Chapter 5

Vivian's POV

Tears streaked down my face uncontrollably, my body falling apart with each step forward.

The pain from the broken bond raked through my body, sucking out what little strength I had left.

I knew I'd collapse if I took the regular route home.

The shortcut was just through the woods and turned straight to our house.

My mind didn't consider the risks before steering the rest of me towards that direction.

The streets were mostly empty besides the occasional beta shooting my body disgusted glares.

I wrapped my arms tighter around my body as I walked past a small pub with three alphas sitting in front.

They were all heavily drunk and whistled at me as I walked by.

"Damn, that pig must be wild in bed." One said, laughing right after.

Even from afar his breath hung heavy in the air, along with the insult.

I blocked out the rest of their conversation, walking off without looking back or listening to their taunts.

Those words had been said to me so many times, but it still stung like the first.

Pig.

Because I was bigger than an omega should be. Uglier.

Every hope and dream I'd had as a child was crushed the moment my body decided to take this form, and those taunts had followed me since.

My fingernails dug into my skin as I turned around the corner, walking into the woods carefully without looking back.

All I wanted was to go back home. To that cold, lonely room, and finally cry some more.

The memory of his sharp gaze was still imprinted in my head as I struggled through the leaves and branches.

His mouth and eyes had spoken two completely different languages. One had ripped apart what the other had finally managed to put together.

My lips quivered as the tears rushed back, blurring my vision.

My dress caught onto a tree branch, the delicate lace ripping almost immediately.

I flinched, the sound like a blade in my skin. The lace hung from the tree, taunting me as I pulled it off.

A tear fell onto the red material, then another, and soon the lace was pressed against my face as I cried, the agony that had been my life for years finally taking hold of me.

My sobs froze in my throat when a branch snapped a few feet away from me.

I gasped, standing to my full height while glancing around. No one was in sight, but my body still tensed as I tested the air for the scent of anyone.

The road was taken often by traders, so it was impossible to tell them apart with my weak omega senses.

My feet took a few steps back, before sprinting towards the direction of my house.

The trees and leaves pulled off parts of my dress, the heavy material making running even harder.

When the house came into view, I barely had time to register how this was probably the first time I'd ever felt relief from seeing it before a body slammed into me, sending my body crashing forward.

My palms cupped my face, preventing it from scraping against the rough forest floor.

The rest of my body wasn't as lucky.

Pain erupted from my arms, a distant sting that faded when my body pushed off the ground to see what had attacked me.

A shiver ran down my spine as the three alphas from the pub surrounded me, their clothes stained with beer and their smiles predatory.

"I typically wouldn't fuck something like you, but all the hot girls are off at the packhouse trying to catch themselves a rich mate," one said, clearly irritated.

I struggled to my hands and knees, my body aching from the earlier rejection and the brutal shove.

I barely crawled two steps before another man stepped forward, slamming his foot onto my palm so hard the sound of a bone cracking rang in my head.

My body crashed into the soil, the hand snapping to my chest as pain radiated from it.

"Did you have to injure her hand?" the third asked, leaning down with a sigh.

His voice didn't have as much of a slur as the other two, meaning he wasn't nearly as drunk.

I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. He was slightly sober but was still willing to join his friends to hurt me, there was nothing good about that.

"Please..." I whispered, gasping through the heavy breaths of pain.

The third man laughed, lifting my chin to face him while the other two began ripping off my dress. "It's so cute when you beg."

I tried to struggle, but my injured hand hung helplessly at my side, already turning an ugly shade of purple and yellow.

"What's your name, pig?" he asked, his voice so gentle and soft like it wasn't tearing me apart.

His friends had made their way through most of the layers of my dress.

The body beneath lay helplessly on the forest floor.

Sleeping with an unmated omega was against the law, but I wasn't underage and there was absolutely nobody who would defend me anyway.

Not my family and certainly not my mate.

If these men assaulted me, they'd get away scot free and I'd have to live with the shame.

I felt nothing but hopelessness as my body went limp.

When the two men finally decided to force my legs apart though, something in me came alive.

I struggled against their grip, my efforts futile and ineffective.

I managed to let out a loud, pleading scream before the man who was holding my chin backhanded me.

His palm left behind a wave of pain radiating from my cheek.

A whimper fell from my lips before one of them clasped his hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"You think anyone heard the bitch?" the third one asked, glancing around skeptically. "Maybe we should just leave her and run."

The first man growled, revealing his ugly yellow teeth. "This bitch will probably never have the privilege of getting fucked by a real cock with this body. We're doing her a favor."

His words felt like a slap, nearly as painful as the actual slap he'd given me.

They continued forcing my legs apart, spreading the limbs wide while one took a blade to cut through my underwear.

Panic gripped me as I let out muffled screams through the hand clamped on my mouth.

"Shut the fuck up. Pigs like you love to mate anyway. Isn't that why you weren't at the ceremony? You came out here to find someone to fuck you instead."

I felt the air blow across my thighs, enough to let me know they'd cut through my underwear.

As the first man finally crawled on top of me, his breath hot on my ear, something moved in the forest.

It caught all our attention, but before the man over me could even look back to check, a wolf lunged out of the forest.

It sunk its claws into his chest, instantly ending his life.

Then it turned to me and growled.