I Reject You: The Broken Luna's Royal Destiny

Alanna's POV:

"Renounce your claim as my mate."

Brannon Hoffman's Alpha aura crashed over me like a wave, dominance meant to drive any Omega to her knees. My legs shook, but I lifted my chin and answered, "And if I refuse?"

The study went still. The air was thick with the scent of old books, leather, and the sharp, clean smell of cedar that clung to him. It was the scent I had breathed in for five years in my past life, the scent that had followed me to my death.

He sat behind a massive mahogany desk like a judge about to pass sentence. His handsome face was a mask of cold impatience, his tailored black uniform screaming his status as the heir to the Hoffman Pack.

"You know about Elenore's condition," he continued, his tone void of any warmth. Elenore Gay-the daughter of a minor Pack's Beta, a woman of no rank or mate-bond to her name-had somehow become the center of my husband's world. "The Moon Sickness is consuming her. The doctors say she needs the bond of a powerful Alpha to have any chance of survival."

I listened silently. There was no storm in my chest, no frantic pounding of my heart. The Alanna of my past would have been shattered by these words, her world crumbling. But the woman standing here now only felt a bitter irony. Moon Sickness? A lie so flimsy even a third-rate Pack healer could see through it.

He saw my silence as the same old submission. His tone softened, laced with a condescending superiority. "I know this is unfair to you. But as an Alpha, I have a duty to protect my Pack, and the people most important to me. I need you... to voluntarily renounce your claim as my official mate."

He paused, delivering what he thought was a merciful blow. "You can still remain in the Pack as my second. I'll ensure you and your family are cared for."

I lifted my head, truly seeing him for the first time without the fog of love. He was handsome, powerful, and profoundly selfish. His brown eyes held no guilt, only a fanatical devotion to Elenore and a self-righteous satisfaction in his own "great sacrifice."

My hands didn't tremble. My breath didn't catch. I ran my thumb over the small, faint scar on my right index finger, a relic from my work restoring ancient artifacts. It was my only comfort in my last life, and the source of my strength in this one.

"No," I said. The word was soft, but it cut through the heavy air.

Brannon's brow furrowed. Surprise, then annoyance, flickered across his face. "What did you say?" His voice turned to ice, the oppressive weight of his Alpha aura pressing down on me.

My legs trembled; a cold sweat broke across my back. Every wolf's instinct should have bowed me, but I had no inner wolf to obey, and that hollow emptiness-the very flaw he so despised-was what kept my spine straight.

I met his gaze, my own clear and steady. "I said, no. I will not voluntarily renounce my claim, and I will certainly not be your second."

His cold impatience cracked, a flicker of disbelief crossing his features before it hardened into raw fury. "Alanna Cruz! Don't be a fool! You're a wolfless Omega. Without me, you are nothing!" His roar echoed in the room, making my ears ring.

Wolfless. No inner wolf, no mind-link. It was my greatest "flaw" as an Omega, the reason he had always looked down on me. The old me had shrunk into nothingness under that word.

But I knew now that this "flaw" was also my shield. It insulated me from his emotional manipulation, allowing me to think with perfect clarity.

I took a deep breath, the words I had practiced a thousand times ready on my tongue. "I won't 'voluntarily renounce' you, Brannon. I will 'formally reject' you."

The air in the room froze. The anger on his face solidified into pure disbelief.

"According to Pack Law, Article Seven, the dissolution of a mate bond requires a formal Rejection," I stated, my voice as calm as if I were reciting a recipe. "'I, Alanna Cruz, reject you, Brannon Hoffman, as my mate.' Then, you must respond, 'I, Brannon Hoffman, accept your rejection.' Only then is the ceremony complete."

"Are you insane?" he finally snarled, finding his voice. "Do you know what that means? The severing of the bond! The pain will be ten times worse for you! Your Omega body won't survive it!"

Yes, I knew. In my past life, Elenore had pretended to plead for me, and Brannon had simply cast me aside, letting me wither away in isolation without the formal ritual. He had spared himself the discomfort of the bond-snap.

"I'm well aware," I said, a small, cold smile touching my lips for the first time since my rebirth. "But I don't care. I have only one condition."

He watched me, wary now, as if seeing a stranger. "What condition?"

"The ceremony must take place on the full moon, ten days from now, in front of all the Pack elders and members."

I leaned forward slightly, my voice dropping but gaining weight. "And until that ceremony is complete, Elenore Gay is not to set foot in this main house, nor is she to be presented under any title of a 'future Luna'."

I had thrown the problem back at him. If he wanted to legitimize his relationship with Elenore, he had to endure the public humiliation of being rejected by me.

Brannon's chest heaved, his Alpha rage threatening to crack the very ceiling. He stared at me, his eyes burning holes into my soul. He thought he held all the cards, but he didn't know that from the moment I woke up in this life, I was the one setting the rules of the game.

A suffocating silence stretched between us. I could feel the war inside him-the fury, the confusion, and the sting of a challenged ego.

Finally, he ground out the words through his teeth. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am absolutely certain, Mr. Alpha," I replied with a slight nod, my quiet tone holding an unshakeable force.

He slammed his fist on the desk. The sharp crack echoed through the study. A silver inkwell jumped, rolling off the edge. He flinched back from it-a small, instinctive recoil, the way every wolf shrinks from silver, even an Alpha-and the dark ink bled across the rich carpet.

"Fine! Alanna, you asked for this!" he roared, rising to his full, intimidating height. "Ten days. I hope you don't regret it!"