I Rejected My Fated Mate, Now He’s Begging In The Rain

Your mother was the Alphas mistress. So, what does that make you?

My fated mate, River, asked me this out of nowhere, right before our mating ceremony.

I stared at him, completely stunned. River, what is that supposed to mean?

It means youre destined to be a mistress too, sweetheart.

He looked at me with a straight face, completely serious. "I want you to be my secret lover. The Elder Betas daughter is a much better fit to be my Luna."

"How dare you?" My eyes widened in disbelief.

A fake, apologetic smile crept onto his face. "Come on, youre just a human anyway. Since your mother could subject herself to being a mistress, why can't you?"

It took me forever to find my voice. "My mother was her, and I am me. I will never be anyones mistress."

"Oh, really?"

He let out a mocking laugh. "Be my secret lover, or we break up."

"Fine. Let's break up."

I had sworn to myself that I would never end up like my motherliving as a shadow in someone elses life, only to meet a tragic end.

But River didnt know that.

He reached out and gently patted my head, as if comforting a pet. "Silly girl, stop throwing a tantrum. You dont even have a wolf. If you leave me, how are you going to survive in the pack?"

"Your mother is dead, and Alpha Richard sees you as his ultimate shame. Only by staying with me will no one dare to look down on you."

I let out a soft, bitter laugh. Who said I needed him to survive?

I had Aunt Lily. She was a human, but she had built a massive business empire abroad.

Just last week, she reached out and asked if I wanted to leave this place and live with her.

I had hesitated because I couldn't bear to leave River.

But now...

I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.

[Aunt Lily, Ive made up my mind. Ill go with you.]

She replied almost instantly: [Thats wonderful! Ill send my private jet to pick you up in three days.]

I should have been thrilled, but tears started pouring down my face anyway.

My chest ached, a sharp, stabbing pain, as if something had ripped a piece of my heart away.

I had planned to tell River about Aunt Lily as a surprise.

Now, there was no point.

Seeing my tears, River assumed I couldnt bear to lose him. He reached over and wiped a tear from my cheek. "Look at you. You cry the second we talk about breaking up. If I actually left you, youd probably die of a broken heart, wouldn't you?"

"Stop fighting with me. It won't end well for you. Just be good and listen to me, and you'll never have to worry about being helpless again."

I sniffled and stayed quiet.

Thinking he had successfully convinced me, River started the engine. But halfway down the road, he suddenly pulled over.

"Oh, by the way, starting today, you need to sit in the back seat. Jade said my passenger seat belongs only to her from now on. I promised her, and I can't break my word."

He turned to look at me. "You know me. Im a man of my word. I promised to take care of you for life, and even if I marry someone else, Ill still look after you."

He smiled warmly at the thought. "You probably don't know yet, but our mating ceremony is in three days. It took me so much effort to get her to agree, so I can't afford to make her angry. Shes not as easygoing as you. She always says she's a red roseif I want her beauty, I have to accept her thorns."

River was completely lost in his sweet fantasy, but I felt as though those thorns had just pierced my flesh. A sharp pain shot through my hand.

I looked down. While unbuckling my seatbelt, I had accidentally grazed a sharp earring left in the console.

My palm was bleeding.

River noticed it too, his eyes widening. "How could you be so careless?"

For a split second, I thought he was worried about me. I was about to tell him I was fine, that this physical pain was nothing compared to my broken heart.

But his next words dragged me straight into the abyss.

"That's Jade's earring! She's a total neat freak. If she finds out her favorite earring was stained by a human's blood, shell be furious!"

So, to him, my blood was nothing but dirt.

My head spun from the pain. I stared at him blankly for so long that a hint of guilt finally flickered in his eyes.

He looked down. "Forget it this once. I'll clean it up for you. Just stay away from her things from now on."

He pulled out a disinfectant wipe and began meticulously cleaning the earring.

My palm was still bleeding. I could feel the warm blood dripping onto my jeans, but I sat there, numb as a statue. I didn't speak. I didn't move.

I just watched him.

After wiping it clean, he wrapped it carefully in a tissue and placed it in the glove compartment. Only then did he turn back to me.

"What are you still sitting there for? Didn't you hear me? Get in the back seat."

My consciousness finally drifted back.

"No need. Ill catch a cab."

"Suit yourself," River said casually. "There's a pack banquet tonight, and I need to take Jade to pick out her gown anyway. Go on home."

With that, he unlocked the doors, let me out, and slammed his foot on the gas. He sped away, leaving me behind.

He didn't care that it was pouring rain outside.

He didn't even bother to leave me an umbrella.

By the time I dragged myself to the bus stop, I was soaked to the bone. People passing by stared at me like I was crazy.

