Rejected By My Mate, Claimed By The Ghost Alpha

Eller POV:

The heavy oak door swung inward, and I stepped into the Johnston manor's meeting room.It was meant to be our final wedding arrangement meeting.

But it wasn't.

My fiancé, Chace Johnston, was already seated at the head of the long mahogany table. What wasn't expected was the woman seated to his right.

My cousin, Blake Case.

Her hand rested lightly on his forearm. A casual, possessive gesture that sent a spike of ice through my veins.

Across from them sat their mothers. Chace's mother, Meredith Johnston, regarded me with the cool, appraising stare of a jeweler examining a flawed diamond. Blake'mother, my Aunt Victoria, offered a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

The room felt suddenly cold.

Chace wouldn't meet my gaze. His eyes were fixed on the polished surface of the table, his right hand nervously stroking the carved arm of his chair.

I forced a serene smile onto my own face, a mask I had perfected over years of navigating pack politics. I walked across the plush rug, the silence amplifying the sound of my heels, and took the seat directly opposite Chace.

The battle lines were drawn. I just hadn't known we were at war.

"Eller," Chace finally said, clearing his throat. His voice was raw, strained. "Thank you for coming."

I simply nodded, my fingers resting lightly on the table's edge. Waiting.

He took a deep breath, the sound unnaturally loud in the tense quiet. "Because everyone says that Blake's engagement to my brother was an ominous sign, leading to his death in the war, I can't let Blake live her whole life in the shadow of my brother's death. I've made up my mind. Blake and I... we're going to be partners."

The words hit me like a physical blow. The air rushed from my lungs, and for a terrifying second, I couldn't breathe. But I held his gaze, refusing to let the mask slip.

"In order to honor the alliance with the Dawson Pack," he continued, the words sounding rehearsed, "I am... offering you the chance to remain. As a subordinate mate."

Subordinate mate.

The term was a slap. A public declaration of my worthlessness. A demotion from chosen Luna to a tolerated concubine. It was a level of humiliation I hadn't thought even Chace capable of.

Blake chose that moment for her performance. Her lower lip trembled, and her wide, innocent eyes welled with manufactured tears. "Chace, this is so unfair to Eller,maybe I should just die."

But her fingers tightened on his arm, a victor's grip.

"Nonsense," my aunt Victoria chirped, her voice sharp. "Chace is being a man of compassionate,Your cousin will definitely understand him. My Blake has suffered so much from those vicious rumors about her being a 'curse'. He is her salvation."

Meredith Johnston, the reigning Luna, finally spoke. Her voice was pure ice. "This is a command, Eller, not a negotiation. You will accept Chace's generous offer."

My gaze moved from one face to the next, memorizing them. The smug triumph on Blake's, the greedy satisfaction on Victoria's, the cold disdain on Meredith's. And Chace... the weak, cowardly guilt in his averted eyes.

The embers of a long-dormant fire began to glow in the pit of my stomach.

Revenge...This is a phrase I have never forgotten over the years, always kept in my heart.

When I was six, my family was massacred by an unknown group of people. I have been searching for the truth ever since, and the clues point to Johnston Pack. So I cannot leave. Leaving Johnston Pack means giving up the only way to find out the truth about my family's massacre.

I took a slow, deliberate breath, calming the tremor in my hands.

"Is this Alpha Arthur's decision?" I asked, my voice surprisingly steady.

Chace's jaw tightened. The bravado in his voice was thin, brittle."This is my decision. But my father will respect it."

Meredith said coldly and uncompromisingly, "This was a mutual decision. If Edmund Johnston hadn't died, Blake wouldn't have been burdened with the vicious rumor that she was 'cursed'."

The name hung in the air. Edmund. Chace Johnston' half-brother.

It was a key. A sudden, brilliant flash of a possibility.

I didn't accept. I didn't refuse.

"I will need time to consider this... generous offer," I said, the words tasting like ash.

The surprise on their faces was a small, bitter victory. They had expected tears or hysterics. They had not expected calm defiance.

I pushed my chair back and rose.As I turned to leave, my eyes met Blake's. There was no pretense between us now. Just the raw, silent declaration of war. A flicker of unease crossed her face, and she instinctively pressed closer to Chace.

I walked out of the meeting room, pulling the heavy door closed behind me. The latch clicked shut, and in the sudden silence of the hallway, my smile finally vanished.

My body began to shake. I leaned against the cool, paneled wall, pressing my forehead to the wood. The crescent moon birthmark on the inside of my wrist felt like it was burning.I must enter the Johnson family to uncover the truth behind the past my family massacre.

I pulled a small, encrypted satellite phone from my purse. My fingers flew across the keypad, typing a message to Briar, my only true ally in this world.

Plan has changed.

Inside the room, I could hear the muffled sound of Chace's voice, laced with an unfamiliar edge of anxiety. Meredith's sharp tones cut through his, warning him to get me under control.

I pushed myself off the wall and started down the long, empty corridor. Each step was heavy, deliberate. The war had begun, and I had just been handed my first defeat.

But I would not be a casualty. I had to find a way to stay, a way to secure a position of power they couldn't touch.

A wild, desperate idea began to form, taking root in the scorched earth of my humiliation. It was insane. It was impossible.

But it was perfect.

Johnston Pack's true heir, Edmund Johnston.

I want to marry him.

The thought made me stop in my tracks. I looked out a tall window at the sprawling lands of the estate, lands my ancestors had bled for. A flicker of something hard and resolute ignited in my green eyes.

Yes. That was the way.