VIOLET
There was no single remorse on his face as he said those words. I wondered how someone could reject you without even looking like he cared at all.
My mouth remained open as no words would come out. This couldn’t possibly be happening. Why was he doing this to me? It felt like my heart was being shattered into thousands of pieces and there was nothing I could do about it.
“W-What?” The words left my mouth in a stutter.
“You heard me. I don’t want you as my mate. The sooner you get that into your head, the better.” He looked at me with disgust, written all over his face.
If looks could kill, I’d probably underneath the earth. I wondered why he was looking at me with such hatred in his eyes. Like I was some vermin that had crawled from hell. I felt like collapsing into a puddle. This couldn’t be happening.
“You heard what he said.” A voice said from the crowd.
I watched as the slut of the pack, Sienna, gingerly walked up to meet us. Tristan’s eyes were set on her, watching her every move as she stopped before him. I watched as she snaked her arms around him.
Her long black hair fell to the small of her back. Her lashes seemed to flutter the more she stared at Tristan. She was looking at him with what looked like hearts in her eyes. I felt like throwing up. It was all so disgusting.
He wrapped his hands around her face. I couldn’t help but watch in remorse as she crashed her lips against his. He let out a hum as he fervently kissed her back, both of them oblivious to the stares of the crowd around there.
With each second I stood and watched them, it was another second that my heart seemed to shatter into pieces even more and more. They didn’t care that I was standing right there before them or that my whole world was crumbling right before my very eyes.
They finally stopped after what seemed like forever. Tristan turned to regard me, his face twisting in disgust.
“I could never accept the reject as my mate.”
He pulled away from Sienna and turned back to me, disgust creeping back on his face. I could tell whatever he was going to say again would shatter me completely. My heart thrummed violently against my chest. I didn’t think I could take another onslaught of it. Unfortunately, he didn’t look like he cared much.
“I don’t like you. I have never liked you. I will never like you. As a matter of fact, we don’t need a retch like you in this pack.” He closed the distance between us.
He was so close; I swore I could feel his breath on me. The whole place erupted into murmurs of agreement. I looked around, wondering if there was anybody, anyone at all that would come to my aid.
What I saw was something I expected…it didn’t make it hurt any less though. They were all looking at me with disgust written all over their faces. They didn’t care one bit. I bit my lip, my body trembling with both heartbreak and anger.
All this while, I had suffered through nothing but pain. Yet, they had decided to pay me back this way. After everything I had endured from them. Tristan had noticed my trembling and was staring at me.
“I won’t take it.” My voice was low, I barely even heard myself.
“What?” Tristan asked.
“I said I won’t take this.” I whipped my head up to glare at him. “You think you can just do this to me? After everything I’ve been through?”
I pointed at every single one of them present, the rage welling up in me the more I looked at their pathetic faces. I refused to accept their mistreatment any longer. They thought it was okay to treat me however they liked. Like hell, I’d accept that.
“You call yourself an Alpha. Yet you remained silent and watched them all treat me this way. You let them do this to me. You let them bully and punish me. You let them treat me like a maid and all for what, huh? Because my parents aren’t here anymore? Is that it?”
My rage would not be caged or controlled anymore. Something in me wanted to stop and just cower into a corner but I was done doing that. I would not remain silent in the face of this injustice any longer. I turned back to Tristan, my eyes burning with hate and anger
“You might call yourself an Alpha but you’re nothing but a fucking coward.”
For a split moment, I was happy that I had let out all the things I wanted to say. Immediately, I started to wish I hadn’t said that. The hard look on his face let me know that I had definitely stepped on the wolf’s tail.
Before I even had any time to react, my face whipped to the side and I collapsed on the ground. Tristan had just slapped me. I looked up to see him glaring down at me like I was some ant beneath his shoe.
“You really had fun running your mouth like the bitch you are, huh?”
He spat on me before proceeding to kick me in the stomach. I let out a pained yelp, my eyes fluttering close as the pain seemed too much to bear.
“Morris! Jay! Grab her.” Tristan ordered.
Just as I opened my eyes, two male pack members grabbed me and hefted me up to my feet. I was now staring Tristan straight in the eye.
“Since you’ve proven that you’re not worthy of all the kindness we’ve shown you in this pack, I thought of doing you a favor.”
My eyes widened as my heart rate sped up. I had a feeling I already knew what was coming.
“From this day onward, you are no longer a member of West Creak Pack.”
It was then, I felt my world crashing down. I didn’t bother fighting the darkness that consumed me.
