Chapter 3 The Luna He Chose

Caden.

Stella cursed inwardly. This wasn't what she was looking for, and she was sure of it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I'll leave now," she said, turning and taking a step away.

"Stop."

His commanding tone made her pause.

She turned back and found him standing directly in front of her, his eyes fixed on hers. Stella blinked, her heart racing.

"Don't you smell it?" he asked.

"I do," Stella said. Her voice was steadier than she felt. "That's why I came here. I thought it was something else, but..." She swallowed. "It's you."

The word hung between them.

Caden stared at her for a long moment.

"I, Caden Howler of the Howlers Pack, reject you, Stella Notherway, as my mate."

He spoke without hesitation, showing no sign of how much his words meant.

Stella stood motionless. His words settled inside her, leaving her unable to move or speak.

Her mind caught up.

"What?" she whispered.

"No," she said immediately, shaking her head. "That's not possible."

But even as the words left her mouth, the pain came. She pressed a hand against her chest, fingers curling against her ribs. Her mind went back to the past as the pieces began to fall into place.

Everything made sense now.

The cold stares.

The disgust that flashed across his face whenever she came near.

The question in the dump yard.

He hadn't asked because he was curious. Caden had turned eighteen a year ago. The bond would have revealed itself then. Her scent. The pull. Everything. He had spent the entire year waiting for her to come of age so he could end the bond cleanly and be done with her.

He had known for a year.

An entire year.

And he had spent every day of it hating her.

Tears burned at the corners of Stella's eyes. She blinked hard, trying to hold them back.

"You need to reject me, too," Caden said, impatience creeping into his voice. "I've already found my real mate. Don't you get it?"

His gaze moved over her, brief and dismissive.

"Did you really think the Moon Goddess would bind me to someone like you?"

Stella's jaw tightened.

"You're a wolfless Omega." He huffed. "You can't even scent properly. You have nothing. No wolf, no status, no family. What exactly were you imagining you had to offer?"

Stella's lips trembled. She could feel them shaking, but she couldn't stop them. Beneath the pain, something stronger began to rise. She had spent her whole life apologizing for existing, saying "I'm sorry" before she even knew what she had done wrong.

She was tired. So tired of it.

"Reject me. Now," he said. "I don't have time for..."

"So that's why you asked about my birthday." Her voice was soft and shaky, but she didn't let it break.

Caden said nothing.

"You've known for a year," she said. "And you spent it looking at me like I was something you would step on."

She let out a sharp breath.

"You couldn't even give me one day without hating me."

His expression didn't change.

"You think cruelty is power," Stella said. "But you've been afraid of this since the moment you found out. Afraid of what people would think."

She held his gaze.

"That's not power. That's just being a coward."

Something flickered in his eyes. It was quick, controlled, and gone before she could make sense of it.

"I, Stella Notherway, reject you, Caden Howler, as my mate."

Her voice cracked on the last word. She was done pretending it didn't hurt.

"And I want you to know something."

She held his gaze one last time.

"You're worse than filth."

Caden looked at her for a long moment, something unreadable moving behind his eyes. Without a word, he turned and walked away. His footsteps faded into the distance until there was nothing left but silence.

Stella stood alone in the woods, one hand still pressed against her chest as she tried to steady her breathing. Her knees buckled, and she sank to the ground, catching herself against the roots of a tree before sitting in the dirt with her back against the bark.

She made no sound. She simply sat there, breathing, and let the tears fall. She didn't try to explain or stop them. For once, she allowed herself to feel the hurt without hiding it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had always known that life could find new ways to take things from her. She just hadn't expected it to take something she had barely had time to realize she wanted.

Above her, through the gaps between the branches, the sky was a pale, ordinary blue.

The sky of a birthday morning.

The same as any other day.

That night, Lina didn't say anything at first. She simply pulled Stella close and held her tightly, both arms wrapped around her shoulders, her chin resting on top of her head.

Stella let her. She sat there in the darkness with her face pressed against Lina's shoulder. She wasn't crying anymore. She was just breathing. The ache in her chest had settled into something duller, making every breath feel heavier than it should.

The room was serene around them.

Outside, somewhere in the pack house, a group of people laughed at something.

Stella closed her eyes.

After a long while, Lina pulled back. Her expression had changed. The softness was still there, but beneath it was something tighter.

"Who rejects someone on their birthday?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

Stella let out a faint sound that was almost a laugh.

"Caden Howler, apparently."

"On their birthday," Lina repeated, stressing the words. "He couldn't wait one more day. One. He couldn't give you that."

She folded her arms and glared at the opposite wall.

"Forget him," she said finally. "He's not worth a single tear. Not one."

Stella stayed silent for a moment.

"I'm not even hurt," she murmured.

Lina gave her a look.

"Maybe a little," Stella admitted. "I just hate that it had to be him."

The words came out more honestly than she intended. She hadn't meant to admit that somewhere inside her, despite everything, she had still hoped for something different.

Lina simply nodded. She understood what Stella couldn't say.

Her eyes narrowed. "If he hurts you again," she announced, "I'm going to deal with him in a very bad way."

Stella nodded sarcastically and lay down.

"You don't believe me," Lina said, opening her mouth in surprise and tilting her head.

"I never said that."

"You..." Lina started.

The Head Omega's voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"Lights out."

"Time to sleep," Lina said, turning to Stella. "And please, dream about me." She pressed her hands together beneath her chin and made the most pitiful face she could manage.

"Of course I will," Stella said. "I'll dream about you... eating trash."

She smirked and turned around.

Lina recoiled.

"Ew. Stella."

Their laughter came easily, giving them both a brief escape from everything that had happened. When it faded, Stella lay still and stared at the ceiling. The ache was there, but it felt different now. Less overwhelming. She could carry it without letting it consume her.

She turned her head slightly toward Lina, who was already drifting off beside her.

In a world that had given her almost nothing, she still had her.

Two weeks passed.

The pain didn't disappear. It simply faded, becoming a part of Stella's everyday life. It was still there, reminding her of itself, but small enough that she could keep moving.

So she kept moving.

The morning after the rejection, the news had spread through the pack before breakfast.

Caden Howler was going to mark Keisha as his Luna.