Chapter 2

— Did he just reject her? But she doesn’t have a she-wolf, an Omega without a wolf could never form a mate bond. — Someone near me whispered to another person.

— Shut up! If Alpha Darius hears you…

— Sabina, how dare you try to take the place of our pack’s Luna. You’re nothing but a weak Omega without a she-wolf. — Darius’s anger is evident in his tone.

What’s going on? The pain is blinding me a little; everything looks blurry and feels distant, but I can hear everything clearly.

Did he reject me?

I’m not even supposed to have a she-wolf. How on earth did a bond form between us? How dare he reject me?

— I would never choose such a weak Luna. I am the Alpha, and I need a strong mate to lead the pack alongside me. You shouldn’t even have come to the ceremony. — No Omega without a wolf is allowed to take part in our sacred rituals or mingle with our people, lest they weaken the pack.

His words. They should hurt, but the only pain I feel, the pain that makes me writhe in the mud, is the pain of the bond breaking. Shattering my chest and ending my life, or what’s left of it.

This was all I had to lose, and now I’ve lost it. If I die, no one will care, not even me, because the alternative is to survive and go home, even more humiliated. More blows, more pain, more scars.

When the priests predicted that the goddess would show Darius her Luna during the coronation ceremony and that she would change the pack’s destiny, something deep inside me stirred, as if hope were breaking through all the pain of my life.

I thought that when Darius returned, and we saw each other for the first time… but what happened was the exact opposite. I had hope, and he just crushed the last glimmer of light I’d dared to hold onto, so I wouldn’t fade away completely.

— You don’t even have the strength to stop wallowing in the mud and get back up. You can’t blame me for this, Sabina. You’re too weak, and that’s why I don’t regret what I’m about to do.

He walks away from me; in the midst of my suffering, I see his blurred silhouette approaching Diana. I make an effort to try to get up, but I can only manage to support myself on my arms while remaining on my knees. I see the horrible smile on her sausage lips.

— There must be a mistake, because you’ve always been my true Luna, Diana. — He grabs her by the waist and pulls her toward him, then lowers his head to her disgusting, sausage lips and kisses her.

— Agh! Pray that all the plastic in those sausage lips doesn’t burst while you’re kissing her.

I hear the gasps of surprise and fear from everyone around me and realize I didn’t just think that, I said it out loud.

Someone grabs me by the hair and pulls me to my feet. I let out a cry of pain, but my throat fails me.

— You damn ungrateful wretch! You still dare to insult your sister. Now she is the Luna, and Alpha Darius can kill you if he so desires. — My own father hurts me and scolds me like this. He never loved me, but even now he has no compassion for me.

— Can’t you control your daughter? I’m not sure I want to keep you as a Beta, Neall. — Darius has definitely taken being an Alpha way too seriously, but not in a good way.

— I’m sorry, Alpha. It won’t happen again. I’ll send her home right now, so she doesn’t interrupt the coronation celebration and her selection as the Luna. — I can’t call this terrible man —Father.

— Dorian, Sergey. Take her home. — Dad orders a couple of obedient Omegas, but I have no intention of leaving with two men in this state. I know what could happen, with me now being despised by the Alpha.

— Please, Father, let women escort me. — Even though it disgusts me to call him that and to have my voice sound so pitiful and broken, I don’t want to expose myself to any male from the pack alone. Who knows what they might do to me.

— Shut up! — He yanks my hair.

— Alpha, Darius. Please! Consider this a favor for the mate you’ve just rejected. Have mercy on me, I’m still chaste, and if you let men guard me today… I beg you, Alpha!

What’s tearing me apart right now is having to beg the scum who’s trampled on me, but I have to think and act if I’m going to get out of here alive.

I no longer have a life, it’s true, but only in a figurative sense. The reality is that they can still make me bleed, and if I no longer have a life to live here, then I’ll make one somewhere else. I just need to get out of this in one piece and get out of here.

— Juno, Mary — Escort the young lady. — The voice behind me still carries a hint of compassion. Luna Elisse takes pity on me.

— Mother, why are you meddling in my affairs?

— Enough, Darius. You’ve humiliated the girl enough already. Everyone knows you don’t want her as your mate. We are a civilized pack; let her retain a little of her dignity, don’t hand her over, so others can satisfy their base instincts. What will other packs think if they find out that you rejected the Luna the goddess granted you to run off with another, and then handed her over to the pigs to be destroyed? Don’t be a terrible Alpha in your first moments after the coronation.

She’s not thinking of me out of pity; it’s all about the pack’s reputation.

The two women approach and grab me by the arms. They look at me and touch me with disgust, not just because of the mud. I’m already someone I’d feel sorry for myself, and if I were to sink any lower, being dragged around by men, then not even I would want to touch or even look at myself.

When we get home, they take me straight to the servants’ quarters, to the small room where, luckily, I don’t have to share space with anyone else. The only concession my father made to me after Mom’s death.

 Despite complaining nonstop ever since we left the ceremony, they’re now happy to toss me like a sack of potatoes onto the floor of the room. Before I pass out, I hear the door close. Finally alone, to wallow in my own misery in private. Darkness engulfs me, while the lingering pain consumes me.