thinking twice, I run.