Chapter Four—An indisputable law
"We can't let that happen father!!" Aria screamed in tears as she also barged into my room, almost like she was listening from outside.
I jolted to my feet immediately, scared but still in support of Aria, as the last thing I wanted was to move in with my worst enemy, "Aria's right father," I pleaded, "I don't want to go with him!"
He scoffed loudly and before I knew it, a slap landed on my face, the sheer force of it slammed me to the little chest of drawers next to my bed. I winced loudly in pain, my head throbbed and my cheeks swollen from the sudden attack.
"Aria!!" Father yelled.
I looked up at my sister, huffing and pulsating with anger, her eyes blazing as tears streamed down her cheeks continuously, "You stole everything from me!"
My eyes also started to wring out tears as I shook my head vigorously, "Aria I…I didn't do anything…I didn't mean to bond with him."
"How can I believe you??" She screamed, "You've always been jealous of me. You've always wanted my life, my prospects in marriage, my style, my rank as a Luna and now you've stolen the most precious thing of all, you've stolen my mate!!"
I looked to father for support, and just like always, the coward that he was, he remained put looking away to the other side whilst I was on the receiving end of Aria's tirade.
I could hit her, fight back, as much as she was a Luna, Aria was no match for me when it came to physical strength. I remained still, enduring her spiteful verbiage and wishing it would all be over soon.
She was right. I was jealous of her. I wanted her rank, I wanted to be treated special for once and not looked down upon by the others just for being an Omega. I wanted father's love and admiration…but she was wrong about one thing, I definitely didn't want the arrogant bastard, Nikolai Ashford.
"Aria it's enough," father finally spoke up, exhausted from all the squabbling, his eyes darted towards me, exuberant with nothing short of disappointment, like it was my fault the red moon bonded Nikolai and I together, "You, get dressed."
"For?" I asked.
"The passage rite."
My eyes widened at the mention of passage rite. A mating ritual performed after the awakening, where an Alpha comes for his mate in her home. It was really happening, despite me thinking it was some sort of cruel game being played by fate and was bound to be over soon…Nikolai was really here for me!
I shook my head in denial, not wanting to accept my cause, "You can't—I can't—I can't go with him!! He's Aria's lover!!"
"He's your mate now!!" Father yelled back, for a moment I could sense a hint of helplessness in his voice.
"I don't want him!!"
"You have no choice. It's the law Aria!, and if I have to drag you outside myself the so help Selene Goddess of the moon, I damn will!!"
He stormed out of the room slamming the door right behind him, I turned to Aria whose eyes were already puffy from the tears. She was helpless as was I, her own sister bonding with the alpha she loves. It was a cruel twist of fate bestowed upon our family, and I the harbinger of doom.
"Don't think you've won Anna," she warned, her voice all muddled with tears, "Nikolai will always be mine. Bond or not, he'll never love a pathetic omega like you." And with that she also stomped out.
I stared at my door for a second. The thought of dying a ghastly death crossed my mind as I slid back to the floor, cramped in the corner of my room. Dying would've been a much more pleasant dream than what I was going through—I was doomed for all the town to see.
**NIKOLAI**
The bond was starting to toy with my being as I felt it. Pain, rejection, anxiety. I felt it all, Anna Grayson's feelings. As an alpha I had a much stronger hold to the force that bounds is together, she on the other hand was a weakling—an omega who wasn't sure what the power of a bond was.
I waited patiently with the rest of the townsfolk outside the Grayson house, for the passage rite. Jumping off a cliff, and falling to my death would've been a much more exhilarating fate than what was bestowed upon me.
I bonded with the wrong sister.
It was still felt so surreal to me.
At the awakening I was so sure I would bond with Aria. She was the perfect Luna and I, a powerful Alpha. It was a match blessed by the stars itself—and yet here I find my very self, about to take her twin sister Anna to my ancestral home.
"Just keep a united front Nikolai," Uncle Dominic murmured as he stood close to me, "You're the alpha after all. The pack looks up to you, perform your duty as leader and leave the rest."
My fists balled tightly and my teeth gritted. Aria was the one I wanted, not Anna. Aria was the perfect Luna for me. She was beautiful, smart and most of all powerful and her sister?? A wild animal who loves to roll in the mud.
I stood head fast as Sir Grayson came out the front door with Aria, our eyes met for a moment with I reassuring her it would all be okay. This wasn't over yet, the red moon and the awakening, the bond and the mating ritual all meant nothing to me.
The door opened again and out came Anna, clad in a simple yellow dress probably handed to her by Aria. She still had those murky fighting bouts, enough to make a man squeal in anguish and irk.
Our eyes met.
Hatred.
Pain.
Regret.
The bond was duly in full force, as I felt every bane of her existence as she walked towards me. Then I leaned closer to whisper,
"I reject you as a mate Anna."