Moon's POV

Immediately I utter those words, it is as if everyone in the dining hall heard it because they all turn to gaze at me like I have two heads, Aiden gazes at me in that manner too and I start to wonder if I might actually have two heads. Surprisingly one of Aiden's friends sitting among us bursts into laughter. He clutches his chest tight and laughs causing everyone to gather around our table. Why is he attracting so much attention and most importantly why is Aiden not saying a single thing?

I turn to gaze at him with a raised brow and it only makes him chuckle nervously and wave it off.

"Wow, you really got me there Moon." Aiden says shaking his head at me. Wait, he does not think I am serious?

I shake my head in disagreement. I need to make it clear to him. It is either now or never.

"I am serious here Aiden. I meant what I just said." I say rising to my feet and feigning confidence meanwhile inside of me, fear is eating me up very slowly.

"What do you mean you are serious? Moon, can you even hear yourself?" Aiden asks glaring at me in disbelief. I nod my head in agreement and shrug.

I gather all the courage in me and repeat myself. "I love you Aiden, I have always loved you and I think, I mean I know we are meant to be mates. The Moon goddess has destined you as mine." I blurt out. I pour out all my feelings and the only thing I get from Aiden is a loud scoff which makes me stagger backward. My heart races extremely fast in anxiety. My mind tells me to turn around and leave before things get more complicated than this but I do not listen, instead I push further.

"Accept me as your mate Aiden. You and I both know that we are meant to be." I say. I hear laughing noises coming from the people watching us but I ignore all of that and stand my ground.

"No Moon." Aiden deadpans. I stagger backward and almost trip if not for my fast reflexes that make me hastily grab the wall for support. I raise a brow at Aiden and ask "No? No what?" It can not be that he is rejecting me, no that can not be the case. Aiden can not be rejecting me right now.

"I said no Moon. Has something gotten into you? Where did you get the courage to say such crap? You and I are only friends, nothing more." Aiden says.

I blink twice to see if I might wake up from this nightmare but nothing happens. I hope that the floor opens up and swallows me but none of that happens either. I pinch myself to see if I might wake up from this horrible dream but I only feel the pain that comes from pinching myself.

I am not dreaming, this is reality. The reality is that I just got rejected by the one person I thought was actually my mate.

I clear my throat and manage to ask "Why?" My voice is shaky and full of doubt. I really can not believe it. My chest hurts and my wolf howls in pain.

"Why?" Aiden chokes out a bitter laugh and shakes his head at me. "Why? Moon, it is so obvious that you and I are meant to be nothing more than just friends. Why would you even go as far as thinking that you and I could ever be mates?" Aiden asks. I shake my head in disbelief and slowly walk away. I bury my hands in my face and burst into tears as I run out of the dining hall. I accidentally trip on someone's legs causing everyone in the dining hall to burst into series of laughter. I look up to gaze at the culprit and it is no one other than Diana, she laughs at me and it makes my heart throb in pain.

I rise to my feet and slowly walk out of the dining hall with my head bent low.

I successfully make my way upstairs and once I get into my room. I throw myself on the bed and burst into tears. I run a hand through my hair and cuss under my breath. Aiden is right, I am so stupid to have ever thought that someone as good as Aiden would be my mate. Why did I ever expect so much from him? I do not deserve him at all.

I cry my eyes out and I eventually fall asleep.

The next days are a horror for me, no one seems to have forgotten that I asked Aiden to be my mate. I knew it would take a long while before people stopped talking about it but it has been days now, almost a week and I am still mocked about it. Worse of it all is that Aiden is doing absolutely nothing about it. I once caught him laughing at an insensitive joke that was thrown at me.

I feel stupid and embarrassed, I can not even face Aiden anymore, the slightest glimpse of him makes me run far away.

Today, just a few minutes ago, I saw Aiden with Diana. They were both laughing about something and I could not help but wonder if it was about me.

