Chapter 3

Tatiana's POV

My smile at seeing him slowly faded. Maybe I hadn’t heard him right. I let out an awkward cackle, clinging to denial. Perhaps this was some cruel joke of his, I thought. Probably part of a prank he would play before finally revealing what he had prepared for my birthday.

“Stop joking around, Draven,” I managed to whisper, forcing a shaky laugh. “I’m not falling for your little prank.”

I tried to sound casual, like this was normal. “You can stay right here and wait for me while I run back to my dorm to change out of this,” I said, brushing at my ruined uniform, the stains of humiliation still clinging to me.

I expected some comfort, even just a question from him. Was seeing me in this state not worth at least asking what had happened? For gods’ sake, he had been my boyfriend for over four months—what was with this sudden coldness?

“I’ll quickly—”

“You don’t need to bother yourself, Tatiana.” His voice cut through mine flatly. “I already told you I’m ending things here.”

He turned to leave, but panic clawed through me and I rushed in front of him, blocking his path.

“Just like that?” The words slipped out before I could stop them, trembling on my lips.

“What’s the reason, Draven? We’ve been fine until this evening. We even spoke through the academy computers earlier. What changed? What suddenly happened?” My voice pressed, desperate and searching for the smallest crack in his mask.

Tonight of all nights—on my eighteenth birthday, the one I’d clung to for years—how could this be happening? Since my wolf hadn’t awakened at sixteen, I had held onto hope that at eighteen, fate would finally grant me the gift I’d been denied. And instead… this.

Draven’s eyes swept over me from head to toe and the disgust etched across his face sliced deeper than Veronica’s slaps.

“What’s this about, Draven?” My voice shook again, close to breaking. “You’ve never looked at me like this before.”

“Look at yourself and then look at me, Tatiana.” His words dripped with disdain. “Do we look like we belong on the same level? Do we look like we’re supposed to be dating? I came to put an end to this madness.” this was nothing like the boy who once held me close.

The knots in my stomach tightened painfully.

“Is this because I confronted you after catching you cheating on me?” I asked, my voice breaking into a whisper. “If that’s it, then I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. You’re free to be with whoever you want.”

I reached out for him, desperate for any scrap of the warmth he once gave me, but he flinched back as though my touch were poison.

The rejection split me open.

“Draven… I don’t understand,” I almost sobbed, forcing back the tears burning my eyes. “You told me my status as an omega meant nothing to you, even if you were a Beta’s son. You told me you loved me for my heart, not my rank or my beauty. So why are you looking at me like this now? Why are you so cold and distant?”

My heart was pounding so violently it drowned everything else out. I couldn’t hear nor think.

“Did I do something wrong? Did anything happen? Just tell me!” My words tumbled out in a frantic rush. “Please, Draven—what happened?”

I grabbed his arm, clinging to him as if that could anchor me. My voice cracked, spilling out my desperation.

“Whatever happened, I’m sorry. Please, don’t leave me. I’ll do anything you want me to. Even if it’s giving up my virginity to you—if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it. I’ll fix this. I’ll do whatever it takes for us to be okay again.”

But Draven wrenched his arm from my grasp, running his fingers through his hair in agitation.

“Didn’t you hear me?” he snapped louder this time and his voice boomed through the corridor. His anger drew a small crowd to the spot where Veronica had humiliated me earlier, their curious eyes widening at the spectacle.

“I’m done, Tatiana. Do you understand?” His voice rose higher, harsher, final. “I’m done and fucking done! It’s over between us!”

"Why?" The word slipped from my trembling lips as the first tear slid down my cheek. 

"I didn’t do anything wrong," I whispered, my voice heavy with disbelief. "I’ve been nothing but good to you—sacrificing, caring, giving all of myself just to prove I was worthy of you. I loved you with everything in me. So why… why, Draven?"

His laughter was cruel and his eyes burned with contempt and disgust.

"Don’t tell me you don’t know about your reputation in this school," he spat.

I shook my head, choking on the pain. "Oh, please, Draven. You know those are lies."

He knew it—he had seen it himself. The one time he’d tried to touch me, he’d been stunned at how untouched I truly was. But I didn’t throw that truth back at him. Not here in front of everyone.

"The same lies, Tatiana?" he scoffed. "Everyone knows what you are. A slut. An omega who throws herself at any man with money or status. And now what? Deus is your new target?"

The crowd rippled with whispers, feeding on my humiliation.

"You’ve been run through like some cheap whore in a second-rate brothel," he said, his voice rising, meant for all to hear. "You disgust me."

