Wolf Awakening Ceremony, Moonwillow pack.
"Viola Linden, I reject you as my sworn mate and recede my claim on you!"
Evan, the Alpha Heir of the Moonwillow Pack, announced, his voice echoing in the suddenly silent halls.
Those words rang inside Viola's head like a broken bell long fallen to the ground, but the echoes still remained in the air. She couldn't believe he had said those words, It felt like an illusion, an impossible dream unfolding before her eyes but the sharp pain in her chest made it clear to her that it was reality. Evan...her Evan who had cared for her, just an hour ago he had promised her a lifetime of togetherness. She was his sworn mate and he had laid his claim on her, the moment she got her wolf he would mark her and nothing would be able to tear them apart in this lifetime. But...he was rejecting her?
"Evan, you can't—" Viola's voice broke as she shakily reached out to hold his trousers. He had pushed her away from him, making her fall to the floor after her wolf didn't surface at the moment when everyone who had come of age had begun to transform.
"Don't you dare touch me, you little piece of shit." He gritted furiously, looking down at her with disgust in his golden eyes, like she was dirt he would step on. A while ago he had been making eternal promises to her, now he looked at her like absolute scum, the disbelief and pain were heavily pressing down her chest. Not even in her wildest dreams had she ever thought a day would come where Evan would treat her this way.
"I will not take a wolfless, arrogant bitch as my mate nor my Luna."
As if rejecting her before everyone in their pack and the guests wasn't enough, her sworn mate reached out his arm and put it around the beautiful, red-haired, innocent-looking woman next to him, causing Viola's eyes to widen in disbelief.
"Leni is my mate and the future Luna of the Moonwillow Pack. You are not accepted here anymore, Viola," the Alpha Heir announced.
Viola's eyes fell on Leni's fair neck, where a visible mark could be seen, proving the fact that her sworn mate had marked another woman. A woman he pretended to dislike, and whom they all thought would end up an Omega for her meekness.
Leni was the pack's delicate, innocent flower, the meek young woman, or so she had made everyone believe, because at this moment she was looking down at Viola with a subtle smile of victory.
Her.
Viola Linden, the daughter of the Moonwillow Pack's Beta, whom many looked up to and gave everything to because they believed she would be their future Luna, for she and Evan were inseparable.
She was now reduced to this.
Someone rejected in public.
How could he do this to her when they had been together since childhood?
She was supposed to get her wolf today when she turned nineteen. Many had anticipated this day, as others were turning with her, but everyone except her had gotten a wolf.
Viola had been confused about why she didn't get a wolf, but it didn't stop there. Not only did she turn out to be wolfless, her pheromones suddenly became strong enough to make the men lose control. But when they realized it was coming from her, a wolfless, they all stepped away in disgust, including Evan, and worse, her parents and family.
Now on the floor of the great hall of the awakening ceremony, Viola, who rarely let emotions affect her and feared little, felt exactly that.
Fear.
Because she knew where her fate would land her if Evan didn't stand by his promise to mate with her. Not that it was possible anymore when he had marked another, but as the Alpha Heir, his words carried authority and could save her today.
Otherwise, she would be doomed for life.
Being wolfless and unmated in the world of werewolves was the worst fate anyone could fall into.
Crawling on the floor, she reached to hold him again, swallowing her pride and dignity as she pleaded, "Please don't do this to me. You know what will happen to me if you don't accept me. You—"
Evan let out a cold laugh, his arm tightening around Leni, who clung to his side while looking down at Viola with something that looked like pity, but Viola knew better.
"I never knew Viola Linden would ever beg anyone," he said with a smirk. "Are you so afraid of the fate the wolfless and unmated have that you would beg me? Poor thing."
He leaned down and whispered so only she could hear, "I never actually wanted to make you my mate, Viola, and the Moon Goddess has just given me the chance to turn you away. You are a selfish bitch. I would have loved you if you were not so full of yourself. Leni is the one I wanted from the start."
