Rejected By Him Claimed By Another

Corinna Walker POV:

"I really don't understand how the Alpha can stomach sleeping with a woman like Corinna. Just looking at her cheap, tasteless country style kills any mood." Trey Knight's voice dripped with absolute disdain, his harsh words carrying clearly through the heavy, ornate oak doors of the grand ballroom.

I froze instantly, my hand hovering just an inch over the cold brass handle. The icy night air of the corridor stung my lungs with every breath I took, but it was absolutely nothing compared to the freezing chill that was rapidly spreading through my veins and settling deep into my bones.

Inside the brightly lit hall, through the slight crack between the doors, I saw them. Jerrod Preston, my Fated Mate and the powerful Alpha of the Blackstone Pack, was sitting intimately close to my adoptive sister, Geri Smith. They were laughing softly, their arms elegantly crossed as they drank from each other's crystal champagne glasses, a deeply intimate gesture usually reserved for devoted lovers, not a man and his sister-in-law.

"Exactly," another high-ranking Pack warrior chimed in, chuckling darkly as he clinked his glass with Trey's. "So what if she is the biological daughter, switched at birth? Blood means nothing when you have no class. She can't even compare to a single strand of Geri's hair. Geri has no blood relation to the Smiths, yet she enjoyed twenty years of absolute luxury because she simply deserves it. Corinna? She's just a lowly, uncultured country girl who smells like cheap dirt and stray animals."

"She was so restless and greedy the moment she was brought back to the estate," a female voice added mockingly, her tone laced with venom. "Stealing the prestigious marriage contract, forcing our precious Geri away in tears, and even using underhanded, despicable drugs to climb into the Alpha's bed. The Alpha is giving her way too much face by letting her stay. Since Geri is finally back where she belongs, he should just kick Corinna to the curb and marry his true Luna."

My heart hammered painfully against my ribs. Through the narrow gap in the door, I watched Jerrod. He heard every single word of their vicious mockery. As my Alpha and my husband, he should have silenced them, defended my honor, or at least demanded respect for his Mate. But he didn't.

Instead, after finishing his wine, he slowly, deliberately reached out toward Geri. With a dark, aggressive intensity that made my breath catch, he used his rough thumb to gently wipe a stray drop of crimson wine from the corner of Geri's soft lips. His eyes, dark and smoldering, locked onto hers as he brought his thumb to his own mouth, slowly and suggestively licking the sweet liquid off his skin.

The sheer, unfiltered sexual tension in that simple, possessive act made my stomach clench in pure agony. The crowd around them erupted into low whistles and knowing chuckles, completely ignoring the fact that Jerrod was a married man.

Geri playfully glared at him, her cheeks flushed a pretty, delicate pink. Then, she let out a soft, theatrical sigh, seamlessly playing the perfect, innocent victim. "Don't say that, guys," she murmured, her voice dripping with fake sympathy. "Sister had a hard time living in the impoverished countryside for so many years. It's amazing she has any manners at all. Besides, I'm not Mom and Dad's biological daughter, it's only right they compensate her with this marriage." She looked incredibly aggrieved, her large eyes welling up with unshed tears, as if she were the one being brutally bullied and cast aside.

A bitter, scorching fire of anger and extreme humiliation rose up my spine. Outsiders thought I was a despicable schemer who drugged him to secure this powerful marriage. But only I knew the devastating truth. I had done absolutely nothing. The mating five years ago was an orchestrated accident that ruined my life, a trap set by someone else, yet I was the one forced to bear the eternal stigma.

For five agonizing years, I had been his Luna in name only, my status hidden like a dirty secret, never officially announced to the public. Jerrod had always been lukewarm, commanding, and distant to me, turning a blind eye to the constant mockery I endured from his friends and my own family. No matter what major decisions he made, I was always the last to know. He had never, not once, smiled at me with such tender, consuming warmth as he just did with Geri.

