Chapter 2

Zara's shocked scream startled the two figures on the bed, and they immediately separated, her mother lying back on the bed, still naked, a sneering look on her face when she saw her, while Jackson hurriedly grabbed a towel to cover himself

Tears streamed down Zara's face at the absolute betrayal happening right in front of her. 

For a moment everything was still, then the room erupted with the sound of her mother’s voice. It was a cruel mocking laugh that cut through Zara’s chest.

“I can’t believe you’re this naive, Zara. Did you really think he was ever going to be yours?” her mother sneered. “You were always too weak, too controlled by your own fantasies. Jackson belongs with someone who knows how to keep him.”

Jackson, now fully covered with the towel, looked at her with remorse, his light brown avoiding her gaze. “I'm so sorry you had to see this Zara, it wasn't meant to be like this,” he said pleadingly. 

When she didn't reply, he continued after a nod from Zara's mother. “The truth is that I don't see a future between us, Mates or not. I just don't think you're the right person for me,”

Zara’s heart shattered to a billion fragments in that instant. The man she had believed in…. the man she had loved with every part of herself was gone all of a sudden and in his place stood a cruel stranger.

But worse than that was that her own mother, the one woman who was supposed to protect her, had betrayed her in the most unimaginable way.

“So, you resorted to sleeping with my mother, Jackson? Of all things you could have done! If you didn't want us to be mates, you should have just told me straight,” 

“Well, it's not his fault you're not woman enough for him. You refused to give what's between your legs, telling him to wait till the mating night. I saw that the poor boy was hungry for some action, and gave him some. He liked it so much he kept coming back for more,” Zara's mother, Amanda, giggled as she said that, her emerald green eyes, so like her daughters, glittering with mirth and scorn, while Jackson smirked slightly, nodding alongside Amanda. 

Zara felt like giving them both a good slap. 

Her mother hated her, Zara was aware of that. 

According to her mother, Zara was the reason her beauty was fading and she couldn't get as many men as she wanted. 

For Amanda, getting pregnant with Zara was the worst thing that ever happened to her. 

“You're such a horrible mother!” Zara spat, then turned to Jackson. “And you, I regret ever giving you my love. I regret that we're mates,”

“It's really not my fault. You didn't put out and you're so weak. Can you believe the clout my friends give me for being mated to a powerless wolf like yourself,” Jackson shrugged in annoyance, the remorse on his face melting away to show the spoiled annoying brat he truly was. 

“I hate you both for what you did, and if this is how how you want things, I, Zara, reject you Jackson as my mate forever,”

She didn't wait to see his reaction. Zara turned and fled from the room, no direction or destination in mind. 

Her legs quaked beneath her as she ran down the hall, out into the storm that had started to rage outside as if the heavens themselves were mourning her pain.

The wind howled, and rain lashed against her skin, but she didn’t care. The world around her was nothing but a blur as she stumbled through the night, her tears mixing with the rain.

The storm kept raging furiously, but Zara did not seek shelter. She ran on in the blinding rain, oblivious of the concept of personal safety…. What did that matter now, all she wanted to do was die.

The images kept haunting her as she ran, she could still see Jackson and her mother tangled together. Her mother's cruel laughter had been a particularly painful one.

She wasn't even remorseful for her actions…. Rather she had gloated in her face.

Zara had never known betrayal like this as she had thought she knew Jackson and his words, his promises, the way he had made her feel special. 

Zara couldn't tell how she found her way home from the Alpha's house, but somehow she was there. She got into her room, and sat on her bed, her hands still trembling as she subconsciously wiped away the tears she didn't know had started.  

She hadn’t cried in so long as she always prided herself on being strong and on keeping it together even when life was difficult. But now, she felt so small, so fragile. Her heart felt like it had been ripped out of her chest, and every breath felt like a struggle. 

In a bid to calm herself down, Zara decided to go and dance at the studio. It was the one place she could feel like herself, the only place where she could rearrange her thoughts peacefully.

It was her sanctuary, where she could easily lose herself in the rhythm of the music and express emotions that could never really be put into words. 

But dancing didn't work, and this realization dawned painfully on her after minutes of trying to lose herself in the music. 

Zara had always believed that dancing and music could heal it all but here she was disappointed. She sat on the cold floor of the studio, her reflection in the mirror staring back at her and the tears flowed freely again. 

Her mind went back to all the things she'd heard about her mother, all the things her mother had done to her that she had tried her best to ignore.

Broken, she sobbed more, before pulling herself up, something new beginning to form and take root in her heart.

Anger. 

She would find a way to make them pay for what they did. She would make Jackson and her mother suffer, one betrayal at a time for this deep pain they've inflicted on her. But, how? 

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupte

d by fanfare and music coming from the main pack house…