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Chapter 1
Leah's POV
"You can't do anything right. How many times have I told you that you should fold these napkins diagonally? Is that really that hard or are you just trying to intentionally piss me off?"
My mother-in-law, Rosalie, with her arms crossed, stood in front of me, looking like a queen.
She leered at me, her omega daughter-in-law, who was sitting on the floor, trying to cover my bruised cheek with trembling hands.
"Sorry, Ma'am. But I folded them diagonally. I really did.." My voice was lower than a whisper.
"Are you kidding me?! Do you think I'm stupid?! You imbecile omega! Do you think that getting married to my son gives you the right to challenge and diminish me?!" Rosalie threw the napkin case at me.
I didn't dare to dodge, so the iron case hit me on the side of my forehead. Blood started falling down, blurring my sight.
I tried to wipe the blood off my face and said, "Sorry, Ma'am. I wouldn't dare to do things like that. I remember that I folded those napkins yesterday according to your requirement. Someone must have tampered with them..."
As I was talking to Rosalie, I saw a tiny blonde girl from the corner of my eye.
As usual, Josephine was gloating at the expense of my misery.
When she noticed that I saw her, she immediately hid the smirk on her face to become sentimental and concerned.
"Rosalie, please don't give Leah a big hard time. Omegas are supposed to be a bit backward. Their learning curves are long. But once they've learned their lesson, they will remember it for the rest of their lives." Josephine laid her tiny little hands over Rosalie's shoulders.
"Ah, you're right, darling. How I wish that you could be my daughter-in-law instead of this clumsy chimp! She can't do anything right! I really don't understand why my son has to get married to a retarded girl like her. She's so annoyingly useless, weak, and stupid." Rosalie rubbed her forehead and said.
Josephine's lips curled up at a sarcastic angle. "Rosalie, you know that Lucas is just trying to do the right thing. He needs to marry his mate for the sake of our pack, even though his mate is a lowbred omega. That's just a huge sacrifice that he has to do as the Alpha of our pack. Rosalie, I've known Lucas for my entire life and he's like an elder brother to me. For every second of my life, I just can't help but appreciate that you've raised your son to be such a decent, noble man. He has always been my hero, my protector, my..."
She didn't finish her kissass speech because she heard the steps coming from the corridor.
As the door swung open, a hulking figure strode into the room, filling the space with his imposing presence. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of his shirt, highlighting the bulging muscles beneath.
Every step he took was purposeful and confident, commanding the attention of all those around him.
His striking features were the stuff of legend - raven black hair that shone like silk under the light, framing a chiseled jawline that could cut glass. But it was his piercing blue eyes that drew you in as if they could see straight into your soul. The intensity in them was enough to make even the bravest of souls shiver.
My husband Lucas Farrow, Alpha of the White Walkers Pack, surrounded by soldiers, striding into the room, with all the servants bowing at him along his way.
"Luke! You're back from Skagen City early! I miss you so much!" Josephine flew toward him like a little lark, wrapping her arms around his neck, like a little girl begging for candies from her elder brother. Only in Josephine's case, I knew what she was begging was a kiss.
At first glance, Lucas appeared cold and cruel, his expression unreadable. But as soon as his eyes landed on Josephine, something shifted in him. His demeanor softened, and a tenderness crept into his gaze. At that moment, he seemed to shed the hard exterior that he had worn like armor. He became a different man - a man who was capable of great love and devotion. It was as if she had unlocked something within him, something that he had been hiding away for too long.
And as he leaned over to her and held her up in his arms, his every movement oozing with confidence and desire, it was clear to everyone in the room that this was a man who knew what he wanted, and who would stop at nothing to get it.
Only, I, his wife, sitting on the floor with a bruised cheek and blood covering my face, wasn't the one he wanted.
I hadn't seen my husband for a week and didn't want to greet him like this.
I wiped the blood off my face, trying to get up by pulling a table leg.
In a panic, I knocked off a vase on the table and it was smashed on the floor.
Everyone was looking at me, including my husband.
"What have you done?! Stop making a scene, you stupid girl!" Rosalie raised her voice while staring at me.
"I'm so sorry..." I crouched down, trying to clean up the mess on the floor.
Then, I saw a pair of leather boots in my view.
I looked up and saw my husband standing right in front of me, gazing down at me.
I immediately blushed and lowered my head.
In the past five years of our marriage, I seldom had his full attention like this.
He leaned down, stretched out his slender fingers, and lifted my head, forcing me to look at him.