And maybe I was. Even now, my mind was playing a loop of every sweet thing River had ever done for me.

I had known my mother was an Alpha's mistress since I was a child.

She had an affair with the Alpha of the Moonclaw Pack, hoping to use her pregnancy to climb the ranks. But the Luna found out.

Eventually, the Luna had her hunted down and killed.

I grew up in the Moonclaw Pack. Because of my half-human blood and my mother's reputation, the Alpha and Luna never looked at me with anything but disgust. I was a living reminder of betrayal and infidelity.

In the pack, my status was lower than even the lowest Omega.

The adult wolves would whisper and point behind my back, saying the daughter of a mistress deserved to die a horrible death.

But the younger wolves were far more brutal. They would wait for me at the training grounds to throw rocks at me, calling me a bastard.

Sometimes, when no one was around, they would hunt me like prey.

"The daughter of a mistress will definitely grow up to be a whore," they would sneer.

"Look at her trying to seduce everyone. She's even dirtier than her mother."

I knew my mother was guilty, and I knew I carried her shame. So I never fought back. I let them use me as a punching bag.

This went on for years, until the Alpha and Luna were forced to send me to the Pack Academy.

It was a law decreed by the Alpha King.

Every pack had to educate its youth. Every child of an Alpha had to attend the academy after turning eighteen.

Even though Alpha Richard refused to acknowledge me, he didn't dare lie to the Alpha King.

And that was where I met Riverthe son of the Sunward Pack's Alpha, and my fated mate.

"Who says the daughter of a mistress has to become one?"

At school, River stood in front of me, his gaze sweeping coldly over the crowd of bullies. When his eyes landed on the lead Beta, the boy took a step back in fear.

"She is my fated mate," Rivers voice was quiet, but it echoed clearly across the yard. "Anyone who touches her touches the future Luna of the Sunward Pack."

Silence fell over the crowd.

The Beta's son turned pale, his lips trembling, but he didn't dare utter a single word.

From that day on, the bullying stopped.

I didn't really understand what a fated mate was. To be honest, as a half-human, I never thought it applied to me.

Even if it did, I expected him to reject me instantly.

But River didnt. He brought me under his wing.

I genuinely believed it was love.

My life slowly got back on track. River pursued me relentlessly.

He held the umbrella for me in the rain and shaded me from the sun.

Every day after training, he would quietly walk me back to my room.

Once, at the pack cafeteria, I saw a few wolves maliciously pouring leftover soup onto my seat.

River didn't argue. He walked over, picked up the tray of dirty soup, and slammed it down in front of the bully.

His face was calm, but the bully's hands were already shaking.

"Eat it," River said, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.

The bully ate it.

After that, nobody ever messed with my seat again.

I thought that was tenderness. I thought it was devotion, a man protecting his woman. I didn't realize that in the werewolf world, an Alpha heirs urge to protect his fated mate is just a biological instinct, as uncontrollable as the moon pulling the tides.

Before meeting him, I never planned to fall in love. My mother's tragic fate had left deep scars on my heart.

But he had been like a beam of light, slowly chasing away all my shadows until they vanished.

Standing in the freezing, pouring rain, I couldn't understand.

How could someone who was once so good to me turn into this monster?

Suddenly, my vision went black, and I collapsed onto the wet pavement.

When I woke up, it was already dark. I was lying in a bed at the pack clinic, an IV needle hooked into the back of my hand.

The pack healerthe only wolf who had ever shown me any kindnesssighed. "Your emotions are too volatile. You need to calm down and rest."

"Okay," I whispered.

Right then, my phone rang.

It was River. I hesitated before pressing answer.

"Jades gown got ruined," his cold voice came through the speaker. "Go grab the 'Starry Night' gown I ordered for you and bring it over. Jade's going to wear it instead."

*So her name is Jade,* I thought bitterly.

The "Starry Night" gown was a custom piece River had commissioned a designer to make for our mating ceremony.

He used to refuse to let anyone even touch it, claiming it would tarnish our love.

Now, he was casually telling me to give it to another woman.

Honestly, it didn't even matter anymore.

But...

"River, Im at the clinic. I'm on an IV."

"Youre still the Alpha's daughter. You're not that fragile. Don't start playing the victim now, or you'll regret the consequences."

Fine. I would do this one last thing for him. Consider it payment for saving me back then.

Without waiting for the IV drip to finish, I ripped the needle out of my hand. Ignoring the rain, I took a cab home, grabbed the gown, and rushed to the hotel.

River had texted: [Jade is waiting for you at the entrance to thank you. Don't cause a scene.]

"Okay," I muttered to myself.

But the woman named Jade didn't give me a thank you.

She gave me a hard slap across the face.

