Chapter 9

Amber

The passenger door opened with a quiet click, an unspoken command. I climbed in, my body trembling as his scent washed over me, rich and heady. It worked instantly, calming my frayed nerves, but I hated that I needed it.

Rayne didn’t say a word as the gates opened and he drove into the mansion grounds. The silence was suffocating, heavy with unspoken tension.

When we parked, he got out without a glance, circling the car and yanking the door open for me. His hand grabbed mine, firm and unyielding, and he pulled me out of the car with enough force to make me stumble.

“Rayne, I need to—”

“Not here,” he snapped, his voice cold and clipped.

He practically dragged me inside, his grip on my wrist unrelenting as we climbed the stairs to his room. When we got there, he slammed the door shut behind us, the sound reverberating through the walls.

Rayne stormed to his dresser with sharp, unrelenting movements, his shoulders stiff with tension. I watched as he yanked the drawer open, the sound of it slamming against the wood making me flinch. My stomach churned with dread, but I didn’t move.

Then he pulled out wads of cash and threw them at me.

The money scattered around me, fluttering to the floor in pieces, landing at my feet, on my dress, on the bed. I stared at it, blinking, unable to process what was happening.

“Take it,” he said coldly, his voice razor-sharp. “Take the money and disappear.”

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. “What…?”

“You heard me.” His forest-green eyes, once warm and captivating, were icy and unyielding now, cutting through me like shards of glass. “Take the money and get the fuck out of my life. I don’t want you, Amber.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. My legs trembled, my hands shaking as I stared at the cash on the floor, tears already blurring my vision.

“Rayne, please,” I begged, my voice cracking. “Don’t do this. Just… just listen to me. I have something important to tell you.”

His laugh was bitter and cruel, void of anything but contempt. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Rayne, I—”

“I said I don’t want to hear it!” he shouted, his voice booming through the room. He took a step closer, looming over me with a glare that made my chest tighten. “I don’t give a damn what you have to say, Amber. The only person I care about is Reed. He’s the only one I’ll ever care about. You mean nothing to me.”

I staggered back, clutching at my chest as the bond screamed in agony. The searing pain spread through me like fire, burning every part of me from the inside out.

“You can’t mean that,” I whispered, tears spilling freely down my cheeks. “You can’t… We’re bonded, Rayne. That has to mean something.”

“It doesn’t mean a damn thing to me!” His words were like knives, cutting deeper with every syllable. “Marking you was a mistake. A horrible, disgusting mistake I made in the heat of the moment. You think I want this? You think I want you?”

I sobbed openly, my legs threatening to give out beneath me. “Please, Alpha,” I begged, desperation thick in my voice. “Please don’t do this. Don’t throw this away. We can fix it. We can make it work—”

“No, we can’t!” His voice was unyielding, his expression cold. “I can’t spend my life miserable because of a bond I didn’t ask for. I’m going to find a way to break it, Amber. I’ll end this. But right now, I’m rejecting you. Officially. I want nothing to do with you.”

The words shattered something inside me. I gasped, doubling over as the bond pulsed with unbearable pain, searing through me like a cruel reminder of how little I mattered to him.

“Alpha,” I sobbed, collapsing to my knees. “Please… Don’t… I can’t do this alone. I need you—”

“I don’t care what you need!” he snapped, his voice rising with frustration. “I’ll give you more money if that’s what it takes. I’ll give you anything you want, Amber. As much money as you desire. But you need to forget that night ever happened.”

I shook my head, trembling as I clutched at the fabric of my dress. “I can’t just forget—”

“You will,” he snarled. “From now on, that night didn’t happen. No one can ever know. Especially not Reed. He can never find out that I slept with you.”

His words hung in the air, suffocating and final. My tears fell silently as I tried to find the strength to respond, but before I could, the sound of shattering glass broke the silence.

Both of us turned toward the door.

Reed stood frozen in the doorway, his face pale, his brown eyes wide with disbelief. His hands hung midair, and the tray of drinks he’d been holding was now a pile of broken glass and spilled liquid on the floor.

“Reed,” Rayne said quickly, his voice panicked. “Love, it’s not what you think. I swear—”

“Don’t,” Reed cut him off, his voice trembling with barely contained rage. “Don’t you dare, Rayne.”

Rayne took a cautious step forward, his hands raised as if to calm him. “Please, just let me explain—”

“Explain?” Reed’s voice cracked as tears streamed down his cheeks. “Our anniversary is in two days, Rayne. Two fucking days. I’ve been waiting for you, planning a surprise, and this is what I walk into? This is my present? You fucked my best friend!”

Rayne bowed his head, his shame written all over his face. “Reed, I didn’t—”

“Don’t lie to me!” Reed shouted, his voice raw and broken. He wiped at his face angrily, his shoulders trembling. “I trusted you! I thought you loved me!”

“I do,” Rayne whispered, his voice trembling.

“Then how could you do this to me?” Reed demanded, his voice cracking. “How could you betray me like this? It all makes sense now, why you didn't want to touch me, it's all because of her!”

His furious gaze shifted to me, and I flinched under the weight of it.

“You,” he spat, his tone venomous. “I trusted you. Out of everyone, I trusted you the most. You were my best friend, the one who I shared all my secrets with. You of all people knew how much I loved Rayne. And this is what you do to me? You ruin my life by spreading your legs for my Alpha?”

“Reed, I didn’t—”

“Shut up!” he shouted, his voice raw with pain. “You’re disgusting. Everyone was right about Omegas. You’re dirty, selfish and pathetic creatures with no control. You saw how happy I was, and you hated it. You hated that I had the big, strong Alpha while you had nothing. So you used your disgusting pheromones to sink your claws into him!”

His words hit like a whip, each one cutting deeper than the last. I opened my mouth to defend myself, to tell him the truth, but the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

“And to think I cared about you,” Reed continued, his voice trembling. “To think I protected you. I was such a fool. You’re nothing but a whore.”

I choked on a sob, my entire body trembling under the weight of his accusations.

Reed stormed out, his sobs echoing down the hall as he disappeared from sight.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Rayne turned to me, his expression twisted with anger and pain. “This is your fault,” he said, his voice low and venomous. “I never want to see you again. Ever.”

Then he was gone, chasing after Reed and leaving me alone in the suffocating silence of his rejection.