The Rejected Mate (Elaine and Michael) novel Chapter 20

Elaine walked out of the Alpha’s office, her chest tight with the weight of everything she had just endured. Every step felt heavier than the last, yet her mind was clear. She wanted to leave. Not just the office, not just the suffocating walls of the pack house, but the entire pack itself. She longed to turn her back on all of it, to disappear into the wilderness where no one could find her. But she couldn’t–not yet. Too many eyes, too many obligations still bound her to this place. For now, all she could do was escape the pack house.

Her footsteps echoed against the polished floors as she moved through the long halls.

Members of the pack passed by, their eyes flickering toward her before quickly looking away. None of them dared to stop her. None of them spoke her name. They didn’t need to. Her expression, the fire burning in her eyes, was enough to silence any questions. She was determined, and they all saw it.

The moment she pushed past the double doors of the pack house, a sharp breath of freedom filled her lungs.

Elaine’s control shattered. She bolted forward, her feet pounding against the earth as she ran. Faster and faster, her body driven by fury, grief, and a desperation to escape. She didn’t care where her legs carried her–only that she got away. Away from the walls that suffocated her. Away from the whispers, the judgment, the betrayal. Away from them.

She ran until her lungs burned and her legs screamed, until the world blurred around her. And finally, she reached the waterfall.

The thunder of crashing water drowned out every thought in her head, but not the ache in her chest. She stumbled forward, her breath ragged, and then she let go.

Her howl tore through the forest, raw and unrestrained. It was a sound filled with everything she had buried deep inside–pain, disappointment, betrayal, and heartbreak. The cry of a wolf who had given everything and been left with nothing.

Her voice carried across the valley, a wound laid bare for the world to hear.

What right did they have to hurt her like this?

Her thoughts came in fragments, jagged and sharp, each one cutting deeper.

What right did Michael have to feel jealous of Darius?

What right did they have to stand before her and claim they understood her suffering?

None of them knew. None of them had endured what she had.

They had all abandoned her. Broken her. Betrayed her. She had sacrificed everything for this pack–her future, her place, her heart. The Goddess had chosen her to be Luna, and yet they stripped her of that sacred title. She had given up her family–a sister who stole her mate, parents who stood by and allowed it to happen.

And worst of all, she had given up her mate.

Her fated one.

The mate the Goddess herself had destined for her–gone. Rejected. Torn from her so he could stand at her sister’s side instead. And every time she saw them together, smiling, touching, sharing what was meant to be hers, her heart cracked a little more. It was unbearable. It was cruel.

And now–now he dared? Now he dared to stand before her, calling himself her mate as if the past had never happened? Daring to demand that she stay away from Darius? Acting jealous, possessive, as though she belonged to him?

Mate. He had the audacity to still call himself that.

Her lips curled in a bitter snarl as tears stung her eyes.

What right did he think he had?

What right did any of them think they had?

Her howl rose again, sharper this time, echoing off the stone and crashing water. Her body trembled with rage and sorrow.

She didn’t deserve this. Not the humiliation, not the betrayal, not the suffocating agony that had become her life.

She had given everything. And all they had given her in return was pain.

Elaine’s chest heaved as the last echoes of her howl faded into the wilderness. The sound of the waterfall roared back into her ears, but it wasn’t enough to drown the storm inside her.

She clutched at her chest as if she could hold the pieces of her heart together, but they were already shattered beyond repair.

Why? Why her?

She had followed every rule, upheld every expectation. She had carried the burden of duty with grace, sacrificed her happiness, her very soul, all in the name of the pack. And what had it earned her? Nothing but chains. Nothing but wounds that never healed.

Her mind spun with cruel memories–Michael’s eyes when he first looked at her sister, the way her parents avoided her gaze, the pack whispering as though she was a mistake the Goddess regretted making. Every betrayal replayed itself, a dagger twisting deeper with each recollection.

Her knees buckled, and she sank to the mossy earth by the water’s edge. She wanted to scream again, to claw at the ground, to tear the pain from her chest. But only ragged sobs came, harsh and unyielding.

“What more do you want from me?” She whispered hoarsely, though the Goddess was the only one who could hear. “How much more do I have to lose before it’s enough? My title? My family? My mate? My pride? My heart? What else is left?”

The questions fell into the air, unanswered, swallowed by the roar of the falls.

She curled forward, hugging her knees, her body trembling with the weight of it all.

For so long, she had kept her head high, swallowed the pain, told herself she was strong enough to endure it. But here, alone beneath the crashing waters and the empty sky, there was no one left to pretend for.

Tears blurred her vision as she lifted her face toward the heavens.

“I sacrificed everything,” she choked out. “Everything. And still you let them break me.”

Her voice cracked, turning into another howl. One not of anger this time, but of despair. A sound that carried all her brokenness, all her unanswered questions, all her surrender.

Her heart ached, but beneath the pain was something colder–emptiness. The terrifying realization that she had nothing left to give, nothing left to fight with. And if no one would fight for her… then what was she even holding on to anymore?

The forest listened. The waterfall raged. And Elaine, let her sorrow consume her in the silence that followed.