Samantha

I didn't have a wolf.

Or so everyone thought.

I had shifted on the night I had turned sixteen. I could remember the pain as my bones broke for the first time. Flesh giving way for muscles and fur, my jaw elongating to give space for more canines, my cries as my claws came for the first time.

She had been silver.

And way too big to be normal.

But that was all I could remember from that night because hours later, I had woken up naked, a few yards away from my family's home.

That was the first and last time I had ever shifted. And the only people that knew about it were my parents.

But the pain from that night was nothing compared to the one racking through my body as a result of Logan's rejection.

I lay on my bed as my mum hovered over me, unsure of what to do.

"Is this how it hurts? It's too much to bear." I whispered as tears glided freely down the side of my face to the pillow.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through this." Mum said, coming to rub a hand over my head.

I shut my eyes tightly. "I would like to be alone." It was low, but it was loud enough for her to hear.

She let out a heavy sigh, knowing it was going to be useless to argue. "Okay if you ne-"

I felt her grow completely still, and through my pain, turned to see her eyes glazed over.

"Is everything okay?" I frowned as yet another painful shudder coursed through me.

Mum inhaled, a pitiful look crossing her face. "It's the Alpha. He has ordered every ranking family to be at the mating ceremony."

In other words, I still had to attend, even if he had rejected me.

My heart instantly sank.

~

"Good evening everyone..." Elder Jonah started, his voice loud enough to make the whole hall grow quiet.

My heart began to thump.

If I had had a choice, I wouldn't have come.

I leaned heavily on Olivia, my best friend, ignoring the curious stares as we made our way over to our seats.

Thankfully, it wasn't anywhere close to my family. One more tearful look from mum, and I would be collapsing in my own tears.

I felt an intense stare on me and glanced briefly in Logan's direction to see him watching me.

I breath hitched, and I quickly looked away.

Why was he looking at me?

He had rejected me and let Gracie humiliate me. What did he want now? To see me break?

"...and now, we would have the Alpha address us and then ceremony should begin properly."

Try as I might, I couldn't ignore him.

Especially when he began to speak.

It felt like his voice settled over my skin and wrapped around me like velvet.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying my best to control what was left of the bond, but all that did was intensify it.

I had thought been rejected severed every part of the bond.

Apparently it did not.

"..tonight I pick my mate, Gracie." He finally said and I pried my eyes open to see Gracie immediately jump to go meet him.

He had picked her...

He had picked Gracie...

Everything in me began to shake. I trembled violently in my seat, unable to control it.

"I Alpha Logan, chose Gracie as my mate, and future Luna of Bellmoon pack." Logan said and pulled her hair away from her neck so it was bared to all our eyes.

Pain from nowhere, clawed at my heart as I watched helplessly as he sank his teeth into her neck, marking her as his.

I hadn't even realized I was crying until something wet dropped onto my arm. It felt like someone was piercing me with jagged broken glass over and over again.

"Sam..." Olivia called slowly from beside me.

My chest caved in, but I swallowed the scream that threatened to come out as I felt whatever was left of the bond sever right there and there.

I buried my face in my thighs and distinctly felt Olivia wrap a soothing hand around me in an attempt to comfort me.

I hated him. Or at least I wanted to..

From my position, I could hear the girls murmur about me.

Try as I might, I couldn't ignore them all.

"What a shameless girl, thinking the alpha would want to be mated to her."

"I can see exactly why he wouldn't!"

"She doesn't have a wolf! Definitely not fit to be Luna!"

"I don't blame him for choosing Gracie."

"After all the charade..."

I squeezed my fist shut.

No one knew about the cheating scandal.

If they knew, I would have had it way worse with the comments and stares.

Was I supposed to thank him for that?

To everyone else, he had chosen another woman over me. A more suitable woman, not a wolfless one. They knew nothing about the rejection, nothing about the video..nothing.

At this point he should have just released the footage to the public. I didn't care anymore.

"Don't listen to them." Olivia sounded just as angry as I was.

I stayed put in my seat, unable to move as the rest of the ceremony went by and people started to leave.

