"That’s not possible. She can’t be my mate."

I jolted at the sound of his voice.

No.

I would have known it was him even without seeing his face, even before he stepped into the center of the hall if I had heard his voice earlier. His voice, loud and brimming with fury was unmistakable.

And now here he was, standing beneath the second beam of silver blue light, the glow marking him as my fated mate.

Beta Jayson.

I hadn’t seen him clearly when the light first found him. His figure had stayed cloaked in shadow across the room, and my focus had been so consumed with hoping for the stir of my wolf, the shift of something inside me. I hadn’t dared to look too closely.

But the sound of his voice removed all doubt.

My father’s Beta. His most trusted second-in-command.

And my mate.

I closed my eyes, desperate to feel something, anything, the warmth of the bond, the whisper of my wolf, a spark of strength, but all I found was emptiness.

When I opened my eyes, he was staring back at me now, fully visible in the pale light, and his face was twisted in open disgust. His lip curled as he glared at me like I was filth.

"I, Beta Jayson of the Blood Moon Pack, reject you, Rose Van Buren, as my mate."

The words fell into the silence like stones into still water, and the hall rippled with gasps and horrified murmurs.

I stood motionless, the weight of his words sinking in. I didn’t even feel pain from the rejection, though everyone said it was supposed to hurt. That only made me colder inside.

The Alpha’s plague. That’s what they called me. Maybe they’d been right all along.

My father stood from his seat, his face dark with grief and rage as he stepped toward me.

"Rose," he said, his voice steady but tight. "The pack is waiting. Will you accept his rejection?"

What was the point in clinging to someone who hated me? What was the point of a bond that had awakened nothing in me?

When I finally spoke, my voice was calm, though maybe my heart was breaking.

"I, Rose Van Buren, Alpha’s daughter of the Blood Moon Pack, hereby accept the rejection of the mate bond from Beta Jayson. From this moment on, we are no longer mates."

Still nothing. No pain. No spark. No wolf.

The crowd erupted into whispers and shouts, but before I could register what they were saying, the atmosphere was no longer the same.

Screams. Blood. Bodies dropping to the floor.

"Rose, run!" my father bellowed over the chaos. "Save yourself!"

I spun toward him in shock as he shifted into his wolf form and hurled himself at the invaders tearing through the hall.

For a moment, I stood frozen, my chest tight with disbelief.

Was this my fault? Did my curse doom them all?

A scream snapped me back to myself, my mother’s voice, and I whipped around just in time to see the man my father was fighting raise a bow and loose a silver tipped arrow.

It hit my father squarely in the chest, and he crumpled to the floor, shifting back to his human form.

I dropped to my knees beside him, sobbing as I pressed my hands to his wound.

"No, no, don’t leave me. Please!"

His glassy eyes fluttered open, and in a hoarse whisper he said, "Save yourself, Rose. Run… from him."

Then he was gone.

I was still clutching his body when I noticed the faint gleam of silver lodged in his chest, the acrid scent of wolfsbane mingling with his blood.

Rage and grief crashed over me.

Where was Jayson, just few moments after the public rejection? Where were the warriors and guards? How could this happen to him, the Alpha of the largest pack?

I staggered to my feet, ready to obey his final command and flee.

But just as I reached the entrance, an iron grip closed around my waist.

I gasped, thrashing, trying to wrench free as pain bloomed along my ribs.

"Let me go!" I screamed, but the hold only tightened.