Chapter 2

My phone hadn't stopped vibrating since dawn.

Anonymous messages flooded in, each one making me want to vomit.

"The slut in the video is you, right?"

"So disgusting. An Omega who can't control herself in heat."

"Want another round? I can give you what you want."

My hands shook as I blocked number after number, but new messages kept pouring in.

Every werewolf in Silvercrest City was passing around my video.

The next day, I dragged my exhausted body to the academy.

My mother said she’d gotten me an extended leave of absence, but I had to handle the transfer paperwork for Valeriana myself.

The moment I stepped onto campus, whispers surrounded me.

"Look, that's her. The half-breed Omega who slept with the Alpha heir."

"I heard she can't even control her wolf during sex. Went half-feral."

"Disgusting. Filthy Omega."

"Stay back. Her tainted blood might be contagious."

Every word was a knife in my gut.

I kept my head down, walking quickly through the halls, feeling the weight of everyone's contempt.

Someone intentionally slammed their shoulder into mine. Someone else made a lewd gesture as I passed.

When I opened my locker, a foul stench hit me.

Someone had sprayed it with challenge musk—the scent used to mark an unclaimed female as 'free for the taking.' The vile scent made me gag on the spot.

"Cora?"

I turned to see a few of my former classmates pointing and sneering from a distance.

"I can't believe you're such a whore."

"Why would an Alpha like Liam even look at you? You must have thrown yourself at him."

I clenched my jaw, quickly gathered my files, and left.

The underground parking garage was quiet.

Just as I reached my car, a group of strange werewolves blocked my path.

Their scents were a chaotic mess. They were rogues, packless.

The leader held up his phone. My video was playing on the screen.

"That's you, isn't it?" he said, his disgusting eyes raking over my body. "You sure know how to scream."

I took a step back. "What do you want?"

"What do we want?" They all laughed. "Since you're so good at screaming, why don't you scream for us?"

"No!" I struggled as they grabbed me, but they were too strong.

They dragged me toward a dark corner of the garage, their hands tearing at my jacket.

Overwhelming terror washed over me.

Suddenly, I remembered something from years ago.

I was just a kid, being bullied by a few rogue wolves.

Draven had appeared, unleashing his Alpha command, and chased them off with a cold glare.

He’d tossed me a can of silver powder spray and pulled me into his car.

"You're so weak you can't even defend yourself?"

His tone was harsh, but in that moment, he felt like a real brother.

Ever since, I’d always kept a can of silver spray in my bag.

"Let me go!" I fumbled desperately in my bag.

My fingers finally closed around the small can.

The second they ripped my jacket open, I pulled it out and slammed the nozzle.

Silver dust sprayed into their faces. They screamed and staggered back.

But in the struggle, some of the powder sprayed back onto my arm.

The searing pain made me cry out.

Silver is poison to werewolves.

"Fuck! The bitch has silver!" the rogues cursed, clutching their burned faces.

"What do we do? She's hurt bad!"

"Call him! If she dies, we're all screwed!"

I curled up on the ground, smoke still rising from the wound on my arm.

My vision started to blur.

One of them made a call.

"It's a mess. She had silver powder. She's hurt really bad—"

A familiar voice came from the other end of the line.

Draven.

"Is it done?" His voice was terrifyingly cold.

"No, she—"

"Draven, are you insane?!" another voice cut in. "You actually hired rogues to humiliate her!"

Liam.

My heart seized.

Draven had sent them.

"I just hired some guys to teach her a lesson," Draven sneered. "If she got herself hurt, that's on her."

"If she’s not dead, dump her at some back-alley wolf clinic," he continued. "And make sure this doesn't trace back to me."

The call ended.

The rogues started panicking, arguing about what to do with me.

But I couldn't hear them anymore.

My heart felt like it was being crushed in a fist, the pain suffocating.

So… he really wanted to destroy me.

I suddenly remembered something I’d overheard him say once.

"Of course I know she didn't kill my mother. I just can't stand the sight of her, always acting so weak and pathetic."

"Father feels guilty about them. I don't."

Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes.

The silver poison spread through my veins, the agony ripping through my nerves.

Then, everything went black.