Chapter1

#Chapter1

The Rejects

Because Omega.

I guess that pretty much sums up my whole life: because omega.

My pack disapproves of me, my parents disowned me, my friends evaded me, and my mate rejected me. Why? Because omega.

Apparently, being an omega in the pack means you're the weakest and you're insignificant. You mean no shit. And sometimes, even their shit means more than you do. And that's really depressing.

I never met my parents since I was born. My aunt took care of me until I shifted. After that, she left me to myself, deeming it unnecessary to notify me that she's kicking me out of her place until she threw my clothes out the window. But it was fine with me.

My clothes make a wonderful confetti, considering how I lack thereof.

Besides, her eldest daughter, Angel, never really liked me. I could easily tell it with the way she glares at me. As holy as her name might be, her personality seems to betray her.

The ones I used to hang out with seems to have amnesia. Apparently, they all decided to never remember my name and avoid eye contact at all costs. At first I was confused, but later on I realized they're all daughters and sons of our gamma, our beta, or our alpha who are all out of my league.

Alpha. Huh. It gives a bitter taste to my tongue.

/"Dione?/" A voice called.

I blinked as I snapped out of it. I guess the bitter taste was the coffee that I was drinking quite absent-mindedly. I looked at the woman in front of me with a frown on her face. With her shoulder length brown hair and azure blue eyes, she's a charmer.

/"What?/" I asked, putting my cup of coffee down the table.

Her eyes penetrated through my soul, /"You were thinking about him again./" She says, her voice sounded more like a statement than a question.

She's one of those friends I used to hang out with but since she's an omega like me, she didn't have amnesia. In fact, we got closer through the years. Too close enough to know how my mind works.

/"I wasn't,/" I mumbled as I fiddled with my fingers and looked out of the glass wall of the café.

/"I wasn't,/" she mimicked in a rather high and annoying voice before her natural voice came back again, /"You were thinking of him. You always have this look when you do./"

/"You seem to know a lot about how I look,/" I deadpan.

/"You look ugly./" She shrugged her shoulders.

I glared, /"I wasn't thinking about him, okay? Really, I wasn't./" When the words left my mouth, it sounded like I was convincing myself more than her.

/"How many times have you said the same thing?/" She raised a brow at me, /"And you're still doing it anyway, so excuse me if I lack faith in your concept of 'moving on'./"

I frowned, /"You haven't even moved on yourself./"

/"At least I wasn't acting like so,/" she stuck her tongue out at me.

/"Whatever,/" I mumbled.

Phoebe huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest but didn't say anything. She doesn't have to. We both know she's right. I wasn't a good liar, and my heart is as transparent as these glass walls.

This coffee shop is our safe haven, I guess. It's quiet, and the smell of coffee calms me down. There weren't much werewolves in the shop, which we're thankful for. The last thing we wanted were wolves with higher ranks looking down on us with a raised brow.

I was watching as life flashed before me; at wolves walking by either by groups or by themselves. Whatever they were doing, everything seemed to be peaceful. Everything seems to be finally being put into place.

Or at least I thought.

I think I just jinxed myself. Because just when I thought everything was perfect, life slaps me hard on the face. I see our future Alpha, Kratos, walking with his hands intertwined with our future Luna, Eris. They were smiling at each other, like time didn't exist in the first place.

I'm sure I didn't take a sip of my coffee, but there was yet another bitter taste at the tip of my tongue. Kratos must've felt my eyes on him, because he glanced my way. I saw how his smile faded before I looked away. I didn't even know I had both of my hands clenched into fists, my knuckles white with tension.

My moss green eyes met with Phoebe's azure blue ones, and self-pity enveloped my very core. I didn't even say anything. We just stared at each other. But she understood. She knows how painful it is. She knew pain when she sees one. Especially when she met pain herself.

/"He seems happy without you,/" she commented, glancing at the glass wall for a moment before looking back at me.

/"Geez, you really have to rub it in?/" I muttered and looked down at my fingers. Seems like my cuticles look more interesting.

She gave me a tight-lipped smile, /"It's okay. Second chance mates exists for a reason,/" she says, trying to sound optimistic. But it seems like she's convincing herself more than me.

