CHAPTER 2: KAI

The suitcase slowed me down quite a bit, but I still managed to make it to the end of the ivory halls, rushing to freedom.

The door slammed shut behind me, Damien's steps clicking against the cream tiles. They faded off, and a glance back told me he hadn't followed.

The relief was short-lived, though, when my body went crashing face-first into a hard, well-built chest.

I glared up at the Alpha towering over me, nearly shrinking back when my eyes locked with a face identical to the one I'd just left behind.

Lucien cleared his throat, staring at my bag and faking nonchalance. "You're leaving now?"

"Yep. No need to waste your time. I'm sure you're very busy looking for a mate."

His eyebrows dipped into a frown, shocked by the calm in my tone. "Of course. But my father gave you till dawn. You can spend the night in the guest chambers."

He really thought he could convince me to remain his bitch. "I have no reason to remain here. Regardless of when I leave, I still have to leave."

"You aren't being chased away. You decided to leave."

He had me locked in his storm-blue eyes. We'd stood here, in this very hall, when he'd first asked me to be his mate. Years after he'd saved me from the rogues who'd destroyed my home.

He'd always been so kind. Mating him felt like the biggest honor any omega could have.

I remember the way the softness in his eyes vanished when we mated. The brutality of it.

My heart hardened. Never again. He wasn't going to toy with me further.

"Get out of my way, Lucien." My grip on the suitcase tightened. He stood in my way, keeping me from going further down the hall.

"Calm down." He held me against one of the green pillars on either side of the hallway.

He jabbed his hips against me, pressing his hard dick between my cheeks while groping me. "How about one last fuck before you go out there to die, hmm? Will you be good?"

My eyes watered, my palms pressed against the wall. I pushed, trying to get him off to no avail. His strength as an Alpha surpassed mine by far, and he'd spent every day for the past six years reminding me of just that.

"I believe he told you to get out of his way, dear brother. Or is that too much for even you to comprehend?" Damien spoke, stepping toward us. He didn't meet my gaze, rather keeping his locked with Lucien.

"Now can't I enjoy what's mine anymore?" Lucien’s grip loosened enough for me to slip out of it.

Before reaching the end of the hall and turning, Damien's husky voice echoed down the hall. "He's not yours anymore."

My suitcase felt heavier than it was. The weather outside was getting worse, a perfect reflection of my mood.

Before I made it anywhere near the edge of the pack grounds, a group of Alphas approached me with amused expressions. Everything about them indicated trouble.

"Hey, omega," one of them called, his tone arrogant.

His lips curved into a menacing smirk. They were probably Alphas from the local college considering they were so close to the edge of the pack grounds.

"Is it true Alpha Lucien finally rejected you for a worthy mate?" another asked, closing in on me.

So the news had traveled that fast. There really wasn't a place for me here anymore. Being homeless was better than being the pack's laughingstock any day.

"Where are you going, omega?" the first Alpha spoke up, blocking my route to the pack exit gates. His black eyes had fallen on my worn suitcase.

"Running away? What for? I'm sure there are loads of Alphas who will be willing to tap your ass and pay up. That is, if Alpha Lucien left it tight," the last Alpha spoke up.

They all laughed at the joke, shoving each other when my eyes glistened.

Lucien had always enjoyed sex, doing it continuously after we mated even in the absence of my consent. The thought of selling myself to men who would do the same made my skin crawl.

"Just let me leave." My voice cracked. Getting out of this pack was the one thing that would give me even a sliver of relief. But there always seemed to be something standing between me and that freedom.

They all chuckled, the second one even wiping a tear from his green eyes.

"Look at that. The omega wants to leave. You didn't seem interested in leaving all those years ago when you spread your legs for our Alpha and robbed our good women of the chance to become his mate."

If my face was flushed before, it had to be red now. I tried to push past the one closest to the golden gates, but one of them dragged my suitcase back, pulling me along with it.

The handle cracked off, the bag itself flying to the side. They laughed even harder, two closing in while the other rushed to open the bag.

Shame and desperation took over me then, releasing something primal and desperate to survive inside me. I swung, bringing the suitcase handle crashing against the head of the Alpha who had more or less called me a whore.

His grunt of pain caught the attention of the other two, and before they could react I darted for the gates, leaving my clothes and other belongings behind.

The golden gates pressed into my fingers, giving little resistance before pushing open.

Tears clouded my vision, the forest before me blurring into a mess of green and brown.

My feet crunched against the forest floor, running toward a freedom I knew didn't exist.