LUCIANThere wasn’t any reason for doing that—deciding to help Violet with her training. Deep down, I couldn’t quite explain it to myself either.It was just something I did without thinking. I let out a breath before putting off the shower. The days were going by faster than I could keep track of. If what Zayn had said about Tristan looking for an alliance with Ashborne was true—Another breath left my lips. I grabbed a towel and dried off my wet hair before making my way out of the bathroom.Violet was already there, her focus trained on the phone in her grasp. Her lips were pulled down into a frown, like she completely detested whatever it was had her attention.I slowly made my way towards the bed, my footsteps concise and intentional. She must have noticed my presence right from when I stepped out of the bathroom. But somehow she’d mastered the art of acting like nothing mattered to her.Except for the occasional cracks in her façade.I wanted to annoy her, get under whatever it
Lucian’s POV.There was once a time when I could feel any and everything all at once. I carried my emotions with everything that little heart could muster.That was over two decades ago.I’d long since smothered that piece of shit that only ever made me do stupid things. How did that help?It made me into the Alpha I was. Strong, dominant, and unwilling to break no matter the strain.“Hit me.” I turned to Zayn, waiting to hear what he had to say.The report was simple: Two dead, one injured. Patrol breach, southern ridge. Most likely scouts—testing us.I set the parchment down without reacting. I’d seen worse. Handled worse. But the tension in my jaw didn’t ease.Zayn leaned back in the leather chair across from me, arms crossed, waiting. “You going to say something or just keep brooding?”I looked at him once. That was enough to shut him up.“This isn’t a scouting mission,” I said. “It’s provocation. Tristan’s baiting us.”“He thinks you’ll act emotionally,” Zayn muttered.He’s not e
Violet’s POVThere was tension in the air that seemed to suck the breath right out of me. The look on Zayn’s face didn’t help either.He turned to Lucian, seconds passing between them as they locked gazes. I hated it. The silent conversations between them, whatever it was they arrived at were well understood by both parties.“Well,” Zayn suddenly got out of his seat. “I’ll leave you to it then.”I whipped my head to him, surprised that he was already so eager to go after all the egging and rage-baiting. ““Wait, where are you going?”His gaze flicked to Lucian and back to him. “It’s something you need to hear, preferably without my presence being felt.”I frowned. “What if I want you to be here?”For a moment, something indescribable passed behind his eyes. Then it was gone.“Sorry, Violet.” Zayn had a sad smile on his face. “I won’t be gone for long.”With that, he began making his way out of the office. The moment Zayn left and the office door clicked shut, I sensed it—something was
VIOLET“So what it is?”I didn’t bother wasting time as I went straight to the point. Being in the confines of Lucian’s office wasn’t something I found comfortable.Coupled with the fact that he hadn’t said anything about seeing me that way last night, I didn’t know what to make of anything.“Sit down first, then you can start running your mouth.” Lucian shut the door before turning to me.“I doubt you’d know much about keeping your mouth shut,” I shot back. “Barking out orders and telling people to do as you want must be a huge turn-on for you.”His eyebrow twitched in irritation. Before I knew it, he had already crossed the room and closed the distance between us.“Shut the hell up, or I will make you.”There was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he stared back at me. Too bad, I wasn’t one to give a damn about what he wanted.If he wanted to act all prickly, then everyone was going to get pissed today. Two could play at that game.“Is that always your go-to threat or you just have th
Violet's POVOne thing I would always pride myself on was my profound ability to act, put a smile on my face and go about as the unfeeling bad ass I thought myself to be.Forget traumatic pasts and borderline bullying.I was it!Well, that was what I liked to tell myself. It helped sometimes, kept the whispers of inadequacy and doubt at a distance.Up until it’s just me and my thoughts. Honestly, the fact that I was yet to fully spiral was more than a surprise. The nightmares were the most annoying. I was still in fervent search of a remedy for them.Lucian hadn’t noticed yet. It was good that he hadn’t—even better that he’d left the room last night.As soon as he’d shut that door, the tears had come pouring down like an unending flood.“Why is it so hard to breathe?”That was the only coherent thought that rang in my head. It felt like my heart was threatening to lurch out of my chest.“Damn it.” I cursed, wiping away at my cheeks profusely.The harder I wiped, the more they fell.Wh
LUCIANIt had been about three days since the dinner with Kane and Marissa. Two since Zayn told me about West Creak brokering an alliance with Ashborne Pack. Five since I’d noticed something unusual with Violet.She’d been pretty good at her role as Luna, no doubt about that. I had to give it to her, she had a knack for being open and there for the pack members whenever they needed it.Whatever complains it was they had, especially when it was something that required utmost attention, she was always quick to lay it to me. Which was one of the things I actually found amusing about her.What I did find unusual though was certain actions I’d picked up on from being her roommate for quite some time now.It mainly happened when she was asleep. I’d been skeptical when it happened the first time.She’d mumbled somethings in her sleep, her whole form shrinking into what had seemed like a fetal position.I still remembered how she’d woken up with a start, her whole body lightly trembling. She