The Alpha's Rejected Queen

Elara's POV

The sharp, metallic scent of blood filled the air as I knelt beside Luca. My hands were trembling as I pressed a cloth to his side, trying to stop the flow. His muscles were taut beneath my touch, the deep gash across his abdomen a brutal reminder of the fight he had barely survived.

Luca Blackstone, the notorious Alpha of the Blackstone Mafia Pack, had once again taken down his enemies. This time however, it didn’t come without a cost.

I shouldn’t be here, I told myself. But I couldn't stay away try as I may. Luca’s eyes were closed, his lips pulled into a frown. His eyes opened and they fell on me. I held my breath, afraid that doing anything would shatter this fragile moment.

The moonlight cast an eerie glow across his face, highlighting the sharp angles of his jaw and the fierce, unforgiving look in his eyes. Even wounded, he exuded power, the kind that made everyone tremble in his presence. Well…everyone except me.

“Sorry.” I mumbled when he winced.

I pressed harder on the wound, my heart racing as Luca’s gaze flicked toward me. His lips were curled slightly, almost as if he was amused by my attempts to help him.

“You don’t have to do this, Elara,” His voice was hoarse as he spoke. “I’ve survived worse.”

“I know,” I whispered. My throat was tight with emotion that threatened to explode out into the surface.

“But that doesn’t mean you don’t need help.”

He didn’t respond immediately. He just continued to stare at me with those icy blue eyes, as if trying to read my soul. I swallowed hard, my pulse quickening under his intense gaze. Being this close to him had to be torture.

I’d spent years watching him from afar, knowing I was nothing more than an insignificant speck in his world. He was the Alpha, the leader of one of the most powerful mafia packs in Nightshade City. And I was just an omega. Weak, insignificant and without any value.

The air between us shifted, a strange tension settling in. As I leaned closer to check another wound, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The scent of his blood mixed with something else, something that made my heart seem to stop. It was faint at first, but unmistakable.

Luca’s scent.

It wrapped around me, warm and intoxicating in its own way. I froze as the realization hit me like a freight train. Luca stiffened too, his nostrils flaring as his gaze darkened.

No. It couldn’t be. I backed my hands away from him and leaned back. The truth was undeniable. I felt the mate bond snap into place with a force that nearly knocked the breath out of me.

We were mates.

Alpha Luca Blackstone was my mate. The man that I’d always secretly yearned for but felt like he was way out of reach. He was my mate.

My hands stilled on his skin as the shock ran through me. My heart started to race, different emotions flooding my chest. After years of feeling invisible and unworthy, I’d finally found the one I could call mine. I was fated to be the mate of Luca Blackstone.

I had no idea that the hope that flared in my chest would be short-lived.

Luca’s eyes that were once narrowed in pain, were now widened with anger. His lips twisted into a snarl as he pushed me away, hard enough that I stumbled back. I was barely able to catch myself as I fell.

“No,” he growled, his voice like ice. “No, this can’t be.”