Chapter 2

I could hear Marie calling my name behind me, but her voice sounded distant.

“Nina! Nina, wait!” she shouted, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My legs carried me forward as I pushed through the crowd. Pack members moved out of my way while others stared and whispered among themselves. None of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was Damien. There had to be a mistake. There had to be. After everything we had been through together, there was no way he could simply reject me and walk away. We had spent years planning our future together. He was the one who promised me that things would get better. He was the one who told me he loved me. This couldn’t be real.

“Damien!” I shouted as I ran after him. He didn’t stop.

My breathing became uneven as I pushed myself harder.

“Damien, stop!” I cried. In my rush, I didn’t notice the puddle in front of me. My foot slipped, and I crashed onto the wet ground. Pain shot through my knees and palms, but I barely felt it. I quickly got back up and continued running. The pain in my heart was far worse than any physical injury. Damien had almost reached his car when I finally caught up to him. Just as he was about to enter, I grabbed the sleeve of his suit. He stopped. For a brief second, hope flickered inside me. My hand trembled as I held onto him.

“Damien,” I whispered, my voice breaking.

“You’re kidding, right?” He slowly turned to face me.

His expression remained cold and distant. A chill spread through my body. Part of me still waited for him to laugh and tell me it was all a joke. That none of this was real. That he still loved me.“Does this look like a joke to you?” he asked coldly. His words felt like a knife to my chest. I took a shaky step backward.

“Then why?” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “Why did you reject me?” There had to be another reason.

There had to be. I had never betrayed him. Never lied to him. Never cheated on him. Damien had been my first love, my first kiss, my first everything. I had given him my entire heart. So what had I done wrong? His gaze hardened.

“You’re a weak omega.” The words hit me like a slap.

“I need a strong woman beside me,” he continued.

“Not someone weak.” My chest tightened painfully.

“No…” I whispered. For years he had told me my rank didn’t matter.

For years he had promised he loved me exactly as I was. Had all of that been a lie? Before I could say another word, he entered the car. The door slammed shut. A second later, the engine started. I stood frozen as the vehicle pulled away. And just like that, he was gone. The last piece of my heart shattered. Rain began falling from the sky. At first, it was only a few drops. Then more. Within moments, a heavy downpour soaked my dress, my hair, and my skin. But I couldn’t bring myself to move. I simply stared at the road where Damien had disappeared. Slowly, I dropped to my knees. The rain mixed with my tears as sobs escaped my throat.

“No,” I cried. “This can’t be happening.” Not today. Not when everything was supposed to be perfect. Not when I had waited years for this moment.

“Nina.” I felt hands resting on my shoulders. Marie had knelt beside me despite the rain.

“Get up, Nina,” she said gently. I shook my head.

“This can’t be real. He can’t leave me like this.” Marie looked heartbroken.

“Oh, my darling…”

“He loves me,” I said weakly. The words sounded more like I was trying to convince myself than her.

“There has to be another reason.” With trembling legs, I forced myself to stand.

My dress clung heavily to my body, soaked by the rain, but I didn’t care. I wiped away my tears and looked toward the pack gates. No. I wasn’t done. Damien’s explanation wasn’t enough. After everything we had shared, I deserved more than a few cruel words. I deserved the truth. Ignoring Marie’s calls behind me, I began running toward the gates. I needed answers, even if I had to chase Damien across every pack territory to get them. Deep down, something told me there was more to this story, and I wasn’t going to stop until I found out what it was. I paid the taxi driver before quickly getting out of the car. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but my dress was still damp from earlier. Ignoring the cold, I hurried toward the apartment building where Damien lived. My heart pounded with every step I took. There had to be more to this. The Damien I knew wouldn’t throw away years of love because I was an omega. He had known what I was from the very beginning. He had spent years telling me my rank didn’t matter. Something wasn’t adding up, and I needed answers. I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for Damien’s floor. A woman standing beside me kept glancing in my direction. My makeup was ruined from crying, my hair was a mess, and my dress looked as if I had just survived a storm. She probably thought I was crazy. At that moment, I didn’t care. The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out. My feet carried me toward Damien’s apartment almost automatically. When I reached his door, I raised my hand to enter the passcode but suddenly froze. What was I doing? Damien had rejected me. He had humiliated me in front of two entire packs. I should have been at home crying myself to sleep, not standing outside the apartment of a man who clearly wanted nothing to do with me. For a moment, I considered turning around. Then I remembered the look in his eyes. The coldness. The anger. None of it made sense.

“There has to be more to the story,” I muttered to myself. Before I could change my mind, I entered the passcode. The door clicked open, and I slowly stepped inside.

