~JADE~

I stood in the living room, unsure of what to do with myself. We were back at home, and for the first time in two years, I felt like a stranger in my own home.

I never knew a time would come when I'd feel like an absolute stranger in a place where I once found comfort and love.

I am taken back to the first time I stepped foot in this house, the day Hunter brought me here as a surprise to show me our new home. The house he built for when he finds his mate, with the hope that they'll both make it their home.

I remember the feeling of contentment and comfort I felt when he walked me into this very living room, the pleasant smile on his face when he said the words, "This is our home now, your home, for as long as you'll have me."

And in that moment, I felt like the most important person on earth; all the memories from when I was in Manila had become less painful. Because Hunter had given me a place I could call home in the first few months of meeting him and knowing he was my mate, he had shown me love like no other.

Coming back to Detroit, to the pack. I had thought I'd have to pick up the pieces of my life and start all over. Coming back to my family was my chance to try at happiness for the first time and to reclaim everything I had lost while in Manila with my aunt.

I didn't even think finding my mate was a possibility; I never saw myself as one deserving of a mate. Perhaps I didn't see the girl I was in Manila as someone deserving of affection from a mate.

Yet Hunter...

He had swept me off my feet and lit a fire in my heart that I never knew was there. He made me feel so damn important and love-able and provided me with stability.

I remember how it all felt like a dream-a dream I never wanted to wake up from, not if it meant losing Hunter. Because even when I'd told him about my past and about the life I lived in Manila, while I saw a weak and used girl, Hunter saw a strong woman who fought and worked hard to survive.

It was then that I knew he was my person, that he was my home, my everything.

Yet at this moment, standing in this living room-the same living room that had provided me comfort and served as my shield from the rest of the world-I feel like a foreigner in a strange land.

I feel lost.

That dread has returned-the same displaced feeling of abandonment and betrayal I felt the first time I found myself being shoved into that room with red and blue disco lights. My aunt's words resounded with a repeating echo in my ear. "You better do well to make them happy." She didn't need to say any more; those words were warning enough for me.

I was only given one option: to step out of the VIP room with tips worthy enough to put a smile on her face. It was either that, or I spent the next few days without food or a bed to sleep on.

For several months, I would cry myself to sleep in the corridor. Every night I got shoved into that room with disco lights, my stomach would churn with disgust and betrayal because that wasn't the life I was promised. That wasn't the promise she made to my parents when she took me from them, and for a little while, I was given a false sense of security about that promise. Little did I know she was simply waiting for me to grow a few more inches before using me like she did every other girl under her care.

"What are you doing standing there like a fucking statue?" Hunter barks, snapping me out of my stream of self-pity.

"Hunter, I..."

"Save it, Jade; I need you to pack your shit and get it out of the bedroom." He snapped, his eyes shooting daggers at me.

"You want me to pack my things and remove them from our bedroom?" I was dumbfounded, to say the least.

Won't he at least give me the benefit of the doubt? At least try to ask me what happened now that we are both back home.

I understand he was angry with what he walked into this morning, and any other person would have got the wrong idea.

I understand that he lost control and acted irrationally due to his anger, but it's been hours. No matter how angry he was this morning, shouldn't he at least have the tiniest bit of trust and ask me questions?

"Our bedroom?" he mused, snorting as he shook his head.

"There's no such thing as 'our'; the only reason you're still under my roof is because my parents won't have it any other way, at least until the trial with the council, and I will not share the same room or bed with a cheating whore." He snarled the last words of his sentence with a venom that had my skin crawling with disgust.

"How are you so quick to throw me away, Hunter? I thought you loved me. How are you so unfazed and ready to throw out two years of commitment and love? You aren't giving me the benefit of the doubt; you won't ask me what happened. I am your Mate, Hunter; shouldn't that mean something to you?" I tried to fight back my tears. I tried to rein in my voice and keep myself from yelling because I knew screaming wouldn't solve this situation.

"It meant something enough for me to spend two years with you; it meant something enough that I chose to make you my Luna, but that meaning fell off the cliff the minute you chose to spread your legs for another." Hunter bellowed in my face, gritting his teeth, and it stung my heart to watch him painfully fight back tears.

"I didn't do it, Hunter; I swear I didn't open my legs for him. Do you not even trust me at all?" I moved to grab his hand, but he yanked it out of my reach, hurrying to put some distance between us.

"I trusted you, Jade; if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have given us a chance. I would've rejected you two years ago if I didn't trust you, especially knowing you are her sister. Despite the promise I made to myself not to love again, I broke that promise because of you. I chose to give love a chance. After all, I trusted you because I thought you were my person for life, only for my trust to be broken like this again. You know how that saying-once bitten twice shy-I should've taken it for what it is, yet here I am getting my heart ripped out for the second time again by someone I love."

He quickly turned his back to me to prevent me from seeing the tears sliding down his cheek, but I saw before he could completely look away, and the pain in his eyes ripped through my gut.

I once promised him that I would never be the reason for his pain, and I never want to be. 

"Hunter, please; I would never intentionally hurt you like this. I didn't have sex with Darren, and I would never betray your trust like that. All I did was sleep in the same bed as him; I don't even remember falling asleep with him in the room. I just... Hunter, please, you have to believe me. I will never betray your love like that; you're everything to me."

He turned, brows knitted, cold eyes scanning me. "Are you trying to tell me Darren raped you? Is that what happened?"

The question caught me off guard, and I blinked, my heart pounding in my chest as I pondered his question and contemplated whether I should say yes.

If I say yes, then that would mean that I am admitting that something happened between us, which would mean that I remembered what happened and will technically make me a liar since I already told Hunter and my parents that I don't remember a thing.

