Rejected, Rebirth, and Second Chance

The Wedding Night

|ADELINE’S POV|

Today was the happiest I’ve ever been. Waking up in bed with Damien, and us splitting up to get ready to become one, was one of the best moments. The reception was in full swing and Damien had me on his arm like a trophy. This man loved me.

Even though most of the pack members have told him they didn’t want a human for a Luna, Damien and his father defended me. Saying I would be the best Luna for the job. They believed so much in me, and my only luck was that I won’t be Luna until Damien’s father passed the handle over.

Yevgeny is yet to do that for some reason, but this is not what I should be thinking about. I got married today. Married. Damien’s vows reminded me over and over why I love him. I thought I was betraying my family at first by trusting werewolves but... if they could meet the Slovaks they would be in awe of how nice they are.

And the Rowdy Vipers Pack is full of life, kind people, and talented. I love it here. I don’t have any other home but this.

Damien had disappeared during my dance with his father, and now that the dance was over I needed to find him so we could hold each other. And you know... I don’t need a reason to find my husband. I glanced a the ring, when he put this on me, he cried. He said he couldn’t believe he was marrying the love of his life.

My heart could barely stay in my chest. That man means the world to me. I don’t know what he saw in ten year old me, but I’m so grateful.

I stopped by one of Damien’s cousins. She smiled at me.

“The prettiest bride.” She complimented, but she sounded drunk.

“Thank you, Mabel. I was wondering if you’d seen Damien.”

She shook her head. “I’ve been drinking and flirting with the bartender, I haven’t seen my cousz. Maybe check outside. The garden is pretty tonight, he might be waiting for you.” she winked at me suggestively and I chuckled. I thanked her before making my way out of the ballroom where the reception was taking place.

I walked around the building, and excitement placed bubbles in my stomach. I heard his voice as I approached the garden, he actually was there. Yes! There he is. Is he talking to someone?

I reached down, a smile on my face, taking my shoes off so I wouldn’t alert him. The garden was pretty, and there was a canopy built in the middle where you could drink tea and watch the fish in the pond. Yevgeny made it for me as a birthday gift.

I paused by one of the tall bushes next to the canopy. I knelt and waited for the right time to pop out when I saw the person he was talking to. It’s a girl I’ve never seen since my time in this pack. Although I’m not surprised. The pack isn’t small.

She had long black hair, and she was standing too close to Damien. “Congratulations, you’re a married man.” Her tone was full of sarcastic humor.

Damien smirked, and my heart pumped once. The effect of his stunning smile.

“You know how it is. Adeline is a good friend.”

My breath stuttered in my throat. A good friend? Why would he say that?

“And an even better bait. I never thought I’d meet you, Ava. Just last year, I thought I would be marrying a girl I wasn’t mated to but then you came along and saved me. f**k, I love you. And after tonight, we can be together.”

I blinked, confusion washed over me. He just married me, what is going on? I looked closely at Ava, now that I think about it, she reminded me of someone. But my heart was too busy breaking to figure out who.

“I want to say it back, I do but I saw the way you looked at her. I heard the vows, you sounded like you meant it.” she started sniffling, and Damien pulled her into his arms. Pressing her head to his shoulder.

“I am sorry you felt that, my love. Adeline isn’t stupid, if for a second I act off she’ll notice.”

“She’s not that smart. You’ve been with me for a year and she hasn‘t picked up on that. I hate her so much, I want you to myself. When do we kill her?”

Kill? Did she just say kill?

As the words reached my ears, a chilling shiver ran down my spine, instantly arresting the rhythm of my heartbeat. The air in the room grew heavy, suffocating me as I struggled to process the unthinkable revelation. Time seemed to slow, and every sound around me faded into a muted background noise, leaving only the echo of those sinister words resonating in my mind.

A tsunami of emotions surged within me, starting with disbelief. Could the man I had shared my life with, my confidant and partner, truly be harboring such malevolent intentions? It felt like a nightmare, an absurd notion that refused to align with the reality I thought I knew.

Fear clawed at the edges of my consciousness, its icy fingers tightening their grip on my chest. Panic set in, rendering my thoughts erratic and fragmented. My mind raced, desperately searching for a way to make sense of this unimaginable betrayal. The sanctuary of trust we had built crumbled, leaving behind a desolate landscape of doubt and dread.

Anguish followed a profound sorrow that welled up from the depths of my being. The person I loved, the one with whom I had woven dreams and shared laughter, had become an unfamiliar entity capable of unthinkable cruelty. The foundations of my world cracked beneath the weight of this revelation, and a sense of profound loss engulfed me.

