Chapter 5: Broken

####Sincerely

I didn’t remember leaving the pavilion.

One moment, hundreds of wolves were staring at me like I was something grotesque on display. The next, I was outside in the darkness. Alone.

The cheers behind me grew fainter with every numb step I took. They weren’t for me. They were celebrating Bianca. Celebrating the moment Alpha Roland publicly rejected the Moon Goddess’s choice and claimed my stepsister instead.

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as the cool night air sank into my bones. The ache in my chest refused to ease. It felt as though someone had reached inside me and hollowed everything out, leaving only a raw, bleeding cavity.

A sharp crack of thunder split the sky. Dark clouds swallowed the moon. Then the heavens opened.

Rain poured down in relentless sheets, soaking my hair, my dress, my shoes, mixing with the tears streaming down my face until I couldn’t tell them apart. I didn’t bother seeking shelter.

What was the point?

There was no escaping this kind of pain.

The rain could drench my body, but it couldn’t touch the fire still burning where the bond had been ripped away. My wolf had gone completely silent. No comforting whispers. No gentle presence. Just emptiness.

It terrified me more than the rejection itself.

“Are you still there?” I whispered into the storm.

No answer.

My vision blurred again. Maybe she hated me too. Maybe she blamed me for ruining our only chance.

A bitter, broken laugh escaped my lips. “My toxic trait is being fat.”

The words tasted like poison on my tongue. I couldn’t even remember when I had started believing them. Maybe the first time Miranda called me a pig. Maybe the hundredth. Maybe when Father stopped looking at me. Or maybe tonight—when Alpha Roland looked at me with pure disgust, as if my very existence offended him.

“I didn’t choose this,” I whispered into the rain, voice cracking. “I didn’t choose this body. I didn’t choose to be your mate.”

A sob tore free. “But you still made me feel like I committed a crime just by existing.”

My legs kept moving without direction. The roads were nearly empty now. Most wolves were still inside the pavilion, laughing and dancing in celebration of Bianca’s triumph.

I wondered if she was already in his arms. Smiling the way she always did when she took something that should have been mine.

The pain in my chest sharpened until I could barely breathe.

Maybe this was what I deserved. Maybe Miranda had been right all along. Maybe I really was too much. Too big and too embarrassing to ever be loved.

The rain fell harder. My dress clung heavily to every curve, weighing me down like chains. My shoes squelched miserably against the wet road. The cold should have bothered me.

But it didn’t.

I barely felt anything anymore.

I didn’t realize I had wandered onto the main road until bright headlights cut through the curtain of rain, racing straight toward me.

My head snapped up.

For one frozen second, neither of us moved.

Then came the deafening screech of tires fighting the slick pavement.

Screech!

The impact struck my side. I was thrown off balance and hit the ground hard.

For a long moment, I simply lay there as the rain continued to hammer down.

Then everything went black.

%*%

Ryder

Rain had always calmed my wolf.

As the SUV cut through the winding mountain road, I rested an elbow against the window, watching sheets of rain blur the forests bordering Roland’s territory.

“Looks like we’ll be driving through this for a while, Alpha,” Kane muttered, hands tight on the steering wheel.

“Hmm.”

We had been on the road since dawn, returning from a long, tedious meeting with allied packs. All I wanted was to get home. Roland’s borders were nothing more than a necessary shortcut. The old rivalry between our packs still simmered, but tonight I had no patience for it.

A flash of movement caught my eye.

“Watch out.”

Kane slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched violently against the wet road. The SUV skidded.

The woman stood frozen in the headlights. For a split second our eyes met through the windshield. She didn’t scream. She didn’t run.

She simply stood there… almost as if she welcomed the end.

“Damn it!”

Kane jerked the wheel. The vehicle swerved, but the road was too slick.

Thud.

The impact wasn’t brutal, but it was enough. She collapsed onto the asphalt.

I shoved the door open before the SUV fully stopped. Cold rain instantly soaked through my shirt as I strode toward her motionless form.

“Alpha!” Kane called, hurrying after me.

