Chapter#05

MAYA

Sneers from the crowd filled the air.

“So pathetic,” one voice hissed.

“So she thought she would seduce the Lycan Leader with that?” another mocked.

Tears stung my eyes. A fiery welter of hurt and shame scorched me more than the heat that still rattled my blood. But it wasn’t just the ache of being dropped, and dropped with such carelessness, it was the fact that every eye in the fucking room was on me, every whispered giggle and wide-eyed stare that clung like a second skin.

The shame was suffocating.

I wanted to disappear. To disappear through the floor, through the walls, into the night. Anything to stop feeling so exposed, judged, and discarded.

Then, from out of the chaos, Finn fell to his knees beside me. “Maya, are you okay?” It was soft and gentle, threaded with a worry that only made the lump in my throat tighten.

Believe me, I could not find the words to reply. I simply nodded, unable to even look him in the eye. My eyes kept darting to the door. One of the ones Alpha Kael had just come through.

And even as everything came tumbling apart around me, the vision of him scorched behind my eyelids. His entry had not only caused the room to tremble. It had shaken me.

Finn’s hands were light as he nudged me up. I followed his lead, breaking into small steps, until we had left the center of the ballroom behind. Out of sight and those hunting whispers.

But I could still feel them. And I could still feel him.

“You shouldn’t be here like that,” Finn muttered. “It’s dangerous.”

“Well, I don’t make the rules, do I!?” I said, forcing a weak smile. “My dad insisted I come. I didn’t have a choice.”

For a very brief moment with Kael, I’d felt something… a spark that made the pain and the humiliation survivable.

"Thanks," I muttered, still redder than ever, I’m sure. “I do apologize…” he said as if I’d accused him of it, “for being such a misfit. You are right, I should never have come.”

Finn’s fingers squeezed my arm even harder. “Don’t apologize, Maya. None of this is your fault.” Then his eyes moved in the direction Kael had left. “That man… he’s a jerk. Don’t let him and none of these other fools make you less.”

It was all I could do to nod, and I swallowed the lump in the back of my throat as I gave him another tight smile.

Finn was one of the few who didn’t look at me like I was some wolfless, shameless whore who had no control over her body. He never winced when I was unable to mask my scent, and he never treated me as if I were damaged or less than him.

To him, I was still me.

The girl he’d grown up with, who’d tiptoed out at night to lounge with him on the roof, exchanging whispered dreams and secrets beneath the stars. Life had been so simple then. The world was not yet cruel.

He was the Beta of Ashbourne. He was calm, steady, and kind in a manner that made people listen when he spoke. Dad had no sons, so Finn was set to be Alpha. And the name had not changed him.

Even when I’d been sent away, discarded like something shameful and inconvenient, he hadn’t regarded me with a cold shoulder. He kept in touch. But then he transferred to the Lycan Defense Academy overseas.

But he was the only one who didn’t pretend I no longer existed.

And perhaps it was because of that that it hurt just a bit more for him to regard me with concern. And because in my heart of hearts, I didn’t want his pity.

I just wanted to be the girl he remembered. Not the one I’d become.

“When did you get back?” I asked, sniffing.

“A week ago,” he said. “If I’d known you’d been here…” He broke off and sighed softly. “Let me take you home. You can’t just stay here.”

The journey back to the Ashbourne Pack was silent.

I watched out the window, my head spinning with thoughts of how my parents would react. I had brought them nothing but even more shame. I knew they would be angry, but I didn’t realize how bad it would be.

Finn’s car stopped in front of my house, and his hand was still on top of mine for a moment. “I can go in with you and tell your dad,” he suggested.

“No!” I shook my head quickly. “It’ll only make him angrier. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I just want to get through this night.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. While you’re here, if you want anything, give me a call.”

I forced a smile. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, Finn.”

I stepped out of Finn’s car. I turned my feet as I watched him pull away, and grumbled at the sharp stones crunching under my soles. The taillights glowed red in the dark and then disappeared into the distance.

And, just as suddenly, the facade of safety shattered.

The door burst open, hitting the frame. And I froze.

In the door stood my father. He looked like hell, jaw set and eyes burning with anger. There was a cool authority to him, a way in which he didn’t so much move as controlled motion, but not tonight. There was only rage as he strode down the stairs.

Behind him, my mother followed. She had a fierce frown on her thin lips. Where my father was fire, she was ice.

“You shameful brat!” roared my father, seizing my arm and hauling me in. His hold squeezed my tender skin, and I grimaced in pain. "Do you know what you have done?"

My mother’s voice came next. “For one night, you couldn’t be a proper daughter! You made a fool of us… in front of the pack. How can I hold my head up in front of those Alpha wives? Would your father want to lose his title because of you?”

“I’m sorry…” I began, trying to make things better, to say something, anything that would calm down the anger in his eyes.

But I didn’t get the chance.

His hand made a sound across my cheek. It resounded more loudly than any words of mine could speak.

It hit me so hard that I was knocked back and fell to the ground. A gasp choked from my throat, and pain leaped in an open field on my face. My skin burned, and there was a moment when I was swimming in stars and tears as my vision swam.

“You attempted to seduce the Lycan Leader?” my mother yelled, kicking me in my stomach, “I should never have been born. You’re a disgrace… a damned, wolfless pervert that brings the family nothing but dishonor!”