Yet, amid the tumult of emotions, a spark of determination flickered to life. As the gravity of the situation settled in, a surge of survival instincts kicked in. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, sharpening my senses and igniting a resolve to protect myself against the impending threat. The woman who had once known only love and security was now thrust into a grim reality, her every instinct urging her to navigate the treacherous path ahead.

In that moment, I grappled with the complex symphony of emotions—betrayal, fear, sorrow, and determination—woven into the fabric of my being. The world I thought I knew had shattered, and as I stood on the precipice of an uncertain future, the only certainty that remained was the need to confront the chilling truth that had unfolded before me.

“We can’t kill her until my father dies of the poison. So we can pin it on her.”

“She finally has use. I miss you. I miss knowing I’m yours, I want the rest of the pack to know. Not that b***h. She’s human, she’s not right for you.”

I felt like she was gutting me as her words started to make sense. If he killed his father and pinned it on me, he would become alpha and everyone who said a human shouldn’t be here would be right. They’d slander me. I have to leave.

I moved backward, and tried to sneak back to the reception so I could find Yevgeny when I heard-

“Adeline!” the girl, Ava, said. Pointing me out. I turned around to see her pointing at me, and Damien snapped his attention to me.

“Adeline, what are you-” he released Ava immediately and she snarled at me.

“I-” flashbacks of the moment when my brother told me to run hit me like a bucket of cold water, so I did just that. I turned on the balls of my feet and sprinted. That determination filled the fuel that forced my feet to go faster. I didn’t go into the building, I ducked out for the nearby forest. I tried not to think as I cried.

I felt like I was eight again, running from a werewolf trying to kill me. Only this hurt more. He wanted to kill me. Was that why he picked me from the streets? A small girl, orphaned, no one would miss her. I was an easy target. Easy to frame. His pack accepted me, but they would take his word over mine.

Something heavy slammed into me, my mind was flipping between now and when I was younger. I felt like throwing up. All the fear, all the nightmares. Everything I thought I had moved on from was coming back to me.

I felt claws slashing against my back and I screamed. The memory of my mother's screams made me deaf. My heartbeat was faster. I couldn’t understand. Am I eight or twenty-two? What’s wrong? I tried to shove her off, but she only landed more slashes. Like she hated me. She must because I don’t know what I ever did to her.

Suddenly she was yanked off me, and I was dizzy from the pain.

“Let her go, Ava.”

A growl was the response he got, then she shifted back. I could hear it. I couldn’t see it with my face planted in the ground.

“Why? Your father already has the poison in his system, he’ll die before the morning. Why can’t I kill the mate-hugging b***h?” she hissed at me, and her footsteps came closer until she was kicking me in the gut.

I coughed up blood, and my tears burned my skin. I blinked harder, I just couldn’t process it past the pain.

The pain I felt on the inside hurt worse. I trusted the enemy, and now I’m paying for it. It hurts.

“Stop crying. I should be the one crying since you’ve been kissing and parading around with my mate. What a w***e? I hate you!"

"I said LET HER GO!" Damien's voice shook the forest.

"Why are you stopping me? Why are you defending her, Damien? Do you really love her? Will you choose a human over me?”

“Of course not. I love you but we have a plan.”

“Kill her now or I will?”

“f**k you both.” I bit out, those words came out of nowhere. I was angry, hurt, betrayed, and treated like a f*****g punching bag. What did I ever do to deserve this? I never got why that pack attacked my hometown, and now I don’t understand why these two selected me as if my life wasn’t bad enough. A year of cheating on me? I didn’t ask him to make me his girlfriend, I was better off eating out of restaurant dumpsters and being homeless than this.

Ava let out a shout as she pounced on me.

“You ungrateful, w***e!.” she punched me, over and over until once more Damien pulled her off me. “Why do you keep stopping me?”

“Go back to the wedding.”

“What?”

“Plant the seed. Tell the story we prepared. Go now!”

I spat out blood, my eyes were bloodied and my ears were ringing. The pain was numbing everything, I could practically see death.

I heard someone running away and then somebody straddled my waist. Two strong fists wrapped around my neck and my eyes forced themselves open. Looking into the eyes of someone who I thought loved me.

“I’m sorry this happened. I was going to make this painless, you know. For all the times we had together. I did love you, but Ava pointed out that my father doesn’t trust me to run his pack. He thinks I’m not strong-minded or hardworking enough. It’s you or my mate. I can’t pick you. You’re a lonely girl. No one would miss you. Ever. I’m not sorry for this plan, but I am sorry you had to die this way.”

I smacked his hands and tried to get him off me. But he continued to smile, and tell me he loved me. There was so much pain, I was grateful when the darkness came. Because it was over. All the hurt.... it was over.