The Rejected Princess Elodie

From the solitude of my room, I could hear the festivities below-a celebration that seemed to shake the very walls of the house-my sister's 18 years celebration. The scent of freshly cut flowers wafted through the air, mingling with the laughter that rose like a tide from the guests. The vibrant life of the party was a world apart from my own shadowed existence.

I stepped away from the window, catching my reflection in the tall mirror. The blue gown I had chosen hung like a whisper of silk against my skin, its rich hue shimmering under the soft light. Yet it wasn't the gown that held my gaze-it was the mask that covered the scar that twisted across my cheek, a cruel mark that had stolen my place in this family.

Beneath the mask, the scar itched, as if it resented its confinement. My fingers trembled as they traced the mask's edges, feeling the roughness of the scar underneath. The mask was a barrier, both physical and emotional, that I had worn for so long it felt like a part of me. And yet, today, it felt heavier than ever. I turned swiftly and headed for the door.

"Elodie, what are you doing?" I heard a banging voice in my head and from the worry it, it was clear who it was; My wolf, Zoe.

"I'm going to the party" I replied, lifting my chin as if daring her to argue. "I'm tired of being hidden away"

"Yo..." Zoe stopped halfway and receded into me ahsin. She was the one to give up so easily and I knew she was cooking up some motivational words to stop me which won't work today. She has always been the easy going and obedient type and I hated that!.

"You know your father will be furious. He doesn't want you..." She finally found some words to put together and I let out a scowl. "I don't care" I interrupted, the words escaping before I could stop them.

For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath, the silence heavy between us. I took a step toward the door, feeling the silk of the gown brush against my legs. "I need to do this, Zoe"

She let out a sigh and receded into my mind again. I waited for some minutes to hear her rant but she didn't.

I opened the door and made my way out, waiting to hear her say something but she didn't stop me. She knew better than to try.

The hallway was eerily quiet, the muffled sounds of the party growing louder as I neared the main floor. My heart pounded in my chest, the rhythm quickening with each step. I could feel the weight of the night pressing down on me, every instinct screaming for me to turn back.

But I didn't.

As I reached the top of the stairs, the sight of the grand hall below nearly took my breath away. Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the sea of guests, their laughter rising in waves as they moved around, with some having glasses of drink in between their fingers. It was a scene of opulence and joy-a world I had always been denied.

I gripped the banister, the cool metal grounding me as I took a deep breath. My fingers curled tighter as my eyes scanned the crowd, searching for one face among the many; My sister!.

And then, there it was-that scent. It hit me like a force, cutting through the haze of perfumes and food. A mix of lavender oil and cinnamon, so potent it made my head spin. It was a scent that didn't belong to the cacophony below. It was something more. Something meant for me.

"Mate" Zoe whispered, her voice trembling with excitement.

The word sent a shiver down my spine, every nerve in my body coming alive as I let the scent guide me. The crowd seemed to part as I descended the stairs, my focus narrowing until only that scent mattered. My heart raced, a wild thing in my chest, as I reached the bottom step.

He was close. I could feel it, the bond pulling me forward like an invisible thread.

The scent led me to a door at the far end of the hall. My hand trembled as I pushed it open, stepping into a room lit with a warm, golden light. Four men stood inside, their voices low as they turned to face me. But it was the man at the center who captured my attention.

Tall and broad-shouldered, he stood with an air of command, his blue eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. The room seemed to shrink around us, the air thickening as the bond flared to life between us.

"Mate" He murmured, the word a low growl that sent heat rushing to my cheeks.

He handed his drink to one of the men beside him, his gaze never leaving mine as he closed the distance between us. My pulse quickened, each step he took toward me making my heart thunder in my chest.

"What's your name?" His voice was deep, each word laced with a quiet authority that demanded an answer.

"Elodie" I breathed, the name barely a whisper as I struggled to find my voice.

His gaze softened for a moment, his eyes searching mine as if he were trying to see past the mask that hid my face. But then his expression hardened, his eyes narrowing as they took in the mask that covered my scar.

