Rejected Mate's Revenge

The moonlight streamed through my window, casting an ethereal glow across my private chambers as I carefully applied the final coat of sacred oil to my grandmother's moonstone ceremonial chalices. My fingers trembled slightly as I traced the ancient engravings that had taken me a decade to restore. Ten years of painstaking work, of gathering rare herbs and minerals, of praying to the Moon Goddess for guidance—all for this moment.

"These will be perfect for our mating ceremony tomorrow," I whispered, my voice barely audible even to my own ears. The chalices gleamed under my touch, their milky white surfaces catching the light and revealing hidden depths within the stone.

My grandmother had been the Luna of the Sterling Royal Pack before she passed, and these chalices were her most precious legacy. They were said to be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself, used in ceremonies that had bound our bloodline to the sacred laws of our kind for generations.

"Cason will understand their significance," I told myself, running my thumb over a particularly intricate carving of a wolf howling beneath a crescent moon. "He'll see how much they mean to me—to us."

I smiled, remembering how Cason had looked at me when we'd first met. His eyes had widened in recognition as our mate bond snapped into place between us. "You're mine," he'd whispered, pulling me close. "The Moon Goddess has chosen you for me."

Those words had sustained me through the years, through his occasional coldness, through the whispers that perhaps he found me too weak to be his Luna. I'd ignored them all, focusing instead on restoring these chalices as my gift to him—to us—on the day we would finally complete our bond.

I placed the smaller chalice inside the larger one and wrapped them carefully in silk embroidered with silver threads. Tomorrow, after ten years of waiting, I would finally be Cason's Luna in truth, not just in name.

A sudden flutter in my mind interrupted my thoughts—the pack mind-link activating unexpectedly. I frowned, concentrating on the sensation. Usually, I could filter out pack communications unless they were directed specifically at me, but something about this felt different.

"Brittany, I have something special for you," Cason's voice echoed in my head, intimate and warm in a way he rarely spoke to me anymore.

I froze, my hands still clutching the silk-wrapped bundle.

"What is it?" Brittany's mental voice purred in response. "You've already given me so much."

"Something very special and ancient," Cason replied, his tone sending a chill down my spine. "Something that belongs to the pack—to me—but that I want you to have."

My heart began to race as their conversation continued, oblivious to my presence in the link.

"You're too good to me, Cason," Brittany's voice was honey-sweet, but with an edge I'd come to recognize over the years. "Does Elena know you're giving this to me?"

"Elena won't mind," Cason dismissed her concern with a mental shrug I could feel. "She's... well, she's not you. She's just a duty I must fulfill. The mate bond is there, but you're the one I choose."

The chalices nearly slipped from my grasp as his words cut through me like silver blades. I stumbled backward, knocking over a chair as I struggled to breathe.

"Where are you going with that?" I heard Derek, Cason's Beta, ask through the link.

"To my office," Cason replied. "I want to give this to Brittany privately."

I didn't think. I moved.

Following the sound of footsteps, I made my way through the pack house corridors, my enhanced Lycan senses guiding me even as my mind reeled from what I'd overheard. I had to see for myself. I had to know.

Cason's office door was slightly ajar, casting a thin line of light into the hallway. I pressed myself against the wall beside it, my heart thundering so loudly I feared they would hear it.

"Here," Cason's voice came through clearly now, no longer just in my mind. "These belonged to Elena's grandmother, but they're too valuable to be left unused."

I peered through the crack in the door and felt my world shatter.

There in Cason's hands were my grandmother's moonstone chalices—the ones I had spent ten years restoring, the sacred vessels meant for our mating ceremony. He was presenting them to Brittany as if they were nothing more than trinkets to be given away.

"These are beautiful," Brittany breathed, taking them from him with greedy hands. "Thank you, my love."

She leaned forward, pressing her lips to Cason's in a passionate kiss that made my stomach turn. When they broke apart, Cason cupped her face tenderly.

"You're my true mate," he murmured, words that should have been mine alone. "Elena is just... she's just someone I have to mark because of the bond. But you—you're the one I want."

The chalices gleamed in Brittany's hands, their sacred light now mocking me with every reflection.