Viola, too shocked and in disbelief, turned to look at him. "I thought… you hated Leni?"
Evan scoffed. "She and I have been having a good time while you were busy doing my assignments to make me pass the Alpha test. Thanks to you, I passed, and thanks to you, I have the power to protect my mate. Enjoy your days being a Hollow, Viola."
A Hollow, the lowest of lows in a pack, even lower than the omegas...was that going to be her fate from now?
He smirked and then pulled back, seemingly enjoying the devastation and shock in her tear filled blue eyes.
Why?
That was the only question running through Viola's head.
She had given him her time and attention, going around and paying people to steal information, going behind her father's back to spy and give him what he needed to become Alpha instead of his brother.
In the end, he rejected her and chose Leni, who had never done nothing to help him.
Enjoy your days being a Hollow.
Those words sent panic through her, strong enough to overpower the betrayal. She turned to look around at everyone, covering their noses and staring at her like something dragged out of a sewer.
No.
No, no, no.
She couldn't become a Hollow.
Viola turned to her parents standing at the side along with her sister and brother, and before she even moved to their side to plead with them for help, they all stepped back.
That action alone was a clear sign that they did not want her anymore.
Not you too. Not after everything I did for your sake.
"Mom, Dad, help me. Don't let this happen to me. I can't be a Hollow. Please. I will do anything you tell me to, don't let this happen to me." She screamed in agony, rising to run to their side for help, but her father, the Beta of the Moonwillow Pack, barked at the Deltas surrounding the hall.
"Take this filth away from here before she stains us further!"
"Take her away so we can finally breathe clean air!" others chimed in, people who an hour ago had been saying they couldn't wait for her to become their Luna. Someone even stepped forward and kicked her hard in the gut before she could reach her father's side, sending her falling back with such force it felt like her spine had broken.
Viola was oblivious to the pain at that moment, because she knew what came with being reduced to a Hollow was worse than this.
She couldn't be a Hollow.
She looked up to beg Evan again or anyone who would listen, but her eyes met his mate instead, who was smirking, the pack's innocent flower.
"Please hurry and take her away so my mate can breathe. Look at him, he looks so sick," Leni said as she rubbed Evan's chest, looking at Viola with pity.
Viola's pride was destroyed.
Her parents had clearly disowned her by stepping away. The people who once liked her had humiliated her, and her reputation had been reduced to nothing by being rejected.
What else could she lose?
Something hot, angry, and bitter trickled down her face as she looked at the two of them and the crowd, and at the approaching Deltas who were going to take her away.
Evan's green eyes flickered in surprise at the sight of her tears. It was the first time he had ever seen her cry in front of him. He almost smiled at the fact that he had made the pack's ice queen cry, but then he realized they weren't tears of sorrow.
They were tears of rage.
Viola saw nothing but red.
She pushed herself up from the ground like a rising phoenix. She wanted to spill blood. She felt something hot surge inside her, something she had never felt before, born from resentment and the betrayal of everyone around her.
But as she moved to attack, Evan, who knew her too well, saw it coming.
He grabbed her by the neck, choking the air out of her as he slapped her twice with his other hand, so hard she tasted blood on her tongue and her vision blurred.
"Bitch, you think you can attack my mate in front of me?" he whispered. "You have served your purpose for me in life. You always made me feel like a fool, Viola. It's time you taste it. Nobody likes you, not even your adoptive parents. You can never amount to anything after this again."
He slapped her again, not remembering all the times she had taken the blame for him and given him everything. Not remembering that it was because of her sleepless nights and hard work that he would be crowned Alpha.
The pain of his blows was nothing compared to the pain tearing through her heart as he tossed her into the Deltas' hands and pulled his mate back against his side.
"Take her away."
No. No. No.
Viola screamed inside her head, but the words never reached her bleeding lips as she stared at Evan and the crowd.
Being a Hollow was worse than death itself, and Viola realized she would have preferred death over this fate.
Because she knew, just like everyone else, that there was no way out of this hell.