"What's that on your face?" He asked, his tone suddenly sharp.

I flinched, the shame I had tried so hard to bury rushing back to the surface. My hand instinctively moved to the mask, fingers brushing against the cool surface as if to confirm it was still there.

"You're Elsa's sister, aren't you?" one of the other men sneered, stepping forward. "The one with the... issue"

Laughter rippled through the room, the sound cruel and mocking. The man before me-Liam, if the others' murmurs were correct-glanced at me with something akin to disdain, the bond between us flickering with pain.

"I'm not interested in a mate like you" He said, his voice cutting through me like ice. "I won't accept this"

The words hung in the air, each syllable a dagger to my heart. My breath hitched as the rejection slammed into me, the bond unraveling before it had even fully formed.

"No" I whispered, the plea barely audible as the no reality of his words crashed over me. But he was already turning away, the decision made.

"Liam, are you going to reject her?" another man asked, a smug smile curling his lips. "There's no need to keep her, not when you have better options"

Liam paused, his back to me as the tension in the room grew thick enough to choke. I could see the muscles in his shoulders tense, the conflict warring in his mind. But when he turned back to face me, his expression was cold, resolved.

"Your full name" He demanded, the words a command rather than a request.

"Elodie Martin" I managed to say, though my voice trembled with the effort of holding back the tears that threatened to spill over.

"I, Liam Montgomery, future Alpha of the Moonshine Pack, reject you, Elodie Martin of the Dark East Moon Pack" He declared, his voice devoid of emotion.

The rejection hit like a physical blow, the bond snapping apart with a searing pain that left me gasping for breath. Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of them.

"I accept your rejection" I whispered, the words catching in my throat as I turned and fled from the room, the sound of their laughter following me like a cruel echo.

The day was already bright as I sat at my window and looked outside the house as I could feel the commotion that was happening around, it seemed the whole pack members were running around, and I could hear my mother Violet shouting about something.

Getting out of there, I walked outside to their side of the house and truthfully, everyone was busy doing something.

"Did you mind link her? She has shut me off completely." The Luna my mother said with so much fear quivering in her mouth as she looked at me and eyed me down before looking away.

I dragged someone close and asked her what was happening.

"Your sister is missing, if you want to know, then that is what happened." Mother answered me with a sharp resort and then kept moving.

Missing? How is that possible?

The last time I saw her was two days ago when she came into my room and instead of talking about why she came, she instead was teasing me about what happened at her party two weeks ago.

I have tried to move on and accept my fate like that, but since I have never seen him again, the only thing I can do is to move on and hope that the moon goddess will bless me with a second chance mate.

"She knows how important today is, and yet she decided that she will not be in the house. How very considerate." She lamented still looking all over the place.

I wanted to remind her that she was the one who spoiled her daughter and that has nothing to do with the people she was yelling at right now.

"Luna, I checked the new bag she bought, it is currently missing." my sister maid said, and my mother screamed out loud as she held the wall, her legs shaking in what I could see is fear.

Being the Luna of our pack was something she took very seriously, in my years of knowing her she never wanted to be seen being distressed but whatever it was that my sister did to make her like this, it was something huge.

Moments later it was my mother, my father the alpha of our pack and I was standing in the living room.

"We promised them she would come today, how else can I tell them that my daughter has gone missing and won't be here anymore?"

My father has been distressed for over a week now, some group of rogues attacked our pack and took some of our medicines and our food, and since then, it has been tough.

"What is it that she needs to do that is making you both distressed?" I asked as I looked at the two of them.

They cast a look at me and then removed their eyes since I wasn't to be noticed.

I have become accustomed to that very lifestyle and have tried very much not to ever let it bother me.

Someone knocked, and it was my father's Beta Mr. Becket.

He looked at my father and mother as she sighed heavily.

"They are here to take her, I don't know what to tell them." He said and the worries in their eyes worsened.

