Her Rejection's Revenge

CHAPTER EIGHT: REJECTION

Braxton and Beatrice were in this together. That had to be it! There was only one plausible explanation to my muddled brain. Why would they lie otherwise to dig a deeper grave for me? The irony of it was I had been on my guard against Anna Calhoun while she’d only been the red herring.

But Zel – you know how much Bee hates Brax, my wolf protested as shock filled her as well. Bee always had a bad thing to say about your boyfriend, she always agreed that he was the one for you.

No, no, no, I told her as tears spilled down my face. That had been lies, a façade that I had been unable to see through.

“I’m sorry, Zel,” Brax was saying with a husky voice, his acting right on point as everybody winced against his pain. We were all linked to his emotions now, and we could perceive his anguish. Except I knew it was all fake.

It had to be fake. How could he sleep with another girl and profess to love me in another breath? I’d known that something was not feeling right all way along. But I could not believe that I’d been blind for three whole years? How dumb did that make me?

While I glanced towards the hall full of people besotted by our Alpha, I felt somehow gratified to know that I was not the only fool around. Everybody else seemed to be buying his counterfeit, especially with the anguish he was diffusing using the Alpha bond. That bastard had found a way to breach the flesh and blood bond and was now letting the members believe how hard it was for him to leave me.

Somehow, I could read through the façade now. Every feigned emotion was clear to me, it was like he’d removed a veil from my eyes. I knew better now. There was nothing authentic about the guy – he was a fluke through and through.

My only regret was that I was the only one who could see through him in that instant. I was the only one who could figure out that this was a set-up orchestrated by him and my best friend.

As my courage left me, I took in a deep breath to reign in my frustration and anger – I was well trapped just as they’d wanted me to. Anything I would say in my defense right now would feel like I was trying to get out of the predicament, discrediting my version of truth. Even my parents stood against me, and I shrunk back thinking vindicating myself to those people were not worth it anyway.

Come on! Do your worst! I said in my head, bracing myself for the inevitable. A sense of numbness settled over me now as I accepted what was going on. My mind was no longer puzzled or confused. Their sick little game was clear to me.

No matter how I wished I could have been smarter to read through their motives, that didn’t change my predicament. I only had myself to blame as I had been too foolish and blind not to see what was coming my way. I probably deserved everything that would follow for being so dimwitted.

“I’m sorry too,” Bee interjected in a high-strung voice. “You know how much we care about you honey. But if we don’t stand up for what’s right now, we won’t ever be able to look at ourselves in the mirror again. This is hard for me too.”

Crocodile tears spilled down her cheeks as she expressed her regrets. The treacherous hypocrite. I felt the need to strangle her beautiful slender neck and feel the satisfaction of hearing the delicate bone cracked between my hands. But her fragility was a subterfuge – Beatrice Larson was strong and determined. I had done the mistake of underestimating her and would not deign repeat it.

However, I refused to give her satisfaction of going down with tears. Chin up, princess, I told myself forlornly. The crown will fall.

Her green eyes flashed with a luster that told me she understood the challenge, and the smile she returned was evil and remorseless. My wolf was too weak to connect with anyone, otherwise I would have given her a piece of my mind.

With the same dark feeling, I turned towards the man who’d made me believe that he was in love with me. The one who’d treated me as trash, made me feel not good enough for him all my life. At that moment, I felt hate towards them so potent that I trembled under the force.

The look I gave him was a loaded one which told him that I knew exactly what was going on. This was not the desperate Zelda Settlemire who was clinging desperately to the golden promise of being the Luna. This was someone who had nothing left to lose. He didn’t even bat an eye as he returned my reproachful look with a barely perceptible nod.

“Okay,” he turned towards his audience in a final voice, and I braced myself for the final blow. “Is there’s anyone who opposes to me rejecting Zelda, please raise your hand now. I know rejecting a mate is not something that we’re supposed to do, but given the circumstances, I think it’s a consensus that Zelda cannot be my Luna.”

I gulped down the tears against the unfairness and injustice. I never even wanted to be his Luna – I just wanted to be a Luna to help the people. The very ones who were betraying me right now. So, in the end, nothing was worth it.

Somebody raised a hand, and I didn’t even react accordingly. No k****e of hope lit my heart as I stared stoically at Mrs. Neville who was allowed to speak when Brax nodded briskly.

“Who is going to be the next Luna, then?” she asked in her persky voice.

Anybody’s else betrayal or real face was not important to me right now. I was still too raw from suffering the biggest blow from the two persons I’d trusted the most. I wished that Zendaya was here to support me.

“Is this really important?” Brax retorted in a properly annoyed voice. “I am already having difficulty in accepting that the one with whom I’d envisaged my future already. Now, you want me to move on so quickly?”

