Rejecting her dignity

Sage's POV

I couldn't avoid the whispers at school, but I tried. I kept my head down, wore my hair over the mating marks on my neck, and stayed away from crowded hallways. It didn't matter. The pictures had spread too far, and everyone knew.

By the time lunch came around, the entire school was talking about me. Not about who I'd slept with—no one knew that. They just knew that compromising pictures of my naked body were circulating, that I had mating marks from three different wolves, and that I was apparently sleeping around with men I wouldn't even name.

In the cafeteria, I sat alone like always, trying to make myself invisible. But invisibility wasn't an option anymore. Girls pointed and laughed. Boys made crude comments about what I might do for attention. Even the teachers looked at me with disappointment, like I'd personally brought shame to the academy.

The worst part was watching the three boys move through the school like nothing had happened. They didn't acknowledge me. They didn't even look at me. It was like I'd ceased to exist entirely. And to make matters worse, I was called into the school office and told my scholarship was revoked

When the final bell rang, I thought maybe I could escape to my dormitory and hide for the rest of the day. But as I was walking across the courtyard toward the exit, I saw them.

Kael was standing near the main fountain with Mara Thorne.

Mara was one of my worst bullies—blonde, beautiful, and cruel in a way that suggested she'd been born knowing how to hurt people. She'd mocked me since day one, made comments about my disgraced family, suggested that the only reason I had a scholarship was because the academy pitied me.

And now Kael had his hand on her waist, pulling her close.

When he kissed her, it was deliberate and passionate. Not a quick kiss. A real kiss, the kind that made a statement. He held her like she mattered. Like she was precious. Like she was exactly what he wanted.

I stopped moving. I couldn't breathe.

The bond inside my chest screamed in protest, a sound only I could hear. It felt like my own heart was turning against me, rejecting what my eyes were seeing but my body knew was true. He was my mate. He'd claimed me. And now he was kissing someone else like I'd never existed.

When Kael finally pulled away from Mara, she was smiling. But not the gentle smile of someone who'd just been kissed. It was a predatory, vicious smile. And when she turned her head, her eyes found mine in the crowd.

She'd known I was there. She'd made sure I would see.

Our eyes locked for just a moment, and I saw pure satisfaction in her expression. She'd won. She'd claimed the thing I wanted most, and she'd done it specifically to hurt me. To humiliate me.

I turned and walked away, but I could already hear the whispers starting. People had noticed my reaction. People knew that the kiss had meant something to me.

By the time evening came, the story had spread through the entire academy. He'd kissed her in front of everyone, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with me.

The mockery that followed was relentless. Girls I'd never spoken to stopped me in the hallways specifically to laugh at me. Boys made crude suggestions about what I must have done to drive him away so completely. Mara herself made sure to walk past me multiple times with him, making sure I saw her triumph.

I felt like I was drowning.

***

I was in the library after school, sitting in a corner where no one could see me, trying not to fall apart completely, when Vex appeared.

He stepped around the bookshelf like he'd been looking for me, his expression cold and calculating. There was no warmth in his eyes, no recognition of the bond that connected us. Just pure, clinical contempt.

His friends were with him—three other elite students who looked at me like I was garbage they'd stepped in.

"I don't know how those pictures got out," I said desperately, standing up to face him. "Vex, I swear to you, I don't know. Someone must have taken them when I was asleep or—"

"I don't care," he said flatly, cutting me off before I could even finish my explanation. "I don't care how they got out or why. That's not my problem."

One of his friends snickered. "Look at her, trying to defend herself. Like anyone believes that."

"She's a slut," another one said, his voice dripping with disdain. "Three different wolves marked her. What kind of girl lets that happen?"

I felt my face burn with humiliation, but I forced myself to keep looking at Vex. Maybe if I could just make him listen, if I could just explain—

"If you want to redeem yourself," Vex said coldly, "if you want to prove that you have any value at all, you can help me with something. It's something I need done, and it requires... discretion."

His friends laughed like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

I should have said no. Every instinct screamed at me to walk away, to refuse to play whatever game he was playing. But I was desperate. I was alone. I had no scholarship, no family, no future. And maybe, just maybe, if I helped him, if I proved myself useful to him, he might believe me. He might help me get my scholarship back. He might acknowledge the bond.

"I'll do it," I said. "Whatever you need. Just... please. Let me explain about the pictures."

Vex's expression didn't change. "There's a rogue wolf in the forest. One of our experimental subjects. It got loose this morning. I need you to bring it back under control."

He pulled out a small device from his pocket—a shock collar remote. "This will control it. The collar should work. Should."

The word "should" sent a chill down my spine.

"That's it?" I asked, trying to understand what he was really asking. "You just want me to... what? Tame it?"

"If you can do it," he said, his voice absolutely devoid of emotion, "then maybe you'll prove you're worth something. If you can't..." He shrugged like my life or death was a matter of complete indifference to him. "Then you'll die in the forest like the worthless thing you are."

He handed me the remote and a map marking the location where he'd released the rogue. His friends were already walking away, not bothering to hide their laughter.

"Wait," I called after him desperately. "How will you know if I succeed? How will I find you?"

He didn't even turn around. "You'll figure it out. Or you won't. Either way, it's not my concern."

***

The forest was dark by the time I made my way to the coordinates on the map, armed with nothing but the remote and a desperate hope that Vex had been telling the truth about the shock collar working.

I found the rogue quickly—too quickly. It was waiting for me like it had been expecting prey.

The wolf was enormous, easily three times the size of a normal werewolf. Its eyes were completely black, devoid of any intelligence or humanity. Foam flecked at its mouth, and when it caught my scent, it lunged with primal ferocity.

I pressed the button on the remote frantically. Nothing happened. The collar around the rogue's neck glowed faintly with a dim blue light, but the wolf didn't slow down. It didn't react at all. It just kept coming.

The shock collar wasn't working.

I ran.

The rogue chased me deeper into the forest, its massive paws hitting the ground with enough force to shake the earth beneath my feet. I was fast—faster than a human, faster than most wolves—but I wasn't fast enough. It was gaining on me, closing the distance with every thundering stride.

I tried pressing the remote again. And again. And again. But nothing changed. The collar remained ineffective, glowing uselessly around the beast's neck, and the wolf remained completely, utterly mindless.

My foot caught on a root, and I went down hard. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs. I rolled onto my back just as the rogue launched itself at me, its massive jaws open wide, ready to tear me apart.

This was it. This was how I was going to die. In a forest, alone, hunted by a mindless beast, abandoned by the three men who'd claimed me and then rejected me. No one even knew where I was. No one would find my body. I would simply disappear, and the world would move on.

The bond pulsed one last time inside my chest, a final, agonized cry that no one would hear. A desperate plea for the men who were supposed to protect me but had instead left me here to die.

The rogue's jaws came down toward my throat, and I realized with crystal clarity that I was about to die.

And no one would ever know the truth.