Page 11 of Claiming His Rejected Mate

“How could an Alpha like Kieran want someone like her?”

Tears burn behind my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. My chest heaves with the effort of keeping my wolf from breaking free, her rage and sorrow a storm threatening to consume us both.

“Enough!” Magnus roars, silencing the crowd. His eyes blaze with fury as he glares at me. “You’re a liar. A disgrace. You’ve paraded yourself like a bitch in heat and humiliated this pack. You’re no daughter of mine.”

“No,” Elara whimpers, her voice trembling. My mother flinches but doesn’t back down. She says to my father, the fear dripping in her tone, “She’s still our daughter.” Her voice is stronger now.

But the red glow of my eyes betrays me. It lets them know that I now have my wolf.

“Her eyes! She has a wolf!” someone in the crowd points out.

Everyone gasps. They all knew that I've been wolfless. The shame of the pack and the disgrace of a Gamma's daughter. But now, they can see that I'm not lying.

“Look at her! The deranged bitch wants to attack.”

Instead of it being proof that I indeed have found my Mate in Kieran, they oppose me, still. I will never be one of them, whether I have my wolf or not.

“Enough!” Alpha Jag’s voice cuts through the chaos, sharp and commanding. The wolves fall silent, their eyes snapping to their Alpha.

“Demote her,” Alpha Jag says coldly, stepping forward. “Strip her of her rank and seal her runt of a wolf. Let her learn what it means to be subservient to her Alpha.”

My chest tightens, my wolf howling in anguish as his words sink in.

Alpha Jag’s tone hardens, cold and unyielding. “From this day forward, you are no longer a warrior of Nightclaw. You are Omega.”

My stomach lurches, and I feel the blood drain from my face.

Rhyne steps forward, his expression tight with decisiveness as he reaches for my warrior insignia. I want to fight, to protest, but my body feels heavy, my strength drained.

“Don’t,” I whisper, but my voice is barely audible. “Please.” Being a warrior is everything to me. It’s all I have. All I am.

The world tilts as Rhyne removes my rank, the crowd jeering as he does. Magnus steps forward, placing his hand on my shoulder as the seal takes hold, the magic burning into my skin like fire.

“Since you can't keep your green mutt under control, let me do it for you.” Magnus sneers as the seal takes hold. Everything in me panicked. I've heard of seals like this. They make being in heat so much worse and suppress the full power of a wolf.

He’s rendering me defenseless, throwing me into a world of torture, especially now that my wolf has found her Mate.

My vision clouds with white pain, and I feel my consciousness slipping from me.

Elara’s voice reaches into my fading consciousness as the darkness clouds me. “You can’t do this to her! She’s our daughter—”

“She’s no daughter of mine.” The air of finality in his voice reverberates, and the last thing I hear before everything goes black is my mother’s voice, shouting my name.

When I wake, the air is stifling and heavy, the room dimly lit by a single flickering candle. The walls are bare, the furniture sparse—just anarrow bed, a chair, and a table. The blanket is rough against my skin. Everything feels cold and functional, stripped of warmth and comfort.

My body feels like lead, my limbs weak and uncooperative as I try to sit up. My head pounds, and the ache of my heat is still there, simmering beneath the surface, relentless and unforgiving.

“Easy, Hazel.”

My mother’s voice is soft, and when I look up, she’s sitting beside me, her face lined with worry.

“Mom,” I croak, my throat dry and raw.

She reaches for a cup on the table, helping me drink. The water is cool and soothing, but it does little to ease the pain radiating through me.

“I’m here,” she says gently, brushing a strand of hair from my face.

My gaze catches on her arms, on the bruises and scrapes marring her skin. My stomach twists. “Are you okay?”

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