Chapter 3 3

Lorien POV

“What?” The word fell from my lips, broken and trembling. My breath snagged in my throat as I stared at him, desperately searching his eyes for some clue, some explanation for the disgust twisting his face.

“This is a sick joke,” he muttered, jaw locked tight, the muscles ticking beneath his skin.

My head jerked back at the force of his glare. The black of his beast’s eyes had vanished, replaced by a steady, unflinching brown as he rose to his feet. How could he not know who I was?

I’d worked in the pack house for years. Our parents had stood side by side for decades before us. We might never have spent time together, but surely he had seen me. My hair was a blazing red beacon for the Goddess’s sake, I had been the Beta’s daughter. How could he possibly have overlooked me?

“I… I don’t understand,” I whispered, bewildered by the sudden turn in his mood. Hadn’t last night meant anything to him? Hadn’t it meant something?

The sight of him so troubled made my chest ache. I reached out, placing a tentative hand on his back in comfort, but he lurched upright as if my touch burned him. I followed on instinct.

“Don’t touch me!” he snapped, his glare slicing down to me with so much contempt I stumbled a step back. “Your. Name.”

The command struck like a whip. My wolf cowered, and my spine bowed before him. “Lorien Velmont,” I murmured.

“My wolf got the better of me last night, Lorien Velmont,” Rhael said, curling his lip as though my name itself was sour on his tongue. His gaze swept my naked body with something close to loathing. “That won’t be happening again.”

Words deserted me as he dressed quickly, casting furtive glances toward the treeline, checking, always checking if anyone had witnessed us.

“What are you talking about? You’re my mate!” The scent of him still clung to my skin like a protective shroud, the heat of our joining still damp between my thighs. Yet as he laced his boots and turned away like the hounds of Hell were snapping at his heels, a tide of shame rose up in me. I felt filthy. Used.

“Rhael,” I called, clutching my torn dress to my chest as I stumbled after him, dragging it on in clumsy haste. “Please, wait. I don’t understand.”

The pack house was visible now through the trees. Panic clawed at my ribs. Everyone was awake, moving, beginning the day. Omegas were meant to be seen, not heard a rule I’d shattered more than once in the last twenty-four hours. If anyone saw me chasing Rhael, speaking his name so freely, I’d be punished.

“Rhael!” I cried again, voice breaking as I hurried after him, my legs barely carrying me.

“Don’t!” he barked, whirling on me. I gasped, nearly colliding with him, but his hand shot out, palm flat to my chest, shoving me back just enough to stop me.

I hit the dirt hard, sitting at his feet as he glared down, fists clenched at his sides. “Don’t say my name! You will never address me so informally again!”

Tears stung my eyes. A sharp, invisible knife twisted through my chest.

“I can’t believe the Goddess would pair me with you!” He spat the word you like it poisoned him, gesturing at me as though I were filth. “I refuse. I won’t do it. I will never accept you as my mate.”

Footsteps approached, but the sound blurred beneath the roaring in my ears. Another flash of pain stabbed through my heart, and it took me a moment to realize what it was our bond, fracturing.

“What are you doing?” My voice broke, a whisper of disbelief as my hand clutched at my chest. A wave of nausea rolled through me. I tried to stand, but my knees buckled, leaving me crouched in the dirt, one hand pressed to the ground to hold myself upright.

He was my soulmate. I had waited for him my entire life. He was meant to protect me, love me. What had changed between last night and this morning? Something had to be wrong.

“What I should have done last night,” he snarled.

Maeryn stepped from the trees then, stopping short when she saw us. “Baby, what’s going on? Where did you disappear to last night? Why are you with this pathetic mutt?”

Her eyes burned when they landed on me. She could smell me on him; I saw the fury rising behind her polished mask.

“Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got this under control,” he snapped, though his eyes flickered brown to black to brown again. His wolf was fighting. It gave me hope. Maybe, just maybe, his beast still wanted me, regardless of rank.

Maeryn’s nails sharpened to black points as she stalked forward with a low growl, but Rhael’s words cut her off.

“I, Rhael Destrell, reject you, Lorien Velmont, as my mate.”

He lifted his chin, voice low so only we three could hear, but the black of his beast flickered again, barely leashed.

A ragged gasp tore from me. My hand pressed harder against my chest as I doubled over, a cry escaping as the stabbing pain ignited, burning through me from the inside out.

“Please,” I begged, breathless. “No!”

“Mate?” Maeryn’s cold laugh sliced the air. “Did you really think anyone in this pack would accept you as Luna? An Omega who scrubs our floors in rags? You’d make us a laughingstock.”

My body folded in on itself as my wolf keened in agony, retreating deep into my mind to escape the torment. My soul felt as though it had been ripped clean in half.