"What happened to your head?" His cold, indifferent voice was like a razor-sharp surgical knife, peeling my scalp.
"I'm sorry, Alpha..." I whispered. My knees buckled because of his touch. The tips of his long, slender fingers were as cold as his voice.
As much as I wanted to call him "Lucas" affectionately like Josephine, I knew I couldn't.
Being his mate and wife for five years, I wasn't allowed to call him by his name or look at him without permission.
"I'm asking you what happened to your head, and you answer me by giving me an apology." His perfect brows were marred by a slight frown.
I tried to look for some evidence of sympathy in his detached voice, but I failed.
His eyes gleamed with emotions that I couldn't fathom.
My mouth was dry.
"I..."
I took a glance at Rosalie, who had a dark expression on her face, warning me not to tell the truth.
"I tripped over something and bumped my head against the table..." I flushed scarlet.
Lucas put his hands around my shoulders and stared into my eyes.
"You should be more careful." He said in a tender voice. He had never talked to me in a passionate voice like that.
Is he... feeling concerned for me?
Chapter 2
Leah's POV
I felt the butterfly in my stomach, the lump in my throat, and the burning sensation in every inch of my skin. My heart was pounding so fast that I wouldn't be surprised if it suddenly stopped functioning.
Lucas stroked my hair behind my ear. As his fingers flicked across my ear, my whole body started shivering.
Then, he drew himself closer to me. For a brief moment, I thought he was about to kiss me.
I bit my lips so that I didn't make any awkward moaning sound.
I looked into his eyes. He was so close, yet so far away from me.
Then, I realized that he was just checking out the scar on my forehead.
He looked a bit surprised because the scar was almost healed.
He cleared his voice and said, "Your blood is precious to Josephine. Your blood is the only cure to stabilize her condition. You need to be more careful."
The moment he let go of me, I felt that someone was peeling off my skin.
The excruciating pain made me curl up in a ball of fear.
Josephine wrapped her hands around Lucas' arms and said, "Come on, Luke. Tell me about everything in Skagen City!"
"I'll tell you everything later." Lucas' voice was full of affection and admiration. "Now, I've got a gift for you. It's in the living room. Why don't you go and take a look?"
"Oh, Luke. You're so kind. You don't have to bring me a present every time you see me." Josephine looked flattered.
Then, she took a triumphal look at me and asked Lucas, "Luke, what is the gift?"
"You can go downstairs and take a look at it yourself."
"Is it the thing that I've always wanted?" Josephine's big round doe eyes widened with surprise.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise." Lucas' lips quirked up with a faint smile.
"Oh, Luke! I love you! I love you! I love you!" Josephine quickly tiptoed and pecked Lucas' face before running out of the room.
A moment later, she came back, tittering and giggling like a little girl, with a giant pendant necklace on her long, swan-like neck.
I recognized that pedant immediately.
It was a giant sapphire stone cut into a heart shape. It was the wedding gift that Lucas gave to me on our wedding day.
I only wore it once. As soon as Josephine saw it, he immediately showed a great interest in it.
I couldn't believe Lucas would give that pendant to her.
"How do I look, Lucas? Does it make my eyes brighter?" She circled around Lucas, jumping up and down like a little bunny.
Lucas caught her, held her in his arms, and gave him a long, passionate kiss on her hair.
"Do you like your gift?" He asked Josephine.
"Like it? I love it!" Josephine exclaimed while clapping her hands.
She glimpsed at me like a guilty child. Then, she immediately turned to Lucas, looking sad.
"What happened, Jo?" Lucas asked.
"It's nothing." Josephine lowered her head and said in a sentimental voice, "I'm just thinking, Basil would be so happy to see me wearing this necklace if he was alive."
Hearing Basil's name, Lucas' face immediately became clouded.
Basil used to be his Beta and best friend. He passed in a battle a few years ago and entrusted his younger sister Josephine to Lucas before he passed away. They were supposed to get married until I, Lucas' mate, showed up.
I still kept the photo that someone sent me on our wedding day. It was a picture that shows Lucas holding Josephine in his arms. They were so close and I wasn't sure if they were kissing each other.
On the back of that picture, there was only one sentence -
You are the third person in this marriage.
I knew it was sent by Josephine. But I didn't tell anyone.
My husband and mate was breathtakingly handsome man as well as the leader of the most powerful pack in the North. No woman in their right mind would resist his look and charm.
Being his mate and Luna, I knew I had to put up with a lot of inconveniences to maintain the legitimacy of our marriage and the decency of my husband.
