Rejected by Her Mate, Claimed by Four Alphas

CHAPTER 4

Clara's POV

I stood frozen in the doorway, unable to move, unable to breathe. The scene before me refused to make sense, like pieces from different puzzles forced together.

My sister. In Jaden's bed. Pregnant.

Liana's eyes met mine, and for a split second, I saw surprise flicker across her face. Then her lips curved into a smile that held no warmth, only triumph.

"Clara," she said, not bothering to cover herself. "You should really learn to knock."

Her voice broke the spell. I stumbled into the room, my legs barely holding me up.

"What is this?" I whispered, though the answer was painfully clear.

Jaden emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. He stopped when he saw me, but unlike Liana, he at least had the decency to look uncomfortable.

"Clara," he said, my name sounding foreign on his lips. "You shouldn't be here."

A laugh escaped me, harsh and broken. "I shouldn't be here? In my mate's chambers?"

The pieces fell into place with sickening clarity. The wedding delays. Jaden's growing coldness. Liana's sudden prominence in pack meetings and events.

"How long?" I asked, my voice barely audible over the roaring in my ears.

Liana stretched languidly, displaying her swollen belly without shame. "Long enough," she purred. "Did you really think he wanted you? A warrior playing at being Luna?"

Each word was a dagger, twisting deeper with every syllable. I turned to Jaden, desperate for him to deny it, to say this was all a terrible mistake.

"Why?" I asked him. "If you didn't want me, why keep me believing the lie?"

Jaden ran a hand through his damp hair, sighing as if I were a troublesome child interrupting his day. "It wasn't planned," he said finally. "But after what happened today at the meeting... you've never understood what it means to be Luna."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You challenged me publicly, Clara. You undermined my authority in front of the pack," he said, his voice hardening. "It's not the first time either. You're constantly trying to take control, to be the Alpha instead of standing by my side as Luna."

The accusation stung deeper than I expected. "I was only trying to help—"

"No," he cut me off. "You were trying to lead. That's not a Luna's role." He hesitated, then added, "And there's more. Liana's bloodline is stronger, purer. The pack needs that strength."

"Bloodline?" I repeated, disbelief coloring my voice. "We're sisters. We share the same bloodline."

Liana laughed, the sound slicing through me like glass. "Sisters?" She spat the word like poison. "Is that what Mother told you?"

The room seemed to tilt beneath my feet. "What are you talking about?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Her eyes gleamed with cruel delight. "Mother found you in a garbage dump when you were just a few days old. Some wolf took pity on the garbage baby and brought you home."

The words hit me like a physical blow. "You're lying," I whispered, but even as I spoke, doubts crept in.

The way Mother always favored Liana. The subtle differences in our appearances. The way pack members sometimes looked at me when they thought I wouldn't notice. I had always thought it was just peopel being peopel and when Jaden started postponing our wedding, I thought it was merely... judgemental looks.

"Tell her, Jaden," Liana urged, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "Tell her why your bond never felt right. Tell her why the wedding kept getting postponed."

Jaden couldn't meet my eyes. "Your wolf lineage is... uncertain," he said finally. "We don't know where you came from. Who your parents were. If you're worthy of being a Luna."

My knees buckled. I reached for the wall to steady myself, the room spinning around me. Garbage baby. Uncertain lineage.

"That's not possible," I said, my voice strange in my ears. "The goddess chose us as mates. You felt the pull. I felt it."

"The goddess made a mistake," Jaden said flatly.

My legs gave out. I slid down the wall, landing hard on the floor. My entire life had been built on lies. My family. My place in the pack. My mate bond.

"You kept me waiting for a wedding that was never going to happen," I said to Jaden, the truth dawning on me with horrifying clarity. "You just didn't have the courage to end it."

"I was trying to spare you," he said, but even he didn't sound convinced.

"Spare me?" My voice rose. "By humiliating me in front of the entire pack? By making me believe something was wrong with me?"

My wolf stirred within me, breaking her silence as pain coursed through me. "He never intended to claim us," she whispered.

"Oh, there's plenty wrong with you," Liana interjected, sliding from the bed and wrapping herself in Jaden's robe. Her pregnant belly pushed against the fabric. "Garbage blood. No lineage. And you still couldn't keep your man satisfied, could you? Too busy acting like an Alpha when you should have been supporting yours like a proper Luna."

I struggled back to my feet, using the wall for support. My vision blurred with rage and pain. "You're my sister," I said, my voice breaking. "We grew up together."

She stepped closer, her face inches from mine. "I never wanted a sister," she whispered. "Especially not one Mother dragged in from the trash. When I realized that I had watched her waste resources on you, pretending you were worthy of our name, I hated it."

"And then to have you chosen by the goddess as Jaden's mate and Luna? What a joke." She shook her head. "Jaden needs someone who makes him feel like the Alpha he is, not someone constantly trying to take his place. It was so easy to take what was yours. He came to me willingly, eagerly. While you were training or planning that pathetic wedding, he was in my bed, moaning my name."

Something snapped inside me. The pain, the betrayal, the months of doubt and self-blame crystallized into pure fury. Before I realized what I was doing, my hand flew out, connecting with Liana's cheek in a sharp slap.

The sound echoed in the silent room. For a moment, no one moved.

Then Liana's face contorted. She clutched her stomach and screamed, falling to her knees at a slow, theatrical pace that didn't match the light slap I'd delivered.

"My baby!" she shrieked, looking up at Jaden with wide, tear-filled eyes. "She hit me! She tried to hurt our child!"

Jaden was at her side in an instant, his face twisted with rage as he turned to me. "What have you done?"

"I barely touched her," I protested, backing away. "She's faking it!"

But Jaden wasn't listening. He lunged forward, his open palm connecting with my face in the same spot he had struck earlier. The force sent me crashing into the wall, my vision swimming with black spots.

"I, Alpha Jaden Silverstein of the Shadowcrest Pack, reject you, Clara Ashburn as my mate and Luna of my pack," he snarled, his eyes glowing bright golden yellow with alpha power.