Typical of my sister, to make her parents angry and very much worried all the time.

My mother's friend and confidante came inside and looked at me.

"Has he seen the girl for a long? I mean has he seen her a lot?" She asked as she looked at me.

Everyone's attention is now on me and that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

"What can we do with her? Look at that hideous scar on her face, she is worthless." Mother said she couldn't have used an arrow on my chest then I would have known the pain was worse than that.

"I have told you before to let my daughter handle her face, she can cover that scar." The woman said and everyone's attention was back on me.

After a minute of consideration.

"Let's see what she can do," Luna said and everyone nodded, and just like that I was dragged out of the room.

** *

I sat there with my eyes closed as someone dappled on my face and applied all sorts of things, I tried to open my eyes to see what they were doing but all the while they kept dipping into my face, and once the girl finished I was asked to turn around, and I did with my eyes closed.

"Wow." They all exclaimed at the same time.

"With the scar gone, she looks exactly like Elsa." My father Beta said, and I could feel all of them nodding at the same time.

'Can we see?" Zoe asked as she tugged at me so hard inside.

Slowly I opened my eyes and turned to face the mirror and I could not recognize the person who stood in that mirror.

With my scar covered up, my face looks so pale, and my eyes are draped in the most beautiful liner.

I look so different and very much beautiful and I have never liked myself like I do now.

'Wow I always told you that you are so beautiful, can you see that now?' Zoe asked with so much happiness for the first time in two weeks and I could not help the smile on my face.

"Now let's go to them, we have a bride for them now." Mother said and I stopped and looked at her.

"A bride?" I asked and she sighed and looked at me.

"You don't need to ask too many questions, just follow me."

And just like that, I was walking out of my house to a car I had never seen before, waiting for the next thing that would happen to me.

** *

It was after hours that we arrived at the place we had been going to, it took almost 5 hours and as soon as we got there I followed my parents as we went to see the alpha of the place.

He was a very fine man, and he looked at me with a smile in his eyes.

"Your daughter, she is gorgeous like the tales said." He looked at me again and I courtesy and stayed there.

"Yes, she is. Now we are here, we can have the formal wedding, and then we know we don't have to worry about anything and business will go as planned."

On my way, I realized that I was about to get married to someone I had never met before. Elsa didn't like the idea, and so she ran away.

But as I stood there, I knew that there was nothing I could do.

Since my mate has already rejected me, I might as well just become someone's wife and his breeder by getting married.

"My son will soon be here, and then we can go over the formal ceremony." He said as all of them laughed like long-time friends.

That familiar cinnamon scent engulfed my nose, knocking me off with the strength that it carried with it.

I don't know where it was coming from but it felt so strong I had to hold myself together.

My eyes mov d to the left side of the room where the scent was coming from and standing right there and glaring at me with death traps was my mate, no, my ex-mate, the one that rejected me, Williams Montgomery, future alpha of Moonshine pack.

WILLIAMS

What is she doing here?

I asked myself as her scent was too much for me to withstand, and I was inhaling them all to myself trying to force it out of me but all to no avail.

'She is here, our mate, I can smell her.' Ian, my wolf jumped happily as the scent kept getting stronger and too intense for us.

'She is no longer our mate remember? We rejected her.' I reminded him if he had forgotten, he better not cause it was the truth.

'You rejected her and not me, you did the rejection and I did not accept it.' He growled so loudly to my ears that I pushed him far back out of my mind and looked at them.

She stood right there at the corner of the living room with her eyes bugged out as she looked at me, shock filled those huge eyeballs of hers.

There is something so different about her, maybe it was the way that there was no mask on her face and she looks exceptionally beautiful that I felt my feet dragging me towards her.

"Liam, come see your bride and her family that I have been telling you about?" My father alpha Henry of Moonshine Pack said, and I nodded, my eyes still on her, I walked to where they stood.

"What a handsome son you have." The man who looked like her father said and all of them nodded.

Her head is bowed, and she has refused to look at me after that first encounter as I walked in here.

