A broken woman

Calista's POV

I paced back and forth across the bedroom floor, my hands shaking so violently I had to clench them into fists. My vision blurred. My chest heaved. I couldn’t stop moving. The air in the room felt thick, smelling of sex, sweat, and betrayal.

I looked at the rumpled bedsheets, then at the floor, and finally at him.

"You do this with men?" My voice cracked, barely above a whisper. "You have sex with men?"

Jake stood by the bed, the blanket wrapped tightly around his waist. He looked flushed, his hair messy, but the shock on his face was already turning into irritation.

"Calista, just calm down for a second," he said, taking a step toward me. "It’s not what it looks like."

"Not what it looks like?" I scoffed, a bitter, breathless sound. "I just walked in on two naked men on top of you! What else could it possibly look like, Jake?"

"It’s just something I do occasionally," he said, shrugging his shoulders as if he were talking about a hobby. "It’s no big deal."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I yelled, stepping back so he couldn't get closer. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

He shrugged again, looking away from me. "Because I didn't want you to find out."

"You didn't want me to find out?" I repeated, my voice rising in disbelief. "Jake, this is an entire pack! We live in a community of wolves with heightened senses! Why wouldn't I find out eventually?"

"I just didn't want you to know," he snapped, his patience clearly wearing thin. He straightened his posture, trying to look imposing despite being half-naked. "And besides, it's really none of your business what I do in my private time."

"None of my business?" I stared at him, completely appalled.

"Yes. None of your business."

"I am the future Luna of this pack!" I gestured wildly between the two of us. "I am your mate! I should have known about your sexuality. I should have known about everything you want done, and everything you do behind closed doors!"

"You're making a scene over nothing," he muttered. “I felt like having sex with men and I did. If I wanted to have with women I will do that as well. Stop panicking for nothing.”

"Nothing?" A cold wave of anger washed over me. The pain in my chest hardened into stone. "I can't do this anymore. I can't do this any longer."

"Calista…"

"No, stop," I said, raising a hand. "I just came here to call you so you could go to the alpha meeting with my father. That's the only reason I'm here. But right now? I cannot stay here. I cannot look at you."

I turned on my heel, rushing toward the heavy wooden door. I needed to breathe. I needed to get away from the scent of him.

But before my hand could even touch the doorknob, a blur of movement blocked my path.

Jake stood in front of the door, his chest heaving, his face twisted in a dark, dangerous scowl.

"You're not going anywhere," he hissed.

"Get out of my way, Jake."

"No. If you leave this room right now, you're going to go straight to your father."

"Of course I am!" I shouted, glaring right into his eyes. "That's why I'm calling off this entire relationship! We are done! I thought what we had was exclusive but it’s clear we are nothing to each other. Go fuck a bull or whatever. I’m done with with this rubbish."

Without warning, his hand shot out as he grabbed my neck, slamming my back hard against the wall. The back of my head hit the plaster, making my vision blur for a fraction of a second.

"You are not going anywhere," Jake growled, leaning his face close to mine. His grip tightened, cutting off my airway. "You will stay quiet, you will play your part, and you will not ruin my reputation, do you understand? I own you. If anyone is going to break this relationship it’s me. Not you."

Panic flared deep in my chest, but right behind it came a roaring wave of pure fury.

Nobody holds my neck like that.

"Let... go," I choked out.

"Make me."

In a flash of anger, I punched his throat with my knuckles which had him stumbling back, then when he let go of me I slapped him across his cheek.

The sound echoed through the room.

"Nobody holds my neck like that!" I screamed, my breath heavy. "Not even my father who is an elder! You have no right!"

Jake stumbled back, his hand flying to his reddened cheek and his throbbing neck. For a moment, he looked completely stunned. Then, his expression turned monstrous. The brown in his eyes began to glow a dangerous, vibrant red, a clear sign that his Alpha wolf was taking over.

"You bitch," he growled.

He lunged forward, raising his large hand high into the air, bringing it down to slap me across the face with full Alpha force, but in that exact split second, something inside me snapped.

I didn't feel like the weak, shiftless wolf everyone thought I was. 

Suddenly, an immense boost of energy burst through my veins. It felt like hot electricity flooding my muscles. Time seemed to slow down. My mind flashed back to the training grounds, remembering a specific defensive move I had been taught by one of the senior warriors in the pack.

As his hand came rushing toward my face, I dodged it, moving out of the way with a speed I didn't know I possessed.

I grabbed his extended wrist with both hands, stepped in close with my hips, and pulled his arm forward while driving my shoulder right into his midsection. 

With a loud grunt, I threw him completely over my shoulders as Jake flew through the air, crashing violently onto the heavy wooden side table across the room. The wood shattered under his weight with a loud crack.

A sharp, broken piece of the thick wooden table leg was sticking straight up and as Jake fell back onto the debris, the jagged wood sliced clean through his lower back and protruded through the side of his stomach.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

Jake let out a horrific, blood-curdling growl of agony. Blood immediately began to pool on the floor, soaking through the ruined blanket.

