CHAPTER 3: Marked abomination.

I had barely crossed the entrance hall when my stepmother's voice cut through the silence like a blade.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I stopped. My fingers tightened around the small bag hanging from my shoulder. She stood at the top of the staircase, her eyes moving over my torn wedding dress with open disgust as though I had dragged mud across her precious floors.

"You finally came back." Each step she descended sounded like a countdown. "You run from your own wedding, disgrace this family in front of the entire pack, and then you have the audacity to return?"

"I didn't run because I wanted to." My voice came out smaller than I intended. "I was rejected."

"And?" The to word struck harder than a slap.

"And?" I repeated, incredulous.

"Yes. And?" She stopped directly in front of me. "Do you think you're the first woman be rejected? Perhaps you should have stayed and accepted your humiliation quietly. At least then, only you would have suffered."

"I couldn't "

"You couldn't?" She grabbed the torn edge of my dress and yanked. "Then what exactly could you do? Make a scene? Run through the forest like a madwoman? You are a disgrace to this family name."

"Let go of me."

"What did you say to me?"

"Enough." My father's voice echoed from behind her.

For one stupid, desperate second, hope rose in my chest. Maybe he would defend me. Maybe, for once, he would see me as his daughter.

He looked at me with no concern. Only disgust.

"Go upstairs."

"Father"

"Don't call me that." His jaw tightened. "You don't deserve the privilege. A daughter of mine should have had enough dignity to remain at her mate's side, no matter how he treated her."

"He chose my sister. He rejected me in front of everyone."

"Perhaps he made the correct choice."

The words left me breathless. My stepmother smiled faintly behind him.

"Do you really hate me that much?" I whispered.

"Yes." He didn't hesitate. "You have been a burden since the day you were born. Your mother died bringing you into this world, and you have done nothing but create problems ever since."

My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall.

"You will not go to your room tonight." He stepped closer. "You will help the servants. You will earn your keep."

"I just came back"

"And?" His voice was ice. "You are no longer an Alpha's future Luna. You are nothing so stop behaving as though you have servants waiting to attend to you." My fingers curled into fists at my sides.

"Yes, Father."

"Don't call me that."

He walked away without another glance. My stepmother followed, pausing at the corner to look back at me.

"Change your clothes first." Her smile was cruel. "You'll ruin the kitchen floor with that filthy dress."

---

By the time I entered the kitchen, everyone had already heard. In this house, humiliation traveled faster than fire.

The servants went quiet when I walked in. One of the younger maids glanced at me before quickly looking away I didn't blame her kindness toward me had consequences.

I rolled up my sleeves and began washing the mountain of dishes. My arms ached but I kept washing, kept scrubbing.

A maid eventually came to stand beside me. She lowered her voice to barely a whisper.

"My Lady… you should cover your neck."

My hands stopped.

"What?" She glanced toward the kitchen entrance, then back at me. "Your neck."

I instinctively touched it. "What about it?"

Her eyes widened. "You haven't seen it?"

"Seen what?"

She pointed toward the small mirror hanging beside the pantry.

I looked.

My blood ran cold.

There, on the side of my neck, was a mark. A mate mark. The same symbol I had seen on mated wolves my entire life but never on me but never mine.

Impossible.

Adrian had never marked me and yet the mark was there, dark and unmistakable into my skin like a sin I couldn't hide.

The maid stared at me. "That's a mate mark."

"No." I covered it with my hand. "That can't be."

The kitchen suddenly felt too small. My mind raced back to that night the stranger in the forest immediately I heard gootsteps heavy and familiar.

My father barged through the kitchen door as his eyes landed on me immediately. Then on my hand covering my neck.

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

He walked closer. "Move your hand."

I didn't.

"Move it."

"Father" His palm cracked across my cheek. The sound echoed through the kitchen like a gunshot. My head snapped sideways as the maid gasped. I stood frozen my cheek burning, my eyes watering.

"What is that?" he demanded.

"I don't know."

"Show me." The My fingers trembled as I lowered my hand. His eyes widened. Then darkened.

"What have you done?"

He grabbed the collar of my gown and yanked it down, exposing the mark fully. "You filthy little"

He struck me harder again.

"What's happening?" My stepmother rushed in, stopping dead when she saw my father's face. Then her gaze found my neck immediately her expression shifted.

"Oh." Her lips curved. "She's marked."

Arwen appeared behind her. She took one look at me and laughed a bright, delighted sound that made my stomach twist.

"She's marked?" She covered her mouth as though trying to contain her glee. "But Adrian rejected her. How can she have a mate mark when she doesn't even have a mate?"

The servants lowered their heads. I wished the floor would swallow me whole.

Arwen stepped closer, tilting her head. "Maybe she found someone else in the forest our rejected bride wasn't as heartbroken as she wanted everyone to believe."

"Enough," I whispered.

"What? I'm only asking." She smiled. "It's a fair question after all, you ran into the forest alone. or did you?"

My stepmother looked at my father. "Do you know what this means?"

His face was stone. "It means she has created another mess for this family to clean up."

"You expect me to believe this appeared by itself?" He pointed at the mark as though it offended him simply by existing. "Do you understand what you've done? The elders will hear of this. They will know about the broken ceremony. They will think you've been claimed like some common "

He stopped himself but the word hung in the air anyway.

Whore.

"Cover it." He pointed at my neck as I immediately pulled my collar up.

"Tomorrow the elders are coming. They already know about the broken mating ceremony. They will see that mark, and they will ask questions I cannot answer." He stepped closer, his voice dropping to something quieter and more dangerous.

"You had better pray that one of the elder's sons finds you attractive enough to claim because if he doesn't, you will spend the rest of your life as the marked abomination no respectable wolf will touch."

My heart stopped.

"One chance." He walked toward the doorway, then paused. "Tomorrow, you will stand before the elders. So you'd better pray that someone wants you."

He left as my stepmother followed, but Arwen lingered. She looked at my mark one last time, her smile sharp as a knife.

"Good luck finding yourself a mate." She laughed softly. "You're going to need it."

She left.

I stood alone in the kitchen as my cheek burned. My hands trembled as my entire body felt like it was made of broken glass barely held together.

But beneath the fear, beneath the humiliation, beneath every cruel word they had thrown at me the mark on my neck suddenly warmed.

I touched it.

Mate.

My wolf stirred for the first time since the rejection something deep inside me whispered that I belonged to someone. I have to get rid of this mark before sun rise before that mysterious stranger hunts me down.