The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 144

(Leo)

Do you ever feel something bad is coming before it arrives? A pressure in your chest, like a storm forming behind clear skies?

That’s what I felt the moment Nathan failed to do our usual greeting.

It was small—no one else noticed. Just a handshake, a rhythm we’ve practiced since we were pups. But to me, it felt like the earth shifting under my feet. Nathan didn’t look at me like he usually does—with laughter in his eyes, teasing, or quiet confidence. Instead, he looked… distant. Like he wished he could be anywhere but here. His smile was tight, controlled.

Nathan has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.

My anchor.

My quiet strength.

He never judged me for being soft, even when others did. He never looked at me like I was weak, or wrong, or disappointing. And unlike some of our packmates–who expect the future Alpha to be a mirror of Alpha Calvin–Nathan never placed expectations on me. He never tried to shape me into something I wasn’t.

I am the current Alpha Heir.

Even though Alpha Calvin and Luna Roselyn have a son–Liam–who should obviously inherit the position. Everyone told me, from a young age, that I was chosen. That I must carry the pack’s legacy. That I must train, study, endure whatever Alpha Calvin demands. And I tried. I tried so hard.

But sometimes the brutal training, the judging eyes, the constant pressure–it becomes too much. And when it does, Nathan is the one who listens while I fall apart. Most of the time with our phone calls and sometimes when he visits our pack when he has his vacation.

But today… he wasn’t by my side.

Today, he was far away–even while standing right next to me.

And then Alpha Darius asked me to inform my parents that they wanted to speak privately, later in the day.

That confused me even more. Why involve my parents?

When I asked Nathan what was wrong, he only said he’d learned something–something his parents told him–and he was still processing it. He said it involved me, too. That we should all talk together. He wouldn’t tell me anything more.

I trust Nathan with everything in me.

More than a brother.

Closer than blood.

We’re both thirteen, but he has always felt older–wiser in a way I’ve never been. Sometimes I think Nathan was born with the moon’s patience in his veins. Meanwhile, I am just like my mother–happy to avoid the spotlight, happiest in quiet places.

The meeting finally came.

Six of us in Alpha Calvin’s office:

My parents. Nathan’s parents.

Me and Nathan.

A heavy silence sat on the room like a living thing. Even Alpha Calvin and Luna Roselyn were instructed not to interrupt–so whatever this was, it was big. Important. Part of me wanted to run. My heart was loud enough that it was deafening.

Nathan sat beside me, shoulders straight, but his eyes wouldn’t meet mine.

The room felt too small for what was coming.

And when Luna Elaine finally spoke–softly, with a voice full of both sorrow and steel–my world cracked open.

I learned of their past.

The bond Luna Elaine and my dad, Michael once shared.

The way fate twisted against them.

The child she lost–my brother’s twin.

Nathan should have been born a twin.

But Luna Elaine miscarried–because of the pain caused by my parents‘ choices.

Caused by the force, the pressure, the expectations.

Nathan’s twin.

My sibling.

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

I was the reason why my parents was forced to follow through with the mating.

The reason my parents chose each other when my father bond belonged elsewhere.

The reason for Luna Elaine’s pain.

I didn’t want to speak–but the words tore out of me anyway.

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