Chapter 2

Selena's POV

The System's voice turned urgent. "Rex, Selena's not going to make it—"

"Stop." Rex cut in, his tone strained. "Don't. If you keep going, I won't be able to take it."

"No, Rex, listen to me, she can't handle any more—"

"I said stop. No matter what happens to Selena, I'll still love her. She has to take Vera's place and finish this part of the storyline. If she doesn't, fate will put Vera through it instead."

His voice never wavered. To me, it sounded like a devil's whisper.

Soon after, someone brought in over a dozen silver nails. Even as far gone as I was, the sight of them sent me scrambling backward in blind terror.

I was three months pregnant when the hunters took me.

I'd planned to tell Rex the good news as soon as the mission was over. He'd always talked about wanting a pup and building a real family together. I thought we had a future.

Before I could react, rough hands seized my limbs. I watched, helpless, as they drove the massive silver nails into my body one by one. The metal sank into flesh with a faint hiss, and the agony hit me all at once, flooding every inch of me.

I nearly blacked out from the pain, but they'd injected me with a stimulant beforehand, so I stayed awake through all of it. I felt every second of that hell with perfect clarity.

"I think she really is pregnant." The woman with the tongs glanced at the blood between my legs and looked away, unable to stomach it.

"Poor thing."

My pup. My poor, unborn pup couldn't survive what they'd done to my body, and was gone.

Through the haze, I heard Rex's voice again, trembling just barely enough to notice.

"Selena, you're the female lead. You'll be fine. Once you've taken Vera's place and finished this part of the story, I'll come get you right away. I promise I'll make it up to you."

Make it up to me? With what? His so-called love?

I let out a broken laugh. I didn't even have tears left.

They dragged me off the ground like a dead dog and threw me into a flooded cell that reeked of rot while laughing. It was where the hunters kept captured wolves.

The water was laced with wolfsbane, and it ate away at a wolf's skin on contact. They left me soaking in that freezing, filthy water and walked off without a second thought, still joking among themselves.

I didn't know how much time passed before the cell door finally opened.

Rex appeared in the doorway, his figure backlit and his face crumpling like he was about to cry. The moment he saw me, he rushed forward and pulled me into his arms, his voice shaking. "Selena, I'm here. I came to save you."

I lifted my head and stared at him with empty eyes. The face I'd once loved so deeply now made me feel nothing but revulsion.

"You told me you always had my location tracked—that you'd come for me the second anything happened."

He stiffened, then rushed to explain. "I'm sorry. The hunters' base blocked my tracker. It took me a long time to find you.

"I'm sorry, Selena. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Please don't be afraid. No matter what happened, I love you."

Love me?

I almost laughed. What a joke.

He took off his jacket and wrapped it around my ruined body, then scooped me up and ran.

I was taken to the hospital. Wolves from the pack came as soon as they heard, and when they saw what I looked like now, every single one of them went silent.

Even my father, the Alpha, a man who never showed emotion, had tears in his eyes.

The silver blades had severed the tendons in my hands and feet, which meant I might never be able to shift again. Everything below my waist was destroyed, and the rest of me was covered in silver burns and wolfsbane corrosion. The surgeon kept shaking his head as he worked.

After the surgery, I was moved to a recovery room. Rex came to see me.

He sat at my bedside, cold tears falling onto my face. "Selena, I'm sorry. I failed you. I swear, for the rest of my life, I will never let anyone hurt you again."

Before all this, seeing him like that would have had me sitting up to comfort him and tell him it was okay. Now all I felt was disgust, pure and overwhelming.

A sound came from the doorway.

"Rex, are you hungry? I brought you something to eat." Vera walked in with a smile on her face.

Rex let go of my hand and turned her down without even looking at her. "I can't eat right now. Go ahead without me. And go back to the territory with the rest of the pack later. The hospital isn't safe."

"I don't want to go by myself. I'm scared." Vera's voice went soft and pleading. "Can't you come with me?"

"No. I need to stay with Selena." He didn't even hesitate.

"But I'm really, really scared..."

And just like that, he wavered.

He caved in the end. "Let me go talk to the Alpha. I'll ask him to send someone to watch over Selena in my place."

He always said I was the only one he loved. But when it came to Vera, he went soft every single time. He couldn't say no to her, no matter what she asked.

The second Rex turned and walked out the door, Vera dropped the act. She walked over to my bed and slapped me across the face.