Chapter 13: THIRTEEN

The rejection Lucas tried to process the words that’d just come out of her mouth, as if he didn’t hear it correctly the first time. He was a stranger to rejection from any female, it showed in his expression but Ava made him know then that there’s always a first time for everything.

“What did you just say?” He asked her, he must have probably heard it wrong the first time.

She went on to explain the reason why.

“I am the future Luna of the moonlight pack Lucas, and I am to be joined with the Alpha who I am betrothed to tomorrow, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're mated with the wrong person.”

“B-but that’s impossible,” Lucas stuttered. “You can’t be betrothed to someone else. Everyone follows the mate law; it is not one you can easily disobey.”

“Everyone except for the Lunas of my pack, we have disobeyed the law for quite a couple of decades now and we’ve been good so far. Once again, I am so sorry but I'm already going to be someone else's Luna. We follow the pack laws and not the one the moon goddess gives us.”

She felt bad for telling him this, but at this point, there was nothing she could do. Her duty came first before anything she desired, Ray had already done his part, she ought to do hers as well.

Lucas didn’t know why, but just hearing the words ‘someone else’s Luna,’ made it feel as if a dynamite had just exploded in his head. The next set of words that came out of his mouth were quick and unexpected but he let them out anyway.

“I don’t care about your pack laws; you belong with me Ava! You are mine! And I'll be damned before I let anyone else have you!!!" He growled with boiling rage.

Ava was taken aback by the way his temper quickly gathered up, staring at him with disbelieving eyes at what he’d just said. It was the audacity for her, just who did he think he was standing there breathing out those words like an angry panther and acting like she belongs to him just because they were mates? No way would she let him, she didn’t want things to go this way before, but he’d pushed her too far with those words of his.

Not batting an eye, she faced him squarely and let the words come out like flowing water from a river.

“I, Ava Maynard, future Luna of the moonlight pack, reject you Lucas De’ Clan as my mate.”

There, she’d said it. At least now he’d know she was serious and he’d finally leave her alone, she didn’t want the rejection to go this way, she’d tried to be rational, she’d tried to be nice, but he asked for it; he should have just accepted it when she told him nicely. But why did she feel so strange? Why did it feel as if she’d just done something she wasn’t supposed to? She looked at him then, looked at those handsome deep blue eyes of his and saw the pain she’d caused him right through it. He didn’t give her a response; it was like he was still trying to process the words she’d said in his head over and over again.

She brushed the small pity she felt for him aside, she was about to turn to leave but then his words stopped her.

“You accepted my claim Ava, you can’t reject me until I allow it.”

There was some truth to what he was saying, a wolf can never reject his/her mate after accepting the claim unless the other mate agrees to the rejection, stupid mate laws. She knew the truth but decided to ignore it. She didn’t care whatever the mate laws said; she would never let him be her mate, whether he agreed to her decision or not. She would never agree to be with someone like him, not with this type of controlling attitude.

“You can’t reject me until I permit you Ava, and you know it,” he repeated, all forms of emotions wiped off from his face.

In response to his statement, she turned around in the direction of Ethan’s car.

“I just did,” she whispered loudly before limping off.

**********

"Great run bunny, so now that we're alone maybe you'll tell me where the hell it is you went on your birthday, and don't even give me that 'you forgot' bullshit," Ethan emitted all of a sudden as she entered the car, sitting beside him.

“I will Ethan, but please can you just get us out of here?” She begged, still looking at Lucas through the windshield, he still stood there in that same position, he hadn’t moved from there since.

“Please,” she pleaded again.

Ethan shook his head and started the car.

“I’ll take you out of here but we’re not going home, we’ll go to a private place where we can discuss, and you’re going to tell me everything.”

“Yes, I will please, but let’s just get out of here first, I don’t want to be here at all.”

Ethan then drove the car out of the gas station and onto the road, leaving Lucas to watch as his mate disappear in the car, again. So, this is how it would all end, this was goodbye forever, just like that, he thought.

**********

“You reek of him Ava; his scent was all over you!!!” Ethan shouted.

He had taken them to a parking lot where they were surrounded by nothing but cars, a good place to have all the arguments they pleased without being interrupted.

“I tried running away from him Ethan, I swear I tried!” Ava gushed out the words with tears streaming down her face, the situation had gone totally out of her control, she now wished she’d never met her mate in the first place.

Seeing the way his tone made her feel, Ethan took a deep breath and had to calm down, but he didn’t reduce the strictness in his voice.

“You have to tell Ray, you can’t keep that secret and be joined with him tomorrow, that would be heartless of you.”

“I tried telling him before,” Ava sniffed, “the words just couldn’t come out at all.”

Ethan smacked his head in frustration. He didn’t expect this at all, especially not from someone like Ava, if she didn’t tell him herself, he wouldn’t have believed this from another mouth.

“Do you even hear yourself? You didn’t try at all Ava, because if you did, none of this would have happened.”

“Please don’t be mad at me Ethan, I promise to make things right, I just need time.”

“There is no time, the joining ceremony is tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell him myself, before the joining ceremony, please let me.”

Ethan sighed, “does anyone else know about this?” He asked.

“Nicole knows I’ve met him but you’re the only one that knows I’ve accepted his claim.”

“And what about your mate? What will you do about him? Now that you both have had intercourse, it would be impossible to stay away from him.”

“I’ve rejected him already, I’m sure it will be enough to keep him away.”

“Do you even know what a claim is Ava?” Ethan gave up on this conversation, he was so not sure that rejection could keep away the guy he’d seen today, but if Ava assured him that she had taken care of him, then he’d take her word for it even though he doubted it one hundred percent; “I just hope you know what you’re doing bunny.”

Ava nodded her head confidently, I hope I do too, she muttered in her thoughts.