Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by the King
Chapter 2
It was morning, and I was preparing breakfast when a sharp knock echoed through the quiet of my apartment. If it were Alpha Gianni, he wouldn’t have bothered knocking—he’d have barged in as if the place still belonged to him. I hesitated, wondering who it could be.
Opening the door, I found Beta Lawson standing there, his posture slightly hunched in deference. In his hands, he held a mismatched bouquet of sunflowers, baby’s breath, and champagne roses, the arrangement haphazard and unappealing.
"Luna Cleo," he said, his voice respectful but tinged with awkwardness. "These are for you."
I took the flowers, though my stomach churned. Only Alpha Gianni would send something so garish, thinking it could somehow mend the cracks in our shattered bond. He’d always done this—thrown together whatever was available after our fights, as if a poorly arranged bouquet could erase the hurt.
I didn’t feel anger anymore, just a dull numbness. Without a second thought, I tossed the flowers into the trash. They were an eyesore, a reminder of a bond I no longer wanted to acknowledge.
As I sat down to eat, I scrolled through the pack’s shared mind link. Maeve, his Delta secretary, had posted a new update. Her voice, sweet and self-assured, echoed in my mind.
"I think the one on the left looks better. What does everyone think?" she wrote.
Attached were images of two bouquets. The one on the left was elegant and refined, clearly chosen with care. The one on the right was the monstrosity now sitting in my trash.
Comments flooded in from other pack members. "The one on the left is stunning! The one on the right is hideous," one said.
Maeve’s response was swift and smug: "Exactly, the right one is so ugly, I didn’t want it."
My chest tightened as the pieces fell into place. These weren’t just any flowers—they were the ones Maeve had rejected. Alpha Gianni hadn’t even bothered to choose something for me; he’d sent me the leftovers, the scraps she deemed unworthy.
A bitter ache settled in my chest, but I refused to let it consume me. I was no longer the Luna of the Silvermoon Pack, no longer bound to Alpha Gianni by a bond that had brought me nothing but pain. Still, the sting of his indifference lingered, a reminder of how little I had meant to him all along.
