Violet
I knew he was going to reject me.
I had already lived through it once.
Damon stood in front of me, his arm wrapped around Elena's waist. The forest trees swayed silently in the breeze as the moon shone down on us, lighting up the small clearing. The entire pack surrounded us, with most of them hidden between the trees to observe this unfortunate spectacle.
Just like before, he had chosen to humiliate me this way.
And within seconds, he repeated the same words he had uttered in my past life.
"I, Damon Blackthorn, Alpha of the Shadowpine Pack, reject you, Violet, as my mate."
A searing pain ripped through my chest, severing the mate bond between us. I winced and stiffened, trying not to let the pain show. Still, everyone's perceptive eyes caught my reaction. Some pack members smiled at my demise.
His dark eyes glinted in the moonlight, a proud smirk on his face as he spread out his other hand towards me.
"Did you really think I would accept a measly nameless omega as my Luna? You have been a stain in this pack since your birth. Your mere presence itself is an insult to my late father's image. Your own household revoked your family name and rejected you. And you thought you could stand beside me?"
Elena clung to his side, and her hand rested against his chest as fake concern flashed on her face.
"Oh, Damon. Go easy on her, please," she whispered, loud enough for me to hear as she looked up at him.
Damon shook his head and sighed, looking back at her. "My dear, you are too kind. But—"
"I understand," I murmured.
My words caused Damon to pause and look at me. Elena frowned, her blue eyes shifting to meet mine. It was funny how she no longer found this amusing.
I had accepted his rejection in tears. And she had gloated at that moment, her eyes beaming with such joy as I grovelled at their feet. Begging.
I blinked hard, my face slightly twisting in disgust at my past actions. Things were different now. I would not cry. Neither would I beg him like I have once before.
I then composed myself and smiled. "I, Violet, accept your rejection."
The breeze died down. The trees stopped swaying.
It suddenly felt like my insides exploded. Blood trickled down my nose, but the smile remained on my face. I would not give him, or anyone the satisfaction of seeing me grovel.
Everyone looked at me in shock, Damon frowned. I had accepted easily. Too easily. But wasn't that what they wanted?
"Congratulations, Alpha Damon," I continued. "I hope she is worth it."
I turned away to leave but Damon broke out laughing. I slowly turned to look at him. He had stepped away from Elena, his hands at his stomach. He wiped the tear from one of his eyes. "Worth it? You were never worth anything. Elena here is by far worth more than both your bond and yourself." He held out his hand to Elena, and she took it, a gloating smile on her lips as she eyed me.
"She doesn't know what she is saying," she chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just let her go. She should faint soon anyway from the effects of the rejection."
Damon grinned. "You're not wrong. She will need the rest for someone who will never find another mate."
A metallic taste filled my mouth. I turned away and rushed off, brushing past the wolves that stood in my path. They let me pass, and some I had to bump through them to get past. Ignoring the rising pain within me, I bit my lip and started running as fast as my strength could take me.
My legs burned. My insides burned. My head ached. The same excruciating pain followed me as I raced through the trees, moving past sparse settlements and houses until I arrived at my small home. The moment I stepped in, I vomited blood on the floor, landing on all fours.
Pain tore at every inch of my body, but something else brewed within me.
Anger.
His father had shown me compassion, letting me remain within the pack after my own family had kicked me out of their household. And the next thing Damon had done shortly after taking over his father as the Alpha was to call a meeting to announce the rejection instead of holding a banquet in his father's honour.
He despised me that much and I never saw it.
My heart shuddered and I laid myself onto the floor, my chest burning.
I had been weak. So miserably pathetic and shameless. I had loved Damon so blindly, even when he had ignored me and entertained that woman constantly at his side. The old me had hoped our bond would be stronger than the flings he had with her.
Such stupidity.
He rejected me and I had begged him not to.
Tomorrow, Damon would banish me from the pack. I would run into the forest in shame. My frail body would grow weaker from the rejection, and after weeks of torment and surviving in the wild, I would eventually die.
It all happened till I woke up to find myself alive again. In the past.
I clenched my jaw and got back on my feet, ignoring the pain that consumed my body. I closed my eyes and focused, channeling that pain into a part of myself I had to awaken.
I would not let this new chance go to waste.
I would not die this time.