Chapter 2

Davina

I had known Crest all my life. We grew up together as playmates in the pack up until our mating ceremony.

His mate had rejected him. She followed her childhood boyfriend, and I was not given one at all.

We were the perfect match of broken people, and after our last active mating ceremony, we both decided it would be best if we became mates and dated officially.

He knew me more than anyone in the pack, and I knew him. We decided to date.

He professed his feelings for me, and I admitted to liking him too. We planned to get married once he was done with community college. He would finally move out of his parents' house, and I would have cleared my family debt.

He was my anchor when life threw its troubles at me. But now.

"Crest." I tried to reach out to him, but he stepped aside. My heart dropped.

"Why did you do it?" I asked, trying to be considerate.

I had never had sex with Crest. Every time he asked, I would tell him to let us get married first. Jude and Chris would always ask him when he was going to sleep with me, and I would always tell him not to let them get into his head.

Eventually, he stopped asking. I thought we were past that stage. So why would he share a fake video?

I watched his friends pull him into a half hug like they were congratulating him on some kind of achievement. Did he do this to please them?

I was still in disbelief.

"Crest." I tried to hold him again. "Tell your friends it's a lie. That you faked those videos. Why would you do something so stupid? Don't you know the implication?" He pulled his hands away, then shoved me.

This time, I lost my footing and fell to the floor. My head slammed against the concrete, and a sharp pain zapped through my skull.

My wolf shrank within me, causing my chest to ache even more. Crest's sudden behavior was hurting her deeply.

"Make it stop, Davi, please," she begged. But I could barely make sense of anything. I could already feel the tear behind my head as blood seeped out.

"Guys, I told you she would deny it," he said, laughing with his friends as he led them away.

Why would he do this to me? He said he loved me. What changed? No one treats someone they love like this. He was hurting me. He was hurting my wolf.

I simply could not let him walk out on me like that.

I stood up and rushed him, holding him from behind. I yanked him backward. "Tell them it's a lie, Crest! Why are you doing this? Is it for them? Did they pressure you into this?" I had already started crying all over again.

My pull did very little. He quickly took charge of my hands, holding both of them in one hard grip.

The back of his hand landed hard on my face, smacking me down instantly. A bell rang in my ear.

My body fell back to the floor, helpless. More tears pooled in my eyes. The mate bond ached within me, and my wolf began to mourn.

"Oh, she must be turned on." I heard Jude giggling as Crest walked over to me.

I could not possibly let him walk away. Not after humiliating me like this. Not after laying his hands on me.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I pushed myself up again, determined to set it straight.

"So this is it? You are weak, Crest. You are a weak fool who lets the words of others control you." I looked up to see him looking down at me, his eyes holding hatred.

"The only fool here is you, Davina, for thinking anyone would want you for anything other than your body. You have no title, and you are nothing but a poor disgrace of a wolf. No one wants you. Not even the mother that gave birth to you." More tears pooled in my eyes.

"Crest," I muttered.

It was like he threw a brick at me.

"Yes. Your mother didn't want you, Davina. That is why she chose to become a rogue rather than stay with you. So why don't you quit the pity party and get over this? I, Crest Ashcross, reject you, Davina Hawkmoon, as my mate."

The mate bond snapped in an instant, and I fell to the floor from the shock of it.

"You are free to reject me. I don't care. I never felt anything but lust for you anyway." He spat, then turned to leave.

My wolf let out one last mournful howl before she quivered and went completely silent.

It felt like I had died. The pain almost crippled me, not only from the shattered mate bond but from everything he had said.

My best friend.

I smiled painfully, then pushed myself up. Crest knew how sensitive my mother's disappearance was to me, yet he said it anyway. He chose to play dirty. Well, two could play that game.

"If you claim you slept with me, if all those videos you have of me are really true, then where is the largest birthmark on my body?" I yelled.

All three of them stopped.

Crest looked back at me, dread filling his eyes as the enthusiasm in both his friends slowly depleted. I watched him search for words to defend himself. He could not find any.

His friends began looking at him for answers. They waited. He said nothing.

I braced myself and wiped my eyes.

"You are speechless. So why don't you quit trying to play bad boy and come clean, Crest? Admit you are a loser seeking validation from your friends."

I thought I had finally pinned him down. That he had nowhere left to run.

His eyes softened, and for a second fear crossed his face, but almost instantly it faded.

His cocky smile reappeared. "Your largest birthmark is deep between your thighs. You like it when I kiss you there."

"Liar," I retorted confidently.

"If I am such a liar, why don't you strip and show us? It's not like you haven't done it before." His friends clapped and slapped his shoulder.

"Yes, Davi, show us!" they urged.

My little moment of courage came crashing down like a high wall, and more tears pooled in my eyes. I could not believe it.

Crest knew I would never expose my body, and that was exactly why he said what he said. My legs buckled, and I used everything I had to hold myself upright.

"I thought so. And Davina, I don't want to see you in my house when I get back. I would not want the tax collectors to think I was hiding a debtor." He smirked, then turned to leave.

I was met with silence and betrayal. Nothing made sense anymore. I did not know what to focus on first, the aching silence of my shattered wolf or the fact that I now had less than an hour before I was banished from the pack.

My father was sick. It was already killing him that he could not work to pay the debt. Now there was a rumor out there that his only daughter was something she was not. He knew I would never do that. But everyone else believed it. I knew it would break him.

I would never heal if anything happened to him.

I had to stop the news from reaching him. I had to protect him from the embarrassment Crest had placed on me.

Wiping my eyes, I braced myself again, trying my best not to fall apart.

I had less than an hour to pay the debt. I had no idea where I would get the money. Crest had not only broken my heart but led me straight to my ending.

Everyone knew what Alpha Atlas did to debtors. He banished them or executed them.

Last year, my father was pardoned and given twelve months to pay in installments. This month was the last month. I had gathered all my savings and my father's, and together we had hoped this month's salary would cover the final payment.

With what Crest had done, I had no idea how I was going to come out of this. I was either going to be executed or banished.

Less than an hour before my fate was decided, my body still heavy with grief, I dragged myself up from the dusty floor and took to my heels.

If today was going to be my last day, the least I could do was go home to my father knowing I tried everything.

I pushed myself up, brushed the dust off my clothes, and sprinted toward home, eyes still blurry with tears. I could barely hold myself back from crying when I finally got there.

"Dad! Dad!" He was not in the living room. I ran to the back, but he was not there either. Then I ran to his room, and there he was, lying on the floor with foam bubbling from his mouth.

A cold dread washed over me.

"Dad?"