The Sixteenth Year.
He kept his hand over my mouth. His brown eyes were staring into mine. The anger in his eyes grew as he further pressed his hand against my mouth. I placed my hand over his wrist, feeling my anger rising. I watched as the emotions in his eyes shifted. The conflicting emotions in him continued to show as he roughly slapped my hand away. He stepped away from me and ran his hand through his blonde hair. He gave out a heavy growl, causing me to raise an eyebrow in question.
In all levels of seriousness, I didn't think I'd find myself stuck in my school's janitor closet with my alpha this morning when I woke up. As usual, I expected my day to go, breakfast, best friends, suffer between the hours of seven and two. After that, go home, shower, train; then had the party my parents and pack decided to throw for me. Pulling my brown hair into a ponytail, I watched as Micheal eyed me. His brown eyes burned with desire as he attempted to step towards me but fell short.
He gave out a growl and turned to face the wall to his right. His eyes began to glow off of the bottle of cleaners as he lifted his fist and slammed it against the bottles. I listened and watched as the bottles fell to the ground, filling the silent closet. He thought he was conflicted with finding out we were mates; imagine my surprise. Here, I thought I'd at least get someone who wanted me, but he was making it seem as though I was the ugliest woman in the world.
"Samantha Analyse Lily, I - " I held my hand up, silencing him. I grabbed my bag from the ground and placed it over my shoulders, then fixed my hair so that it was in a messy bun instead of a ponytail. Pulling the hood of my hoodie up, I returned my attention towards Micheal, seeing a look cross his features. He had seemed surprised that I was getting to leave. I knew what would happen, and the only thing I could do was just let him reject me. He loved my sister too much, and I loved my sister as well.
"Continue," I finally spoke, hearing my voice betrays me. As much as I wanted to pretend that I was okay with this. That I was okay with losing someone, I was supposed to love - someone that was supposed to love, and it didn't work. It made my skin crawl that I was willing to do this for my sister and my pack. I knew that while I also received training to be a Beta in case things didn't work out with my brother, I just wasn't strong enough to be the packs, Luna.
"Samantha Analyse Lily, I, Michael James Moore, reject you as my mate and packs Luna." My body grew weak as it started to burn up. My body's temperature began to rise as I leaned back against the door, feeling myself grow dizzy. The pain had been unbearable as I thoughtlessly grabbed the doorknob to my right and twisted it. The door opened from my weight, causing me to fall out of the room and onto the hard ground.
Small gasps filled the hallway as I closed my eyes. My body was exhausted. I was exhausted, even though I slept for fifteen hours the previous day. This was the rejection process. This was my body fighting against the death that was supposed to happen. At least, from what I grew up hearing. While I had let him reject me, I didn't have time to accept the rejection. Was this something all the rejected mates went through? Was this supposed to be Luna's way of giving mates a second chance? Make them go through something so unbearable that the other mate can't accept the rejection?
"Is that Alpha Moore? What was he doing in the closet with Samantha?" The whispers started to follow me into my own thoughts. I wasn't strong enough to block the rest of the pack. They would all know that I'm supposed to be his mate. Opening my eyes, I went to stand up but found that my legs wouldn't hold me up. When did the strength leave my body? Was it when I fell?
"Mikey, what were you doing in the closet with my sister?" Alexis. What was he going to tell you? Was he going to tell you the truth, or was he going to lie? Allowing my eyes to shift towards Alexis, I watched as she got on her knees and attempted to comfort me. My eyes grew wide as I slapped her hand away from me. This had surprised those who were around and knew us. Alexis, Levi, and I got along like crazy. We were always together and got along a lot better than most siblings.
"She - She wanted to ask me if it was possible to postpone the party for her birthday. She said she hasn't been feeling well all day," The fucking liar, I wanted to scream. A cough escaped my lips, causing my eyes to grow wide in horror. The sight of blood caused my heart to skip a beat as another cough followed. The amount of blood was growing as the others around us started to shout, demanding that someone got a nurse or that they take me to the hospital.
"She was perfectly fine this morning," Alexis spoke, placing her hand on my back. My body tensed at the sensation of her hand. This caused me to fall on my side in an attempt to get away from her touch. I couldn't handle the idea of Alexis knowing that Micheal rejected me for her. Breathing became more challenging as I laid on my side, allowing my eyes to take Alexis in. I could see the fear in her eyes as she leaned in closer. My vision began to haze over as I blinked.
It was becoming harder to keep my eyes open. Another cough racked my body; the taste of blood filled my mouth this time, bringing the horrible reality of me dying closer. Would I ever be able to tell my mom what happened? Would I get to tell my sister and brother that I was finally happy? Would I ever get the chance to experience happiness the way it was intended?
"Sammy, stay awake," Alexis whispered, placing her hand on my cheek. Through a blurred vision, I could see that the truth had slammed into her. She now knew what had happened. Alexis removed her hand from my cheek, her head turned to look at Alpha Moore. I could feel her anger in me through our link, "Why would you do this to her?"
