REJECTED BY ONE CLAIMED BY THREE

APRIL'S POV

"Are you out of your mind?" Alpha Winston growled as he flashed a cold stare at me.

I shuddered.

"I know you feel the mate bond as much as I do." I muttered.

He sprang from the large bed and stalked over to where I stood by the closed door. We were in his private chambers, alone. Tension hung low in the air as he approached me.

"Say that again, April" He said. He was now a few inches away from me, and his height towered above my small figure.

My mouth ran dry as I clutched unto the basket of clothes in my hands.

"April, I dare you to repeat yourself!" He ordered in a low tone.

I broke into a cough and looked down at my feet. "Alpha Winston, I am-am only saying that there is a mate bond between us and-"

"That is my point!" He barked. "I know fully well that you are my mate. May the Moon goddess curse me if I ever let you become my Luna. What would my subject even say of me?"

My mouth dropped open. What was he even talking about?

He edged backwards, running his eyes over my figure. Then, he spat on the floor.

"You are only a weak omega! Do you need me to remind you of how unworthy you are to even be my mate?" He asked.

I remained silent. I felt numb as I rolled over his words in my head. A moment passed and he was still glaring at me.

"Do you know how shameful it would be if everyone out there knows that I've been mated to the weakest link in the rogue pack??" He asked again, rasing his voice.

I shook my head, "I am so...sorry-"

"Keep your nasty apologies to yourself!" He snapped, wagging a finger in my face. "It's a good thing we are having this conversation now. There is one thing you must do."

I glanced up at him, a sudden eagerness to please him settled over me. "Anything, Alpha Winston."

"You will keep our mate bond a secret. No living being must hear of it, until I am ready. Do you understand?"

"But-"

"The moment you spill a word of this, consider yourself as dead. I will make sure I snuff life out of you!"

Cold sweat broke on my forehead and I stiffened. The air in the room suddenly felt too heavy for me.

"April, have I made myself clear?" He asked.

I nodded slowly and lowered myself in a bow, "I swear by the moon goddess, I will not reveal anything about our mate bond to anyone."

His lips twisted in a smirk and his eyes shone with satisfaction. "Good for you. Now get out of my chambers!"

His words hit me with a force. Yet, I remain rooted to the spot.

"I know you are not deaf, April. Leave now"

I turned on my heels and left the room, holding back my tears which threatened to break free.

This was it!

This was the kind of life I had been reduced to. A useless omega that who is hated so much by her mate. What other misery could one get?

***************

I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection. I could barely recognize myself as I had grown so pale over the weeks. Even after Alpha Winston had warned me never to tell anyone that we were mates, he kept making secret advances at me. One night, when he had just returned from a meeting with the council of elders, he called me into his chambers.

My heart pounded in my chest as I walked in that night.

"Alpha Winston" I had mumbled.

He swiftly strode across his room and came up to where I stood. Then, he cupped my face in his large palms, his breath fanned my face, causing my skin to tingle. Without a word, he kissed me and took me to his bed. I had no memory of what had happened afterwards, because I was too giddy with excitement that he wanted me, at least so I thought.

The following morning, I woke up in his bed with a spot on my neck that throbbed with pain.

Marked.

I had been marked by the very man who didn't want anything to do with me. After that day, he avoided me like a plague, but that didn't bother me. He had marked me, and it meant something. Somehow, it gave me hope-hope that one day, he would publicly acknowledge our mate bond.

"Are you okay?" A soft voice said behind me, breaking into my thoughts.

I exhaled, "Yes...yes. I am." I turned to flash a smile at her. We were both ushers for a mating ceremony that was about to hold that morning.

I found out earlier that the female who was about to get mated was Serena, the only daughter of our pack's beta.

I raked my hands through my hair, forcing myself to stop imagining what it would feel like to be finally bound in a mating ceremony to the only man who had ever marked me as his.

"Let's leave. We're getting late." The woman behind me said with a hint of impatience. I bobbed my head again.

Then, I took one last look at my reflection in the mirror before I scurried out of the dressing room, trailing behind her.

As we approached the mating grounds, I noticed how excited almost everyone was. The air was festive and filled with the loud chatter of other members of the pack. Soon, we arrived at the venue. As I picked up a tray of food from the table at the side, to begin serving the guests, I shot a glance at the couple who were to mated.