I dropped to one knee and carefully turned her onto her back. She looked utterly broken, like life had already destroyed her long before our vehicle ever touched her.

Kane crouched beside me. “Is she…?”

I pressed two fingers to her neck for her pulse. Weak, but there.

“She’s alive.”

He exhaled in relief. “Thank the Goddess. I swear she wasn’t there a second ago.”

I didn’t answer. My gaze lingered on her rain-soaked face, the tear tracks still visible even in the downpour, the way her body seemed to carry the weight of the entire world.

“Should I call the nearest pack hospital?” Kane asked.

I glanced toward the distant lights of Ashbourne territory—Roland’s territory—then back at the unconscious woman in my arms.

“No.”

Kane blinked. “No?”

“We’re taking her with us.”

“Alpha…” He hesitated.

“Would you rather I leave her out here in the cold so Roland can use it against me later?”

“No, Alpha.”

Without another word, I slid one arm beneath her shoulders and the other beneath her knees, lifting her carefully against my chest. She weighed more than most wolves her size, soft and full in my arms, but I carried her back to the SUV as if she were made of glass.

Rain continued to pour down around us, washing away the night’s blood and tears, but not the quiet storm I already sensed brewing.

%*%

The doctor had finally left.

Silence settled over the room, broken only by the crackling fireplace and the steady drumming of rain against the windows. I remained rooted at the foot of the bed, arms folded tightly across my chest, unable to tear my gaze away from the woman lying there.

She had no business being in my bed. In my pack. In my life.

Yet I couldn’t make myself leave.

The maids had changed her into one of the soft sleeping gowns and cleaned the blood and dirt from her skin. Bruises still marred her arms and shoulder—ugly reminders of a life that had clearly never been kind. Her damp brown curls fanned across the pillow, framing a face that looked too young to carry such deep exhaustion. Even in sleep, a faint crease lingered between her brows, as though her nightmares refused to release her.

My eyes drifted lower before I could stop them.

She wasn’t like the women who usually threw themselves at me—delicate, sharp-edged, thin. She was soft. Full. Generously curved in ways that made something dark and possessive stir deep in my chest. The blanket rose and fell with each slow breath, hugging the swell of her breasts and the wide flare of her hips. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, fixated.

I frowned.

Since when did I notice things like this?

Women had always been simple. Temporary. One night of release, no feelings, no complications, no second visits. That was how I kept control. Feelings clouded judgment. Judgment kept an Alpha alive. I had built my reputation—and my power—on never allowing anyone close enough to become a weakness.

So why was I still standing here?

Why did the thought of walking away feel so wrong?

The moment I had lifted her rain-soaked body from that road, something inside me had shifted. It wasn’t the violent snap of a mate bond I had always imagined. This was quieter. Deeper. More dangerous. My wolf had taken one look at her broken form and simply refused to let go. He hadn’t stopped growling protectively since.

A soft knock broke the silence.

Two maids entered, bowing low.

“You sent for us, Alpha?”

I finally tore my eyes from her. “Make sure she’s comfortable. Change the bedding if needed. Prepare fresh clothes for when she wakes. And have the kitchen make something light—soup, broth, whatever won’t upset an empty stomach.”

The older maid hesitated. “Is she staying, Alpha?”

“For now.” My voice dropped into its usual cold command. “She is to be treated as an honored guest. Understood?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

I glanced back at the bed one last time. She looked almost peaceful now, nothing like the shattered woman I had found standing in the middle of the storm, as if she had already given up.

Whoever had put that kind of emptiness in her eyes had done far more damage than my vehicle ever could.

The thought sent a slow, dangerous heat through my veins.

“If she wakes,” I continued, already heading for the door, “I want to be informed immediately. Day or night. No exceptions.”

I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind me with a quiet click. For a long moment, I simply stood there, dragging a hand down my face as thunder rolled outside.

What the hell was this woman doing to me?

I had spent years forging myself into something untouchable. Ruthless. Unbreakable.

And yet one broken, full-figured stranger had somehow slipped beneath my skin without even trying.

I didn’t like it.

But for the first time in a long time… I didn’t hate it either.