Her Rejected Mate–1
Aurora’s POV
The yard fell into a deathly silence after my confession. Mom collapsed into her chair like all her strength had suddenly been drained. Those eyes that had always looked at me with pride were now filled with pain and disappointment, nearly breaking me on the spot. Roman, who had been supporting me just moments ago, now pulled away as if burned, taking several slow steps back until there was a significant distance between us.
I knew the other Pack members wore varying expressions of shock, but none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that my family was looking at me like I’d
suddenly become a stranger to them.
“Aurora…” Mom’s voice trembled, “please tell me you’re making some cruel joke. Tell me
you didn’t give birth to a child and hide him from us all these years.”
I wanted so fucking badly to lie to them, just to make that heartbroken look in their eyes
disappear. But I knew I couldn’t do that anymore. I couldn’t keep running from the truth.
“I’m sorry,” I cried, crouching down next to her, “I wanted to tell you, but I was so scared.”
I tried to take her hand, but she flinched away. My heart shattered into a million pieces. This was exactly what I’d feared all along. Thea was right. I’d always been the perfect one,
the one who never made mistakes. Except for that one time. Now my image was tarnished
in their eyes, and any advantage I had over Thea was gone. I was now in the same position as her, punished for my poor decisions. That night with Jaxon was the biggest
mistake of my life.
“How did this happen? When did it happen? Did Dad know?” Roman paced anxiously.
I shook my head, unable to look them in the eyes anymore. “Dad didn’t know. Nobody knew except Jaxon and Helena.”
“I want the whole truth,” Mom’s voice had calmed, with a hint of pressure emanating from her, “I want to know why you’d hide my grandson from our Pack, from his family and
bloodline.”
I didn’t want to revisit the past, but I had no choice now. If I didn’t want them even angrier with me, I had to tell them everything.
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Her Rejected Mate–1
“It all started at the Mating Ball senior year,” my voice was barely a whisper, “Like the previous two years, I’d already agreed to go with Sebastian as his date. I thought… I always thought Sebastian would be my mate, just that the time wasn’t right yet. But during intermission, when Sebastian went to get drinks, I discovered Jaxon hiding behind a curtain, wanting to ask me to dance. My wolf suddenly awakened, responding to his
scent.”
I looked at Sebastian, catching a flash of shock in his eyes that made me hesitate to continue with what I needed to say next.
“Jaxon was my mate.” I slowly dropped another bombshell, watching everyone gasp again. I didn’t pause, wanting to get through this part quickly. “Jaxon felt it too, and he tried to approach me, but I avoided him. I suppressed my wolf and rejected him.”
“You went against the Moon Goddess’s will?” Mom’s tone rose with shock.
“The goddess made a mistake! How could I possibly be paired with that nerd Jax? He – wasn’t worthy of me! And I didn’t want Jaxon, I only wanted Sebastian!” I argued, “So I didn’t tell anyone about it, not even Helena.”
“If that’s the case, how did you end up fucking your unwanted Jaxon?” Roman demanded, clearly his mind was completely scrambled now.
But his words also stung, leading into the most painful part of what I had to share.
I took a deep breath and continued: “Everything was fine, but then when Sebastian slept with Thea and married her, I completely broke down. At home, I wouldn’t let you notice, wanting you to think I was still fine and unaffected. But back at school, I couldn’t sleep for months, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t attend classes. And my wolf, because I’d rejected my true mate, began to withdraw, becoming numb. If Helena hadn’t discovered and helped me, I might have… lost control.”
I paused, remembering those dark days. The once proud and confident eldest daughter of the Sterling family, reduced to a pathetic creature who could only lick her wounds in the darkness of night.
“Then fate fucked with me again. I ran into Jaxon at college. Turns out we were attending the same university, and he was Helena’s project partner. But he’d changed a lot too, no longer chasing after me like before. Because of Helena, we’d occasionally see each other,
but basically stayed out of each other’s way.”
Her Rejected Mate–2
“Then what happened?” Sebastian suddenly spoke up, his voice raspier than usual.
I closed my eyes, unable to face him. “Mom called to tell me Thea had given birth to a boy… your heir, and that you fell completely in love with him the moment you saw him. That night I broke down again, all the pain I’d buried resurfaced. I was so angry. Angry at myself for rejecting your proposal, angry at you for getting drunk and sleeping with Thea, angry at Thea for getting pregnant and marrying you, even angry at the newborn baby.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath. Without turning, I knew it was Sebastian. Even now, I still felt uncomfortable around Leo, because if everything had gone the way I wanted, he
wouldn’t exist.
“I wanted to punish you. Wanted to hurt you like you hurt me. I knew you always hated the way Jaxon was obsessed with me, so I decided to use my former mate. That night I approached Jaxon and seduced him…”
I didn’t need to continue, but everyone understood what happened.
“I’d planned for news of me sleeping with him to reach you through others, to hurt you. But the next morning I immediately regretted it, realizing how stupid it was to sleep with someone I didn’t like and had rejected, just to get revenge on the person I loved. I told Jaxon it was a mistake, that he should forget what happened between us and leave. I thought that was the end of it.”
“We went back to ignoring each other, pretending the other didn’t exist, until my period was late. One cheap test, then a doctor’s appointment, confirmed I was pregnant.”
It was the worst news I’d ever received. Deep down, I’d always believed Sebastian and I would get back together someday. I didn’t want an unwanted baby to stand in the way of that. I didn’t want the consequences of my poor choice staring me in the face forever.
I wiped the tears from my face and continued, “I told Jaxon the news, and that I didn’t want the baby, wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but Jaxon threatened that if I dared do that, he’d tell Mom and Dad. It was the worst time because I was forced to carry a child I
didn’t want, with no choice in the matter.”
“You wanted to kill your own pup? Your mate’s child?” Mom’s voice quivered painfully,
1/3
Her Rejected Mate–2
both our wolves whimpering simultaneously.
I nodded, unable to say it out loud, but the truth was clear. I went on to describe how I hid the pregnancy from my family, how I gave birth because Jaxon insisted, and how I didn’t even look at the baby once before leaving the hospital after he was born.
“I had the nurse give him directly to Jaxon. I didn’t want any contact; I considered my responsibility over and believed I could now break free from the chains Jaxon had placed on me when he forced me to keep the child.”
I didn’t care about the child, how he was doing, what he ate, or anything else. I just wanted to forget I had a child with a mate I didn’t want and had rejected.
I knew this made me look like a complete bitch, but honestly, I didn’t care. This was my
choice, this was what I wanted.
“And then you continued your life like he didn’t exist, right? Like he was nothing?” Mom
stood up and asked.
“Mom…”
“Shut up!” she shouted, then repeated more softly: “Shut up. Today, you’ve successfully destroyed the last intact place in my heart. As if losing your father and Thea wasn’t punishment enough, now I discover what a cruel daughter I have… I can’t even look at you right now, I just can’t.”
With that, she walked away, leaving me sobbing on the ground.
I looked at the others as they left one by one. Roman was the last to go.
He shook his head, and I thought it was in disgust.
“Of all people, I never thought this would happen with you, Aurora. Not you,” he said
before walking away too.
I was left alone, crouching in the yard like an exiled rat, lonely and desperate.
I curled into myself, tears flowing freely. Hours ago, everything had been perfect until Thea came here and ruined everything again. Last time she destroyed my future with
Sebastian, and this time, it was so much more. I would never forgive her. Never.