I froze.

My eyes grew wide with shock and the tray of food fell from my hands. Everyone around me whipped their heads towards me, but I didn't care.

I had my attention on the couple on the podium, with my mouth hung open. My mate, Alpha Winston was the groom in the mating ceremony and he had his hands snaked around the waist of his to-be Luna, Sera Sryll. He was looking down at her with adoration as the elder in charge read from a scroll.

This had to be my imagination! I reasoned.

I blinked hard.

Without thinking, I ran towards them with a loud yell, "You can't take her as a mate!"

He jerked his head backwards and looked at me, his lips curling up with disgust. "April?"

"Alpha Winston!" I sobbed, "I am your fated mate, and not her."

"Mated to wolfless omega like you?" He sneered, breaking into a hysterical laugh. The entire audience joined him. Their voices rang out in the air. I felt heat creep into my cheeks and I wanted to curl up in shame.

People around us broke into hushed whispers and my ears picked up some of their words. A weak omega. That's what I was.

A lump formed in my throat as I stared back at Alpha Winston. He cocked his eyebrows, pulled away from the woman besides him and raised his staff in his hands.

Silence fell in the hall.

He stepped closer to me, his lips set in a hard line.

"You can't mate her." I repeated weakly, "You have already marked me as your mate"

"Enough of your delusions!" He barked. "This seems like the right time to end every miserable tie I have with you, April"

Tears quickly filled my eyes and I grabbed one of his hands. "No! Please"

He shoved me off, raised his staff a second time.

"I, Alpha Winston Reyker, of the Blacken rose rogue pack, hereby reject you, April Matthews, as my Luna and mate!" He spat at me.

My heart shattered to a million pieces, as my uncontrolled sobs got louder.

"Accept this rejection right now and never appear before me again! You totally disgust me. Do you think I'd pick you over a full bred wolf who is a true shifter?" He asked, "The moon goddess played the wrong cards by gifting you to me as a mate"

The amount of disgust and hated he had for me was so obvious now.

My head spun and I suddenly became dizzy. I didn't know what hurt the most-the rejection or the fact that he had used my wolfless condition to mock me.

I clutched my stomach and bent over with pain.

Rejected.

My mate rejected me. After living my entire life feeling unloved, having a true mate was the only way for me to finally feel valued again, but he rejected me!

"I said, accept that stupid rejection, April! Let me live my life. I deserve a strong Luna and not a weak omega like you!" He yelled as he grabbed my hair and pulled it back. I winced and screamed in pain, but it didn't have any effect on him.

"I..I accept-" I stuttered, gasping for breath.

"Not like that, Omega! Accept it the proper way before I tear you apart" His menacing growl rented the air.

I flinched as his grip tightened around my hair, making the pain even worse. I knew that he was ready to do even more, so I decided that it was best to just accept the rejection.

"I...April Matthews, accept your rejection."

"Good." He said, smiling with satisfaction. Then, he turned to look at the guards besides us, "Take this useless creature away from here!"

APRIL'S POV

His words felt like a knife to my chest and I fell to the ground, with my hands clasped in front of me as I cried.

"Alpha-"

He kicked my sides, making me to fall over backwards, "Don't you dare mention my name again! I have nothing to do with you."

His kicks became harder on my sides, sending shots of pain through my body. In an instant, a strong pair of hands grabbed my arms, pulling me up from the dusty ground.

"Can you-" I started to say when a hand swung through the air and landed on my face, causing me to go blind for some seconds. My mouth suddenly felt wet, so I coughed and blood trickled out of my mouth, down my jaw.

"Make sure she doesn't find her way to this place until the mating ceremony is over. I don't want to be interrupted by this nuisance one more time" Alpha Winston ordered, and the two guards who stood on both my sides, started to roughly drag me out of the crowd.

I didn't know which was more humiliating; the mocking stares from the crowd or how I was led away from the mating grounds, shortly after being rejected.

The guards held on to me firmly, despite how I struggled to break free from their grip.

"You wretched omega!" One of them hissed, "You brought this upon yourself!"

The other responded, tightening his grip around my arm, "Of course, she did. If only she was wiser, she would have let the Alpha get mated to his chosen mate, instead of interrupting the ceremony"

They went on to joke about how it was mostly the people who had nothing to offer that often wanted to be regarded as important.