“Damien?” I called out. No answer.

The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. I closed the door behind me and walked farther inside. Just as I was about to head toward the bedroom, I heard voices. I stopped immediately. Damien lived alone, or at least he was supposed to. The bedroom door was slightly open, allowing the voices to drift into the living room. “You did the right thing, Damien.” My entire body went still. I knew that voice. My heart sank.

“I had no choice, Cecilia,” Damien replied. My stomach dropped. Cecilia? My sister? What was she doing here? I slowly moved closer, my breathing becoming uneven as I listened. Then I heard her speak again.

“It’s for the best. I’m carrying your child, remember?” The world seemed to stop around me. My mind went completely blank.

“What?” The word escaped my mouth before I could stop it. Both of them turned immediately. Shock filled their faces. For a few seconds, nobody spoke.

The room was completely silent. I stared at them. At Damien. At Cecilia. The distance between them. The guilty expressions on their faces. The way they looked like two people who had just been caught doing something they shouldn’t. The truth hit me so hard that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. All this time, Damien had been cheating on me. Not with some stranger.Not with another she-wolf from a neighboring pack. With my own sister. And she was pregnant with his child. My knees nearly gave out beneath me. The pain in my chest became unbearable.

“Nina…” Damien started, taking a step forward. I didn’t wait for him to finish. I couldn’t.

Whatever excuse he was about to give didn’t matter. Nothing could justify this. Nothing could explain away months or years of lies. Nothing could erase what I had just heard. I turned and ran. I ran out of the apartment and into the hallway. Tears streamed down my face as I stumbled toward the elevator. I could hear Damien calling my name behind me, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t even look back. The pain of his rejection had already shattered my heart. But this betrayal was worse. Much worse. Because the two people I had loved and trusted most in the world had destroyed me together. I didn’t know how I got back home. Everything after leaving Damien’s apartment felt like a blur. One moment I was running through the streets with tears streaming down my face, and the next I was standing in my room. The pain in my chest was so intense that it felt impossible to breathe. Every memory of Damien flashed through my mind—the promises he had made, the future we had planned together, the love I thought we shared. All of it had been a lie. With a cry of frustration, I grabbed the beautiful white dress I had worn for my bonding ceremony and ripped at the fabric. The sound of tearing cloth echoed through the room as I pulled harder, reducing the expensive dress to shreds. Tears poured down my face uncontrollably. I felt humiliated, betrayed, and broken. The happiest day of my life had turned into my worst nightmare.

“Nina, please stop,” Marie pleaded as she rushed toward me, trying to stop me from destroying what remained of the dress.

“He betrayed me,” I cried.

“They both betrayed me.” Marie wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly as sobs shook my body.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” she whispered.

“You don’t deserve this.” Her kindness only made the pain worse.

For years, I had endured being treated differently because I was an omega. I had tolerated the insults, the whispers, and the loneliness because I believed that one day I would have Damien. I believed that his love would make all the suffering worthwhile. Now even that had been taken away from me.

“Weak as usual. No wonder you were rejected.” The cold voice instantly silenced the room.

I stiffened as my father stepped inside. Marie immediately moved protectively closer to me, but Father ignored her completely.

“Leave us, Marie,” he ordered.

Marie hesitated and looked at me. I slowly nodded, even though I didn’t want her to leave. Reluctantly, she obeyed and walked out of the room. The moment the door closed behind her, an uncomfortable silence settled between me and my father. I quickly wiped away my tears but couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eyes.

“Once again,” he said coldly,

“You have proven why you should never have been called my daughter.”

His words struck harder than any slap ever could. My heart sank even further. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t my fault. I wanted to tell him about Cecilia and the secret I had protected for years. I wanted to tell him the truth about my mother’s death. But the words remained trapped inside me. For years, I had protected my sister. Now I wondered if she had ever deserved it.

“Nina Whitmoor,” my father continued, his voice carrying the authority of an Alpha,

“From this day forward, you are no longer recognized as my daughter.” Shock filled me as I finally looked up.

“Dad…” He didn’t let me continue.

“You are no longer part of my lineage. You are no longer welcome within the Golden Moon Pack.”

My breathing stopped. No. He couldn’t mean that.

“You are hereby declared an outcast.”

The words echoed through my mind. An outcast. Lower than an omega. Lower than any rank within the pack. A werewolf with no home, no protection, and no family. My father’s face remained emotionless as he looked down at me.

“Leave,” he said. “And never return.”

I had lost everything in a single day. My mate had rejected me. My sister had betrayed me. My father had disowned me. My pack had abandoned me. The home I had known my entire life was no longer mine.