I stride the quiet streets and allow the cool breeze to calm every one of my thoughts. I decided to take a walk outside of the pack house, although I had to return before nightfall. I only needed some fresh air outside, at least no one outside knows that I got rejected by Aiden, this makes me feel a bit free.

I walk past a bunch of grown-up men arguing about something.

"Hey, You!" I hear one of the men yell. I turn around to gaze at them and ask "Me?"

The last time I checked, I did not know them from anywhere.

"Yes, you." The same man yells walking towards me. I gulp a lump down my throat and shiver in fear. I attempt to turn around and run but the man gets a grip on my wrist and pulls me close to him.

I have heard stories of people from my pack complaining about how dangerous it is to leave the pack house by this time but I felt so suffocated, I needed some fresh air to calm my thoughts.

I spit in the man's face and that is enough for him to loosen his grip on me. I take that as an opportunity for me to start running. I pick up my pace and start running until I accidentally collide with something hard. I groan in pain as my body collides with the floor. I slowly open my eyes and I come in contact with an unfamiliar pair of yellow eyes.

I slowly rise to my feet ignoring the pain. I look up to gaze at the muscular man standing a few feet taller than me. He gazes at me and a small smile spreads on his lips as he utters the word "Mine."

Moon's POV

Mine? Did I just hear him call me mine? I gaze at him with my brows scrunched at him in confusion and although I do feel a deep sense of connection and familiarity as I stand close to him. I am about to say something but the group of men I walked past earlier appear right in front of me. I hastily dash behind the young man for safety.

"Hey, it is Alpha Liam." I hear one among the group of men whisper to his gang.

Alpha Liam? Is it the same Alpha Liam I know? Alpha Liam of the Blood Moon pack? I sneak a glance at the young man and he has a poker face on.

"Stay away from her now!" The young man says in a commanding tone. Surprisingly for me, the group of men bow their heads in respect and hastily scurry off. Wow, did they become scared just by the sound of his voice?

"Are you alright?" He turns to glare at me with a concerned look on my face. I nod my head remaining fazed at what just happened.

"I am Alpha Liam and I am deeply sorry about bumping into you earlier." He says with a small smile on his face.

"Alpha Liam of the Blood Moon pack?" I ask with a brow raised at him in curiosity. He nods his head in agreement and mutters "I see that you have heard of me."

"Of course I have. I am from the Silverstone pack, I have heard a lot about you." I say taking a few steps backward. The Blood Moon pack is a rival pack to our pack. Our Alpha has told us several times about how ruthless and manipulative the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack is. We have also been warned to never associate ourselves with them. Judging from the few minutes I have spent with Alpha Liam, he does not match the criteria of a ruthless and manipulative Alpha.

"Oh, I see. The Silverstone pack? What a shame." Liam says shaking his head in disappointment.

"A shame that?" I ask.

"That my mate happens to be from a rival pack." Liam replies with a stern look on his face. I sigh heavily, did I just hear him address me as his mate? How and when?

"I am sorry but I am a little bit confused here. At first, you addressed me as yours which I chose to ignore because I thought that I probably misheard you but now you just called me your mate. That is not a coincidence right?" I ask.

Liam shakes his head in disagreement. He smiles at me and says "I can feel this connection with you, I know you can feel it too. This type of connection only means one thing." He pauses to clear his throat "A mate Bond."

He is not lying though, I feel this sense of deep connection around me and as much as I want to deny it, I am very sure that it is evident.

"I think you might be getting ahead of yourself. How can you be my mate when I know nothing about you? We have never even met before." I say.

"Exactly, that is why Fate brought us to each other." Liam says. I roll my eyes, I just got rejected by Aiden and now the supposed ruthless Alpha of the Blood Moon pack claims to be my mate, is this some kind of trick just so he can infiltrate our pack and destroy every one of us?

"I am not falling for that. Also, fate did not bring us together. We only happened to meet by chance. I needed fresh air so I went outside for a walk." I say.

