I didn’t know how long I stayed there after it happened.
The crowd had started moving again around the arena.
Music played, people laughed, and life went on as if a girl’s entire soul hadn’t just been ripped to shreds right in front of them.
But I was still on my knees, staring blankly at the dirt where my mate had stood just moments before throwing me away.
My chest hurt so much that breathing felt completely impossible; every single breath felt like dragging jagged shards of broken glass through my raw lungs.
Around me, the wolves of Blackfang continued celebrating, their voices sounding distant and muffled, like I was trapped deep underwater.
Yet, one sentence remained crystal clear, bouncing off the walls of my mind over and over again.
“You are nothing.” Kael’s cold, deep voice echoed through my head.
No matter how hard I pressed my hands against my ears, I couldn’t escape it.
Even my wolf was silent.
Terrifyingly silent.
She had been screaming with life when the mate bond first snapped into place, but now she didn’t make a single sound.
It felt like she had curled up into a tight ball somewhere dark inside me and simply given up.
That terrified me more than the rejection itself.
Slowly, I forced my head up.
Alpha Kael was still standing near the center of the amphitheater—tall, powerful, and utterly untouchable.
The future Alpha of Blackfang.
The man the Moon Goddess had carefully designed for me.
Just for one brief fraction of a second, I noticed something strange.
His massive hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists at his sides, his jaw locked so tight the muscle jumped, and there was a dark shadow in his eyes.
Something that almost looked like agonizing pain.
But the moment our gazes nearly locked, he snapped his head away, as if he couldn’t bear the sight of me.
Or maybe he simply didn’t care enough to look.
“Alpha Kael rejected her!” a loud, mocking voice suddenly broke through the noise.
The words spread like wildfire.
Within seconds, the entire amphitheater was buzzing with cruel amusement.
Laughter erupted from the crowds, followed by venomous whispers that cut right into my skin.
“Trash.” “A kitchen maid.” “Who did she think she was?
Imagine a nobody like her thinking she could ever become our Luna.” Every word landed like heavy stones against my bruised ego.
I wanted to disappear.
I wanted the cold earth to split open and swallow me whole.
Then she appeared.
Celina Ashwood.
She looked happier than anyone else in the clearing—not because the ceremony was grand, but because I was bleeding in the dirt.
She walked toward me slowly, her expensive silk dress flowing elegantly behind her.
Stopping right in front of my kneeling form, she looked down at me like she was staring at a piece of garbage stuck to her shoe.
“See?” she said softly, her voice sweet enough for nearby wolves to hear, but I could taste the poison dripping underneath.
“I told you before, Aria.
Some people simply don’t belong anywhere.” I lowered my eyes to her mud-stained boots.
I didn’t trust myself to speak.
If I opened my mouth, a pathetic sob would ruin whatever dignity I had left.
Celina leaned down lower, her perfume choking my senses.
Only I could hear her next words.
“If you have even a single drop of sense left in that pathetic head of yours, you’ll disappear tonight.” A victorious smile spread across her perfect lips.
“Because next time, stray…” Her eyes hardened.
“I won’t be this kind.” My blood ran completely cold.
She straightened up, turned on her heel, and walked back to Kael’s side as if she hadn’t just threatened my very existence.
I stayed frozen for a long moment.
Then, pressing my trembling hands against the freezing ground, I forced myself to stand.
My legs barely worked.
The shattered bond had drained every ounce of strength from my body.
But I couldn’t stay there.
Not another second.
Without looking back at the pack that hated me—or the mate who ruined me—I turned and ran.
The freezing night air slapped my face as I rushed blindly into the dense forest beyond the amphitheater.
Sharp branches scratched my arms.
Roots caught my ankles.
Mud stained my clothes.
But I barely felt any of it.
I just kept running.
Because if I stopped, the memory of his eyes would catch up to me.
And I would fall apart completely.
By the time I reached my cabin, my entire body was shaking violently.
The small wooden house stood completely alone among the trees.
Old.
Quiet.
Forgettable.
Just like me.
I slammed the door shut and slid down against it.
For a few seconds, I held my breath.
Then my walls finally collapsed.
The tears came first.
Then the sobs.
Ugly, violent sobs that ripped through my chest.
I buried my face in my knees and cried until my throat burned.
“I was supposed to matter,” I whispered into the empty room.
“I was supposed to be someone’s choice.” For years, I had accepted being invisible.
I had accepted the scraps.
The insults.
The loneliness.
But a small, foolish part of me had still hoped.
Tonight, the Moon Goddess had given me Kael.
And Kael had thrown me away like yesterday’s garbage.
I don’t know how long I stayed on that floor.
Minutes.
Hours.
Maybe both.
Eventually, a strange cramp twisted through my lower stomach.
I froze.
My hand moved there automatically.
The strange pulse from the arena was back.
But this time it felt different.
Warmer.
Softer.
Almost like a tiny flutter hidden deep inside me.
For one brief moment, something about it felt alive.
The sensation vanished before I could understand it.
Leaving only confusion behind.
I stared at my stomach in the darkness.
Then shook my head.
I couldn’t deal with another problem tonight.
My heart was already breaking under too much weight.
Forcing myself to stand, I caught my reflection in the cracked windowpane.
Red eyes.
Pale skin.
A broken girl staring back at me.
But as I looked at her, something shifted inside me.
Not healing.
Not forgiveness.
Something harder.
Colder.
“I won’t stay here and let them destroy me,” I whispered.
The words felt strange.
But they felt true.
Celina’s threat echoed through my head.
Disappear tonight.
For the first time in my life, I agreed with her.
If I stayed until morning, Blackfang would make my life a living nightmare.
I grabbed my old travel bag and started packing.
A few spare clothes.
A blanket.
Some dried meat.
Everything I owned fit inside one worn-out bag.
The realization hurt more than I wanted to admit.
Outside, the wind howled through the trees.
Dark storm clouds swallowed the moon.
Bag in hand, I stepped onto the porch.
I stared back at the tiny cabin one last time.
It had never been much.
But it was the only home I had ever known.
I had spent almost my entire life inside those four walls.
Every scar.
Every lonely night.
Every tiny dream I ever dared to have lived there.
It wasn’t much.
But it was mine.
A painful lump formed in my throat.
I swallowed it down.
Then took a deep breath.
“If I stay,” I whispered into the roaring wind, “I die here.
Piece by piece.” Tightening my grip on the bag, I turned my back on the Blackfang Pack forever.
Then I walked into the dark forest.
I was no longer the girl who begged to be loved.
No longer the maid who dreamed of destiny.
I was a rogue now.
Alone.
Broken.
And with absolutely nothing left to lose.
Behind me, thunder shook the earth.
Ahead of me waited only darkness.
And I had no idea that before the sun rose, I would cross a path that would change the fate of the entire werewolf world.