-
Two weeks had gone by since Michael had rejected me. Two weeks I had to bear the guilt of Alexis and Michael breaking up and deal with the backlash. The backlash that I didn't expect to be met with. While most of the pack members had been sympathetic, others hadn't been as much. Some agreed with Micheal rejecting me - as they all knew I wasn't strong enough to be a Luna, and others just simply thought that I wasn't an image match to what the pack was attempting to produce.
Which didn't make sense to me, as Alexis and I were the twins. Though, I had personally believed that everyone was just used to the idea of Alexis and Michael being together. They had been dating since middle school. Everyone had always been under the assumption that Alexis and Michael were mates, especially with how they acted with each other. I guess authentic love did mimic a mate bond.
"Hey, Sammy?" My mother asked, entering my room after a light knock on the door. I looked away from my phone and placed it on the bed next to me. My mother gave me a soft smile that reached her amber eyes. She closed the bedroom door behind her but stopped when my father hissed out in pain. He stepped into the room as well, holding his nose. I bit back my laughter at the sight of my father as he quickly adjusted his glasses.
"I thought I was going to talk to her alone," My mom spoke, grabbing hold of my father's cheeks. She started to move his head around, examining his nose, before she heaved out a sigh and lightly tapped his shoulder. For the life of me, I never understood how Luna made my parents mates. My father was such a nerd, and my mother was a warrior. Quite literally. My father was the pack accountant, and my mother was the head warrior of the pack. The match never made sense to me, but it seemed to work for them.
"It was my idea, though," My father mumbled, quickly stepping further into the room. He leaped towards my bed and landed painfully on my backpack that was hidden under the blankets. A laugh escaped my lips when I watched him give out a groan and roll off to the side, effectively landing on the ground with a thud. My mother rubbed her temples and gave out another sigh.
"John, please. I'm attempting to have a moment with Sammy," My mom's voice seemed a bit stressed as my father quickly got up from his spot on the floor. He was still holding his stomach, showing that he may have genuinely hurt himself when he landed on my backpack. I watched as my parents interacted with each other, making me wonder how they could go through all of their struggles and still be together. They never really talked about their love life and how they discovered they were mates.
They kept their lives private, even from us. Which was something that I envied. Not even our pack knew they were mates until Levi was born. At least, that's what I've heard from other members of the pack who knew my parents when they were my age. My father looked at me; his brown eyes danced with excitement as he pulled something out of his back pocket. He held it out towards my mother, who in turn took the paper and walked towards me.
"Listen. Your father and I started talking, and over the last two weeks, we have come to an agreement that maybe you should leave the pack house until you're ready to come back. Now, goddess knows I didn't raise you three to run from your problems, but goddess also knows that I raised the three of you to take your time to heal from your pain. Alexis is handling the break-up a lot better than you'd like to believe, but you - "
"What your mom is saying is we believe that for you to heal properly - instead of staying locked away in your room the way you have been - is for you to go somewhere away from Moore. With Levi officially becoming the pack Beta, Michael is going to be around our house more, and that's not healthy for you," My father spoke, holding his hand out to me. I stared at his hand, then allowed my eyes to drift towards my mom. She gave me a smile, telling me that everything would be okay.
And deep down, I wanted to believe that. I tried to think that I would be okay with all of this. That I'd be able to get up and go around town and not have to fear the idea of running into him and whoever he chose as his mate. I wanted to believe that I'd be able to return to school and not be afraid of running into him during many of our shared classes, but I was petrified by the idea. I knew that I wasn't strong enough to face him in any way.
"Where would I be going if I decided to leave?" My parents looked at each other, then me. The smiles on their face held excitement as my mother grabbed my hand and placed the paper in it. She used her head, gesturing me to look at the paper. Keeping my eyes on them, I gave out a defeated sigh and opened up the paper to see that there was a one-way plane ticket. I took in the different states, realizing that they were willing to send me across the U.S to heal.
"Which one of you has family from here?" I asked, holding up the ticket. My mom raised her hand, pride filling her eyes. I don't think she understood why I was asking that question. I didn't personally get along all that well with my mom's side of the family. They came from a long line of warriors, Alphas, and Elders. They acted as though they were above others in our society, and even if that were the case, they weren't humble about it.
"Why can't I go with dad's side?"
"I don't know where my family is currently. The last time I heard from my brother, he and his family were traveling in Europe. So I don't feel comfortable with you traveling abroad right now," He immediately replied. This had surprised me, as my father was never this stern. Instead, he was always one to suggest that we take vacations outside of the U.S. I threw my hands up in defeat and stood up from the bed. I couldn't argue with him if he was so quick to dismiss the idea of me spending time with my uncle.
"There's one more matter that needs to be discussed," My mother spoke, gaining my attention. I looked at her, not understanding what else she would need to tell me, "We are going to throw a going-away party for you. This will allow you to say goodbye to anyone you want and to also make up for the fact that we never got to properly celebrate your birthday."
"Mom, no. I don't want to bother others for something like that,"
"Please, it's not every day you get to turn sixteen, and I'm sure Alexis would like to spend one more birthday with you before you leave." My father came to mom's rescue. I knew they were right. Alexis and I didn't get to share our birthday together this year. And knowing that there was a chance that we may not get to share another one for a while, I had to give in. Running my hand through my hair, I gave out a sigh and nodded my head.
"Okay,"
-
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