Chapter Two

Irina

My body ached. The heavy silk sheets smelled of dark cedar and rain, wrapping around me like a cruel reminder of the night before. I pulled the blanket up to my chest. The mating mark on my neck throbbed with a dull, constant heat.

Xander stood by the window. He was already dressed in a crisp black shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal the dark ink covering his forearms. He did not look at me. He stared out at the morning fog.

"Get up," he ordered. His voice was a flat, dead sound.

I sat up slowly, clutching the sheets tighter. "Xander... last night..."

"Last night was a mistake," he spat. He finally turned around. His dark eyes held zero warmth. "It was just a biological reaction. Do not think it changes anything, Irina."

The words felt like a slap. The mate bond hummed in my chest, screaming at his rejection.

Before I could reply, the door swung open.

Alpha Kratvak stood in the doorway. His massive frame blocked out the light from the corridor. His face was a mask of pure, boiling rage. He looked at the rumpled bed, then at the fresh mark bleeding through my collar, and finally at his son.

"What have you done, Xander?" Alpha Kratvak's voice was a low rumble that shook the floorboards.

Xander crossed his arms. He leaned against the window sill. "Nothing that matters, Father."

"Nothing that matters?" Kratvak stepped into the room. "You claimed an omega defect on the eve of your political betrothal. The entire pack smells her on you. The Silvermoon Alpha is already mocking us."

"I lost control for one night," Xander said coldly. "It means nothing."

I pulled my knees to my chest. I felt sick. I was sitting right here, and they were talking about me like I was a broken piece of furniture.

"It means everything if you jeopardized the alliance," Kratvak growled. He pointed a thick finger at Xander. "Cataline is arriving in an hour. Her father is expecting a formal announcement. You have two choices right now. You either forfeit your seat as Heir and walk away with this useless stray, or you fix this."

Xander did not even hesitate. He did not even look at me.

"I am the Alpha Heir," Xander said. "I am not throwing away my crown for her."

"Then prove it," Kratvak commanded. "Get her dressed. Bring her to the courtyard. You will handle this in front of everyone."

Kratvak turned and walked out, leaving the door wide open.

Xander walked over to the bed. He grabbed my faded blue dress from the floor and tossed it at my face.

"Put it on," he ordered.

"Xander, please," I whispered. My voice cracked. "We are mates. You felt it. You cannot just..."

"I can and I will," he interrupted. He leaned down, his face inches from mine. "You are weak, Irina. You bring nothing to this pack. You bring nothing to me. Now get dressed before I drag you out there naked."

I scrambled out of the bed. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely manage the buttons of my dress. Xander did not wait. The second I was covered, he grabbed my upper arm. His grip was bruising.

He pulled me out of the room, down the long corridor, and out into the biting morning air of the courtyard.

The entire pack was already gathered. Hundreds of wolves stood in a massive circle. They were whispering, pointing, and staring at the fresh mark on my neck. I kept my head down. The humiliation was a suffocating weight.

Xander dragged me to the center of the courtyard. He let go of my arm and pushed me forward. I stumbled, barely catching my balance.

"Listen to me," Xander yelled. His Alpha aura flared, forcing several lower-ranking wolves to drop their heads.

He looked down at me. There was absolute disgust in his eyes.

"I, Xander Blackwood, reject you, Irina, as my mate and my Luna."

The words severed the bond. A blinding, tearing pain ripped through my chest. I gasped, falling to my knees on the cold cobblestones. It felt like my heart had been physically ripped out of my ribcage. I clutched my chest, gasping for air that would not come.

"She is nothing to me," Xander announced to the crowd. He did not even flinch as I sobbed on the ground. "She was a momentary lapse in judgment. Nothing more."

The crowd parted. A stunning girl with flowing dark hair and a pristine white dress walked forward. She had a haughty, confident smirk on her face.

"This is Cataline," Xander declared. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to his side. "She is the daughter of the Silvermoon Alpha. And she will be your true Luna."

The pack erupted into cheers and applause. They were celebrating my destruction.

I tried to stand up, but a sharp kick to my ribs sent me sprawling back onto the stones.

I looked up through my tears. Stephanie was standing over me. Her face was twisted into a mask of pure hatred. Elise stood right behind her, smiling coldly.

"You disgusting little rat," Stephanie hissed. She leaned down so only I could hear her. "You thought you could steal him from me? You thought opening your legs would make you a Luna?"

"Stephanie, stop," I choked out, holding my side.

"You ruined everything," Stephanie spat. She reached down and grabbed the silver chain around my neck. It was the only thing I had left of my mother. A small, intricately carved locket.

"No!" I screamed, reaching for her hands.

Stephanie yanked hard. The chain snapped.

She held the locket up in the air. "Look at this," she yelled to the crowd. "The omega trash is still clinging to her dead mother's garbage. She thought this cheap trinket made her special."

"Give it back," I begged, trying to crawl toward her.

Stephanie dropped the locket onto the cobblestones. She raised the heel of her heavy leather boot.

"You are nothing," Stephanie said.

She brought her heel down with all her strength. The delicate silver shattered. The metal crushed into the dirt, completely destroyed beyond repair.

A collective gasp rippled through the pack. Even for wolves, destroying a deceased parent's relic was a line rarely crossed. It was unspeakably cruel.

I stared at the broken pieces of silver. My vision blurred. I could not breathe. I could not speak. The last piece of my mother was gone.

"Get her out of my sight," Xander commanded from the steps. He looked at me like I was a diseased animal.

"What do we do with her, Alpha?" one of the guards asked.

"I do not care," Xander replied coldly. He wrapped his arm around Cataline's waist. "Sell her. The Northern King sent a missive last night demanding a new concubine. Send her to the cursed Lycan. She is his problem now."

The entire courtyard went dead silent.

Sending a wolf to the Northern Lycan King was a death sentence. No woman ever returned.

"Xander, no," I whispered, the true horror of my situation finally sinking in.

Two massive guards grabbed me by the arms, hauling me off the ground. My feet dragged against the stones. I thrashed, kicking wildly.

"You cannot do this!" I screamed, my throat tearing. "Xander!"

He turned his back on me. He walked away with his new bride, leaving me to the monsters.

The guards dragged me toward the heavy iron gates of the packhouse, the sound of my shattered locket crunching under their boots. A black carriage was already waiting in the mist, and the driver wore the dark crest of the Northern King.