My face still stung from the slap, and as I blinked back my tears, I noticed that the guards were now leading me down an unfamiliar route, far away from the pack's borders.

"Please-" I whimpered as our feet plodded the wet ground of the forest. "Where are you taking me to?"

Although I spent all my life, living in the rogue pack, I was sure that the unfamiliar path which the guards were taking me on, was an unsafe place.

"Somewhere you will find out soon." One of them sneered.

We walked on for a few more minutes until I noticed how uneasy both men seemed. They exchanged wary looks between themselves, causing me to be on alert.

The moon goddess shone a ray of luck on me when both men announced that they wanted to take a break, so they tied up my hands in front of me, and made me to sit by the foot of the tree, with my legs curled under me.

Then, the two men strolled a distance away, and soon engaged in a heated argument over me. I overheard them mentioning the name "Sera". Then, it clicked in my head. Sera was the chosen mate of Alpha Thane-the woman who had replaced me.

I eyed both men again. They had their backs to me and it suddenly occurred to me that this could be my chance to escape.

If they brought me here, then it meant that they wanted to kill me. Perhaps, Sera had paid them to finish me off. wore under my breath to never give them a chance to.

I was barely able to breathe and fear twisted my guts as I pushed myself up from the ground.

Then, using my teeth, I struggled to wriggle my wrists out of the rope that was used to tie it.

My mouth dropped open with shock as the rope fell to the floor.

I eyed both men.

They were still engrossed in their conversation, with their heads bent over.

I couldn't believe my luck and I broke into a quiet run, movingaway from them as fast as my legs could carry me. Soon, I heard a howl behind me and I knew that they had noticed my absence. My legs grew weaker, but I pushed myself forward on the damp forest floor, ignoring the raw panic that now seized my chest.

The men felt closer as they chased me, cursing me at the top of their voices. My heart pounded in my ears and wet branches whipped at my face, cutting through my skin as I ran past them. Soon, my breath started to come in ragged gasps and the cold air seeped into my bones, but still I ran.

Everything seemed to scare me.

The trees stood tall in my way, their twisted trunks reaching out to grab me. I pushed harder.

Faster.

I was desperate. I had to get away from those men. Just then, my leg tripped over a piece of rock and I fell with my face to the ground. A sore pain stung my ankle but I ignored it and scrambled up to my feet. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was only one of the men who was still chasing me. He waved a sharp knife in the air, as he ran towards me.

I picked up my pace again, thumping my feet against the air.

I was dammed!

If I ever allowed him to catch up with me, I was sure that I would most likely not recover from the beating they would inflict on me.

The next time I checked to see whether my pursuers were still on my heels, I saw that both men were now walking away in the opposite direction.

They had obviously given up the chase.

Relieved, I fell to the ground and ran my finger over my sprained ankle. I sat there for a short while, gritting my teeth as my fingers massaged the injured area.

Then, I heard it.

Something moved in the bushes around me. It was so quiet that I could swear I was only imagining things, but I wasn't.

Not wanting to take any risk, I pushed myself up to my feet, and started to limp into the forest.

What I lacked by not having a wolf, I made up for it by trusting my intuition.

Right now, the only thing that plagued my mind was how certain I was that someone or something was watching me.

I stopped limping and leaned on a tree, scanning my environment. Then, I slipped to the floor to massage my hurting ankle

I was about to get up and and continue walking when my eye caught sight of a large, brown wolf which sprang out from the nearby bushes.

A scream escaped my lips and within seconds, my knees felt like jelly and I fell limp, my vision blurring.

Everything went silent as I slipped into darkness.

KAYSON'S POV

I knew something was up!

I just knew it because my ears had picked up a cry that rang out far up in the woods. I became alarmed and I immediately broke into a run.

Within minutes, I had shifted into my wolf form, and I was panting.

The order had been under attacks by rogues lately, and I didn't want to risk it. I was alert as I sprinted in my wolf form in the direction of the cry.

It rang out again; this time it was strained whimper and I was able to tell that it came from a female.

A female in the red-zone? What the hell would a female be doing in this parts of the forest that was mostly dominated by ruthless rogue wolves?

I did not spare any moment in trying to figure out an answer to the question that tugged at the back of my mind as my paws started to pound against the damp forest ground. I started to race faster as my senses directed me to where the predator was.

