Chapter 5: Reject Her Mate

(Layla's POV)

Eamon stopped walking. He turned back to face her, his expression softening slightly.

"I have always loved you, Ella," he said quietly.

But Ella shook her head violently, not believing him.

"If you really loved me, you would have recognized that she wasn't me!" she cried. "You wouldn't have been so close to that substitute!"

I held my breath, waiting for his response. Deep in my heart, I couldn't help but hope. Maybe he would say something kind about me. Maybe he would admit that our time together had meant something.

Eamon sighed and walked back toward Ella.

"Honey, I have recognized that she is not you," he said gently.

Ella's face twisted with rage. She scrambled to her feet, her fists clenched.

"Then you still wanted to marry her!" she screamed. "I heard that you gave her flowers and dated her!"

Eamon reached out and touched Ella's face tenderly.

"If I didn't do those things, everyone would doubt our relationship," he explained. "We have an engagement. If it was canceled, I would need to find another woman to be my Luna."

Ella's expression began to ease, but her eyes still burned with jealousy.

"But you took her on dates," she whispered. "You gave her gifts."

Eamon's voice became soothing, almost loving.

"That woman is just your substitute. Your parents were so kind to pick her up, but she's just a lowly omega. How could she really replace you?"

Each word felt like a knife cutting into my heart. I pressed my hand to my mouth to keep from crying out.

"She tried to seduce me," Eamon continued, his voice taking on a disgusted tone. "But I didn't accept it. She dyed her hair, but it wasn't as beautiful as yours. It was black and dirty underneath."

My scalp burned where the bleach had damaged it. He had noticed. He had seen my roots and found them disgusting.

"Thinking of keeping my engagement with you, I could only endure the disgust and date her," Eamon said. "I knew you would come back. I have always loved you, Ella."

The world spun around me. Everything he had said to me, every kind word, every gentle look—it had all been lies. He had been disgusted by me the entire time.

Ella's face lit up with joy. She threw herself into Eamon's arms, and he caught her easily.

"Oh, Eamon!" she cried. "I suffered so much while I was gone. The rogues were cruel. They kept me locked up, barely fed me."

Eamon held her close, stroking her hair.

"You're so brave," he murmured. "So strong. You survived and came back to me."

"I killed the one guarding me," Ella said proudly. "I brought back his tooth as proof. I fought so hard to return to you."

"My brave girl," Eamon said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

I watched them embrace, my heart breaking into pieces. They looked perfect together—two beautiful people who belonged in the same world. The real prince and princess.

And I was just a tool. A substitute. Something to be used and discarded when it was no longer needed.

My life with Mrs. Mia hadn't been better than working at the coffee shop. At least there, no one had pretended to care about me. No one had lied to me about my worth.

I had been fooling myself, thinking I could ever belong in this world. Thinking someone like Eamon could ever truly want someone like me.

The prince and princess were together now. It was time for the unimportant supporting character to leave.

I turned away from the painful scene, tears blurring my vision.

But as I tried to move quietly through the shadows, a hand grabbed my shoulder roughly.

"What do we have here?"

I spun around to find Clara standing behind me, her face twisted with malicious glee.

"The little fake, spying on her betters," she sneered.

"I wasn't—" I began.

Clara's hand cracked across my face with a sharp slap.

"Don't lie to me!" she hissed. "I went to check on you and found your room empty. The sheets tied together, the window open. You tried to escape!"

She grabbed my hair, yanking my head back painfully.

"Mrs. Mia is going to be very interested to hear about this," she said, dragging me toward the house.

I stumbled, trying to keep up with her brutal pace. My bare feet scraped against the stone path.

"Please," I begged. "I wasn't trying to escape permanently. I was just—"

"Shut up!" Clara snarled, pulling harder on my hair.

She dragged me through the servants' entrance and up the stairs to the main living area. Mrs. Mia was in the sitting room, her face glowing with happiness as she arranged fresh flowers in a vase.

"Mrs. Mia," Clara announced. "I found her outside, spying on Miss Ella and Mr. Thorne."

Mrs. Mia's expression changed instantly. The joy vanished, replaced by cold fury.

"What?" she demanded, turning to face us.

"She escaped from her room," Clara continued. "Climbed out the window using bed sheets. She was hiding in the garden, watching them."

Mrs. Mia's eyes blazed with anger as she looked at me. I had never seen her so furious.

"After everything we've done for you," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "This is how you repay our kindness?"

"I'm grateful—" I started.

"GRATEFUL?" Mrs. Mia screamed, making me flinch. "You ungrateful little bitch! We took you in from nothing! We gave you a home, food, education, beautiful clothes!"

She stepped closer, her face inches from mine.