I fell back against the wall, panting heavily. I looked down at my hands. They were shaking violently, but I could still feel the hum of that strange, massive power vibrating beneath my skin.

Where did that strength come from? I thought, my heart hammering against my ribs. I don't even have my wolf yet. How did I just overpower an Alpha?

"Oh, Moon Goddess," I whispered, staring at the blood. “Jake? Are you okay?”

“I’m not fucking okay! You just threw me on a table and now I’m fucking dying!” He groaned in pain.

“I’m sure it’s not a big… problem. You can heal right?”

“Arrrgghhhhh!” He groaned in pain, his face pale as he clutched his bleeding stomach, unable to move without screaming.

The sheer terror of the situation finally hit me as I screamed out toward the hallway.

"Help! Someone help!"

The heavy bedroom door immediately burst open.

Helga, the head maid, rushed into the room, followed closely by a huge mansion guard. They both stopped dead in their tracks, their eyes widening in absolute horror as they took in the scene.

The room was completely destroyed. I was standing by the wall with shaky hands, pale and hyperventilating. And on the floor, impaled by a piece of broken wood, was their Alpha.

"Oh my gods!" Helga shrieked, covering her mouth.

The guard instantly drew his weapon, his eyes darting from Jake to me.

"Alpha!" the guard yelled, moving toward him.

Helga ran to the doorway, her voice echoing down the hall in a frantic panic. "Guards! More guards! Get the healers! Someone help, the Alpha has been attacked!"

I took a step forward, my hands raised defensively. "I didn't mean to... he attacked me first..."

Helga whipped around, glaring at me with terror and fury. "What did you do, Calista? What did you do to him?!"

"I... I was just defending myself," I stammered, my voice trembling. "He grabbed my neck! He tried to hit me!"

Before I could say anything else, three more guards burst into the room. They didn't even look at me. They rushed straight to the floor, carefully lifting a groaning, bleeding Jake. They wrapped him in a fresh bedsheet, clothing him quickly so that nobody in the hallway would see their Alpha naked and vulnerable.

"Get him to the healer's tent now!" the lead guard ordered.

Two guards carried Jake out of the room as fast as they could, his groans fading down the corridor.

The lead guard, a stern man with a scar across his brow, turned slowly to face me. He stepped into my path, blocking the exit.

"Calista," the lead guard said, his voice cold and formal. "You are under arrest for the attempted murder of the Alpha."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "No! No, this is a mistake! You don't understand, we were just fighting! He grabbed me!"

The guard shook his head, his face expressionless. "No. We cannot let this go away. You attacked the leader of this pack."

"He's my mate!" I cried out, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. "I'm his future Luna! Why would I want to hurt him? I'm not going to do anything to hurt him intentionally!"

"That doesn't matter right now," Helga snapped from the corner, her eyes cold. "Look at what you did to him!"

"Please, just listen to me…"

"Silence!"

A new voice cut through the room like a knife.

I looked up to see the Beta walking through the door. Beta Paul was a thin, wiry man with sharp features and calculating eyes. He never liked me, and he certainly didn't like my father. He walked into the center of the ruined bedroom, looking at the pool of blood on the floor, then at the broken wood, and finally, he turned his gaze to me.

A cruel, tiny smirk was at the edge of his lips before it vanished.

"Beta Paul," I pleaded, taking a step toward him. "Please, tell them. You know me. I wouldn't do this without a reason."

Paul folded his arms over his chest, looking down his nose at me.

"Calista," Paul said, his voice ringing clearly through the tense room. "Before the Alpha was tragically taken away to the healer's tent, he managed to speak a few words to me."

I held my breath, waiting.

"He told me to tell you," Paul continued, his voice dripping with malice, "that he is officially rejecting the mate bond."

The breath was completely knocked out of me. It felt like an invisible physical blow to my chest. A dull pain flared in my heart as the spiritual bond connecting me to Jake suddenly weakened and snapped into nothingness.

"No..." I whispered, clutching my chest.

"So right now," Paul said, stepping closer to me, "you are an ordinary member of this pack. You are no longer his mate. You are no longer the future Luna. You are nothing but a criminal who attacked the alpha.”

“No…”

“…and you will face the full force of what you did to our Alpha."

He didn't give me a chance to speak. He looked over his shoulder at the remaining guards.

"Take her away," Paul commanded. "Put her in the dungeons."

"No! Let go of me!" I screamed as two heavy hands grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back.

I kicked and thrashed, trying to tap into that strange energy from before, but it was gone, leaving me exhausted and weak.

"This isn't fair! He attacked me! Ask Helga, she saw how nervous he was making everyone! He was cheating on me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, trying to defend myself as they dragged me backward out of the bedroom.

"Save your breath, traitor," one of the guards muttered, shoving me forward.

"Let me go! My father is an elder! You can't do this to me!"

But my cries fell on deaf ears. 

The servants in the hallway stared at me with horror and disgust as the guards roughly hauled me down the stairs. They dragged me through the grand doors, out into the bright afternoon sun where the rest of the pack stared at me like a traitor, and toward the dark, cold stairs of the pack dungeons.