8. Bully

Kalilah POV

The scent of bleach and lavender clung to the pack house kitchen like it was trying too hard to cover something up—maybe the stench of resentment.

I was just trying to keep my head down and help. Folded towels. Cleaned dishes. Stayed out of the way.

It was difficult to adjust to living here. I was known as the mate of Damon, or one day would be, should the mating be made official.

One person who didn’t like me was Caden. He seemed to despise me, acting like my mere presence here was just to annoy him. Then there was the woman here.

I tried to be helpful.

Didn’t matter.

They hated me, acting like typical jealous women.

I bet they all thought they had a chance with Damon, which was why they were lashing out at me the way they were. But the joke was on them. I didn’t want Damon!

Well, my wolf was leaning towards him.

She was stubborn, but with him being part of the Dark Moon Pack, it wasn’t possible.

My pack, the Silver Moon Pack, had cut ties with them years ago. Or the Dark Moon Pack cut ties with us. I think it had something to do with territory, as it often did.

These wolves were never going to accept me.

Every time I entered a room, conversations stopped. Eyes slid over me like I was an intruder, like I had tracked in mud and had the nerve to call it perfume.

Even the walls here felt cold, like they knew I didn’t belong.

I missed home, not that it had been perfect, but at least I hadn’t been watched like a threat every time I picked up a plate.

I wasn’t trying to take over. I wasn’t trying to win Damon’s affection.

I was just trying to survive.

And every day it became more obvious: survival here meant learning to live with the fact that I’d always be the outsider.

It was like right now! All I wanted to do was finish the dishes and do some work. I was trying to make myself useful when I wasn’t training, trying to adjust to being blind.

“You see how she walks around like she owns the place?” one of them muttered from across the counter.

“She’s blind. Maybe she thinks she does,” another replied with a snort.

I paused, fingers tightening around the damp towel I was wringing out.

They didn’t even lower their voices. I turned my head slightly, listening.

“I heard Damon brought her in personally. Said she’s his mate.” There was venom in that word. “Like that’s supposed to mean something.”

I tried to ignore them, but it was difficult when they kept muttering to me. They weren’t even trying to hide it.

There were more of them than there were of me. I could hurt them, but where would it get me, and how many would I even be able to take down?

The best thing I could do was sit here and do my best to ignore the cruel things they were saying.

Assholes. That’s what all of them were.

But I wasn’t going anywhere.

Not while my wolf still held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, I belonged somewhere—even if it wasn’t in their eyes.

So I swallowed the bitterness, folded another towel, and waited for the storm to pass.

Because storms always did.

“Oh, it does. Means she gets a free room and a nice little place to play warrior while the rest of us work.”

“She fought one patrol team,” someone said, her tone bored. “Big deal.”

“And now she walks around like she’s above all of us.”

I slowly folded the towel and moved to the next one, jaw clenched. Oh, they were laying it on thick, weren’t they? These women were truly cruel with their words.

“She’s from Seattle, isn’t she?” someone whispered. “Silver Moon pack blood. That whole region’s tainted. I don’t care what kind of sob story she has.”

“She used to be with Axel,” a sharper voice said. “You all keep forgetting that. She lay in the bed of the man who murdered her people.”

“She probably helped him plan it,” someone muttered.

That did it.

I turned.

“I left him,” I said, voice cold. “I stabbed him and ran. I fought to survive.”

The silence that followed was brief, brittle.

Then someone scoffed. “And now you’re here. In our territory. Sleeping under our roof. Eating our food.”

A long pause.

“You’re a guest, Kalilah. Maybe act like one.”

The words hit harder than I expected. Like a slap.

I stood still, throat tightening with the kind of fury that couldn’t be safely released. Not here. Not now.

I wasn’t used to biting my tongue, but this wasn’t my home. I wasn’t owed loyalty. I wasn’t owed kindness.

I owed nothing.

The heat in my chest rose, but I forced my voice down.

“Fine,” I said flatly. “I’ll finish the laundry and be out of your way.”

One of them muttered under her breath, just loud enough. “Damon only keeps her around because she’s easy on the eyes. Blind or not.”

A sharp laugh followed. “Bet she can’t even tell when she’s being pitied.”

I froze.

My fingers curled so tightly around the towel, the fabric twisted like rope.

My mouth opened, but I shut it just as fast.

No use.

No one here wanted the truth.

I folded the last towel in silence, every movement precise and controlled.

My hands itched for something else—something sharper than fabric. A blade. A fight. Anything.

But I left the room without saying another word.

Let them laugh.

Let them whisper.

I didn’t need their approval.

Just enough time to prove that I wasn’t what they thought.

And then, maybe, I’d remind them exactly who the hell they were underestimating.

***

The encounter left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was forced to bite back most of my responses.

But at least with Damon around, it wasn’t as bad.

When I found out he was leaving to go away for business, I knew I was in trouble.

I ran into him while I was outside. My wolf reacted right away, so I knew it was him nearby.

He hesitated, then told me he was going away temporarily.

“Where?” I asked.

“It’s none of your concern, but I will be back in a few days. Just try your best to have a good relationship with the rest of the pack.”

Gritting my teeth, his words didn’t sit well with me.

What the fuck did he think I was doing? I had been trying my best to have a good relationship with the pack, but no matter what I did, they lashed out at me, despising me because of the pack I came from—the Silver Moon Pack.

The pack was no more, so what did it even matter?

“Fine.”

I turned around and walked away, my wolf calling out to him.

Go back!

“Shut up,” I hissed, clamping down on the urge.

There would be no going back because I was not going to put up with those thoughts.

But even as I told myself that, the weight of his absence settled like a stone in my chest.

Without him here, the walls felt higher, the silence louder, and the eyes sharper.

I wasn’t just alone—I was exposed.

No protector. No ally.

The pack might hate me, but I hated the idea of being left to face them by myself.

And yet, I had no choice.

I was stuck here, caught between two worlds that didn’t want me.

For now, all I could do was survive.

And maybe, just maybe, find a way to make them see I wasn’t the enemy.

But that was a long way off.

Right now, I must prove I can stand on my own two feet.

Because when Damon returned, I wanted to show him I wasn’t just some helpless girl waiting for rescue.

I swallowed hard and forced my shoulders to relax, even though every nerve was screaming at me.

Damon’s words echoed in my mind like a warning—and a challenge.

Try your best to have a good relationship with the rest of the pack.

Like that was something I hadn’t been trying to do every damn day.

The truth was, no matter how much I smiled or how many chores I did, I was still the outsider. The one they whispered about behind closed doors. The one they blamed for anything that went wrong.

I wasn’t just fighting for acceptance—I was fighting to keep my sanity.

Outside, the wind picked up, rustling the trees around the pack house. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling the cold bite through the fabric of my jacket.

What was I going to do with him gone? I wasn’t even thinking about missing him, but rather how I was going to be treated.

However, there was nothing I could do about it.