Chapter 1 (Rejection)

Athena's POV

"I, Damian Jasper, the Alpha of Cone pack, reject you, Athena George, as my mate".

The words tore through me, a scorching pain gripping my heart.

An unspeakable hurt consumed me as he should have declared me as his Luna. Maybe it was a mistake, I thought desperately.

Before I could comprehend the unfolding scene, he declared Ashina, my cousin and only friend, as his mate. 

Tears gushed down my face as I witnessed her acceptance. Was this a twisted nightmare or a cruel reality?

"What is happening?" I managed to choke out, desperate for an explanation.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a wolf" Damian insulted. Each word cut through the air, exposing my vulnerability to the entire pack.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" I barely whispered, my voice barely audible.

"You're a disgrace to all werewolves, a disgrace to our kind" Ashina cursed, her hand intertwined with Damian's.

"Accept the rejection!" she smirked, her mockery visible.

"I... I can't," I stammered, the weight of humiliation settling over me.

"Her word is law, and you will abide by it!" Damian ruthlessly declared, sealing my fate in front of the watching pack.

Frozen, I felt the gaze of everyone on me, accompanied by silent whispers. 

"I, Athena, accept your rejection" I managed to utter. There was a long dead silence.

"Let's continue the celebration!" Damian announced, lifting his wine cup in a mocking toast.

Shame enfolded me as I stumbled out of the arena. My body weakened. 

Alone in the shadows, I unleashed a scream, the anguish echoing through the night.

How could I endure life in this pack now? No wolf companion, rejected, and to add to the agony, my cousin as his chosen mate. 

Perhaps I should commit suicide. But running away seemed the only escape.

I managed to get myself to the house, and I collapsed on the floor. Recalling the events that led to my anguish. I sifted through the pieces of my shattered trust. 

Ashina, the friend turned betrayer, had left faint hints of her ulterior motives in our shared memories.

My relationship with Damian began innocently during a full moon ceremony, when I was sixteen until now that I'm nineteen. 

Little did I know that the ropes of fate woven that night, would untangle into a cruel portrayal of rejection. 

Ashina's incremental closeness to Damian had gone unnoticed by my naive heart. Being my cousin and only friend, I saw no harm in her growing closeness to the Alpha. 

Hints appeared in Ashina's occasional attempts to badmouth Damian in my presence. 

Blinded by loyalty, I brushed off these warning signs, never suspecting the veil of her seemingly friendly advice.

Together, Ashina and I engaged ourselves in the preparations for Damian's coronation. We shopped for new dresses, and contributed to the festivities by cooking at the Alpha's home. 

Up until the moment she helped me get dressed for the occasion, I remained unaware of the impending storm. The heartbreak surged anew as I replayed these scenes in my mind. 

Amid these reflections, I decided to leave. Gathering what little strength remained, I resolved to leave. As I proceeded to pack my belongings, my mother entered.

Embracing me tightly. "I always knew Ashina was a snake, but biting her family? I never saw that coming" she consoled. Unable to endure the pain, I confessed.

"Mom, I can't stay here. I need to leave this pack." Before she could respond, footsteps surrounded our home. 

My mother gasped as she looked outside the window, which sent shivers down my spine. 

Fear gripped my heart, I couldn't make any attempt to figure out the unfolding drama. My mother went outside to find out what was happening. 

I, crept near the door, trying to eavesdrop on them. I watched as an enforcer ruthlessly pushed my mother to the ground. 

My scream echoed through the air. Two enforcers rushed to me, seizing me with a grip that left me confused. My mother begged on my behalf, screaming I was innocent. 

Through the twists and turns of the pack territory, we arrived at the Alpha's mansion. I can only hear a silenced murmur among the assembled pack members. 

Their expressions are a combination of horror, tension, and shock.Thrown before Damian, I raised my head to meet his eyes, only to find a strange look of hatred burning within them. 

His words cut through the confusion, accusing me of a crime beyond my understanding.

"Throw this criminal in the dungeon and torture her before I pass my final judgment on her" he commanded the enforcers, the weight of his accusation hanging in the air.

"For killing my mother, the grand Luna of this pack!" he announced, the revelation struck me like a thunderbolt. 

The shock of rejection is nothing in comparison to the accusation that now stained my name.

In an instant, I was dragged away from Damian's piercing gaze. Ashina's snarl locked with my desperate eyes, silent proof of her backstabbing. 

I screamed and pleaded for mercy, but no one listened. I was thrown into the dungeon. For two days I was tortured mercilessly. 

I only managed to talk to my parents through the mind link, a lifeline that allows werewolves to communicate through their minds in a pack. 

I tried severally to communicate with Damian, and pled my innocence but he never responded. At one point, I was too weak to try communicating. Ashina, the traitor visited, making merry of my agony. 

My blood boiled at the sight of her, the cousin turned tormentor, revelling in my suffering. 

She requested the enforcers to step outside, leaving me vulnerable to her cruel amusement.

"Oh dear cousin, I'm really sad seeing you this way" she teased, a malicious gleam in her eyes.

"Why are you here? Why are you doing this to me? You know I'm innocent" I managed to speak through clenched teeth. 

"Look at you, darling, you're a spineless worm, unable to stand for herself" She twirls around me playfully.

"I only delivered the food given to me" I cried, desperation choking my words.

"Oh, you can't be so sure. Perhaps you thought you couldn't wait to be Luna, and since she was already sick, it's okay to put her away, and so you poisoned the food" she accused with a wicked smirk.

"I did not poison her!" I screamed the truth, lost in the twisted narrative she wove.

"And Damian? I trusted you, Ashina" I confronted her, the betrayal cutting deeper with each passing moment.

She chuckled maniacally. "Remember your place in the pack's hierarchy" she mocked walking away. 

In that agonizing moment, I felt the weight of my perceived insignificance. The daughter of a delta, one without a wolf, rejected and alone.

While she, the Beta's daughter, with a formidable wolf, had always towered above me. The cruel reality of pack dynamics, where strength and lineage dictated worth. 

The following day I was dragged to the front of Alpha's mansion. Where Damian will pass his final judgment. I saw my mother held by my father as she wept bitterly.

"We will pay our final respects to our former Luna tomorrow, after which Athena will be punished" he declared. 

I locked eyes with him and I could see a hatred that pierced my soul.

"You, Athena, will be burnt alive for committing such abomination". 

The sentence echoed, sealing my fate with the cruel flames of penalty.