To the outside world, he and Geri were the tragic star-crossed lovers, a match made in heaven torn apart by my existence. If I hadn't coincidentally walked by this administrative building after finishing my shift at the clinic, I wouldn't have even known about this grand annual Pack gala.

I pushed the door open slightly wider, unable to look away from the trainwreck of my life. A few people near the entrance noticed me standing in the shadows. But instead of looking guilty, they didn't bother to lower their voices. Instead, they deliberately raised their glasses, praising how perfectly Jerrod and Geri looked together right to my face, completely ignoring how deathly pale and shattered I was becoming.

My hand tightened instinctively around the beautifully wrapped velvet box I was holding against my chest. Inside was a soothing herbal balm I had spent an entire month meticulously preparing, using the rarest, most expensive herbs I could find to calm his frequently restless wolf. It was a desperate, pathetic attempt to mend the fraying, agonizing bond between us.

I looked down at the gift in my trembling hands. It felt like a humiliating, hilarious joke now.

The Mate-bond. A sacred gift from the Moon Goddess, meant to be a werewolf's most precious treasure, a source of infinite strength and love. For me, it had become a toxic curse. A suffocating, rusted chain dragging me into an abyss of self-doubt and misery.

Jerrod didn't want me. This Pack didn't accept me. Even my biological parents, the Smiths, saw me as a disgusting disgrace, vastly preferring the fake, manipulative daughter they had raised over their own flesh and blood.

Slowly, the tension drained from my fingers. I let my hand go limp.

The velvet box fell to the hard marble floor with a dull, final thud that perfectly echoed the sound of my heart finally, irrevocably breaking into a million pieces.

I stared at it for a long moment, and a crystal-clear decision formed in my mind. It was a choice I had struggled with every single day for five miserable years, but never had the courage to actually make.

Enough.

This pathetic, degrading one-woman show was officially over.

I straightened up, rolling my shoulders back. All the lingering weakness, the desperate longing, and the sorrow drained from my face, instantly replaced by a cold, diamond-hard resolve. I was Corinna Walker. I survived the slums, I built a sanctuary from nothing, and I would survive this.

I was going to formally request "The Rejection."

I was going to sever this damned, suffocating bond myself, even if it tore my soul apart.

Corinna Walker POV:

The heavy, ornate oak doors remained firmly shut. I turned my back on the sickening scene inside, my heels clicking softly against the marble floor as I walked away. I headed straight through the freezing woods, returning to the cold, empty house that served as my marital prison.

I walked into the master bedroom, a room Jerrod hadn't stepped foot in for years, and pulled a thick, heavily sealed file from the bottom drawer of my desk. It was the prenuptial agreement Jerrod had ruthlessly forced me to sign five years ago, right before our forced mating ceremony.

The degrading terms were permanently burned into my memory. In the event of a divorce, I would only receive a pitiful one million dollars and this isolated, drafty house on the edge of the territory. It was a sum so insignificant that even my biological parents, the Smiths, would scoff at it. Jerrod hadn't drafted it to protect his vast assets, he had designed it specifically to humiliate me, to constantly remind me that in his eyes, I was worthless, a cheap commodity he was forced to acquire.

Well, tonight, he could keep his damn money and his miserable house. I didn't want a single penny that belonged to him.

Armed with the file, I walked back to the Pack's main administrative manor, bypassing the noisy ballroom, and pushed open the slightly ajar door to his private study without bothering to knock. As of tonight, I was entirely done with the submissive courtesies of a dutiful mate.

He was standing with his back to me, facing the massive floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the Pack lands. One hand was casually tucked into his tailored pocket, the other held a half-empty glass of amber whiskey. His tall, broad-shouldered silhouette was stark and intimidating against the pale moonlight.

He didn't turn around, his sharp Alpha senses already identifying my scent. "I thought I told you not to bother me tonight," his voice was laced with extreme, grating irritation. "Go back to your house, Corinna."

I walked directly to his massive mahogany desk and slammed the heavy file onto the polished wood. The sharp smack echoed loudly in the quiet room.