As I drew closer, I slowed down my pace and peeped through a covering of shrubs.

My eyes almost popped open when I saw an unfamiliar young woman seated by the foot of a tree, running a finger over her ankle.

Without thinking, I jumped out of my hiding and as soon as her eyes met mine, she let out a shriek before crashing to the ground.

She laid still, with her eyes shut. I took step away from her and shifted back into my full form. I was about to go back in the direction I came from when I remembered that the woman hadn't moved an inch yet.

I strode towards her with a frown, half worried that she was dead. Her face was pale and her lips bled. There was also a deep gash on her shoulder. I leaned towards her and checked her pulse. She was still breathing.

Rage, my wolf stirred at the back of my mind as I peered into the woman's face.

"Mate." Rage growled inside me, "Save mate."

Mate?

How could she be my mate when I couldn't even sense her wolf? It was very unlikely. I grew confused by Rage's behavior. Rage had never been vocal about getting a mate. Why was he now claiming a complete stranger who was most likely a rogue wolf?

A cold chill ran through me, and I staggered backwards.

"Rage!" I yelled in my mind, "You don't expect me to pick her up, do you?"

"She's my mate. Save her now" Rage responded, making me even more confused.

I scanned the area where I stood, and realized that I just couldn't leave this stranger behind in this lonely and dangerous forest.

With no other choice, I lifted her unconscious body from the ground and cradled her in my arms.

The Red-zone was one of the forests that were inhabited by rogue wolves, and only strong wolves could make it out of there. I had taken it as a route on my way back from a neighboring pack.

As I slowly walked back to Landside pack, a thought came to my head.

Who was the woman in my arms?

Why was she in the red-zone? I was sure that she was a rogue, because every woman from all the packs in the order were prohibited from stepping out of their packs without any form of physical protection.

I exhaled as I made it to the borders of Landside pack. By the time I arrived at the pack house, I noticed that the stranger's breathing was now slowed.

Panic seized my chest as I hurried down the hallways and rushed to the wing of the building where the pack healer's room was.

Without a word, he took the dying woman from my hands and placed her on the small bed.

"Ghol" I panted, "Do anything you can, anything at all to make sure she lives, please."

I headed out of the dimly lit room and walked back to my chambers. An hour later, the door was pushed open and my beta, Reese, slid in with his arms folded across his chest.

"You've been gone all day, Alpha Kayson" He said, leaning against the wall.

I was seated at my study table, in front of a lit candle, going through some scrolls which I had gotten from the Alpha Ronan of the Seaside pack.

I raised my head and shot a confused glance at Reese. When did he start monitoring my movements and the time I spent outside the pack?

I bit hard on my lower lip and returned my attention to the scroll in my hands.

"Alpha Kayson?" He repeated.

"What is it?"

"I only pointed out that you spent the whole day at Seaside, or did you go elsewhere?" His voice was laced with anger, but he seemed composed, as he eyed me from a distance.

"Reese, I am the Alpha of this pack, and I don't appreciate you breathing down on my neck like I'm six." I snapped.

"My apologies, Alpha." He said, still maintaining a blank expression on his face, "While you were away at Seaside, I had to sign a number of documents from the council's secretary. There are currently plans in motion for the next general mating ceremony"

I shrugged, "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I am exhausted, and I've had a long day."

He nodded, and approached my table. When he was close enough, he placed both hands on the table and pinned his eyes on me.

"If you don't mind me asking, who did you bring back from Seaside, Alpha?" He said.

"Oh! Did you see me with someone?"

He shook his head, "No, but a number of servants did. They said you took the person to the healer's chambers"

I leaned back in my seat, running my fingers through my hair.

"Reese, On my way back from the Seaside pack, I picked up a half dead woman at the red-zone"

"Picked up?" He asked with a dry chuckle.

I nodded.

He was silent for a moment and then he cleared his throat.

"Alpha Kayson, if you had truly picked her up at the red-zone, then she's definitely a rogue wolf. You need to send her away, Please."

I pushed back my seat and rose, fuming. "No! She shall stay here."

"She is a stranger and a potential threat!" He argued.

I raised my hand in the air, signaling that he shouldn't attempt to counter me again. A line etched between his brows.

"Reese, she will stay until she gets better, and there's nothing you can do about it."

I watched as Reese's mouth dropped open and his eyes narrowed on me.