“She’s right,” Gamma Theodore replied. “How do we ensure that we don’t get punished by the Moon Goddess for disobeying her orders? Besides, the whole point of rejecting Zelda is to make sure that we have a worthy Luna to replace her.”

My jaw clenched as I withstood the pain on discovering that I was so easily interchangeable. Expendable.

Braxton’s shoulders dropped in defeat like he was going through the same anguish as I was. All fake! Anger rustled though me and I clenched my jaw even more tightly together until my teeth rattled.

“I don’t know. I believe it’s my duty to take a Luna today, and I am incapable of making a choice. Not after everything that happened. I spent three years of my life building a future with Zelda. How about you choose someone worthy?’

The rat! I noticed his subtle reference to his duty again. It was so pathetic of him to play the victim like this. Pathetic but cunning. He was making it seem like he wasn’t interested at all in who was going to be his next Luna, but I was sure of the contrary.

I could bet my whole life on the fact they were all going to be hoodwinked into choosing Beatrice, and absolutely believe that they were doing the right choice. It was frustrating how both of them had created such a precarious situation.

“How about Beatrice?” someone suggested, and there wasn’t any need for me to raise my head to know who’d spoken. Anna Calhoun. Bile of nausea rose in my throat, and I gagged to hold back the vomit.

I longed for this to be over, I craved for the sweet freedom which would come after I cleaned him out of my system. Cleaned them both. Now, with hindsight, I realized that they’d been destroying me little by little. Braxton had been controlling to make sure I follow the rules until he would execute his grand plan. Beatrice, on the other hand, made sure that I hated Braxton’s tyranny, but not enough to rebel.

Self-disgust filled me at the inability to see through it all. Look where that had landed me! With my hands tied as both executed their beheading with absolute perfection. But no amount of ruminations was helping me, so I had to flush the negative thoughts for my survival.

“Beatrice would make a wonderful Luna,” Mrs. Neville was quick to intervene. I wasn’t certain whether she was also involved in the conspiracy.

“It would be a great honor for Beatrice to be chosen as the Luna,” Bee’s mother Linda was quick to add. How convenient, I thought bitterly. That same woman had envied my future position as the Luna all her life but had insisted that Beatrice was friends with me only because of my future Luna status.

Opportunists everywhere. I could now read through each of their minds as easily as I was reading a book.

“I also think that Beatrice is the correct person to become the Luna,” Luna Lisa also affirmed. “She’s of warrior’s descent, and the fearless way she acted to save my husband right now was commendable. I also vote for punishing the rogue with life imprisonment. We cannot free him for we do not know with whom he dallies.”

“Mother,” Braxton said in a harsh voice, making his mother jump in surprise. “Mother,” he repeated in a much gentler tone. “We’ll deal with the rogue later. For now let’s figure out a way out of this mess. It seems to be the general consensus that Beatrice Larson would make a great Luna. But don’t let it be said that I rewrote the laws of our ancient as soon as I took the throne. Anyone in the room who opposes against Beatrice being the future Luna, please speak now or hold your tongue forever.”

Would my vote count? I wondered frantically. Would anything I say make a single difference. I was really not expecting anyone to raise an objection, so I was stunned when everybody turned to face the only person who’d dared question the Alpha’s authority.

Brandon – Brax’s younger brother.

“I find this all too…convenient,” he finally apprised after looking for the appropriate word. “Discrediting Zelda for one mere incident while she’d done her best to serve the community all these years. She’s always finding ways to help people out, I mean you all know how much she’d contributed for the betterment of our living?”

“I agree with you Bran,” Braxton hastened to speak before anyone could. “Zelda has been an exemplary pack member, and this is not the question of her. Hell, it’s not even a question of what I want. Don’t you think I would want to stay with the woman I’ve loved for three years and give up on the position?”

There was actual remorse reflected in his stance, and if I felt it so surely, the others would too. There was no beating him.

“Then why are you humiliating her for a lack of reflex and reaction? Why are you making the woman you love suffer like this?”

The incredulous questions were definitely not an echo of the pain I was enduring, but at least someone was voicing them out. Someone had taken the courage to stand against the injustice being inflicted on me.

There was a deep silence before Alpha Braxton spoke the words everyone had been dying to hear from their leader. “Because of my duty as the new Alpha. I am prepared to sacrifice my happiness to do what’s best for everyone. Allow me to step into my duty as your Alpha by doing the right thing.”

There was nothing more anyone could say to that. They all bent their heads in submissive agreement, and I braced myself for it. When he turned towards me, I could feel a blast of cold air around my heart as our eyes locked.

As his jaw ticked, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation when he spoke the words. “I, Braxton Cooper, Alpha of the Ocean Howl Pack reject you Zelda Settlemire as my mate and partner.” He turned teary eyes towards Beatrice who stood beside him and nodded briskly. “I pronounce an elevation in the status of Beatrice Larson to be my Luna. I will make Beatrice mine on the next moonlight.”