Claiming the Rejected Luna

Chapter 2:

Aria's POV

Running has always been my escape. When the world gets too loud, when the weight of rejection, pain, and betrayal becomes too much, I run. And tonight, I ran faster than I ever thought possible, my wolf form carrying me far from the pack, far from the stinging betrayal of Drake, far from Zelda's smug smirk. The pain was unbearable, not just emotional but physical—like claws tearing through my soul, shredding the bond that was supposed to last a lifetime.

As my paws pounded against the earth, my wolf, Selene, growled furiously in my mind. Her pain mirrored mine, but hers was laced with anger, with a vengeance that boiled beneath the surface.

“How could he?” I thought bitterly, pushing harder through the trees. Drake’s face flashed before me—his cold eyes, his indifferent words, and that brutal rejection that tore through my chest like a silver bullet.

“I, Drake Daniels, reject you, Aria Russo, as my fated mate.”

The words haunted me, repeating over and over in my mind, each repetition like another stab to my heart. Selene whimpered, sharing the same anguish, but there was a fire in her that hadn’t burned out. He made a mistake, she snarled. He’s a fool. We’re stronger than both of them!

She wasn’t wrong. I had always been one of the strongest females in the pack. In training, I pushed harder, fought fiercer, and never backed down. I proved myself every single day, and yet... none of that mattered to him. I wasn’t “strong” enough for Drake. I wasn’t “right” for him. He wanted someone like Zelda—someone cruel, calculating, and manipulative.

Anger surged through me, replacing the pain with a burning need to prove him wrong. To prove everyone wrong. We are stronger than they’ll ever know, Selene hissed. They don’t see it, but they will. They will.

I broke through the edge of the forest, the scent of saltwater filling my nostrils as I reached the place where the dense trees gave way to a breathtaking view. Before me stretched the crescent beach, secluded and perfect. Cliffs rose on either side like towering sentinels, guarding this secret place from the outside world. This had always been my sanctuary—where I came to clear my head, to breathe when life felt suffocating. But tonight, it didn’t feel like enough. Tonight, the weight on my chest was crushing, and no amount of salty air or crashing waves could take it away.

I padded slowly toward the cliffs, climbing to the small cave that overlooked the ocean. It was just big enough for my wolf to curl up in, and as I lay down, I felt the tears I had fought so hard to hold back finally break free. My body trembled as I let the sobs consume me, the rejection, the pain, the utter devastation of knowing I wasn’t enough—for him, for the pack, for anyone.

Selene? I reached out to her in the darkness, my voice a shaky whisper in my mind.

I’m here, she growled softly. I’ll always be here, Aria.

She was hurting too. The bond we had shared with Drake had been severed, and it wasn’t just my heart that had broken. It was ours. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how wrong Drake had been. I wasn’t weak. I had fought harder than anyone in the pack. I had proven my worth time and time again. I wasn’t the outsider they always made me feel like.

He was a fool to reject us, Selene said fiercely, her voice vibrating with raw anger. We are stronger than him. Stronger than all of them.

And I believed her. But even as the anger simmered inside me, the pain didn’t disappear. It still clawed at my insides, threatening to pull me under. I buried my head in my paws, wanting nothing more than to sleep, to forget, to let this all be a terrible dream.

That’s when I heard the footsteps.

At first, I thought I was imagining things—my mind playing tricks on me in the silence of the night. But then the scent hit me, that familiar, intoxicating scent that always made my stomach flip. I stiffened, my heart racing as the aroma of cedar and spice filled the air.

Damon.

My heart skipped a beat, and Selene’s growl turned to something else—something primal and excited. Mate!

Mate? I blinked in confusion. What?

I scrambled to my feet, shaking the sand from my fur as I stared out into the night. My wolf’s senses were heightened, and I could hear his footsteps approaching, slow and deliberate. And then he was there, standing just a few feet away from me, his dark eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Damon, the Alpha’s son, had always been distant. He wasn’t cruel like the others, but he never went out of his way to talk to me, to engage with me in any way. He watched from the sidelines, always detached, always in control. But now, as he stood before me, his expression was anything but detached.

He looked... confused.

“Aria,” he said, his voice rough, as though he hadn’t meant to speak my name out loud.

My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, her thoughts echoing the same word over and over again—mate. I couldn’t make sense of it. How could Damon be my mate? How could I have two fated bonds?

He stepped closer, and the tension between us was palpable. I could feel the sparks vibrating through the air, a magnetic pull that I had never felt before, not even with Drake. My heart raced, and for a moment, I couldn’t think, couldn’t process anything except the overwhelming urge to get closer to him.

