Rejecting my Alpha

Chapter 2: First day

The sunlight peeked through the curtains burning my eyes through closed lids, not the best way to wake up. I didn't remember when or how I fell asleep yesterday, but by the pain my eyes were in, I must have cried myself to sleep. My new life hadn’t started exactly as expected and my so-called mate didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence at all. Our bond might not have affected him, but the desire burning inside me was enough to tell me he couldn’t be completely unaffected either.

It took me a few minutes before I could finally open my crusty eyes and stare up to the ceiling.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself. I shook my head before I got out of bed. My late father wouldn’t agree with me sinking into this despair. I was never that kind of person. I wondered if my mate had a reason for giving me the cold shoulder straight away, maybe there was some sort of reason I didn’t know about.

I got out of bed and went to take a shower. Staring into the mirror, looking at my swollen eyes, made me realize that this wasn’t me.

I was strong. I was a strong beta as was my father and now I was a  Luna. Luna of the Dark Moon pack. I would not back down because of him. No way.

I looked into the mirror with a new resolution, to make sure I would leave an impression, but I had to get rid of those bags under my eyes first. The soothing eye cream I had was always in vain, but this time I took out my cosmetic bag and applied some, leaving it to work for some time while I fixed my hair. Once I finally tamed my hair and gave it a satisfying shape, my eye bags were almost gone and I looked fresh and rested.

I took out my matte lipstick, put on some mascara and then went to my wardrobe. They had already unpacked the few clothes I brought with me, but the rest was all new, which had most likely been prepared for me before I arrived. I took out my vintage pink crop top, which was one of my favorites, put it on over my sporty bra and then put on my high waist black skinny leggings and sneakers.

“That should do. What do you think?” I asked out loud. Leia always saw everything through my eyes, so I knew she could see the image in the mirror.

‘Perfect. Let’s go kick some asses,’ she encouraged me and her comment lifted corners of my lips. I nodded in agreement before I left my room. Our first stop was the kitchen since I needed something light to fill my stomach and at least a sip of coffee. It was already eight thirty, which was half an hour after I usually started my training.

After my father died, I trained every day to be sure I could protect my pack and no matter where I was, I planned to keep it up.

“Good morning,” I greeted everyone in the kitchen. The looks some of them gave me were confusing. I guessed that they did not inform everyone of my arrival. Luckily for me, Emmett was in the kitchen as well.

“Good morning Luna,” he greeted and everyone’s eyes instantly shot down to the ground instead of looking at me. I didn’t know what that was about but they all suddenly avoided looking at me.

“Luna, this is Mariam. She handles the kitchen. Every morning you can ask her for a specific breakfast or you can tell her your request the day before and she will arrange any food you might want,” he pointed to a woman who had been staring at me just a moment ago, but now acted submissively. I didn’t hesitate and took a few more steps to close the distance between us.

“Good morning Mariam,” I told her, offering my hand. She looked at Emmett, then back to my hand, not really sure what she should do. I found this behavior strange, but for now I didn’t question it. Emmett must have approved or something because she took my hand, shaking it gently, but still keeping her eyes on the ground.

“Good morning Luna,” she whispered.

“It would be nice if you could look at me, Mariam. I like to look someone straight in the eyes when I am talking to them,” I tried to keep my voice steady and firm. I didn’t know what rules they had in this pack and totally didn’t plan to make any huge mistakes, but this kind of behavior was not acceptable to me. It made me feel pretty uncomfortable.

She hesitated a bit, but in the end lifted her head. I put on a friendly smile to show her I would not bite her. She looked nice, but I could see deep fear, confusion and hesitation in her eyes. I guessed that Adrian intimidated everyone in the pack. Even Emmett had seemed to be full of fear when Adrian shouted at him the day before.

“You came for breakfast?” Emmett asked and I nodded. Mariam almost instantly let go of my hand and went to the counter to prepare my food. I noticed she was going to make a full meal, which scared me a little.

“I will have some oatmeal with nuts if you have. I am heading for training.” I went to her and stopped her hands from moving. She seemed to be confused again, but in the end, she took out the oats. Someone had already soaked them in water for some time, which meant I wasn’t the only one eating them. That was the first good sign since I arrived there. Emmett came to me and handed me a cup of coffee. I sipped some so I could put in a bit of milk since he had filled the cup completely.

“I don’t drink black coffee,” I told him.

“I will remember that,” he replied.

“Can you give me an orientation tour after breakfast?” I asked him and seeing him nod at my request made me happy. The orientation I was asking for was just a tour of the training grounds and the surrounding places, so I would know where to go and what to do.

“So, you are a fighter?” he asked as we were sitting, and I was waiting for my breakfast. It didn’t take long before Mariam placed a bowl with freshly made oatmeal and nuts in front of me. At least something was going to stay the same as it was back in my maiden home.

“You bet,” I replied to Emmett’s previous question while taking a spoonful of my oatmeal. To my surprise, it tasted amazing. It was sweet but not too sweet and Mariam had used the perfect amount of milk to cook it without making it hard or heavy, which sometimes happened to me, when I added too little milk.

“Mhmm, interesting,” Emmett commented. I noticed some other people were secretly looking at me and probably trying to figure out more about me, but Emmett ignored them, so did I. They were all keeping their distance, and I heard them whispering behind me, but when I wanted to turn around and speak to them, Emmett stopped me. I still didn’t understand what was going on in this pack, but it was definitely strange.

Once I finished my breakfast, I encouraged Emmett to take me to the training group. He took the long way around to show me the pack so I could move around. Most of the people we met on the way moved aside and looked down at the ground just like the people in the kitchen. The moment my eyes landed on them, they avoided my gaze.

“What’s wrong with everyone?” I asked Emmett. He stayed silent as we walked, but in the end, he took a deep breath before he talked.

“Only a few people don’t know about what happened yesterday when you arrived so now since they already know who you are, they are avoiding any eye contact just in case the Alpha saw them,” he explained, but it made little sense. He wasn’t interested in me in the first place, so why was he acting this stupid way?

“You mean him choking you?” I asked, and Emmett nodded. I especially avoided calling him Alpha or by his name.

“That’s so ridiculous. He is not even interested in me but because of his stupid jealousy and possessiveness, everyone is going to avoid me.” I was furious at him right now. I didn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

“That’s not true Luna. He is just not used to having someone around him this way. Give him time please,” Emmett pleaded for him. Deep in my heart, I wanted to believe that, but at the same time I was so afraid to do so. He didn’t give me any reason to actually believe that he might be someone good.

od.