Chapter 3

I clutch my chest as a sharp pain tears through it at the realization that my mate is in love with my younger sister.

Do the gods truly hate me this much? Does Selene despise me so deeply that she would take the love meant for me and give it to my sister instead? A sister I have not seen since I was ten years old and she was only nine.

Ten years have passed, but I would recognize her eyes anywhere.

Those same eyes used to look at me with love and admiration when we were children, following me around everywhere with innocent affection but now, as she stares back at me from Xavier’s arms, there is nothing in them except hatred and disgust.

I try to breathe through the pain clawing at my chest, but it is useless. The tears fall freely down my cheeks and, honestly, I do not even bother trying to stop them anymore. What would be the point when I no longer have the strength to hold them back?

I stand there facing the man who has the power to completely destroy me, and the worst part is that when I look into his eyes, I find absolutely nothing; No regret. No guilt. No shame for what he is doing to me. Xavier simply does not care because all he wants is her.

A bitter laugh almost escapes me as another thought suddenly crosses my mind.

What will happen when Bianca eventually finds her own mate? Will she reject him the same way Xavier rejected me? Or will she abandon Xavier in favor of her true mate instead? But judging by the way they look at each other now, I highly doubt it.

If anything, I am almost certain Bianca would reject her mate for Xavier without hesitation, and goddess, I already pity the poor soul destined to love her because they have no idea what kind of pain awaits them.

Unable to endure the sight of them wrapped in each other’s arms any longer, I turn around and walk away blindly, barely noticing where I am going.

Everything hurts, my chest, my heart, even my breathing feels painful and no matter how hard I try, I do not know how to make it stop. I do not know how to bury the pain deeply enough that I no longer have to feel it.

Until that moment, I had never met Xavier’s chosen and neither had the rest of the pack, so it had always been easier to pretend that she did not really exist. It was easier convincing myself that she was not standing between me and the happiness I desperately wanted with my mate. Easier believing that maybe Xavier did not love her as deeply as everyone assumed he did.

But now she was here, standing in his arms while he looked at her with a kind of love I had spent years craving for myself, and suddenly it became impossible to keep lying to myself.

I could see it clearly in his eyes whenever he looked at her; Xavier loved her and somehow, as if my life was not cruel enough already, the universe had decided to make that woman my own sister.

How was I supposed to live with something like that?

As I pass through the living room, I can hear the occupants laughing and mocking me openly, and somehow that only makes everything hurt even more. The fact that they find my pain amusing feels like another knife twisting deeper into an already bleeding wound.

Haven’t they ever heard the saying not to kick a dog when it is already down?

Before I can make it past the room, someone suddenly steps in front of me, blocking my path. I keep my head lowered, refusing to look up because the last thing I want is for them to see me crying.

A hand roughly grabs my chin and forcefully tilts my face upward anyway…Of course it is Raya. My number one tormentor.

“What’s wrong?” she asks mockingly, a cruel smile spreading across her face. “The little freak can’t stand seeing her mate in another woman’s arms? Does it hurt? Do you want me to kiss your boo-boo and make it all better?”

Laughter erupts around the room at her words.

“Please, Raya… just let me go,” I whisper, my voice trembling painfully. I hate how weak and pathetic I sound, but I no longer have the energy to fight back.

“This is exactly what you deserve, you pathetic bitch,” she spits viciously. “I am so glad the Alpha never accepted you. You deserve to suffer for everything you’ve done. Honestly, this is mercy compared to what you actually deserve because you should have died a long time ago.”

She shoves me away so hard that I lose my balance and crash onto the hardwood floor. Instinctively, my hands move protectively over my stomach before the impact can hurt the baby.

Raya spits on me in disgust while the others either laugh or nod in agreement with every hateful thing she says.

The moment they finally leave, I slowly push myself back onto my feet, careful of my swollen belly, before stumbling out of the house altogether.

I have no idea where I am going. I only know that I need to get away from there before the pain suffocates me completely.

As I walk aimlessly through the pack grounds, my thoughts drift back to the past and memories of Bianca begin resurfacing one after another.

Back then, Bianca used to adore me. We were only one year apart and practically inseparable. Everywhere I went, Bianca followed right behind me like my own little shadow. She was constantly clinging to my side, looking at me as though I hung the stars in the sky.

I was her hero once. She started calling me that after I saved her from a bee when she was five. It sounds silly now, but after that day Bianca became attached to me at the hip.

We did everything together and trusted each other with everything and no matter what happened, Bianca always knew that I would be there for her, but everything changed when I was ten years old.

Even now, after all these years, I can still remember that day very clearly, as though it happened only yesterday.

Bianca had gone to spend the day at one of her friend’s houses, leaving just me and our parents at home. I had not been feeling well since morning, but around noon, I suddenly felt this strange pull toward the forest.

At the time, I could not explain it. It felt almost as though something was calling me from deep within the trees, drawing me toward it little by little.

Being a curious ten-year-old, I followed the feeling without thinking much about it. I wandered through the forest for what felt like hours, though I had no idea where exactly I was going. The strange pull remained persistent the entire time, urging me deeper and deeper into the woods until eventually frustration began setting in.

I was just about to give up and head back home when I saw a shadowy figure standing between the trees. It had no real form or features, no clothes or distinguishable face. It looked like nothing more than a living black shadow, yet somehow, I instinctively knew it was intelligent.

It had bright red eyes glowing from within the darkness. Those eyes should have terrified me, but instead, they fascinated me.

I remember staring at the creature in complete wonder, feeling strangely drawn toward it despite every instinct that should have told me to run. Slowly, I reached my hand out, wanting to touch it but just before I could, I heard the snap of a twig behind me.

I spun around only to realize I was no longer alone. Wolves surrounded me from every direction, but there was something horribly wrong with them. They were not normal wolves and they were definitely not rogues like the ones we had been warned about growing up.

These creatures looked twisted, almost as though they had gotten trapped halfway through shifting. They were neither fully human nor fully wolf, their bodies horribly disfigured and unnatural. Their eyes were completely black while dark veins spread across their pale, ashen skin. Thick foam dripped from their mouths as they snarled at me.