It's for the better of the pack.
"Come downstairs with me, Luke. Today's such a beautiful day and you're back. I'm wearing such a beautiful necklace. Why don't we have a picnic at the lake? Leah will cook for us! Will you, Leah?" Josephine raised her eyebrows while staring at me.
"Yes, Miss." I lowered my head and whispered, trying to pretend that everything was OK with me.
"Go ahead and get ready for our picnic trip. I'll join you later," Lucas said to Josephine in a soft voice.
Josephine nodded and winked at him.
After Josephine was gone, Rosalie leered at me and said, "Why are you lying on the floor like a piece of trash? Are you trying to win anyone's sympathy? Clean up the mess that you've caused and go do the washing now."
"Yes, Ma'am," I whispered, quickly taking up the shattered pieces on the floor.
My head was buzzing. My vision blurred. Some of the shards were embedded into my flesh, but I could no longer feel the pain.
Nothing would rival the excruciating pain of being ignored by my own mate.
Rosalie rolled her eyes and me and said to Lucas, "I've talked to Doctor Jafar today. He suggested we should increase the frequency of blood transfer to three times a day."
My heart sank.
I pleaded desperately, "Ma'am, Alpha, please don't do this to me. Twice a day is already too much for me. That's why I keep fainting and being scattered all day round. I really can't afford to do it three times a day..."
"I'm trying to have a private conversation with my son. Who do you think you are to interrupt our conversation?" Rosalie looked crossed.
"And don't look for lousy excuses for yourself! You keep messing up because you're clumsy," she added.
Lucas held his mother's hands and said, "Mother, please go downstairs and I'll talk to her."
Rosalie gave me a dark look and walked off.
The whole room was suddenly empty, with me and Lucas alone.
Lucas looked down at me and broke the silence -
"OK, tell me how much money you want for the blood transfer. Name a price."
"I want nothing from you, Alpha," I answered in a low voice, trying to scrape off the blood stains on the floor with a sponge, but more blood kept dripping on the floor from my head.
Lucas sighed. He took out his mobile and fiddled with it for a while. Then, put down his phone and said, "I've just wired another three million dollars into your account. Increase the volume of blood transfer to three times a day, and you'll get three million for each transfer."
"Alpha, I don't need your money..."
"So what do you want?" He started to look impatient.
"Why do you give my pendant to Josephine?" I asked.
"Are you answering my question with another question?" He frowned.
"You gave that pendant to me on our wedding day. Do you remember?"
My voice wasn't loud, but it managed to surprise him.
"Josephine likes it, so now it belongs to her. Do you have any problems with that?" Dark clouds started gathering on his face. A storm was impending.
"What do you need it for anyway? You never go to parties or balls," he added.
You are the third person in this marriage.
Five years of marriage in exchange for this. I failed on so many levels and I was failed by my mate.
I gave up.
I threw the blood-soaked sponge on the floor and said in a calm, steady voice, "I never go to parties or balls because I have never been invited in the first place. Also, I've been too busy folding napkins and giving another woman my blood."
I had never spoken so many words in a sentence to my mate.
My voice was still quiet, but I managed to make my message clear.
Lucas had an incredible look on his face.
For the first time in his life, he managed to really see me.
"You... " he mumbled.
I could sense the nervousness in his voice.
"Yes, me. I'm standing right in front of you. I used to be your Luna, your mate, the service maid and nurse for your mother and your dearest Josephine. But now, I am only myself. A free, independent woman, who wants to have nothing to do with you anymore."
Lucas looked at me like his world was turned upside down.
"What do you mean?" He asked in an anxious voice.
"You've heard me," I replied and wiped the last drop of blood on my forehead. "I'm rejecting you, Lucas."
"Reje... No, you can't do that." His voice turned high-pitched and dry.
For the first time in my life, I sensed fear in his tone.
"I can do whatever I want, Lucas. So, watch me." I stood up, and stepped forward to close the distance between us.
"I, Leah Eleanor Lewyn of the Defiant Pack, reject you, Lucas Logan Steele of the White Walkers Pack, as my rightful mate."
Chapter 3
Lucas' POV
Did this woman just... reject me?
Is she trying to get my attention by angering me? Apparently sometimes women do that. But Leah doesn't come across as needy as Josephine. She has never ever bothered me up till now.
So, what's that all about?
I was bewildered.
To be honest, I had never really paid attention to this woman in the past five years of our marriage.
