“I, Merim Klude, alpha of Country Moon reject you, lead warrior Lisa Sole, as my mate and luna.”

Oh, in comes the pain… Wow… The stories were true. Rejection hurts stronger than a silver bullet through the heart. Well if I could survive from a silver bullet, I’ll survive through a sentence.

I looked into his distant and unreadable eyes, struggling through the pain in my heart. “Are you sure? No matter what your reason is, whether it’s to protect me from your enemies or you truly just don’t care, once I leave, I never look back. And I haven’t broken that promise so far.”

I saw his brown eyes start to tinge with gold and I could tell he was fighting his wolf from gaining control.

“Accept… it…” he struggled to say.

“Please…” he whispered.

“I, Lisa Sole, accept your rejection,” I replied without hesitation while maintain eye contact.

As soon as I finished the sentence, I saw him wince and felt a tinge of guilt. I knew he didn’t hate me. He never wanted to hurt me. But that didn’t mean he wanted me either. He knows me. We may not have been the best of friends but we knew each other. We grew up with each other. So he knows. He knows I’ll fight for what I deem worthy to fight for. Just as he also knows he hasn’t given me enough reasons to fight for “us”.

I watch him walk away, struggling to resist the urge to beg me to take him back. I guess I’m not as strong as I make myself to be if took my nose clogging up to realize my face was ridden with tears. Slowly I trudged my body home.

As soon as I closed the front door, I slid down to the floor and cried my heart out. Only when I calmed down did I remember my wolf, Tulip.

Tulip?

[… They are worthy to fight for…]

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I put on a bitter smile.

Maybe they are… But I no longer have it in me to fight for the little reasons.

[Rejection isn’t a little reason…]

No, it isn’t. And that’s why. He’s made his choice. I gave him a chance to take it back. But he didn’t. He knows me Tulip. Just like I know him. He wants to keep me “safe” at the cost of our happiness. I don’t agree with such logic. But I do agree with him on one thing. We cannot compromise on things like these. Besides my warrior instinct to protect not only my pack but also my mate butting heads with his alpha instinct to protect his pack and his mate, our personalities are just too stubborn. I would fight for a day of happiness and then just drop dead than live years of pain. But he wouldn’t. His responsibilities are just too much.

[That’s why you should fight for him. He needs you! Not just as a mate but also a luna!]

… I can’t. I would love nothing more than to run to his side but I can’t… And you know WHY.

I may have emphasized that a bit harsher than I intended too. I heard Tulip whimpering and immediately felt bad for reminding her. But I needed to be rational. I can’t let her run with emotions and instinct again. Especially not with this.

Picking myself up from the floor, I decided to go on a run.

Ready?

[… Yeah…]

Reaching the territory boundary line, I caught the soft scent of calm jasmine green tea nearly masked by a rough assaulting rouge scent. I immediately went on the hunt and found an injured she wolf resting near the base of a large boulder just outside of our territory line.

Shifting back, I went up to her but still within the boundary line. “Shift!” I commanded. I saw her wince at my sharp commanding tone but still she obeyed. I threw her a large shirt we keep near the boundary lines for cases like these.

“State your name and business.”

“Rouge sister of the alpha of New Moon, Eveline Jolin. I came here seeking help from Country Moon on the order of the alpha.”

Well she surely has an interesting story. Rouge but still takes an order from the alpha.

『Merim! 』 I mind linked him. 『Meet me at the territorial boundary near the big boulder. We’ve got a rouge apparently from New Moon seeking help. 』

『Be right there. 』 He replied, like his rejection hadn’t happened and we were like before.

Sighing, my focus turned back to her and I threw her a bandage wrap. She was just about to finish fixing up her wound when they arrived. However before I could even report what happened, “Mate” escaped from the beta Keith’s mouth. I could’ve sworn I saw Merim flinched the moment Keith said that though.

Welp. This just got more complicated.

『Ha… Let’s get her fixed up and backed to the pack house before we continue. 』

『 Yes Alpha.』 We all chorused.