His words struck like a slap, my skin burning with shame. My breath caught in my throat as the murmurs swelled around us like a roaring tide.

This wasn’t the Draven I once clung to. Not the boy who had sworn, time after time—even after I caught him cheating—that he would change because I meant something to him.

I turned away, refusing to give him the satisfaction of my tears, refusing to engage in his public theater. But his voice dragged me back, laced with cruelty.

"Do you know how hard it’s been, dating you these past few months?" His tone was filled with scorn. "Did you know the shame I felt being with a whore like you?"

"I’m a virgin, Draven!" I burst out, rage spilling through the cracks of my despair. "I’m innocent of every single one of these accusations! Why won’t you believe me?!"

The crowd laughed at my desperation, their mockery searing me deeper.

"Believe you?" His sneer widened, twisting his face into something monstrous. "When almost all my friends brag about how good you are in bed? Virgin? Don’t make me laugh."

Their laughter exploded, a cruel chorus that shook me.

My world crumbled, piece by piece, beneath the weight of his betrayal.

"You may have fooled me for months," he went on, "but it ends here. No one wants a used and broken product."

While the crowd cheered his every word as though he had put on the grandest performance of the nightz I struggled to breath.

I couldn’t stand there another second so I ran. I stumbled, blinded by tears, until I found refuge in the shadow of a pillar near the exit, praying no one would see me till they all left.. Praying the ground would swallow me whole before the shame consumed me alive.

*****

I sat on the cold, rusted chair tucked in the shadowed corner of the empty academy road.

The night pressed in around me, silent except for the faint hum of crickets and the distant howl of wolves beyond the academy walls.

My hands trembled in my lap, the sting of Draven’s words replaying again and again inside my head like a cruel song I couldn’t shut out.

My eyes were swollen from crying, but no matter how many tears I shed, the ache in my chest only grew heavier.

The day had begun badly and ended as the worst of my life. As if Veronica’s torment wasn’t enough, Draven’s betrayal had struck deeper. 

And now, knowing the truth from what I overheard behind the pillar as he laughed with his friends while leaving made it all unbearable.

It had all been a game all along. A dare. He had courted me, whispered sweet lies into my ear, held me close, only to win some twisted challenge from his friends. The only thing he hadn’t succeeded in was sleeping with me, but he’d still lied about that too, boasting proudly to them that he had.

I hugged my knees tighter, curling into myself, my breathing shaky as I whispered to no one, my voice breaking in the night. “Why me? Why always me?”

A shadow moved and suddenly a white handkerchief appeared in front of my face.

I flinched and stood abruptly, roughly wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. I didn’t plan to meet anyone here and I had no interest in knowing whoever it was offering me pity.

“That’s rude,” a cold voice remarked, but I only whispered a broken response.

“Please… just stay away from me.”

I turned quickly, trying to escape, but I sensed the figure following me. Irritation flared in my chest, burning through the sorrow and I spun around sharply.

“What is it now?!” My voice cracked with fury. “Who are you and what do you want from me? Haven’t I had enough humiliation already?”

“Chill, chill,” the boy replied, his tone calm but steady. “I was led here by my wolf. He sensed my mate nearby. I’m Carlos.”

My heart stuttered but I shook my head violently.

“Well, there’s no highborn here. That means your mate isn’t here either. So leave me alone,” I snapped, though my tone softened at the end. From his looks and the air around him, it was obvious he came from a wealthy family—probably even nobility. Highborn she-wolves were always fated to alphas or betas, never omegas like me. There was no reason for him to remain here.

Yet he didn’t move. And before I could process further, another figure burst into the road.

“I’m Jasper,” the newcomer said quickly, his eyes locking onto mine. “Carlos’s twin brother. And… I’m your mate as well.”

I froze, stunned. My lips parted, but no words came out. Mate? Another? How?

Shock tightened my chest as Jasper’s words rattled inside me. I didn’t even have a wolf. My scentless existence had always made me invisible to wolves like them. So how could their wolves possibly claim me when there was nothing for them to sense?

I was still grappling with the impossibility when the shadows shifted once more.

This time, the figure that emerged made my stomach knot violently. Deus.

His presence unsettled me in a way I couldn’t explain and yet my eyes widened further when I saw a red, glowing string that tethered on his wrist. A bond but not to me even as he was walking towards me and if led by something. 

He was my mate too.

The world tilted beneath me as confusion swirled with fear. And then the cruelest part of it all—Deus was already betrothed.

How could this be possible? How could the Moon Goddess curse me like this? Fated to not just one but three of the arrogant alpha's I hated.