After My Mate Rejected Me for a Fake Heiress

I stumbled away from the rooftop venue, my vision blurred by tears and humiliation. The crowd's whispers followed me like a pack of hungry wolves, feeding on my shame. Three years of love reduced to nothing. Three years of hiding who I really was, only to be rejected for being exactly what I'd pretended to be.

My feet carried me blindly through the glittering streets of Beverly Hills until I found myself in a narrow alleyway, hidden from the main thoroughfare. The moonlight filtered between tall buildings, casting long shadows across the concrete. My chest heaved with sobs I could no longer contain.

"That's for trying to steal what belongs to a real she-wolf."

Aura's words echoed in my mind, each syllable a fresh wound. The sting of her slap still burned across my cheek.

"Get out of here," I whispered to myself, pressing my back against the cool brick wall. "Just disappear."

But something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Heat flooded my veins, turning my blood to molten lava. My bones began to ache, then crack. I slid down the wall, collapsing onto the dirty pavement.

"What's happening?" I gasped, clutching at my chest as the pain intensified.

*Let go, Skylar. Stop fighting it.*

The voice was clearer now, stronger. My wolf—the part of me I'd suppressed for three years—was forcing her way to the surface.

"No," I whimpered, though the denial was half-hearted. "It's too late."

*It's never too late to be who you truly are.*

The pain exploded into white-hot agony. I screamed as my spine arched unnaturally. My skin rippled and stretched, bones breaking and reforming with sickening cracks. I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood, trying to stay conscious through the transformation.

Three years of suppression had made my first shift excruciating. The mental walls I'd built crumbled one by one as my wolf clawed her way free.

"Stop fighting it," I gasped, surrendering to the inevitable. "Just... let it happen."

The change took me in waves of agony and ecstasy. Fur erupted across my skin, golden-brown and thicker than I'd imagined. My face elongated into a muzzle, teeth sharpening into deadly points. Claws tore from my fingertips, digging into the concrete beneath me.

When the transformation finally completed, I stood on four legs, my senses sharper than I'd ever experienced. Scents bombarded me—garbage, exhaust, perfume lingering on the wind from passersby. Sounds came from blocks away: conversations, music, the hum of electricity in wires overhead.

I caught my reflection in a discarded piece of metal. My wolf was massive, easily twice the size of an ordinary werewolf, with vibrant golden eyes that blazed with fury. Three years of disrespect, of hiding, of enduring Sterling's gradual coldness—it all burned in those eyes.

"We are Alpha," my wolf growled in my mind. "We are Kennedy."

---

The apartment felt smaller when I returned, my human form restored but fundamentally changed. Power thrummed beneath my skin—raw, untamed Alpha energy that I'd suppressed for too long.

I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My eyes still held a hint of gold, and my posture had shifted subtly. Shoulders straighter, chin higher. The weakness I'd cultivated was gone.

"I can't do this anymore," I whispered to my reflection. "I won't."

The entertainment industry pack system was toxic. Sterling was worthless. And Aura—Aura was a fraud who'd stolen everything from me.

I pulled out my phone, fingers trembling as I activated the long-distance mind-link that connected me to my father. Three years of silence stretched between us.

"Dad," I whispered into the link, my voice breaking.

The response was immediate, his presence flooding my mind with warmth and authority.

"Skylar?" Alpha Morgan's voice rumbled through the connection. "My daughter?"

"I'm sorry," I sobbed, the words pouring out. "I should have listened. I should have come home."

"Tell me what happened." His tone was gentle but carried an undercurrent of growing anger.

I told him everything—Sterling's betrayal, Aura's identity theft, the public humiliation and rejection. With each word, I felt my father's fury building like a gathering storm.

"And he rejected you as his mate?" Alpha Morgan's voice was dangerously soft.

"Yes," I whispered. "In front of everyone."

A growl rumbled through the mind-link, so powerful I felt the apartment walls vibrate. The glass in the windows trembled.

"He will pay for this," my father promised, his Alpha tone making my knees weak even through the link. "All of them will pay."

"I want to come home," I said, though part of me knew I couldn't run away this time.

"No," Alpha Morgan replied firmly. "You're staying right there. I'm coming to you."

"Coming here?" I repeated, stunned.

"Mobilize my elite warriors," I heard him bark to someone nearby. "We leave in an hour."

"Dad, the territory laws—"

"Mean nothing when my daughter has been dishonored," he interrupted. "We'll be there by nightfall."

As the mind-link faded, I stared at my reflection again. The woman looking back at me wasn't the same one who'd left home three years ago. She was stronger now. And she had an army coming.