Chapter 2

Serena

I blinked at the man standing before me.

My back was still against the wall. I could feel the wood grain through my shirt. Kieran hadn't moved, but he didn't need to. He filled the whole room just standing there.

"How long have you known?" I asked in a voice smaller than I wanted.

"Six years."

Six years? When I was twelve? He knew for six years and allowed my sister and me to live worse than trash.

"I was a kid," I said.

"I know."

"You knew, and you walked away."

"I did."

He said it so plainly with no hesitation or softening. Like I'd asked him what he'd had for breakfast.

Our mate left us to die? Raina whined inside me.

What he had done was painfully obvious. The anger that had been sitting in my chest since Cole had been allowed to go, had a new place to go now, and it went there fast.

"My father died for your father." My hands were shaking. "He took a blade meant for your dad's throat. He bled out on a battlefield defending your family's name. My mother died soon after from the heartache. You knew I was your mate, and yet you let my sister and me starve. We ate berries off the trail because there wasn't food in the house. Do you know what that's like? Do you have any idea?"

Kieran's jaw moved, just slightly. "It was a warrior's duty. Your father did what any wolf under my father's command would have done."

"That's it? That's your answer?"

"What do you want me to say, Serena? That I'm sorry your father died doing his job?"

"Yes! Say you are sorry for treating us like... like worthless beings!"

He looked at me then, but his gaze didn't soften at all. If anything, it became colder.

"I'm not going to reject the bond," he said. "The Goddess doesn't take kindly to a mate being tossed aside. It would bring rot to the whole pack, and I won't have that on my hands."

"How generous of you," I replied sarcastically.

"But I will not acknowledge you publicly. Ever." He said it, waving his hands like he was discussing the weather. "You rank below an omega, Serena. If word got out that the Alpha's mate lives in a trash house on the poor edge of the territory, my alliances would fall apart in a week. The whole northern border would be exposed. Most importantly Celeste's father would pull out."

Of course, he was going to mention Celeste. His infamous girlfriend and the lady rumored to be his choice for Luna.

My heart squeezed at the thought. "So what's it then? I'm going to be your mistress?"

He ignored the question and continued.

"Here are the rules," he said, and I realized he'd already planned this, already rehearsed it, probably before I'd even walked through the door. "You don't tell anyone. Not your sister. Not your friends. You don't approach me in public. You don't touch me. And you don't let another man touch you either."

I stared at him in disbelief. "W...what?"

"You heard me."

"You want me invisible, but you also want to own me."

"I want order," he said. "You are currently a problem I'm working on."

"A problem?" It gets worse minute by minute. "I'm a problem?!"

"I believe I just said that."

My own mate was calling me a problem on my birthday.

"What of Celeste?" I shouldn't have asked but I did and his answer though expected still hurt.

"Celeste stays my girlfriend. Her father's land borders ours. She's useful while you bring nothing..."

I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall. I would not cry in front of this man.

I want to burn this whole building down, Raina said, her anger a palpable thing.

"Get in line," I muttered.

"You know what?" I stood up straighter. "I'll make this easy for you. I'm leaving."

Kieran's head snapped up. "What?"

"I graduate in a few months. After that, I'm leaving this pack. Taking my sister somewhere far away from here." I met his eyes. "You won't have to deal with me anymore. And you can shove your stupid rules up your ass."

I turned to leave.

"Serena, get back here."

I ignored him and stormed out of his office.

"How dare he? He wants me to just hang around like a side piece? He should go fuck himself."

I was so pissed off at Kieran that I almost walked straight into Celeste, Kieran's perfectly beautiful girlfriend.

"Well, well." She said sweetly. "Look what the cat dragged in."

I tried to walk past her, but she stepped in my way.

"What's the hurry? Off to collect scraps from the kitchen?" She smiled, all teeth. "I heard you were summoned by the Alpha. Can't imagine what he'd want with someone like you."

"Let. Me. Through."

"Or what?" She stepped closer. "You'll fight me? We all know how that would end. I could have you banished with a single word."

I looked past her and saw Kieran coming down the stairs. He walked right up to Celeste and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Celeste," he said smoothly. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's perfect, darling." She leaned into him. "I was just having a chat with our pack's resident trash."

Kieran looked at me. The coldness in his eyes didn't change.

"Let her go," he said. "She's not worth your time."

Celeste laughed and kissed his cheek. "You're right. She's beneath me."

They turned to leave and my eyes fell on Beta Thorne, who was standing by the stairs.

For just a second, I thought I saw something close to pity in his eyes but he cleared his throat and looked away, and it was gone. I told myself I'd imagined it.

I walked out of that packhouse with the words "she's beneath me" echoing in my ears.

The air outside was cold. I wrapped my arms around myself and walked. I walked until I was far enough away that no one would see me cry.

And then I cried.

I cried for my father. For my mother. For the twelve-year-old girl who had dreamed of her mate and had no idea he was already rejecting her from across the pack.

When there were no tears left, I wiped my face and kept walking. I had to get home. Lily would be back from school by now.

I took the alley shortcut. It was dark and dangerous but it shaved off ten minutes and I just wanted to be done with the day because I had no energy for anything more.

"The goddess made a mistake," I said out loud, kicking a loose stone. "Pairing me with that Alpha Bastard."

She doesn't make mistakes, Raina said quietly but even she wasn't so sure.

"Then she's cruel."

Don't say that.

"Why not? Look at my life. I have a mate who thinks I'm a stain on his shoe, a father dead in the dirt and a mother dead too. I work double shifts so I can eat. Explain to me how that's not a mistake."

Raina didn't answer, and her silence made me angrier than any argument could have.

That's when I heard footsteps behind me, too many to be one person, and a low laugh that made the hair on my arms stand up.

Cole stepped out from behind the dumpster, nose still swollen and crooked from this morning. Tory, Drake, Peter and Brian, his hyenas, spread out to block my exit.

"Look what we found," Cole said. He was holding something up, dangling it from two fingers.

My pendant. I must have forgotten to pick it up before leaving with Principal Lance.

"Give that back." I said, clenching my fists.

"Why? You think you can take the five of us?" He grinned. "Because I'm going to make you pay for this." He pointed to his nose.

It was impossible for me to take them all but I didn't wait for him to make the first move. I threw myself at him, going for the throat, and my fist caught his jaw hard enough to snap his head sideways.

Then Drake grabbed my arm from behind.

I twisted, drove my elbow into his ribs and heard him grunt. Tory stepped in and I kicked him back into the dumpster. For a few seconds it felt almost even, five against one, with me hitting harder than they expected.

Then Peter caught my hair and yanked, and my head snapped back. Brian's fist landed in my stomach so hard the air left my lungs in one burst.

I went down on one knee. Someone kicked my side. I tried to get back up but a boot caught my shoulder and put me flat on the ground.

Raina was screaming inside me, screaming at me to shift, to fight, to do something, but my body wasn't answering anymore.

It was five pairs of hands and feet, the alley walls spinning above me, Cole's laugh somewhere far away, and my father's pendant glinting in someone's fist as the world went dark at the edges.