Phoebe's POV
I couldn't wrap my head around it. The Moon Goddess had to despise me to pair me with him as my mate.
This man loathed every fiber of my being.
My attention locked onto Kevin inside the room. That intoxicating scent—it was coming from him.
The magnetic pull dragging my aching body forward existed because of him, because my wolf had recognized him as my mate.
"This can't be happening..." I gasped, my legs giving out as I crumpled to the floor. I had nothing left to keep me upright.
My first shift was happening right now, and every inch of me screamed in agony.
"I refuse this!" Kevin's snarl cut through the air. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. He clearly grasped what was unfolding, the weight of our situation.
The study held more than just Kevin and his father, Alpha Sterling. Alpha Theodore was there too, along with my father, Beta Cameron.
They'd gathered to discuss last night's border breach, but Kevin's restlessness and my arrival had derailed everything.
For what felt like an eternity, they all stared at me in shock. When reality finally hit them, their faces showed disbelief—especially the Obsidian Claw pack members.
I was Kevin's fated mate. My stepsister had been his girlfriend before she fled the pack a year ago. Since then, Kevin had blamed me for everything, turning my existence into pure hell.
Now he'd discovered I was his destined mate.
"No. I won't accept this." Once the shock faded, fury consumed Kevin's features. Humiliation burned in his eyes, and without hesitation, he rejected me right there.
He'd never accept me as his fated mate!
"I, Kevin Obsidian Claw, reject you as my mate. May our bond be severed forever!" His voice boomed for everyone to witness. "I refuse you as my mate!"
I raised my head, meeting Kevin's gaze with disbelief, though I shouldn't have been surprised. I didn't want to mate with the alpha's son either.
The bully who'd made my life a living nightmare.
"I accept your rejection," I whispered weakly, my body collapsing as the agony of rejection merged with my shift's torment. I was certain death was coming for me.
The last thing I saw was my father rushing toward me, worry etched across his face. I wondered if he'd lash out at me later for disrupting their precious meeting...
When consciousness returned, I found myself in my bedroom in the omega quarters. My father sat in a chair beside my bed, dark circles shadowing his eyes. The moment I stirred, he moved closer.
"How do you feel?"
I scanned my surroundings as memories crashed over me like a tidal wave. With them came the pain—excruciating and all-consuming. I couldn't remember if I'd completed my first shift.
"What are you doing here?" My voice came out cold. I pulled away when he reached for me.
Cameron's hand froze mid-air. "I forgot your birthday. I should have been there for your first shift."
"I'd be shocked if you had remembered."
"Phoebe. Stop being difficult. Your attitude only makes things worse." He looked like he'd aged a decade overnight.
"You stopped caring about me long ago, father."
I forced myself upright despite the dizziness, my gaze steady on him. "Leave me alone like you always do."
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut, as if words were forming but couldn't find their way out.
Finally, he spoke in a detached tone, like he was delivering a report. "You know our pack's customs. A rejected mate brings bad luck, so the alpha will banish you. You're free to leave."
I blinked, not comprehending at first. When he explained what happened after I'd collapsed, how they no longer wanted me because I was rejected, how they expected me gone by tomorrow—it hit me.
It was superstition, but apparently strong enough for the alpha to cast me out.
"You can leave the pack now." Cameron stood and headed for the door, but before leaving, he dropped another devastating blow that explained the extra pain beyond rejection. "Your first shift didn't go smoothly. It weakened your wolf. You might lose her."
After that bombshell, he abandoned me alone to process the overwhelming information that had greeted my awakening.
They wanted me gone now...
——
"I don't give a damn, father! She stays. She'll work as a servant in the pack house!" Kevin's voice thundered as he refused to bend to his father's decision to exile Phoebe.
This was exactly what she'd wanted. This was why they'd gotten into trouble with Alpha Theodore in the first place—and now they'd hand her exactly what she'd asked for?
"You rejected her. She's bad luck now."
"That's nothing but ridiculous superstition!"
Kevin was still reeling from the rejection. He'd acted on impulse, but watching Phoebe's body crumble after his words had burned the image into his mind permanently.
She'd been sick—he was certain of it. He'd felt her fever when he'd grabbed her throat. Last night had been her first shift, and such trauma could destroy her wolf. Now Kevin couldn't think of anything else but her.