I always thought the mate ceremony would become the happiest moment of my life.

I imagined glowing lights, thunder in my chest, and my wolf howling in joy the second my fated mate touched me and I imagined being chosen and being wanted.

I never imagined humiliation.

I never imagined that when I stepped forward, heart pounding, trembling under the moon's light, that I'd be shattered in front of the entire academy.

But that's exactly what Alpha Dante Thorne did; he didn't dare to hesitate, and he didn't even flinch either.

He just rejected me in front of the whole academy, like I was nothing.

His words were so cold and brutal and loud enough for the entire crowd to hear and for my soul to break.

"You?" he said, disgust coating every syllable. "You're my mate?" he scoffed.

I couldn't move; I couldn't speak but instead I just stood there frozen, trapped in the firestorm of the bond rushing through my veins. My wolf whimpered, clawing inside me, desperate to reach for him.

But Dante didn't move toward me; he didn't even touch me.

He stepped back.

The entire crowd went still; even the breeze stopped.

Dante tilted his head, his silver eyes glinting like sharpened knives beneath the moonlight.

"This has to be a mistake," he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The Moon Goddess doesn't pair Alphas with... with that."

Laughter broke out from somewhere behind me-sharp, mocking, and vicious. I didn't turn to see who it was. I couldn't. My spine locked in place, and my pulse hammered like a warning drum.

"That girl's unshifted," someone whispered.

"She hasn't even unlocked her wolf yet."

"She's not even worthy of Omega status, let alone Luna."

"She's an embarrassment."

"She's weak."

I heard every word and Dante didn't dare to stop them.

He stared at me like I'd crawled out of the mud, like I didn't belong in the same air as him, as if the bond between us was a joke.

And then he spoke again his words sliced me in half.

"I, Dante Thorne of the Black Fang Pack, reject you, Eva Monroe, as my mate."

The gasp that echoed around the clearing felt like a bomb detonating in my chest. My vision blurred.

Rejected.

The sacred bond-severed.

In front of everyone.

My knees buckled slightly, but I didn't fall. I give him that. I wouldn't give any of them that.

My wolf howled in agony inside me. She wasn't just hurt; she was gutted. I could feel her collapsing, curling in on herself, broken and raw.

"I never wanted a weak mate," he continued. "Let alone a charity case with no wolf, no status and no strength. You were born to serve, not to stand beside an Alpha."

The words hit harder than any fist. They were designed to humiliate, to crush me completely.

Tears burned in my eyes, but I blinked them back with every ounce of pride I had left.

He wanted me to break.

But I'd broken before, the night my parents were slaughtered, the night I'd been left with nothing but scars and silence. I survived that and would survive this too.

Barely.

I straightened my spine, lifted my chin, and met his gaze dead-on.

"If rejecting me makes you feel powerful," I said, voice low and shaking, "then maybe you're weaker than I thought."

Dante's smirk twitched. For a second, something flashed in his eyes, something unreadable. But it vanished just as quickly.

"Run back to your little dorm, mutt," he said, turning away. "And pray the next Alpha you smell isn't as honest as I am."

I stood there for one more moment.

Frozen.

Shattered.

Alone.

Then I turned and walked away.

No one stopped me. No one spoke to me either, just whispers that followed like ghosts, curling around my feet and slicing into my back.

"Did you see her face?"

"She actually thought he'd accept her."

"Pathetic."

I kept walking.

Faster, faster, until I reached the treeline, until the academy grounds blurred behind me.

And then I ran.

The moment I was out of sight, I collapsed to my knees in the woods behind the ceremonial platform, fists clenched in the dirt, my chest heaving with silent screams.

The pain of the severed bond throbbed through my ribs like a dying heartbeat. My soul felt like it had been ripped open, exposed to every cruel whisper, every mocking stare, every judgment.

My wolf was silent now.

She hadn't spoken since he rejected us.

And part of me wished I could disappear into the earth and never be seen again.

I was nothing. I'd always been nothing. And now the whole world knew it.

I curled into myself, arms wrapped around my knees, and let the tears fall - hot and angry, streaking down my face like blood.

I don't know how long I stayed there. Minutes? Hours?

But eventually, something shifted.

Not around me.

Inside me.

A low hum began to rise in my chest. At first, I thought it was the wind.

But it wasn't.

It was me.

The pain didn't fade - it sharpened. Hardened. Morphed into something colder, darker, and more dangerous.

I wasn't crying anymore.

I was shaking.

From rage.

From betrayal.

From the flicker of something powerful and ancient waking up inside me.

How dare he?

How dare he reject me like I was trash, like I wasn't even a person, let alone a mate?

How dare he throw me away without even looking beneath the surface?

He hadn't seen me. Not really.

But he would.

They all would.

I stood slowly, fists clenched at my sides, the hum in my veins intensifying into something electric. The wind shifted around me, brushing against my skin like it recognized something was changing.

"I may not have a wolf yet," I whispered to the trees, to the stars, and to the moon, "but I am not weak."

The words felt like a promise.

A vow.

A curse.

I wiped the dirt and blood from my palms and looked up at the sky.

The full moon shone bright-pale, perfect, and watching.

A scarlet ring shimmered faintly around its edges.

An omen.

A warning.

And suddenly... I wasn't afraid.

I wasn't broken.

I was becoming.

And when I returned, I wouldn't be the girl who got rejected in front of the entire academy.

I'd be the girl they'd never forget.

The girl who rose from the ashes.

The girl who made the Alpha who threw her away...

Beg.