Claiming the Rejected Luna

Aria's POV They say heartbreak comes slowly, that it creeps up on you, whispering doubts into your mind until the walls of love come crashing down. But mine didn’t come like that. No, mine hit me like a wrecking ball. One moment, I had everything—the future I’d dreamed of, the love of my life, the promise of forever. The next, it was all ripped away in a heartbeat. The training session had left me drained, my muscles aching in that satisfying way they did when I pushed myself too far. It was my escape, the one thing that made me feel like I belonged. The Alpha and Luna had taken me in when I was just a child, loved me as their own. But the pack? The pack never really accepted me. To them, I was always the outsider, the orphan girl without a real family. Except for Drake. Drake was my anchor in this storm. For the past four years, he had been my everything—my first love, my best friend, my safe harbor in a pack that never truly welcomed me. We had hoped—no, we had believed we would be fated mates. It was all I ever wanted. When I turned eighteen last month and felt that bond solidify, I thought we were going to get our happily ever after. But today, as I climbed the stairs to Drake's room, that sense of certainty began to crumble. There was something off—something that twisted in my gut like a warning I should’ve heeded. The door was slightly ajar, and I could hear voices. Laughter, light and mocking, sent a chill down my spine. I hesitated for a moment, my hand hovering over the door. I should have walked away. But I didn’t. I pushed open the door, and my world collapsed. Drake was in bed. His muscular, familiar form tangled up in the sheets with her. Zelda Cummings. Of course it was her. The smug smirk on her face as she looked up at me made my blood run cold. Her blonde hair fell in waves around her like a goddess descended to earth, and she knew it. She always knew it. Zelda was everything I wasn’t—powerful, adored by the pack, a force to be reckoned with. And now, she had him. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. It felt like someone had punched me in the gut, and I couldn’t catch my breath. Drake pulled away from her, sitting up in bed. His eyes met mine, and for a fleeting second, I thought I saw guilt there. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something much worse—indifference. “Aria,” he said softly, as if this was just another conversation, as if he hadn’t just ripped my heart out of my chest. He stood, moving towards me with a sigh, as though he was dealing with an inconvenience. “You weren’t supposed to see this.” My mind reeled. This couldn’t be happening. Not him, not us. “What—” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard, trying to keep the tremor out of my words. “What is this, Drake?” Zelda’s smirk deepened as she lazily draped the sheet over herself, her pale skin glowing against the dark fabric. “What does it look like, Russo?” she taunted, her voice like venom in my veins. “Drake and I are together now.” I couldn’t look at her. I couldn’t even comprehend what she was saying. My eyes were locked on Drake, begging him to deny it, to tell me this was some kind of mistake, that it wasn’t what it seemed. But he didn’t. Instead, his shoulders tensed, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Aria,” he began, his voice heavy with something I couldn’t quite place—regret, maybe? “I... I need someone stronger. You’ve always been... different, and I thought that was okay. But now that I’m Beta, I have responsibilities. I need a mate who reflects that strength, someone like Zelda.” I staggered back, his words slicing through me like shards of glass. “Someone like Zelda?” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper. My body shook as the weight of his rejection pressed down on me. “You’re leaving me... for her?” Zelda laughed, the sound grating against every nerve in my body. “It’s nothing personal, Russo,” she purred. “You’re just... not good enough.” Drake shifted uncomfortably, clearly not enjoying her cruelty, but he didn’t correct her either. Instead, he reached for my hand, but I flinched away from his touch. “I’m sorry, Aria. But it’s better this way. For both of us.” Better? How could this possibly be better? Everything I thought I knew about my life, about us, was crumbling around me. My breath came in short, ragged gasps as I tried to make sense of the words that followed. But then he said it—the words—the ones I would never forget, the ones that sealed my fate. “I, Drake Daniels, Beta of the Crimson Ridge Pack,” he said slowly, his voice firm, his eyes cold as steel, “reject you, Aria Russo, as my fated mate.” The bond snapped. I felt it, the severing of something deep and ancient, something I didn’t even realize had been so intricately woven into my soul until it was ripped away. The pain hit me like a tidal wave, crashing into me with such force that my knees buckled beneath me. I doubled over, clutching my chest, gasping for air as the bond that had once connected us dissolved into nothingness. It felt like dying. Like my heart was being ripped apart from the inside. I wanted to scream, to cry, to beg him to take it back, but the words wouldn’t come. All that remained was the agony—the unbearable, excruciating agony of losing something I didn’t even know I could lose. “Aria?” a voice called from behind me, deep and unfamiliar in this moment of torment. Damon. Damon, the Alpha’s son, stood in the doorway. His dark, stormy eyes widened in shock as he took in the scene. He’d always kept his distance from me—never cruel, never unkind, just... distant. Untouchable. But now, as his gaze flickered between me and Drake, I saw something else in those eyes. Something like disbelief. I couldn’t bear to look at him. Couldn’t stand to see the pity or confusion or whatever it was swirling in his gaze. I pushed past him, desperate to escape, desperate to outrun the pain that was threatening to consume me whole. As my shoulder brushed against his arm, I felt it—a soft, almost imperceptible vibration, like a current of energy sparking between us. I didn’t stop to think about it. I couldn’t. I ran. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps. My vision blurred with tears, but I didn’t care. I needed to get out of here, away from them—away from Drake, from Zelda, from the whole damn pack. My feet pounded against the ground, and the walls of the packhouse became a distant memory as I pushed through the door and into the open air. The cool evening breeze hit my face, but it did nothing to calm the storm raging inside me. I didn’t stop running, not even as I felt my bones begin to shift, my body aching for the release of my wolf. The pain of the rejection still throbbed in every inch of my being, but it was nothing compared to the agony of staying here—of staying human. I shifted mid-stride, the familiar snap and stretch of muscles and bones transforming me into my wolf. My russet fur gleamed under the fading light, and I ran faster, faster, until the trees became a blur around me. I couldn’t stay here, couldn’t face the pitying looks from the pack when they found out I had been rejected. I was nothing to them now. Just another broken wolf with a shattered bond. The pack border loomed ahead, but I didn’t slow down. I pushed harder, desperate to escape, desperate to find some kind of peace. But even as I crossed the border, leaving everything I had ever known behind, I couldn’t outrun the pain. I couldn’t outrun the feeling of betrayal, of loss, of failure. I couldn’t outrun the words that still echoed in my mind. “I, Drake Daniels, reject you, Aria Russo, as my fated mate.” No matter how far I ran, I knew I would never be free of them.