"It is dangerous to go outside for walks by this time. Did your Alpha not emphasize deep on that or was he too stupid to remember to warn his pack members?" Liam retorts with an irritated look on his face. I scoff and shake my head "Actually, I was the stupid one for not listening." I say.

Liam sighs, places his hand on my shoulder, and says "I can feel that your wolf is troubled. What happened?" He has a concerned look on his face, although his concern is mixed with worry.

"Nothing, why would I even talk to a stranger that I know nothing about aside from the fact that he is manipulative and ruthless." I say.

Liam chokes out a small laughter and I can not help but admit to myself how charming his smile is.

"Those are all just rumors. You do not think I am ruthless, do you?" He asks placing his hand on his chest in fake hurt.

I shake my head in disagreement "No actually. Even though we have only just known each other for like ten minutes or less." I say.

Liam nods his head. He turns to me and grabs my hand. The feeling of his touch on my skin makes electricity course through my veins and the butterflies in my belly rise. I suddenly feel safe and warm knowing that I have his hands intertwined with mine.

"How about this? You tell me what is bothering you while I walk you back to your pack house. How does that sound to you?" Liam asks. It sounds nice actually. I think what I needed was some company, all I needed was just a friend.

"Okay, fine but you have to promise me that you will not mock me for what I am about to tell you." I say as we slowly walk. His hands remain intertwined with mine and he strolls beside me while sneaking glances at me.

"I promise. Before you talk about any of that. I just realized that you never told me your name." Liam says with a questioning look.

"Moon." I reply.

"Very beautiful name. That was my mother's name." Liam says with a sad smile. The smile on his face makes me understand that his mother is probably no longer alive.

"Anyways, back to you! What is that you think I would mock you for?" Liam asks changing the subject. I am glad he did because I am not really good at giving condolences to people.

"Apparently, I have this friend. His name is Aiden. I thought he was my destined mate so I confessed my love to him right in front of everyone at the dining hall." I say using my other hand to cover my face to hide the embarrassment.

"He rejected you? That is great." Liam says. I glance at him in shock and he has a big smile plastered on his face.

"I mean if he had accepted you then I would have never met you, Moon, it is sort of a win for me." Liam says. I scoff and shake my head at him but at the same time, I can not help but smile.

Throughout my years of living, I have never felt loved before, Aiden's rejection made me feel worse and it made me believe that I could never be loved but hearing Liam talk today, makes me feel happy.

I think I might be able to give love another chance.

Moon's POV

We come to a stop in front of my pack house. I turn to gaze at Liam but surprisingly he already has his eyes on me. I smile shyly and fiddle with my palms, just the way he glares at me is enough to melt my heart and make me smile.

Liam clears his throat and points towards the gate.

"You have to go in right?" He asks raising a brow at me. With all sincerity, I do not want to. I enjoyed every bit of my time with Liam and I want more. No one has ever made me feel this way before, not even Aiden. I mean I feel loved, I feel like he enjoys my company.

I nod my head in agreement. "Thank you for walking me back to my pack house and for saving my life." I say. I attempt to walk towards the gate but Liam grabs me by the wrist so quickly. I turn to raise a brow at him in confusion.

"Moon. I was going to ask if we could see each other again. I mean just stay friends at least until you agree to accept me as your mate." He says.

I release a heavy sigh, as much as I want to agree to have Liam as my mate. I can not trust him, not when I just got rejected by Aiden a few days ago, everything is still like a surprise to me. I always believed that Aiden and I were destined for each other but after he rejected me in front of everyone and made it clear that I was only his friend and nothing more, I do not think I can trust anyone after that.

"Calm down Moon, I am not rushing you at all I swear. I just want you to know that I am interested in you and your personality." Liam says with a reassuring smile.

I nod my head and say "Well, in that case, I guess we can see each other tomorrow. Although I would have to be careful about it because no one should know that I am seeing the Alpha of a rival pack." I say in a low tone.

