Fake Heiress True Luna (Irina) novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Another Rejection?

Aiden’s POV

This must be a f*****g joke.

The Goddess is tricking me because there is no way that delicious strawberry scent is coming from her.

Irina…

“Mate!” Arlo insisted, pushing forward inside my mind.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. She didn’t react, not at all, which could only mean two things.

She couldn’t recognize me as her mate, or she was doing the same thing I was doing and ignoring the bond.

My fists clenched at my side as she got out of the car.

Time slowed. The world narrowed.

She was thinner. Her golden hair was dull, devoid of life, and tied back in a severe knot. The fancy dresses were replaced by a coarse, ugly uniform. But it was her. I would recognize that face anywhere. She has haunted my dreams for years. Those blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean were now filled with exhaustion; they didn’t shine like they did before.

Even if her strawberry scent was driving Arlo crazy, it was also tinged with the faint, acrid smell of cheap soap.

Looking at her now, I couldn’t see a trace of the Irina Johnson I had seen a couple of months

ago.

“GO TO HER!” Arlo ordered, but I would never do that.

He should be happy that I wasn’t rejecting her right on the spot. Perhaps if she weren’t a fraud, I would consider it. I could claim her as my Luna and try to stand her because our pups would be strong, but now I know she is only an omega.

She can’t be the Luna of my pack.

Of course, Arlo wasn’t happy with my thoughts and started snarling, telling me to go to her side and claim her as mine before everyone.

“Arlo, stop it, or else I’m going to block you,” I threatened. I had to think; I couldn’t let her get inside my mind.

Ethan spoke to her and called her ‘the maid’. I saw her flinch-just a tiny, almost imperceptible tremor. She kept her eyes down, her posture screaming submission. It was wrong. It was an ill-fitting costume on someone who had been born to command a room.

And it made me furious. This was not the mate I was promised. This was a broken doll.

Then she turned. Her blue eyes lifted, and for a heart-stopping second, they met mine.

The bond between us, the one I was trying to deny, pulled even more. I had to stop it, I had to reject her today, as soon as everyone was asleep.

“Something’s wrong…”

I didn’t need to ask Arlo what he meant.

I locked every muscle in my body. I forced my face into a mask of glacial indifference. I let my gaze travel over her, from the top of her poorly tied hair to the dust on her worn-out shoes. I made a show of it. I took in every humiliating detail of her fall from grace.

And I felt it-a dark, twisted sense of satisfaction. The princess was in rags. The spoiled heir was a lowly Omega. In its own way, the universe had agreed with my assessment of her.

It was the only emotion I would allow myself to feel.

I poured every ounce of my contempt, fury at the situation, and absolute refusal of the bond into that one word. I made it a verdict-a life sentence.

She had to understand her place, so she wouldn’t object to the rejection later. Even if she couldn’t feel the bond, I was going to break it before it even formed.

“Welcome to Shadow Pack, Omega.”

Her face paled. I saw the shock and hurt and then the swift, desperate burying of both behind a mask of empty acceptance. Good. Let her know her place here. It was nowhere near me.

Inside, Arlo was a raging storm of grief and betrayal. You are a fool! A cruel, heartless fool!

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