Chapter 3: What Hurts the Most

Cheska’s POV

“He's mine even before he met you, Cheska. I'm his choice even from the beginning. He loved me and I know this must be hard but he never loved you and he will still choose me over you, his mate. Vlad got his use out of you and he doesn't want you anymore. He's an alpha from a prestigious line and you're lowly trash from a tribe that he picked out of pity. You couldn't have expected any difference. Cat shifter is lesser than any other shifter race in the world," she paused for a bit, her eyes bright. "But seeing you now and how you're dressed you do look like the perfect placeholder than those bitches circling my Vlad like vultures. Your reign is over. I’m replacing you now.”

Suddenly, I felt like I was suffocating in the sea of wolves and their pity and judgements. I tried to resurface to breathe. 

She was lying! She was lying! Vlad would never do this to me, especially that I’m carrying his child. No! No!

Someone called my name and when the crowd parted I saw Vladimir standing there. His face was masked by blankness and just by looking at him, I felt like someone squeezed my heart painfully.

 “Cheska.”

Vlad walked over to me even if I could see the sign on his face, I still didn't want to believe everything I heard. I wanted him to tell me it wasn't true.

 "Is it true?" I ask out, feeling my chest tighten again.

He didn’t answer.

I searched his sea-colored eyes, why hadn't I searched them like this before? I didn't think I ever would because I trust him. And look what that trust led me to.

 "Is it true?! Answer my damn question Vlad!" My voice was starting to get loud especially when the music stopped.

"Don’t over react, Cheska. You should have known that wolves and leopards do not get along," he said sternly, his eyes were hard and I felt all the blood drain out of me.

Don't over react!?

That's all I was worth after everything I did to him? After helping him to expand his pack and business in my name? I shouldn’t overreact and that I knew we would never be partners?  

I wanted to laugh at his words after everything I had done for him. After I chose him over my family, I was not viewed as his equal. I was just a placeholder for Erica. 

I felt like all the air had left my lungs and my ribs ached. My lungs screamed for me to breathe otherwise I'd die. But even breathing was hard and even my heart felt like it was slowing down, pounding painfully against my chest.

 I struggled to stay on my feet as the pain tried to drag me down. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood and clenched my jaw as pain ripped through my body, leaving my legs shaking. The room spun, and when I looked around, everyone was watching. No one looked shocked, not even Vlad’s family. I was the only one who hadn’t known. And he had done it in front of everyone.

When my eyes came back and focused on the slightly crimson scar on his neck. It was standing there, proud and evidence. He told me he got it from a rogue attack when he was young but now seeing it in a different perspective, the scar was actually a mark, a promised mark. Erica had marked her.

The solid proof was already right there and I was too blind not to notice. This realization tore me more apart. 

Something like regret flickered in his eyes when he saw where I was looking. I felt nothing. It didn’t matter. He opened his mouth, then closed it. The silence said enough. 

I smiled bitterly.

"Cheska, listen.”

Vlad stepped toward me, and I reacted without thinking. My hand connected with his face, hard enough that my palm burned and the sound echoed. Pain shot up my arm as he moved his jaw. I barely registered. I covered my mouth when my body started to shake, a broken sound slipping out before I could stop it. The bond was gone. He had torn it apart.

“How dare you?” 

My voice came out sharp, even as something burned through me: anger, humiliation, all of it mixed together.

Tears ran down my face, my stomach twisting with disgust. I hated this. I hated him, everything. 

Vlad’s eyes widened, like he hadn’t expected me to snap.

“How fucking dare you.”

He stared at me, and for a moment the room went quiet. Then I turned and ran. I needed out, I needed to escape from this nightmare. I pushed through the crowd, and they moved aside without a word.

"Cheska!"

He was coming after me but I didn't understand why. I needed to get away from him. I could hear Erica calling Vlad back to the party but he didn't let up. My heart pounded erratically in my chest because I knew he would catch up to me. But I had the crowd to my advantage. Moving through it might slow him down.

"Cheska here me out!"

His voice was filled with desperation. People muttered and gasped, moving out of the way as I ran past them towards the door like hell was behind me.

"What is going on here?!" I heard my best friend frantically asking but I didn’t stop to speak to her. 

I almost tripped when the hem of my dress caught on my heel, my body barely keeping its balance. Whatever he had done or whoever he had confronted, there was no longer a blur of movement behind me.

“Cheska!”

I gasped.

The sound ripped through the night. It was raw and furious. I didn’t look back. I didn’t slow down. Even hearing him call my name sent the pain inside me spiking, sharp and feverish. 

My vision blurred as I ran.

The cool night air finally hit my skin when I burst outside, and I dragged it into my burning lungs like I was drowning. I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t care. I just ran, ran away from him. 

I spotted my car and stumbled toward it, fumbling for my keys inside my b. My hands were shaking so badly I nearly dropped them. I yanked the door open, slammed it shut, and locked it without thinking.

“Fuck,” I breathed, jamming the key toward the ignition. It wouldn’t go in. My fingers wouldn’t listen. They trembled too hard, slipping again and again until my chest tightened and my vision swam.

I sucked in a broken breath and tried once more. I just needed to leave, to get away.

"Cheska!" He screamed outside banging my side of the door. “Get out and we’ll talk!”

Vlad’s fist slammed against my window.

The sound snapped something in me. I shoved the key in, twisted it hard, and the engine roared to life.I didn’t look at him desperately banging on my window. I just floored it and stepped on the gas.

The tires screamed as the car shot forward, gravel spraying behind me. In the mirror, his headlights flared to life. He was following me. The traitor doesn’t even know how to leave me alone!

The road blurred as I pushed the car harder than I ever had. The speedometer climbed. I have never been a reckless driver but this time I needed to go as far as I could with my unborn baby with me. 

My hands were locked tight on the wheel. My knuckles were white as I clenched my jaw. My heart was pounding so loud it drowned out everything else, the rational part of my mind and even the danger of chasing cars.

Vlad stayed on me. He was getting closer but I pushed my car more to its limit..We tore through the road like it was a race, our engines snarling, neither of us willing to back down. The street lights blur as our cars pass by. 

My chest burned, my lungs pulling air like they couldn’t keep up with my body. With betrayal and anger fueling my determination to escape, I pushed harder.

I glanced at the rear mirror and saw Vlad’s car was getting far from me but I didn’t slow down. Never would I allow myself to be tricked by the man ever again.  

Suddenly, a curve appeared ahead and two large head lights amd I waa at the truck’s lane. I tried to slow down and turn left but to no avail, my car wont. I tried the break but it didn’t work as well.

For a split second, I saw my life flashed before me. Images flooded in. Me wishing for a mate who would love me. Me believing in bonds and promises. Me trusting the man I gave my heart to, only to realize I had been just someone he played around only to be replaced when the real one appeared. 

The impact of two metal was deafening. It was a violent collision that tore through my ears and bones. Pain exploded everywhere at once as the truck loomed, unavoidable. The force slammed into my car, shoving it sideways, ripping control completely from my hands.

The truck lost control and it pushed my car off the road. My car tipped, slidding towards the cliff. 

I was barely concious enough to make my leopard protect my unborn baby. I knew I was falling and the roar of the ocean rushed up to meet me as my car plunged downward, and the darkness swallowed the headlights whole.