I felt weak all over and wanted nothing more than to leave.

I had almost gotten to the main entrance when Gracie stopped me.

Shouldn't she be with her mate?

"And where do you think you are going?" She glowered, her neck still exposed, showing the fresh bite from where Logan had marked her.

His scent was all over her now.

I wanted to throw up.

I looked away. "Shouldn't you be with your new mate?" I asked weakly, stifling the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Oh, I wanted to say hi to an old friend of mine." Her eyes ran over me, a smirk playing on her lips. "How does it feel to have your mate snatched right from under your nose, Samantha? I bet you felt every strand of that bond severing through you, huh?"

I wanted to reply her, but decided against it.

Maybe if I kept mute, she would leave?

"You can't hide it, Sam. Maybe if you give in, it would kill you and save you from the fate you are about to face."

I was starting to feel my whole body go numb as the pain, instead of subsiding, increased.

Something was wrong. This was beyond anything I knew or had read about.

"Just let me go, please." I begged, leaning on Olivia.

"Get out of our way." Olivia's voice was calm.

Gracie was Luna now, so we had to be careful how we addressed her.

She didn't budge.

"Well, Logan asked me to get anything as a gift, and I told him I wanted you as a maid, and he agreed to it, so you have exactly one hour to go home, pack your bags, and report to the pack house to resume as my personal maid." she took a step forward. "You may have escaped being banished, Samantha, but you can't escape the humiliation i'm going to put you through."

What?

"You _"

"You what?" She taunted Olivia. "Say it and you will be joining her."

Just then a male figure stalked towards us. I watched as he wrapped his arm around his new mate.

That one gesture sent another agonizing shudder through me.

My lips parted in an attempt to let out air.

"What is going on here?" Logan asked, his expression cold, and his eyes trained on me.

"I was just asking Samantha to go prepare her bags so she could resume her job in the pack house." Gracie quipped, wrapping her arm around him.

I expected him to say it was a lie or at least a joke, but he raised his head. "Do as she says, Samantha. She is your Luna!"

How could he be so cruel?

Had he not felt the mating bond at least.

But then again, to him, I was a cheat, a liar.

"And I was your mate!" I didn't know where those words had come from, but they spewed out of my mouth.

Logan seemed to get angry. "I don't care!" He snapped. "You will go home, pack you things, and do as she says."

Just then, door to the meeting room burst open, shocking everyone, including me.

I felt it before I even saw who it was.

The presence.

The aura.

It was strong.

Familiar yet strange.

I turned my head slowly and in a daze and reeled back in shock when I saw who it was.

The only difference between the man standing next to me, and the man who was walking in, was that the one walking in, had full rich chestnut hair that hung from his head in waves.

But their height, the build.

It was all the same.

"Actually, that won't be necessary, Logan. Because I have another offer for you." The rich baritone made my ears tingle, even if it was jarringly similar to Logan's.

I quickly bowed in fear, even if my whole body immediately screamed in pain from the abrupt movement.

After all, it's not everyday that your mate's rival, who happens to be the Alpha King of the region, walked in, seconds away from your biggest humiliation.

My breath hitched in my throat when he stopped just a couple feet away from me.

His scent hit me, causing my body do respond weirdly.

"A_Alpha Gabriel." Elder Jonah was the first to speak, sounding nervous. I hadn't even realised he was near.

Logan was between us in a flash, blocking whatever little view I had of his brother.

"You have no right to interfere." Logan hissed.

"I don't think that is a very good way to say hello to your twin brother whom you have not seen in a long time." Gabriel's voice was smooth as silk. "Besides, I have every right to interfere in whatever is going on in my pack."

I could literally feel both their auras from where I stood.

I could feel Logan getting angrier. "I am alpha."

"I am Alpha King, so that makes me Alpha over you."

The silence that followed was so tense you could feel it sizzle.

My heart raced in my chest.

What was going on?

"Not over what I do with my mate!"

Gabriel closed the gap between them. "Well she is not yours anymore as starting from this moment, Samantha Greyfield is now my breeder."