/"I don't know,/" I whispered, looking back outside through the glass walls. Kratos wasn't there anymore, just as I expected. /"I never wanted one anyway./"

Silence fell between us.

It was idiotic, but if my mate never really wanted me in the first place, how could my second chance mate want me? For me, second chance mates aren't my second shot for love. It's just a second shit to break my heart. A second rejection. One heartache barely had me wanting to live.

I couldn't imagine doing it the second time around.

I wouldn't want another year of sleepless nights, crying silently against my pillows so no one would hear my agony. Those silent nights where the whispers of despair lived in my mind, barely keeping my sanity to myself. Those woeful nights where my failures echo around the four corners of my room to haunt me.

Those empty nights were spent until the crack of dawn only to feel that the pain feels worse. The pain never goes away even how much you cry it all out. It's always there. And you just wait for the night to come back and repeat everything. It's an unhealthy cycle, however it seems to become a habit until you don't feel anymore.

And it suddenly seems like you've been consumed by too much distress, that a drop of happiness feels so foreign. So different. So out of place. So you just welcome the pain with open arms. Because it's the only feeling that never left you. The only thing that seems permanent.

/"I never lost hope,/" Phoebe says as she played the rim of her mug with her fingers.

/"I don't want to get my hopes up only for it to go tumbling down,/" I answered, finally looking at her. I sighed as I slumped on my seat like a deflated balloon.

/"You still want him,/" she states, a small smile playing on her lips. She didn't even have to ask me, she knew it already, /"Even after everything./"

I bit the insides of my cheeks before I sighed, /"There's nothing wrong with loving someone who doesn't love you back. Especially when he's supposed to be yours in the first place./"

She nodded silently before she took her mug of coffee near her lips.

I stared at her for a couple of seconds before I blurted the words out without thinking, /"Zelos. You still want him too./"

Phoebe almost spat her coffee at my face. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets as she looked at me, /"What?/"

/"You heard me. Don't pretend you didn't,/" I smirked. I like it when the tables are turned.

She puts her mug back down before she spoke, her words came out slowly, /"I saw him yesterday./"

/"And?/"

/"We talked,/" she shrugged her shoulders as if it was no big deal. Well, it was big deal. Our mates who rejected us made sure they completely ignore us all the time. It was a miracle that he talked to her, let alone notice her.

/"And?/" I persisted.

/"He's happy with his chosen mate./"

/"And?/" I sighed, /"Geez, will you cut the suspense and get on with it already?/"

/"He introduced me to his first born pup. You know, the one he had a year ago./"

Oh. Oh. /"That's.../" I trailed off, not sure what to say.

/"Depressing?/" Phoebe finished the sentence for me with a small smile on her face, /"I know. Our topics are always depressing./"

/"Because our lives are always depressing./"

She let out a broad smile, /"True./" No one spoke for a couple of beats until Phoebe bit her lower lip, /"You would've been a great Luna./"

I stiffened. I let out a bitter laugh, /"Kratos thinks otherwise. Apparently, I'm too weak to stand beside him to rule the pack./"

/"But—/"

/"I'm an omega,/" I shrugged my shoulders, cutting her off. I'm grateful that Phoebe believes in me but at the end of the day, it's always Kratos' decision that matters.

I'm an omega, and Eris is the daughter of the Alpha in our neighboring pack. It wasn't a tough competition. Kratos could've chosen Eris even with his eyes closed.

The way Phoebe's eyes dimmed made me know she understands. She's been rejected by the Gamma of our pack, who chose another Gamma as his new mate. And had pups with her. I could only imagine the torture just by thinking about the fact that I'll be dealing with the same thing when Kratos mated with Eris...

I couldn't stand the idea of him having pups with a different woman. Suddenly my coffee isn't hot anymore.

Phoebe and I sat in silence, both enveloped with our own thoughts. I didn't know how many minutes ticked by, or hours for that matter. I didn't even realize that I was lost in deep trance until a beep shortly vibrated against my jeans pocket.

Fishing my phone out, I read a text from Athena in the Pack Infirmary;

Athena: Three rejects.

Dione: I'm on my way.