I turned to my mother with a confused look. What did she mean by saying


    we were going to the pack house? Why would we go there?


    "But why, Mom?"


    "What why, Ava? He is our head Alpha. He can call us anytime."


    "But, Mom. There must be a reason. I''ve never gone there before," I replied to my mother.


    Actually, I had no problem with going there. But that wasn''s house. How could I go there? I did not want to see him again.


    My mother held my hand and said,


    "Years ago, when I ran away from our old pack, I came here to take shelter. Luna Carolina was very sick at the time. When I went to ask for help from Alpha Martin, I noticed Luna and identified the symptoms of her illness. It was not an easy disease to treat, so I promised them that I would treat her. In return, he promised me to let me and you stay in their pack as their pack members. It took me four years to cure Luna Carolina. We did not stay in contact afterward. However, I ran into Luna Carolina today at the pack hospital. When I returned home, I received a call from Alpha Martin. He invited us to the pack house next week."


    I carefully listened to my mother. So our stay in this pack was a give-and- take deal. But, anyway, if Alpha and Luna had not helped my mother at the time, where would she have gone? She was young, only twenty-five at the time. For that, I was grateful to Alpha Martin and Luna Carolina. I should thank them as well.


    "Okay, Mom."


    The whole night, I thought aboutn and his rejection. No matter how much I tried to forget that moment, I could not just remove it from my mind.


    "I will always stay away from you," I muttered while staring at a nk wall while lying on my bed.


    I wanted tough at myself. How hrious my fate was! My mate rejected me, and I could not even share my pain with anyone.


    He was the future Alpha of this pack, so powerful that even I started to doubt if he was right about my rank.


    Did I not really deserve him? My rank was really something he neglected. My face made him feel disgusted. Was I ugly?


    Because of him, I started to lose self-confidence.


    "Congrattions,n Dawson. You broke mepletely. I hope you will get a high-ranking girl who will stand beside you and give youpetition neck to neck," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.


    I did not know when I fell asleep that night.


    Because when I opened my eyes, I saw my mother patting my shoulder.


    "You''ll bete again. Come on. Wake up," she said, and she walked to the small couch close to my bed. My clothes that I would wear were lying there.


    I was so upset that I forgot to tie up everything.


    I went to do my morning routine and went downstairs. My mother was


    already sitting on the table, waiting for me to take my seat.


    "Morning, Mom."


    "Morning, dear. How are you feeling?"


    "I''m good, Mom. What happened to me?"


    "I''m your mom. You can''t hide anything from me. I saw how upset you were.


    Is everything okay?" She asked me the question again.


    For once, I wanted to run to hug her and tell her everything. But I prevented myself because there would be no use for it. It would only hurt her.


    "I am fine, Mom. I know you are with me. I want you to know that I am also with you."


    We had a little conversation, and I left my house to head to the bus stop.


    I noticed a few messages when I unlocked my phone. My friends were asking me about my health. I replied back that I was fine.


    I boarded a bus and went to the university.


    When I entered our university, I felt gazes on me. I almost forgot that before the rejection,n humiliated me in front of the students. All the students now knew about it.


    I avoided their gazes and walked to the locker room. I retrieved my books and proceeded to my ss.


    Abigail met me on the way. She hugged me and told me that I should have taken some rest at home.


    I said I did not want to take a rest anymore. All I had to do was study to shine in the future. My mother needed me.


    We headed to our ss together; however, before we could enter our ss, we heard girls talking about me.


    "Look at this shameless nerd. How can she even walk around like this? She dared to propose to our Alpha."


    "It''s good thatn showed her her real ce. By the way, he chose Nova over everyone. It''s surprising that Nova has be his girlfriend. Does it mean she is his mate?"


    My legs froze when I heard the girls passing me, talking loudly to make me hear all of their taunts and gossip.


    ''Nova is his mate?'' I thought and felt perplexed. (1)


    Did he lie to everyone, or did other people just assume that? What were they


    saying? Nova had be his girlfriend.


    I felt a tug on my arm. "Ava, don''t listen to these girls. They are talking bullshit."


    I turned my head to Abigail and asked,


    "What are they talking about? Nova andn?"


    Abigail looked away from me. "I don''t know the truth, but today when Nova entered the campus, the first thing she said was thatn epted her as his girlfriend."


    It broke my heart again. He had just rejected me yesterday. He did not even take time to make another girl his girlfriend and move on in his life.


    "Ava, please control yours-"


    Abigail was trying to console me, but another voice cut her off in the middle of her sentence.


    "AVA"


    We turned around and saw Debra rushing to us.


    11


    "What happened?" I asked Debra.


    She paused to take a deep breath and replied,


    "Ian and Luke are fighting outside."