The force of the blow caught me completely off guard. I stumbled, and the gown slipped from my hands, falling onto the wet ground.

Jade immediately burst into tears, looking incredibly wronged. "If you didn't want to give it to me, you could have just said so! Why did you have to ruin the gown?"

I was a straightforward person. I couldn't comprehend her twisted mind games.

But River seemed to understand perfectly. He rushed out of the hotel lobby.

Jade clung to his arm, crying. "River, is this the 'obedient' girl you talked about? The one who promised not to make things hard for me?"

River glanced at the dirty gown on the ground, instantly drawing his own conclusions.

He slapped me across my other cheek. "Ive clearly spoiled you too much. Apologize to Jade. Now!"

I let out a harsh, dry laugh. "River, aren't you being a bit too quick to judge? Do you even know how the slap mark on my left cheek got there?"

Jade didn't even try to hide it. She tugged at Rivers sleeve. "I did it, River. You're not mad at me, are you? I was just so upset that she threw the gown on the ground. I couldn't help myself."

"You know how bad my temper can get."

River wrapped his arm around her waist. "Im not mad. She deserved it."

Jade flashed me a triumphant, malicious smirk.

I laughed until tears came out. I was so incredibly stupid.

But no matter how stupid I was, they only had three days left to torment me. Once those three days were up, I would vanish from their world forever.

*River, I hope you don't end up like my fatherspending the rest of your life rotting in regret.*

"Im sorry, Miss Jade. I shouldn't have thrown your gown on the ground."

But Jade had no intention of letting me off that easily. "If you're going to apologize, act like you mean it. Otherwise, I won't accept it."

"And how do I show you I mean it?"

"Tell everyone in there that you're begging to be Rivers mistress. Admit that you're just as cheap and shameless as your mother... actually, no. You're worse."

"I don't want to be a mistress. River and I are over."

I reached into my pocket, pulled out the mating ring, and held it out.

"Take it back. We are completely done."

River froze, his eyes locking onto the ring. He didn't reach for it. The ring slipped through my fingers and clattered onto the pavement.

"I say you want to be his mistress, so you do!"

Jade suddenly grabbed a handful of my hair, dragging me violently toward the banquet hall.

"Everyone, look!" Jade screamed. "We have a human here begging to be a mistress!"

Someone in the crowd whispered, "Wait, isn't that Rivers fiance?"

"Ive rejected her," River announced coldly, his voice echoing in the hall. "A human doesn't deserve to be a Luna. Jade is my fiance now."

"Ah, that makes sense," the crowd murmured in realization.

One wolf stepped forward, sneering. "I knew it. The daughter of a mistress has cheap blood. It was only a matter of time. To think you actually defended her back then, River."

Jade piped up, "Exactly! She even slapped herself twice just to play the victim and gain sympathy."

"But our River is a man of honor. He would never fall for her cheap tricks."

As she spoke, Jade leaned heavily into Rivers chest.

I noticed Rivers expression looked incredibly strained, but he still forced a nod. "Jade is right."

Another wave of pain washed over me. Just as I opened my mouth to defend myself, someone splashed a glass of wine directly in my face.

"Lowly human. Always doing disgusting things."

The alcohol burned my eyes and rushed down my throat, making me cough violently. I couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Taking that as a cue, another wolf threw a drink at me.

"Go die, mistress!"

Then came another glass, and another. Some poured it over my chest, others over my head.

One wolf grabbed my jaw, forcing my mouth open, pouring wine down my throat.

I was being publicly humiliated, treated like a piece of trash, while Jade snuggled in River's arms, laughing hysterically.

I couldn't even scream. I was knocked to the floor. Once the drinks ran out, the kicks and stomps began.

It was happening. The nightmare I feared most had arrived.

My mother had gone through the exact same torment before she died.

The reason I had agreed to break up with River so quickly was because I was terrified of this day.

Yet, it still found me. Wrapped in lies and frame-ups.

The darkness that River had once chased away came rushing back, swallowing me whole. But this time, there was no light left for me.

My light was shining on someone else.

Through the gaps in the crowd, I saw River laughing with Jade. He laughed so hard he seemed to have tears in his eyes.

He must be so happy.

*River, why were you the one who rescued me from hell, only to throw me right back into it?*

With every ounce of strength left in my body, I screamed, "I, Rose Miller of the Moonclaw Pack, reject River Johnson of the Sunward Pack as my fated mate!"

Then, like a madwoman, I broke through the crowd and ran toward the rooftop helipad.

Perhaps realizing what my mother had done, River's face drained of color. He chased after me, screaming in terror, "Rose! No! Don't do it!"

But I wasn't going to jump. I wasn't going to die like my mother.

I ran toward the sky, climbing the rope ladder hanging from the hovering helicopter, step by step.