Chapter 2: The Night of Betrayal

The pain in my chest was so sharp I could barely breathe as I stood outside the office door. Liam's cruel words kept repeating in my mind, tearing away the last scrap of hope I held. 

He called me a freak. He called me a burden. My hand pressed against my stomach, feeling the tiny life inside me, and my heart broke into a million pieces. The plastic testing stick was still warm in my dress pocket. 

I gripped it tightly, the edges cutting into my palm as tears finally spilled over my eyelashes. I needed to see his face. I needed to look into his eyes and find out if the man who held me in the dark just hours ago was completely gone.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

My world shattered completely in that exact second. Seraphina was standing right next to Liam, her arm wrapped around his shoulders like she owned him. Spread across the large desk was a big stack of financial papers.

Seraphina looked up at me, a nasty smile spreading across her face. "Well, look who finally decided to show up. The thief herself."

"What is going on here?" My voice shook, and I looked straight past her to look at Liam. "Liam, what is she talking about?"

Liam looked up from the papers, his eyes completely dark with rage. There was no sweetness left in his face, no kindness, just pure hatred.

"Don't play dumb with me, Maya," Liam growled, slamming his open hand down on the desk so hard the papers rattled. "Seraphina found the missing files. You have been stealing millions from the pack accounts for months, moving the money into a private account to fund your own escape."

"No! That is a lie!" The tears came faster now, burning my cheeks as I took a desperate step closer to the desk. "Liam, please look at me. You know me. I would never steal a single dollar from you. I spent every single night fixing these books for you. Seraphina is lying to you, she is framing me!"

"Shut up, Maya!" Seraphina snapped, tossing one of the pages across the desk so it landed near my feet. "The digital signature on these transfers belongs to you. You thought you could use your smart brain to rob this pack blind while living like a parasite in our basement. You were just a stray dog our family took in out of pity, and this is how you repay us?"

"Liam, please, just listen to me for one second," I begged, ignoring my sister completely. I kept my hand pressed tight against my stomach, trying to shield our baby. "I have something to tell you. Something that changes everything for both of us. Just give me five minutes alone to explain, please."

"I don't want to hear another word from your mouth. You disgust me just by looking at you fucking face.” Liam spat, standing up from his chair.

Suddenly, a suffocating weight slammed into the room. Liam released his Alpha aura, sending a crushing wave of pressure straight at me. 

The air was sucked right out of my lungs, and my legs gave out from under me. I hit the floor hard on my knees, gasping for breath as the heavy force pinned me down against the floor.

Liam walked slowly around the desk, standing over me with complete disgust in his eyes. "Look at you. You are a fat, deceitful thief, Maya. I look at your body and I feel sick to my stomach. Did you really think I could ever actually love a heavy burden like you? You are absolutely nothing compared to Seraphina."

The door to the office burst open, and several high-ranking pack elders rushed inside, with Aunt Clara leading the way. They all looked down at me on the floor with cold, unfeeling eyes, as if I were a piece of trash.

"She is a total disgrace to our family name," Aunt Clara said quickly, stepping toward Liam and completely turning her back on me. "We took her in after her parents died, we gave her a roof over her head, and she brings this kind of shame to us. We disown you, Maya. You are no longer a part of the Thorne family, and you are no longer my niece."

"Please, Aunt Clara, listen to me," I choked out, the heavy pressure from Liam's power making it feel like my ribs were going to crack.

"You are a traitor to the Zenith pack," Liam declared, his voice booming through the room so loudly it vibrated in my chest. He raised his hand, officially stripping away my pack status. The sudden break of the pack bond felt like a physical rip inside my mind, leaving me completely empty, cold, and weak. "I banish you from Silver City. Marcus, take this trash and throw her out right now."

The pack enforcers stepped forward and grabbed my arms roughly, dragging me up from the floor. I didn't even have my shoes on, and I didn't have a coat. Nobody cared that a freezing winter storm was howling outside the windows. They dragged me down the long hallway, past all the servants who used to watch me work, and nobody looked at me. They dragged me to the very edge of the estate and threw me out onto the icy ground.

"If we ever see your face near the pack bounds again, we will kill you on sight, run along bitch and watch your back" Marcus warned, his voice flat and cruel before the large gates slammed shut.

The freezing wind hit me instantly, biting into my bare skin as the white snow began to cover my hair and my thin dress. I stumbled forward blindly into the dark woods, the hot tears freezing on my cheeks before they could even drop. I clutched my stomach with both arms, shivering violently as I cried out in the dark for the mate who had just destroyed my life.

Suddenly, the wind changed direction. Behind me, the sound of thick snow shifting echoed through the trees. I froze, my breath catching in my throat as deep, low howls cut through the storm, followed by the terrifying sound of aggressive panting getting closer and closer in the dark.