"I'm not here to bother you, Jerrod," I said, my voice surprisingly steady and chillingly calm. "I'm here to end this."

He finally turned. His eyes, the color of rich, dark earth, landed on me with a scrutinizing and thoroughly disgusted expression. His handsome face, which had just been smiling so warmly at Geri, was now a mask of cold, unforgiving indifference.

His gaze dropped to the file on the desk.

"What pathetic new game is this, Corinna?" he sneered, lazily picking up the document. He glanced at the bold 'Divorce Agreement' heading and let out a harsh, mocking laugh that grated against my ears. "You think threatening me with this makes you interesting? Let me remind you of your place. You are my property. You can't even compare to a single strand of Geri's hair. She is kind, elegant, and beloved by the Pack. You are just a manipulative mistake. Without my protection and my name, you are nothing but dirty trash on the street. No one wants you."

His vicious insults, clearly meant to break me down and shatter my fragile self-esteem, had the exact opposite effect. They only fueled the icy, unbreakable resolve solidifying in my chest. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief that I was finally walking away from this monster.

"I don't need your protection, and I certainly don't need your money," I shot back, my eyes blazing with a fierce independence he had never seen before. "Keep your millions and your empty house. I'm leaving with nothing but my freedom."

I took a deep breath, looking directly into his arrogant, mocking eyes, and enunciated every single word with absolute clarity. "I, Corinna Walker, reject you, Jerrod Preston, as my mate."

It was the first, and most crucial, step of the rejection ritual. Once spoken into the universe, the words could never be taken back. The sacred bond could only be severed.

The look of cruel mockery on Jerrod's face froze instantly, replaced by pure, unadulterated shock. His pupils contracted violently. He clearly never, in a million years, expected the submissive Omega to say those words to him.

A sudden, searing pain shot through my soul, the brutal backlash of tearing the Mate-bond. I dug my nails so hard into my palms that they drew blood, forcing my trembling legs to remain standing. I refused to show him any weakness.

Jerrod swayed slightly, his hand flying to his broad chest. A flash of intense agony crossed his sharp features, but he quickly suppressed it with the sheer, terrifying force of his Alpha will.

He stared at me, his brown eyes now blazing with a dark, consuming fury. "Are you insane? Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I've never been more clear in my life," I answered coldly, lifting my chin. "Now, according to Pack law, you just have to say 'I accept your rejection,' and we'll both be free. You can finally marry your precious Geri without sneaking around like adulterers."

Jerrod suddenly burst out laughing, a dark, dangerous sound full of disbelief and twisted, psychotic control. "Free? You think dropping that pathetic little box outside the ballroom doors escaped my Alpha hearing? You're throwing a massive temper tantrum because you stood in the hallway and saw me having a drink with Geri tonight? Stop dreaming, Corinna."

He took a menacing step forward, his overwhelming Alpha presence pressing down on me like a physical, suffocating weight. "You are bound to me by the Goddess. I will not accept your rejection. You'll stay in that house and rot if I tell you to. You belong to me, and I decide when this is over."

"Watch me," I didn't flinch under his crushing aura. I just gave him one last, long look of utter, profound disgust.

With that, I turned on my heel and walked out of the study, my spine perfectly straight, without a single backward glance.

As I walked down the dimly lit hall, I reached out through the Mind-Link, bypassing the Alpha and directly contacting Elder Miller. He was the oldest and most just Elder in the Pack. More importantly, he was the only one who truly pitied me, having quietly watched me endure years of brutal bullying and exclusion from my own family.

"Elder Miller, this is Corinna. I need you to draft the official documents for a dissolution of the mating bond. The Alpha has cowardly refused to complete the ritual verbally."

Corinna Walker POV:

"Child, I will help you," Elder Miller's old, tired voice echoed gently in my mind through the link. "I have seen how they treat you. You've suffered more than enough. But you need to be prepared. A forced, one-sided ritual without the Alpha's consent causes devastating damage to both souls."

