CHAPTER 2

The first time Saul hit me, I was twelve.

He was fourteen and Grace had pushed me so the cup of lemonade I was taking to his elder sister had poured on him.

He'd been so pissed that he did it before thinking, like a normal bodily function.

I was shocked, he was shocked, the entire small crowd packed in the middle of the Parlour gasped loudly.

Then the Alpha's voice, my father, boomed from the door.

“Maya, stop being such a clumsy idiot and do what you're told!”

That was all the go-ahead anyone needed to torture me for the past six years.

“Today is your birthday,” he breathed, looking down on me in my bloodied clothes.

Blood that poured from the wounds he'd inflicted on me earlier.

They were all healed now, but I bled through the night and it showed on the yellow dress.

“Yes,” I answered, scared of the rage I saw in his eyes.

Rage and disbelief, a little bit of lust.

Okay, not so little, I looked down out of fear and saw his hard… member.

“This must be a mistake,” he spat, “the goddess can't have meant this. You're a mistake.”

“Yes,” I sniffled, holding the tears in my throat so hard but I couldn't.

Not with the pain I knew was coming.

“You're so pathetic, you can't even come up with more words than that! Always agreeing to everything anyone says. You're weak, a wasteful excuse for an Alpha's child. I should accept you and become the Alpha after your father dies but I'd rather bathe in lava than touch you with a nine-inch pole!”

My knees connected to the ground before I could stop it, his words piled in my head, my body shaking.

Before now, I heard these words and kind of grew a tough skin against them.

But now, coming from the man I'd metaphorically daydreamed for years to save me, it broke me.

Saul zeroed in on my weakness, slowly going to his knees and I felt his hands grab my shoulders.

“Here’s what's going to happen Maya. I’m going to reject you now. Your father will die without a child, and I will become the Alpha. You on the other hand, you better pray you're dead by the time that happens.”

“But –”

“Shut your mouth!” He snapped, “learn your place. You don't talk when I'm talking. I would have left this mark stay, punish you further for as long as I wish but the mere thought of people knowing you're connected to me gives me a migraine. So when I reject you, you must stay here, endure the pain. Quietly!”

“Okay,” I sobbed with quivering lips.

“Don't ever open your filthy mouth to tell anyone about it. You hear me?!”

“Yes.”

“Good. I, Saul Wilde, reject you…” he paused for a second, “Maya Sofie Blakewood as my mate.”

The bond snapped like a rubber band pulled too far and I felt it everywhere — chest, throat, behind my eyes.

But I didn't make a sound.

It was the most difficult thing in the world, holding my wolf down, struggling to keep the pain inside but I did, I held strong and I shut my eyes tightly.

If he was waiting for me to crumble in front of him he was going to wait a very long time.

But he wasn't, he stormed out of the room with loud, angry steps, leaving me to break into tiny pieces.

“I accept your rejection, Saul Wilde,” I muttered under my breath, letting go of everything that once connected us.

Along with the hopes of ever escaping the hell I'd grown up in.

It was clear, I was going to die in Greyhound Pack, if not at the hands of my father who detests my existence for killing his mate, then my former mate will finish the job.

***

Four hours later, I finally stopped crying.

Usually it takes 5 minutes max to come to terms with my reality – everybody hates me, I should have been a boy, my father hates me, I'm too weak to be a female Alpha and what else? I'm ugly as hell.

But now, knowing I'll never leave this place because the mate I was hoping would charge in and rescue and take me away from here was none other than Saul, the Beta's son who enjoyed tormenting me.

It's like he's unable to breathe properly if I wasn't in pain.

Everyday.

His rejection made sense, there was no coming back from the hell he put me through and the ones he made others put me through.

But as much as that hurt, what broke me was knowing he's right, my lineage would end with me, the Blakewood dynasty would end because I didn't come out of my mother's womb calmly.

I caused her to bleed and was crying so much that the midwife left her to come attend to me and the bleeding got out of control and she died.

And because of me, Beta Angus' son, a cruel wolf, will take over and run this Pack to the ground, after killing me of course.

So before it all began, I decided to mourn it, if only to be better prepared for the pain that lay ahead.

I was about to slink off to sleep, my only reprieve when I heard footsteps heading my way.

The store was away from the rest of the Pack house so it was only my room that could be the direction this person was headed.

I inhaled deeply.

My father.

I jumped off the bed and quickly headed to the door before he could get to it.

He pushed it open so hard that my knees buckled as I stepped back and I stilled as he looked at me.

“Good afternoon Alpha,” I greeted, addressing him the only way he accepted.

He would do anything to ensure I wasn't related to him but alas, fate was stubborn.

“I have finally found a use for your existence,” he grunted after looking me up and down an uncomfortable number of times.

His words made me perk up.

“What?”

“You will ask no questions, you will keep your head down and you will do exactly as you're told. Understand me?”

His Alpha command was strong, leaking from his pores and wrapping me in a vice grip.

What could this be that had him so tense and aggressive?

“Yes Alpha,” I accepted my fate.

Anything was better than death.

Right?