Rosa's POV

I couldn’t breathe.

The world seemed to tilt before my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. How could he be my mate? I was a lowly Omega, nothing like the strong Lunas that Alphas like him usually chose.

But the scent didn’t lie. He was mine.

And I... was his.

Alpha Damon’s sharp eyes locked onto mine. It was hard to tell from his stony expression, whether he had experienced the same pull I felt. I stood frozen, my heart thundering like a war drum in my chest. My mind was struggling to make sense of it all. He was my mate. My mate.

Every fiber of my being screamed at me to run to him, to let him pull me into his arms, to let him complete me in a way I had dreamed of my whole life.

But his gaze... something wasn’t right.

The excitement in my chest slowly twisted into something else. Fear.

Damon took a step forward, his tall figure spilling a long shadow over the table. The hall fell silent, the chatter of the feast dying away as all eyes turned toward him. I sat at the edge of the table, unable to move, unable to speak, as Damon’s scent—the scent I had longed to follow—suddenly filled me with dread.

He was coming toward me.

My father glanced between us with curiosity in his eyes, but he said nothing. No one said anything.

Damon stopped a few feet away from me. His eyes roamed over my form, taking in my simple dress, my trembling hands. I felt exposed, like I was nothing. And then, with a voice cold and emotionless, he spoke.

“You? You are my mate?”

I blinked, my breath hitching in my throat. “Y-Yes,” I stammered. "Yes, Alpha Damon. I am your mate."

The corners of his mouth twitched, and for a brief moment, I thought he might laugh. But instead, his expression became stony again.

"You cannot be my mate. It is impossible. An Omega cannot be mated to an Alpha!"

I stiffened and angled my face to look at his. There was nothing but malice in his eyes. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, but I could tell that he was fisting them in fury.

And the next words that left his mouth shattered my world.

"I don't want this." He growled. “I reject you, Omega.”

The silence that followed was deafening. I stood there, rooted to the spot, still trying to comprehend what he had just said to me.

Rejected. He was rejecting me. In front of everyone. On the Feast of the Moon. On my birthday!

A murmur spread through the hall, pack members whispering, their gazes heavy with pity, disgust, amusement. I could barely hear them over the ringing in my ears, over the sound of my heart breaking.

But that wasn’t the worst part. Damon wasn’t done.

He turned toward the head of the table, where my sister, Ava, sat. A slow smile spread across her face as she rose gracefully from her seat, her sapphire gown shimmering in the candlelight.

"As you all very well know," Alpha Damon continued. “I haven't relented in my search for a perfevt Luna. And it is because of this that I choose Ava Beaumont as my mate and the Luna of the Moonstone Pack.”

I gasped again, clutching the edge of the table to steady myself. This couldn't be happening. No, no...

But it was happening, whether I wanted it or not. I trembled in despair as my sister strode toward Damon, her movements regal, confident, perfect. She slipped her arm through his, her chin tilted up in triumph as she looked down at me.

Had she planned this all along?

I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t stand here and watch them. Without thinking, I stood, turned and ran.

I barely registered the shocked gasps from the pack members as I fled from the hall, tears blurring my line of sight. My feet slammed against the cold stone floors as I pushed through the doors and into the night.

The cool air hit my face, but it did nothing to soothe the fire burning inside me. The pain, the humiliation, the rejection—it was too much. It was just too much.

I stumbled blindly through the courtyard, my tears falling fast and hard. My mate, the one person who was supposed to love me, to accept me, had rejected me in front of everyone. And not only that—he had chosen my sister.

Ava. It had always been Ava.

I stopped when I reached the balcony of the pack house, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. I felt like I was suffocating, like the size of my pain was crushing me. I fell to my knees, my sobs breaking the stillness of the night.

“Rosa.”

Her voice. Of course, she followed me.

I didn’t bother looking up as Ava’s footsteps approached. I wiped furiously at my eyes, but the tears wouldn’t stop. I hated her. I hated her so much.

She knelt beside me, her voice dripping with false concern. “Oh, Rosa,” she cooed. “I really do feel sorry for you.”

I gripped my dress, trying to control the rage bubbling inside me.

“You should have known, sister,” she continued, her voice growing colder, more condescending. “No respectable man would ever choose a weak Omega like you. It’s a good thing Damon rejected you, because now you can know your place."

Her words stung, but I refused to let her see how much they hurt. I bit my lip, trying to keep the sobs from escaping.

Ava laughed and placed a hand on my trembling shoulder. “Oh, come on, Rosa. Did you really think a man like Damon would ever accept you? You’re nothing. You’ve always been nothing. That’s why no one in the pack respects you. That’s why even Father ignores you.”

I flinched. Everything she said was true, but it was still like a slap in my face.

“But me?” she purred, rising to her feet. “I’ve always been destined for greatness. And now, I’m going to be the Luna of the most powerful pack in the region. I’m going to have everything.”

She leaned down again, keeping her face mere inches from mine. “And you? You’ll have nothing. You’ll always have nothing. Goodbye, sister.”