The Rejected Blind Luna

PROLOGUE

The disastrous part of acting strong is that nobody cares to ask if you are okay, especially if someone treats them badly. Always remember this: If someone is mean to you, there is something wrong with them, not with you. Normal people can see the good things and the beauty inside you, not just what you look like on the outside.

We learned this when we were children. We were taught that the people we belong with—our ‘mates’—are supposed to love and take care of us, no matter what. Even if you were sick, or couldn't see, or had a physical problem, they were supposed to treat you kindly, almost like a queen.

They should love you, look after you, and help you gently through good times and hard times. I truly believed that when I finally found my mate, he would love me for who I was. But when I turned twenty years old, I understood that finding a mate was not like a pretty story in a children's book. It was much, much harder.

"Lucia?" A loud voice suddenly cut through the air.

I thought, That’s not my name. I decided it was not my problem and kept walking. But then, in the very next second, someone grabbed me and spun me around roughly. A deep, angry sound—a growl—came from the person’s chest. The sound was strange: strong and maybe even beautiful, but also very scary.

I heard many low voices all around me. "Alpha Ace?" people whispered to each other.

Wait, I thought. Why do I feel a strange shiver down my back? And the man who just spun me around is an Alpha?

A voice in my mind, my wolf, cried out to me, “Sabrina! Don’t look up! You must not let him see that you are blind!”

But I could not listen. The most wonderful, strong smell of pine trees and rain hit my nose. It was the scent of a mate.

My heart jumped in my chest. “Mate,” my wolf whispered again, full of surprise and longing.

I knew this strong smell meant he was my mate. My Grandmother told me that you usually know for sure when you look into your mate’s eyes. But I was blind. I could not look into his eyes, and he would not know I was blind—at least not yet. Maybe he had looked into mine.

He put a strong hand under my chin, forcing my head up. But I quickly pulled my face down, refusing to show him my empty eyes.

"It is an order, not a question! Look at me!" he ordered in a hard voice.

I felt myself begin to shake.

"I said, look me in the eyes!" he yelled even louder. It was a command that made me shiver all over.

A woman’s voice came from the crowd around us, soft and sad. "She is blind, Alpha."

My legs felt suddenly weak, like water.

"Are you blind?" he asked me, but his voice was much quieter now. I kept my mouth shut. I could not speak.

"Don't make me say it again. Are you blind?" he shouted, his voice full of anger and disappointment.

My voice was very small, shaky, and I felt tears coming. "Yes," I said.

"A blind mate!" he screamed the words so loudly that everyone in the big crowd heard them easily.

He took a step back from me. The anger In his voice was very clear even though I couldn't see his face. The way he spoke, the low growl that came with his words—it told me everything I needed to know.

"The Moon Goddess must be playing a cruel trick on me," he shouted, waving his arms. "She gave me a blind mate, a useless and weak one! What good is a person who cannot see? They are good for nothing!"

His words were like sharp knives cutting my heart.

A woman nearby gasped. The silence from the others was almost worse than the noise.

"Alpha, please," I whispered, holding my hands together. "Please, stop. You don't know me."

"I know enough!" he yelled. "You would never be good enough to be the Luna of my pack! You would be a burden, a problem I don't need! It would be a complete waste of my time to have you as my mate!"

The pain was too much. My legs finally gave out, and I fell hard onto the dirt floor. I wished he would just stop talking. Every single word he spoke felt like a weapon aimed right at my heart, killing all my hopes.

He didn't stop. He came closer, and his strong smell, which was supposed to be comforting, now felt like poison.

He stood over me, looking down at my small, broken body on the ground.

"I, Alpha Ace Ray D. King, reject you, Sabrina, as my mate!"

The words felt like a physical punch. They were final. They were cold. The promise of a beautiful future was gone, broken into a million pieces.