Chapter 1 One
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.”
My heart was shattering into pieces as he glared at me with pure disgust.
“Luca, I-” I started to say but he cut me off, standing up despite his injuries. His massive frame loomed over me like a dark shadow.
“You? You’re my mate?” His laugh was bitter and harsh.
“An omega? A weak, worthless omega?” His words were like daggers, each one slicing deeper into my already bleeding heart.
I could barely get a word in as he fumed. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t how I expected finding a mate to be like.
“I won’t accept this,” Luca continued, his eyes blazing with hatred. “I don’t need a mate and if I did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be you.”
My throat tightened as I fought back the tears burning behind my eyes. How could he be so cruel? I had known Luca was ruthless, but this... this was just unbearable.
“I didn’t choose this,” I whispered, trying to steady my voice. “Neither of us did.”
“But I can reject it,” he spat, his voice filled with anger. “And I do.”
The air around us seemed to thicken, as if the weight of his words had the power to crush me. The mate bond that had once filled me with hope now suffocated me.
“I, Luca Blackstone, reject you, Elara Winters, as my mate and Luna.” He declared, his voice carrying across the clearing where a few pack members had gathered to witness the scene. His words echoed in the silence, each syllable slamming into me like a punch to the gut.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
The pack members watched, their expressions a mixture of shock and pity. No one moved to stop him, no one defended me. Why would they? I was nothing to them. Just a useless, pitiful omega.
I felt the bond sever at his words, the pain ripping through my chest like a knife. I gasped, clutching at my heart as if that would somehow dull the agony. If only it could.
Luca’s eyes were cold and emotionless as he turned away from me. His rejection was final. I was nothing to him. Not his mate. Not his equal. Just a broken omega who never stood a chance.
Without another word, I turned and ran away from the room. I didn’t stop running even as I passed the pack boundaries. There was no place for me here anymore. The wind whipped through my hair as the moonlight cast shadows on the path before me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
Tears blurred my vision, but I kept going. Luca’s cruel words continued to echo in my mind like a broken record.
“You were never meant to be my Luna.”