Surprisingly, a big smile spreads across Liam's face as he nods his head excitedly. Wow, I did not think I was doing him such a huge favor, that means he must like me.

"Thank you, I will see you tomorrow. Same place yeah?" He asks. I nod my head in agreement. Hopefully, the same muscular men from earlier do not come for me tomorrow.

"Or I could stop by at the front of your packhouse?" Liam asks with a small shrug. I nudge his shoulder and hastily shake my head in disagreement. He could get caught and the both of us would be in trouble for it.

"No, it is fine. I will see you at the same spot I saw you today. Goodnight." I say hastily. I do not wait for his reply, I slowly push the gate open and step into the pack compound. I wait for the guards to snap at me for sneaking out in the first place but surprisingly there is no one around. I take it as a big opportunity for me. I hastily dash into the hallways and make my way towards my room. I push the door open and throw myself on the bed.

A huge smile spreads across my face and that is when I realize that I might have enjoyed Liam's company way more than he enjoyed mine.

I like him and I think he must be right, we are most likely destined for each other. I just need time, time, and space for myself and I hope Liam can wait for me.

The next day, I do not waste time. Once it is evening, I escape out of the pack house just to see Liam and like promised, I see him waiting for me at the spot we met yesterday. I felt happy to see him and we bonded over a lot of things that we seem to have in common.

It goes on like that for the next few days, I keep seeing Liam until I start to wonder if this might be too good to be real, my mind tells me that this is not going to last for a long while but I find it hard to accept the simple truth, I do not want any of this to end. Not when I am slowly becoming very attached to him, although when has things ever been good for me? I sigh when I realize that every good thing that has happened to me before has always been temporary.

I walk out of my room not after taking one last glance at myself in the mirror. I have been doing that a lot too, checking myself and making sure I look pretty enough for Liam. I do not know when all of this started but I think my feelings for Liam keep intensifying each minute I spend time with him. I do not know if it is a good thing, especially when I have a bad feeling that something is about to go wrong.

I run a hand through my hair in frustration and brush off the bad feeling. I will just see Liam and ask him to be more careful. I walk out of my room and make my way down the stairs. As usual, everywhere is quiet and the guards are not at the gate. That is how it has been for the past few days now, the guards have been leaving the gate and I am starting to think that they might just be neglecting their jobs and drinking their lives away.

Anyway, it is a win for me. I take that opportunity to sneak out. My hands reach for the gate and I am about to unlock it until I hear someone yell my name.

My entire body freezes and my hands become really cold at the familiarity of the voice. I gulp a lump down my throat and slowly turn around to gaze at the culprit. It is no one other than Aiden himself. What is he doing here and why does it feel like he has been following me?

I clutch my chest tight and pause to release a heavy sigh of relief. At least I was not caught by someone in a higher position in the pack.

"Moon?" Aiden calls out my name and I fight the urge to warm him to never call out my name.

"What do you want?" I snap at him with a frown on my face. Aiden slowly walks towards me with his hands tucked into his sweatpants. He finally freezes in his steps right in front of me and sighs heavily.

"How are you? How have you been?" Aiden asks with a genuinely concerned look on his face. What is with the sudden random question? Anyway, I answer him to avoid any suspicions. I do not want him to know that I have been seeing Alpha Liam unless he might ruin everything. I play along and reply. "I have been good, thank you for asking."

"You sure?" He asks. Why is he pushing further? Is there something Aiden is here to tell me? I do not honestly like this feeling, the feeling that he is about to say something shocking.

"Why would I not be? Do you expect me to cry my eyes out every single day just because you rejected me?" I snap at him.

"I see you have moved on." Aiden says rubbing his chin. I stagger backward and gulp a lump down my throat as his next words cause me to shiver in fear.

"I know you have been seeing Alpha Liam of the Blood Moon pack."