Mine to Protect Chapter 116: I REJECT YOU

*Hazel*

At this point my body is so numb that I don’t even struggle anymore, I let him have his way with me, while I cry silently on his desk, the desk trembling and creaking with each of his thrusts.

When he’s found his release, he shoves me roughly to the ground, and tells me, without even looking at me, “You got what you came for, now get the fuck out!”

More tears stream down my face, I can’t believe what just happened, how could Derek do something like this?

I get on my feet and run out of his office, not bothering to shut the door, I run up the stairs, clutching my torn top, hoping that no one will see me like this, but of course, I am never lucky enough to have my prayers answered.

Damon stops me halfway up the flight of stairs, his expression showing panic and worry.

“Luna, what happened? Who did this to you?”

“Just let me go, Damon, I want to go back to my room,” I plead with him, before someone else sees me. I don’t want him to get in trouble with Derek for me.

But he is too smart for his own good, he lets me go, and storms in the direction of Derek’s office. I don’t wait to see what goes down between them, I run towards my room, I am going to pack my things, cut this link loose, and get the hell away from my so-called mate.

*Derek*

Damon storms into my study completely pissed.

“What the fuck did you to Hazel?” he shouts, anger clear in his features, and in the trembling of his hands.

Damon rarely loses his cool, and it pisses me off that he is getting angry because of her. Does he have a thing for her?

“I just gave her what she wanted,” I reply nonchalantly, like what just happened with Hazel doesn’t bother me at all, although it does bother me, I shouldn’t have hurt her like that, I let my rage get the better of me.

“Bullshit! You hurt her, she was crying, and she had bruises all over her. That’s not how a mate should behave!”

“Yes, because you know so much about being mated,” I scoffed, unable to stop antagonizing him.

“Mark my words, Derek, if you keep this up, she will leave you. There’s just so much a person can take.”

I growl at his words, she won’t leave me, I will never allow it, she’s mine.

After Damon leaves, I walk silently up to Hazel’s room, I stop outside her door, listening to her crying. I feel guilty for what I have done, but at the same time, my pride won’t allow me to apologize to her, she cheated on me, she crushed my world, she deserved what she got.

…..

The next morning, Hazel comes into my study without knocking, carrying a suitcase behind her.

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked her, cocking a brow.

“I am leaving. It’s clear that you don’t want me anymore, I disgust you, I get it. I am the one who betrayed you, the one who broke us. I should take my punishment bravely, but I can’t keep living like this, Derek, I just can’t. So, I will put an end to this, I will set us free.”

A single tear runs down her cheek, followed by another, chased by more. But she swats them away with the back of her hand, squaring her shoulders, a look of determination in her eyes.

Dread fills me, I know she is going to do something reckless, something that will hurt us both, but I am not fast enough to stop her.

“I, Hazel Channing, Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack, abdicate my position as Luna,”

“No!” I say menacingly, daring her to go on.

“and reject you,”

“NO!” I yell at her, getting up from my seat.

“Alpha Derek O’Brien,”

pain shoots through my heart, like someone has just stabbed it with a knife,

“as my Alpha and my Mate.”

My vision darkens, my heart burns painfully in my chest until it turns to ashes, and only a void is left, a painful hole in my torso, that throbs with every breath I take.

I get my bearings, and I find I am kneeling on the ground, my palm pressing on my non-existent heart. A few steps away from me Hazel is kneeling on the floor too, her arms hugging herself, her head bowed down, her long hair cascading in front of her face, hiding it, but I know she is crying hard, her body shaking badly with every sob.

She fucking rejected me. I cannot believe what she has done, but the pain I am feeling is proof of that.

“Take it back,” I order in a low voice, trying to contain my anger, which is threatening to explode. She betrays me and then she goes and rejects me? I don’t think so.

She doesn’t say anything, just keeps crying and sobbing.

“TAKE IT BACK!” I yell at her pouring all my anger into it. The walls shake, and her body jolts in fear.

“No,” she replies in a small but firm voice.

“What did you just say?” I ask her menacingly; I can’t believe she’s ready to throw me away just like that. Was she pretending to love me the whole time?

She looks up at me, her face blotchy from crying, and she shakes her head, more tears running down her cheeks.

Then she does the unexpected, she scurries to her feet, grabs her luggage, and disappears out of the office door, without even looking back once.

She can’t leave! She can’t leave just like that!

I hurry to my feet and chase after her, my wolf going into a frenzy within me, he wants to get her back, we can’t let her leave us.

I spot her near the packhouse entrance, ready to open the door and bolt out of my life.

“HAZEL!” I all but roar; she jolts again, her hand frozen on the doorknob, but it is only for a moment, the next, she’s turning the knob, wrenching the door open and stepping through that door.

I lunge after her, ready to bring her back kicking and screaming, I’ll hurt her if I have too, but I can’t let her leave!

Damon intercepts me and restrains my body with his arms, at the same time pushing me back.

“Derek, you need to calm down, you will hurt her in this state!”

“LET ME GO, DAMON! SHE CAN’T LEAVE! I WON’T LET HER LEAVE ME!” I struggle against him, trying to get free, but I am still weak from the rejection, and I can’t shrug him off.

“You haul her back and then what? You keep treating her like shit, like you have done in the last month? You are destroying her, Derek, let her go if you are not ready to forgive her.”

His words sank in, and the rage I was feeling puffs out in a cloud of black smoke, leaving me just drained, empty and desperate. She left me, I made her leave me, pushing her away over and over, until she couldn’t take it anymore.

Realization hits me like a well-aimed punch, and I feel my knees buckle. I sit on the floor, my face hidden in my hands, my chest hollow and hurting.

I hear Rose sobbing somewhere behind me, she must have felt the link breaking, as did the other pack members who are now storming the packhouse. Fuck this!

I get on my feet and thunder, “There is nothing to see here! Get out!”

I go back to my office, but the scene of what just happened there is still fresh, and I can’t bear to stay there a minute longer. So, I go up to the third floor, to the room which was once mine, and then was ours, and now is nothing.

I sit on the floor, my back leaning on the wall, in front of me the pieces of the stuff I have destroyed in my rage.