"We treated you like family, and this is how you repay us? By trying to run away? By spying on us?"

"I wasn't spying," I said desperately. "I was just—"

Mrs. Mia's hand struck my cheek so hard my ears rang.

"Don't you dare lie to me!" she shouted.

I stumbled backward, my hand flying to my burning cheek. Clara still had hold of my hair, keeping me from falling.

"You know what?" Mrs. Mia said, her voice turning dangerously calm. "I think it's time you learned what the real world is like. I'm going to strip you naked and throw you out on the street where you belong."

Terror flooded through me. I knew she would really do these things, and I can't imagine how I would bear such humiliation and live on after that.

"Please," I whispered. "Please don't—"

"Mrs. Mia?"

Ella's voice came from behind us. I turned to see her standing in the doorway, her hair perfectly arranged, her dress immaculate. She looked like she had never been crying at all.

"Ella, darling," Mrs. Mia said, her tone immediately softening. "Don't worry about this. I'm just dealing with the ungrateful substitute."

Ella's eyes fixed on me with cold satisfaction.

"Actually, Mother," she said, stepping into the room. "I think you should know something else."

Mrs. Mia frowned. "What is it, dear?"

"Eamon told me that she tried to seduce him," Ella said, her voice dripping with false concern. "The poor man was so uncomfortable, but he was too polite to reject her directly."

Mrs. Mia's face turned purple with rage. She whirled on me, her eyes wild.

"You shameless whore!" she screamed.

"No!" I protested desperately. "That's not true! I never—"

"Don't you dare deny it!" Mrs. Mia shrieked, striking me again.

I tried to defend myself, raising my hands to block her blows, but that only made her angrier.

"How dare you raise your hands to me!" she shouted, hitting me harder.

Clara held me in place while Mrs. Mia rained blows on my face and shoulders. Each hit sent pain shooting through my body.

"Stop!" I cried, trying to twist away. "Please, I swear I never tried to seduce him!"

But the more I struggled, the more violent they became. Clara pulled my hair so hard I thought she might rip it out. Mrs. Mia's rings cut my skin with each blow.

"I swear on the Moon Goddess," I gasped through the pain. "I will never be with Eamon Thorne! I will not be his partner!"

(Eamon's POV)

I was driving away from the Graves mansion, my mind still processing the evening's events. Ella was back, safe and alive. I should have felt relieved, happy even.

Instead, I felt strangely empty.

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in my chest. It felt like someone had driven a knife directly into my heart. I gasped, swerving slightly as my hands convulsed on the steering wheel.

Eric, my wolf, howled in anguish inside my mind.

"What—" I began to ask him, but another wave of pain cut off my words.

"Mate rejected us," Eric whimpered. "She swore to the Moon Goddess. She rejected the bond."

The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It felt like part of my very soul was being torn away.

I pulled over to the side of the road, gripping the steering wheel as I tried to breathe through the agony.

"Fix it," Eric pleaded. "Go back. Tell her the truth."

How is that possible? As a future alpha, how could I choose a lowly omega? Ella is the wise choice. She comes from the Graves family and is qualified to become Luna.

The pain would fade eventually. It had to.

(Layla's POV)

Mrs. Mia finally stopped hitting me, breathing heavily from the exertion. I collapsed to my knees, my entire body aching.

"Sophie!" Mrs. Mia called. "Bring me scissors and a razor!"

Sophie appeared quickly, carrying the requested items with obvious glee.

Ella stepped forward, taking the scissors from Sophie.

"Allow me, Mother," she said sweetly.

Before I could react, Ella grabbed a handful of my bleached hair and began cutting. The scissors made sharp snicking sounds as chunks of hair fell around me.

"There," Ella said with satisfaction. "Now she looks like the mess she really is."

My hair hung in jagged, uneven pieces around my face. Some sections were barely an inch long, others hung limply to my shoulders.

Ella wasn't finished. She took the razor and began slicing through my dress, cutting long tears in the fabric until it hung in tatters.

"Perfect," she said, stepping back to admire her work.

I looked down at myself—bleeding, bruised, my hair destroyed, my clothes in rags. I looked exactly like what they said I was: nothing.

"Now," Mrs. Mia said, her breathing finally returning to normal. "Get out of my house."

"Wait," Ella said, holding up a hand. "We can't just let her go."

Mrs. Mia frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ella's smile turned predatory.

"You've given her so many benefits over the years," she said. "She should repay us properly."

"What are you suggesting?" Mrs. Mia asked.

Ella's eyes gleamed with malicious inspiration.

"I have a wonderful idea," she said. "Why don't we marry her to Cassian Thorne? She can ultimately make some contributions to our family. Let her serve that mad wolf in prison!"