“Shift back, Aria,” Damon said, his voice soft but firm.

I hesitated. I was still in my wolf form, and shifting back meant I’d have to face him as... me. I glanced down at myself, realizing with a jolt that I had no clothes. I shifted uncomfortably, and Selene snickered in the back of my mind. Tell him to turn around!

But before I could speak, Damon smirked, the corner of his lips twitching in that familiar, cocky way that drove everyone crazy. “Don’t worry, I’m not a complete animal,” he said, shrugging off his leather jacket and tossing it to me. “Take this.”

He turned halfway, giving me just enough privacy, but not enough to be completely respectful. Of course, Damon would toe that line. I rolled my eyes but took the jacket, shifting back quickly. As soon as I was in my human form again, I wrapped the oversized jacket around me, its warmth oddly comforting.

I stood there awkwardly, pulling the jacket tighter around myself as I wiped the tears from my puffy eyes. My hair was a mess, and I probably looked like a complete disaster, but Damon didn’t seem fazed.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, though my tone came out harsher than I intended. The confusion of everything was weighing on me, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Damon didn’t flinch. Instead, he grinned, that arrogant smirk never leaving his face. “Followed your scent,” he said casually, as though that was a perfectly normal thing to do. “You weren’t exactly subtle.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. “Why are you really here?”

He took a step closer, his intense gaze locking onto mine. “You can stop beating around the bush, Aria. I know you felt it too—the bond.”

My mouth went dry. The bond. Mate. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt the blush creep up my neck. How was this possible? How could I have another mate? Especially him?

Damon’s expression softened for a moment, his usual cocky demeanor slipping just a little. He reached out, brushing a strand of my messy hair away from my face. His touch was warm, gentle, and the sparks that danced across my skin sent shivers through me. I leaned into his hand without thinking, the pain from Drake’s rejection easing, if only for a moment.

“Damon...” I began, my voice barely a whisper. The confusion was overwhelming. How could this be happening?

His eyes darkened, and for the first time, I saw something in them I hadn’t noticed before—something tender, something real. He pulled me into his arms, holding me close as the wind whipped around us. His embrace was firm, but gentle, and Selene howled with excitement in the back of my mind.

Mate! she cried again, her joy uncontainable.

I didn’t know what to think. Didn’t know what to feel. Damon had never been this tender with anyone, let alone me. And yet, here he was, holding me, calming the storm that had raged inside me since Drake’s brutal rejection. For a moment, I let myself relax in his arms, savoring the warmth of his touch, the feel of his heartbeat against mine. But as much as I wanted to stay in that moment, the questions kept swirling in my mind.

“What’s wrong with me?” I asked, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes. “How can I have two fated mates?”

Damon sighed, his expression troubled as he cupped my face in his hands. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice low. “But we can’t tell anyone about this. Not yet.”

His words stung, hitting that tender place in my heart that had already been ripped apart by Drake. My chest tightened, and I tried to pull away from him, feeling that all-too-familiar rejection creeping in.

“Not yet, anyway,” Damon added quickly, a hint of frustration in his voice. “We don’t know what this means, Aria. We don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to it until we figure it out.”

I bit my lip, trying to fight the wave of emotions threatening to overtake me. Fine, I thought bitterly, turning on my heel and walking away. I didn’t want to go back to the packhouse. I didn’t want to face any of it.

But before I could take more than a few steps, Damon grabbed my arm and spun me around. “f**k it,” he muttered, his voice rough with urgency.

And then his lips crashed into mine.

It was like nothing I had ever experienced. The kiss was hard, desperate, filled with a passion that made my head spin. He wrapped his hand in my hair, pulling me closer as he deepened the kiss, his lips moving against mine with a hunger that sent fire coursing through my veins. I returned the kiss without hesitation, lost in the heat of it, the intensity of it.

But just as quickly as it started, Damon pulled away, his breath ragged. He pressed his forehead against mine, his fingers still tangled in my hair. “Drake just mindlinked me,” he said, his voice a mix of frustration and urgency. “They’ve caught a rogue. We need to get back.”

Reality slammed into me like a freight train, and I stepped back, my cheeks flushed, my mind racing. I nodded, trying to steady my breathing as I followed him back toward the packhouse.

“We keep this between us for now,” Damon reminded me, his voice low. “No one can know.”

I nodded again, but the words didn’t sit right with me. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this secret, or how long I could pretend that nothing had changed.

Because everything had.