"I don't care about the damage anymore, Elder. I just want out," I replied silently.

I closed the Mind-Link, a sudden wave of extreme weakness washing over me. The agonizing backlash from tearing the bond, combined with the mental exertion of defying my Alpha, made my steps unsteady. But my determination was like steel.

I walked directly toward the main entrance of the grand manor. I couldn't stand to breathe the same air as Jerrod and Geri for another second.

Just as my hand touched the heavy, ornate brass handle of the front door, a powerful, brutal force gripped my upper arm from behind, spinning me around violently.

I stumbled and turned to see Jerrod. He had followed me out of the study. His face was a thunderous, terrifying mask of fury, his eyes burning with the severe insult I had just dealt his massive ego.

"You contacted Miller?" he growled, his voice low and incredibly tight, each word ground out from between his clenched teeth. "Are you completely out of your mind, Corinna?"

I tried to pull away, but his grip was like a vice of solid iron, bruising my skin. "Let go of me, Jerrod! You don't love me, you despise everything about me, but you refuse to let me go. You're sick! You just want a punching bag to make Geri look better!"

"I am your Alpha! You do not get to leave me! You do not get to make decisions for this Pack!" he roared, his patience completely evaporating. He truly, arrogantly believed I was just throwing a massive, jealous temper tantrum over seeing him with Geri. "Corinna, I command you..."

A silent, blaring alarm screamed in my head. The Alpha's Command. A terrifying, ancient power that used superior Alpha genetics to mentally and physically dominate lower-ranking wolves.

My body instinctively wanted to submit. My legs felt like they were turning to jelly, moving on their own to bow before him. My inner wolf howled in my mind, fighting desperately against the crushing, suffocating force trying to force us to our knees.

"...to go back to your room right now, lock the door, and never speak of this ridiculous divorce again!" he finished his command, his eyes blazing with absolute, undeniable authority.

I bit my lower lip, hard. The sharp, piercing pain brought a sliver of clarity through the mental fog. I tasted warm copper on my tongue. I used every single ounce of strength I had left in my exhausted body to fight the power that was trying to grind my free will into dust.

I was not just some weak, useless Omega. I was a veterinarian. I ran a small, severely underfunded sanctuary on the rough edge of the territory, dedicating my life to healing ordinary animals and the 'wolfless', those unfortunate members of our kind who couldn't shift and were treated as worthless outcasts by arrogant pricks like Jerrod. I saved lives every single day. I saw death and fought it. I was strong. I would not let this arrogant, cheating man destroy my life and my dignity anymore.

Cold sweat dripped down my forehead, soaking my hairline, but I stood my ground. My body trembled violently, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane from the sheer, agonizing effort of resisting his bloodline command, but I didn't move a single inch backward.

A flicker of genuine, profound shock crossed Jerrod's dark eyes. He hadn't expected a supposedly weak, submissive Omega to resist his direct command to this degree. It was physically impossible for someone of my rank.

With a final, desperate surge of willpower that felt like tearing my own muscles apart, I ripped my arm from his slightly loosened, stunned grasp.

"Your commands mean absolutely nothing to me anymore," I spat, my breathing ragged and heavy, but my eyes cold as ice. "Keep your fake Luna. You two deserve each other."

I turned and pushed open the heavy double doors, stepping out into the freezing, liberating night air. Each step I took was heavy, painful, but incredibly firm, walking in the complete opposite direction of his tyrannical command.

Jerrod didn't stop me this time. He didn't reach out. He just stood frozen in the doorway, watching me leave, his expression a complex, turbulent mix of anger, deep confusion, and a severely bruised ego. He still thought I would come crawling back when I realized I had nothing.

I didn't go to the empty, cold marital house. I walked aimlessly through the dark, winding streets of the Pack territory, my feet eventually carrying me to my only true safe haven, my small veterinary sanctuary.

Tonight, the narrow, uncomfortable cot in the back office was the only bed I had, but for the first time in five years, I felt like I could finally breathe.