Chapter 1

Selena's POV

A man looked me up and down with a faint smirk on his face.

A second later, searing pain tore through my left leg. The burn of silver ripped through me so violently that I couldn't hold back a groan.

"Oh, she finally made a sound?"

Another voice chimed in—this time, a woman—sounding amused.

I forced my eyes open.

The woman standing over me wore black tactical gear with the Hunter's Guild crest stitched across her chest, a silver blade driven through a full moon. She had on heavy makeup and the kind of excitement in her eyes that bordered on sickness.

She held a pair of silver tongs, still glowing red-hot, and waved them slowly in front of my face before jamming them into my chest.

I screamed.

Silver was lethal to purebloods like me. The burning sensation spread through every nerve in my body until my whole ribcage felt like it was on fire.

"That's more like it," she said, smiling. "What's the point of torturing you if you won't even scream?"

She drove the tongs into the other side of my chest.

I clenched my jaw and swallowed the sound. I knew that the more I struggled, the more they enjoyed it.

I'd been locked in this underground bunker for three days and nights. They'd severed the tendons in my hands and feet with silver blades, which meant the wounds couldn't heal. I was a rag they wrung out for sport. They did whatever they wanted to my body while I lay there, unable to resist.

I was drifting in and out of consciousness when I heard Rex Thornfield's voice. It was as clear and cool as ever, and it shattered me.

"How many instruments has Selena been through now? Is it eight yet? The female supporting character is supposed to endure all eight in the original storyline."

"She's on the seventh. Do you really have to follow the script this closely?" The System's voice carried a note of reluctance.

"You know full well that Selena was the one who saved you from the hunters that night. Why are you insisting on repaying that debt to Vera instead?"

My eyelashes trembled.

I was the one who'd shifted into wolf form and dragged him out of the hunters' ambush, half-dead myself. I'd carried him on my back through the forest under a full moon for ten straight miles before collapsing from exhaustion.

When I woke up, he'd already decided that some Omega named Vera Linden was the one who'd saved him.

No matter how I tried to explain, he refused to believe me. Now I understood. It wasn't that he didn't believe me. He'd chosen not to.

"By falling in love with Selena, I've betrayed Vera's feelings. Vera is an Omega. She's already at the bottom of the pack hierarchy. I'm not going to pile this on her too.

"But Selena is different. She still has my love. You know she's not just the female lead of this world. Her father is the pack's Alpha. She was born with everything.

"You're not human, System, so you wouldn't get it. If a she-wolf goes through something like this, her life will be destroyed.

"Selena already has me as her mate. I'd never hold any of this against her. I'll love her. I'll protect her. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

Rex sighed, his voice thick with guilt. I lay on the filthy stone floor and laughed until tears streamed down my face.

He knew perfectly well that going through this would destroy a she-wolf's life, and he'd still done it to me without flinching. He kept saying he loved me while shoving me into hell with his own hands.

If this was his love, then I didn't want it.

A sudden, vicious pain ripped through my abdomen. I gasped for air and couldn't stop myself from crying out.

The female hunter stumbled back, her eyes wide with panic.

"Why is she hemorrhaging? Is she pregnant?"