CHAPTER 1
“Don’t do this,” I whispered, fingers clenched into fists at my sides. “Please, Riven. Not like this.”
The clearing was quiet. Too quiet.
No wind, no birdsong–just the pulse of my heart crashing in my ears and the heavy silence of the pack circling us like vultures.
He didn't even look at me.
Riven stood tall, arms crossed over his broad chest, jaw tight like it was taking everything in him to stay still. His eyes–those icy, storm-grey eyes–were colder than I’d ever seen them. I didn't think they'd ever looked at me with warmth. But right now… there was hatred in them. And shame. Mostly shame.
“I warned you,” he said finally, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I told you what would happen.”
My throat burned. “You didn’t warn me. You gave me hope.”
“You begged.”
I flinched.
He was not wrong. I did beg. I stood right where I was just days ago, desperate and terrified, telling him what Kira always told me—that the curse would only break once I bonded with my mate. That I’d finally be strong, finally be enough.
I told him I’d change. I promised.
And after hours of silence, he finally said yes. He let me touch him. Let me mark him.
Let me believe I mattered.
But nothing happened.
I didn’t shift like I was supposed to. I didn’t feel stronger, faster, or better. I didn’t feel anything at all, except hollow.
I could still feel the shame of that night as he touched me crawling under my skin.
“I thought…” I started, voice cracking. “I thought the curse just needed more time.”
“The curse is bullshit,” Riven snapped. “And you knew that deep down. You thought if you said the right words, acted the right way, I’d see something in you that isn’t there.”
“I thought you were my mate.” The word nearly got stuck in my throat. “I am your mate.”
“And I don't think you were ever supposed to be mine,” he replied. “And I can’t protect you from what will become of this pack if I pretend otherwise.”
“Then don’t pretend,” I snapped. “Fight for me.”
He stared at me, unmoved. “You can’t even fight for yourself.”
The air was sucked from my lungs. It was like a fist had closed around my heart, squeezing tight.
A few gasps rose from the crowd, followed by more hushed laughter. The pack fed on humiliation. They always had. This was nothing new–just louder.
My chest tightened as a slow murmur runned through the gathered wolves. Dozens of eyes on me–some smug, some pitying, most just entertained. I shouldn’t have come here. Shouldn’t have asked him to say it in private first, to work through it alone. Maybe then, him doing the total opposite wouldn't have hurt this much because he wanted everyone to see this. He planned this.
“This is what you wanted?” I asked, voice low. “A public rejection?”
“Everyone deserves to know,” he said simply. “I’m not going to pretend anymore.”
I didn't even know what hurt more–his words, or the fact that no one around us moved to stop this. Not the Beta. Not the elders.
It was time like this, I needed my mum or Kira, I knew they'd stand up for me, but my mum had long been on a peacekeeping mission, telling me she was happy with what she was doing. Sometimes, I had doubts but Kira always assured me that all was well. But now?
I was alone.
He stepped forward. I braced, stupidly thinking he might change his mind last minute, might whisper that this was all a test. A game. A lie.
But his voice was sharp, clean, and final.
“I should’ve rejected you the moment I felt the mate bond,save myself this stress.” he said.
The clearing went deathly still.
“No,” I said, breath catching in my throat. “Riven, please.”
But he didn’t stop.
“I, Riven Thorne, Alpha of the Stormclaw Pack, reject you, Zeena Everard, as my mate.”
The silence stretched, and then snapped.
Pain sliced through me like claws under my ribs, fast and brutal and burning. My legs crumpled before I could stop them, and I hit the ground with a muffled gasp. The pain spread like wildfire through my bones, like something sacred inside me was being shredded.
This was what it felt like to be severed from your soul.
Somewhere, someone laughed. Quietly. I think it was Marra. Of course it was Marra.
“Damn,” someone muttered nearby. “Guess the curse is real after all.”
“Did she actually think mating would fix her?”
“She begged him. I saw it. Pathetic.”
I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to shift and rip their throats out. But I couldn't shift. I never could. That was the whole point. My only hope of ever shifting and becoming like other wolves had just been dashed into pieces.
So I sat there in the dirt, knees scraped, skin hot with humiliation and loss and a feeling of being shattered.
Next thing I could barely register was the sound of footsteps, fading. Riven didn't look back.
I stayed on the ground long after the rest of the pack had cleared out. The ache in my chest wasn’t just from the rejection. It was from knowing.
Knowing, I would never be enough.
It had been two days.
They say rejection pain fades. That it lasts a few minutes—maybe an hour, if you were deeply bonded or high ranked.
But for me everything was always different,
The pain hadn’t faded. Not even a little.
“Hey freak.”
The voice stopped me halfway up the stairs to my room in the pack house. I didn't turn around. I already knew who it was. My number one fan from day one.
This was the first time I was coming out since the rejection and she couldn't hide her excitement in seeing me. Guess I was that important. Yay me.
I finally glanced back to see Marra leaning against the railing below me, twirling a piece of her perfect golden hair. “Did your mommy lie to you about the curse, or were you just that stupid?”
I kept walking.
“You looked so desperate down there,” she called after me. “Kind of sad. You really thought you could keep an Alpha?”
I slammed the door to my room hard enough to make the walls shake.
The walls were thin unfortunately. Her laughter seeped through anyway.
That night, I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. I hadn’t eaten. Hadn’t spoken to anyone. Just listened.
The whispers had only grown.
“She should leave.”
“She’s dangerous if she goes feral.”
“Dangerous how?, with what, weak bones?”
“Alpha should’ve rejected her sooner.”
They thought I couldn't hear. But I heard everything. My senses were raw, open. Maybe the mating did something to me after all, just not the way we thought.
I looked in the mirror and barely recognized the girl staring back.
Zeena Everard. Rejected. Useless. Broken.