What tricks are they playing right now?

"And you must be the bride that is so beautiful they have been talking about?" I asked, a swift smirk curling on my lips as I said directly to her.

She raised her head and looked at me, and I was taken aback by the impact of her eyes on me.

Those tender and soft moulds of huge eyes looked at me so hard that I felt the flinch on my chest and the way I couldn't take my eyes off her. Maybe it's the way her face molded together to give it this beautiful face that I was looking at.

I looked at the side that had the mask and nothing, there was not a single scar that showed she could have worn a mask.

Does that mean they were lying, and she was pretending to have a scar all along? At this point I don't know what to believe anymore.

I felt my heart twing with so much distrust as I looked at her.

"I am the princess of DarkEast Moon pack Elodie Martin." She bowed a little and not only I but everyone in the room seemed to be erupted by her soft speaking and the calm way she carried herself.

I blinked twice and again, there was no way this was the same girl that I had seen, that one had a mask and...

This left me with so many questions that I won't sit until I find the answer.

"Very well then. We are to be married, and yet, we know nothing about each other?" I looked at her and saw the way the fear passed through her eyes, and I smiled softly to myself.

"I don't think that is necessary right now, this evening, you two shall be wed. This is what our packs need." Father said as he looked at me.

I heaved inside and nodded before I walked away from the crowd.

It is obvious her family doesn't want me to know the truth about her which is why they don't want me to have a one on one moment with her, but I must definitely find out what they are hiding, I must find out.

** *

It was the evening of the same day, and we were officially married.

You can see the fear in her eyes when we were proclaimed man and wife and oh I was having fun with that very little reaction.

She now stands with her family, who seem to be telling her something.

I could see from their body reaction that they did not care that she would stay in this pack and was no longer living with them. It was funny, but I couldn't stop watching. In their eyes it was like a burden has been eased from their chest, and she was that burden.

"Please take care of our princess okay?" The mother said as she held my hand and I looked at her and wanted to shrug off the hand so bad.

I did not care about her, nor did I give a d*mn what would happen to her.

"You bet," I said and moved away as they entered their car and drove off.

She was standing right here with me now and couldn't look at my face as their car moved on.

"Are you going to stand here all day?" I looked at her and walked away immediately, not giving a care in the world if she was going to get lost since she was new to this place.

'What are you doing? I don't care that you rejected her but right now, you are married to our mate, and she is the Luna right now, treat her well' Ian scolded me, I would rather not respond to him, so I walked as fast as my legs could carry me into the car that will take us to my home.

She followed me, and as soon as I got into the house she was there beside me as she looked at me, with that tenderness of her eyes that melted into one.

"What is your family playing at? Because you were not the one I was meant to marry." I looked at her with a disgusted feeling inside my chest.

I regarded her once more and then took a little step as I filled her space.

She took in a deep breath, her hands shaking a little as I could feel the way her body tensed.

I inhaled her, she smelled of cinnamon, her scents were intoxicating, and I just wanted to grab her and feel my body deep inside of her.

I want to touch her, feel her body pressed against me, and melt her luscious lips with that of mine as I teach her the way her lips should be wrapped in mine.

Reminding myself where I was, heaved a sigh and leaned back, shaking myself from the world that I have been imagining.

It was the bond, the one the both of us shared even when we rejected each other.

The moon goddess is so cruel for making us have this bond even when we were no longer mates.

'She is your Luna now.' Ian said, and I rolled my eyes as I looked at her again.

"I don't care that we are married, I will have nothing to do with you, make sure you get out of my space and I will do the same, I would rather not see you everywhere in my house, do know that and get the f*ck away from me." I spat and walked out on her as soon as the car stopped moving. I saw a tear drop from her eyes but that was of no concern to me, it wasn't.

My chest hit me with the most stupid feelings that I should not be having now, but leaving it just the way it was, I walked away and never looked back.

I just don't care about her, and that is all I know, and I will never care for her, never. I promised myself, but how can I do that??