Our marriage was nothing but a simple piece of contract, on which everything was arranged -
As my mate, Leah will basically do whatever I ask her to do, including giving blood donations to Josephine on a regular basis. The thing is, Jo was diagnosed with an unknown blood disease five years ago and she needs a specific type of blood to sustain her life. Fortunately, Leah's blood is the right match.
In return for donating her blood to Jo, Leah will get my gratitude and thanks, which is realized by a substantial amount of allowance every month. At the same time, since the Luna position has to be filled by my mate, we will have a wedding to announce our marriage to the world and she will stay in our pack as my Luna in name.
That's pretty much all about the contract. Apart from the contract, well, we consummated once on our wedding day to finalize our bond and I had never touched her ever since that.
Well, to be more precise, I had seldom seen her in my life, let alone talked to her.
But for my justification, I didn't mean to ignore her. Being the Alpha of a wolf pack is a trade that I've been traind for all my life. It means responsibilities and obligations.
What can I say? I am a busy man, traveling around our Kingdom, having audiences with the Lycan King, dealing with domestic finance, and, from time to time, defending our pack's territory.
I simply don't have time for staying with irrelevant people.
It's very torturing for a werewolf not to be able to have sex with their mate, but I ask the warlock for a special kind of potion to bring relief to our ailments. So, I'm sure she's well taken care of in that area.
In the past five years, everything went well. Nothing explained. Nothing complained.
But Jo's condition seemed to deteriorate these days. So her physician, Doctor Jafar, suggested increasing the volume of blood donations.
Apparently, Leah was unhappy because of the amendment of the contract. I understand her frustration because of the impact of blood loss on her health, but she could have negotiated with me on terms and numbers instead of rejecting me.
I felt so confused.
"Leah, tell me what this is really about. Do you need more money?" I asked.
Shivering like a little fox, Leah clenched her little fists. I could see tears circling in her eyes.
"Accept my rejection now." She said in an authoritative, commanding voice.
I couldn't remember what her voice used to be like, but it certainly didn't sound like this.
She crossed the line.
Mate or not, she was just an omega and she wasn't supposed to talk to her Alpha in this kind of voice.
"What's the matter with you? Stop talking to me in that voice." I said.
She stepped forward and grabbed my arm. Her eyes were gleaming with resolution and determination.
"Do you accept my rejection, Lucas?"
Her grip was firm and powerful. It didn't match her physical size and it certainly didn't match her status in a pack. An omega was supposed to be weak. There was no way for an omega to have the guts to grab me like this and grilled me with this kind of pressing question.
Plus, she got me suspicious when the wound on her forehead magically healed by itself with my own witness. When I got into the room, her wound was still bleeding badly. But as soon as she looked up at me a few moments later, the wound magically disappeared.
At that very moment, I realized that I literally didn't know anything about this girl to whom I had been married for the past five years.
Who is she?
Leah's POV
"Do you accept my rejection, Lucas?" I asked.
Lucas stared at me with confusion.
As the first stray of afternoon sunlight emerged, the orange light pierced the tranquility in the garden and filtered in through the window, illuminating my mate's beautiful, chiseled face.
That sight was both heartbreaking and pitiful.
My wolf warned me about this.
"He will never fall in love with you." She whispered in my mind before Lucas took away my virginity.
For so long, I had been blind to the truth. I had believed in the fairy tale of love, the idea that once two people were joined together by the Moon Goddess, they would stay together forever against all odds.
But when I looked into Lucas' eyes, I saw nothing but my own reflections floating like ghosts above a bleak tundra.
My wolf was right. In the past five years, no matter how hard I tried to please him, he still had no feelings for me.
When the harsh reality of my situation had come crashing down on me, I stood there with my mind flooded with remorse. I racked my brains, trying to look for drops of memories of happier times, moments of tenderness and affection that, despite being so scarce, still indicated that my husband acknowledged my love and devotion to him.
I found nothing.
Not a single trace of evidence could be misinterpreted into love.
Where it has all gone wrong? Is there anything that I could do to reverse the relationship between us?
But even as I pondered these questions, I knew that the answers didn't matter.
What mattered was the fact that my heart was broken, that the man, to whom I had given the most precious five years of my life, had never ever cared for me in the same way.
Lucas' eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at me. His mouth hung open, but no words escaped his lips. It was as if his voice had been silenced by the sheer shock of what he had heard.
As soon as the confusion in his eyes was replaced by the usual look of indifference.
He threw my hands away and said, "You must be delusional. You don't know what you're doing right now."
"I know exactly what I am doing. I am rejecting you." I said as collected as I could.
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