"Jade." Hunter snapped impatiently, "Did Darren rape you? Is that what happened?"

"I..." I swallowed a huge lump down my throat. "I don't know; I don't think so; I don't remember what happened." I was a stuttering mess because whatever I saw would be interpreted whichever way Hunter chose to interpret it.

"You claim and swear that you didn't have sex with him, yet you also say you don't remember what happened in the same breath. Do you take me for a fool?" Hunter growled, closing the distance between us, and I shook my head rapidly.

"No, no Hunter, I swear the last thing I remember was drinking water."

Hunter scoffed, cutting me off. "You must think I'm crazy; this isn't my first time dealing with a cheating whore who will say anything to save her ass. I should've known from your history with men in the Philippines. Once a whore, always a whore. And here I thought you deserved to be loved." He spat with so much distaste in his voice.

My leg trembled, and I staggered a few feet backwards as his words punched right through my heart.

"Hunter..." I mumbled weakly in astonishment as tears trickled down my cheeks, and I clutched the blouse mom had given me close to my heart.

How could he use my pain against me? He was the only one I ever told about the horrible things I went through in Manila-the trauma, the scars, the pain-which I was never comfortable sharing with anyone else until I met him. Because I didn't want to open myself up to anyone like that, I didn't want anyone to see that dark past, and I trusted him.

 I shared my pain with him because who else would love me unconditionally if not my mate? And he turned around to use it against me.

"I should've rejected you the moment I found you naked with another man." He growled, spitting in my face.

"You can't do that, not until trial, and I'm pregnant with your heir." My lips quivered while I whispered, and I shook my head, pleading with my eyes for him not to do this. The council will prove that I didn't cheat; they should.

"Who knows how many men you've been fucking behind my back? You expect me to accept the child of a whore, huh?"

"I am not a..." The remainder of the sentences became stuck in my throat because, in retrospect, can I truly claim not to be a whore?

It was what I was known for in the dark streets of the nightclubs; I was known as a filthy whore who accepted every hand and every dick for money.

Maybe Hunter is right after all.

How can I even claim Darren didn't have sex with me when I have no recollection of what happened.

Breaking eye contact with Hunter, I cast my head down in shame, because if I'm being honest with myself, nothing I say will change his mind. He once told me that the one thing he'll never forgive is cheating, and if he already made up his mind that I cheated on him, begging him is pointless.

"I, Hunter Hendrix, son of Orion Hendrix, reject you, Jade Althea Dimaano, daughter of Juan Dimaano, as my mate and future Luna, based on infidelity. May the energy of the moon uphold this rejection and Mother Goddess ease my pain through this betrayal." He snarled the last words, shoving me out of the way as he stomped out of our home, and I crumbled to the floor as a crippling pain shot through my spine, rushing straight for my heart.

~JADE~

Days blurred into nights, and nights into days. Hunter stayed true to his word by taking my things out of our bedroom. There was nothing I could say to change his mind, not even the fact that I was pregnant with his child. 

I had tried to make him go to the pack clinic with me, or even at least call the pack doctor over to confirm that I wasn't lying, but he didn't even care.

He doesn't think it's his child because he believes I had to have slept with other men aside from Darren that he didn't know about, and he is convinced that if I am truly pregnant, then the child belongs to one of them.

But the child is his, even though he doesn't believe me. I know I should've told him before this happened, but I wasn't sure that I was pregnant because getting pregnant as a beta was almost impossible. Unlike omegas, a beta wolf like myself isn't always lucky to be blessed with a child. I'm not sure what the goddess has against us, but a beta's chance of reproducing was almost next to none. That and all the weird pills my aunt had me swallowing back in Manila.

I never once pictured myself pregnant or thought I'd end up being a mother. Sure, I loved the idea, but I knew the chances of me ever getting pregnant were thin. 

I also didn't think I was worthy of being loved by any man until Hunter came along, and over the past two years with him, I've always prayed and hoped the goddess would bless me with a child, knowing I only had one shot because of his bloodline. And I knew giving him an heir would make him love me more and his parents more accepting of me.

I had been excited when I realised the sickness, and my late period was because I had conceived a child for my mate, but I still wanted to be sure and had made plans to see the pack doctor. I had even told Arya about my suspicions. I told her my plans to see the pack doctor and hopefully surprise Hunter with the news. Then she mentioned wanting to move with Darren and invited me to that party, which she claimed was a send-off party, and everything else went to hell after that.

Despite how hard I've tried to remember what happened after drinking that water, my memory keeps going blank. Nothing made sense because I knew I hadn't tasted any alcohol, so what the hell happened to me, and how did I black out? It made no sense that I blacked out from drinking water-water that my sister offered to me. Could it be that she...

No!

I shook my head at the thought-the possibility that Arya had something to do with what happened. It makes no sense; why would she drug me? What does she stand to gain? I know my sister and I have had our differences ever since I came back to the pack, and that made sense to me because we spent twelve years of our lives apart.

 I can't fault her for thinking of me as a stranger who's here to take her place in our parents' hearts, or whatever it was she said two years ago. Still, I made an effort to get along with her, even on days when she was being unnecessarily hostile. I may never understand why, but would she go to such extreme lengths as to drug me? Perhaps Darren did.

And even if he did, how do I prove that to the council when they finally call me to stand trial? It's been five days since Hunter rejected me, and I still haven't been called to stand trial. I don't know why, but a part of me hopes that whatever is delaying the trial lasts a while so I can get my mate to see reason. Even though all my efforts to get through to him have been futile.

I can count on one finger how many times he's been home for the past five days. He has been avoiding me like a plague, and when he doesn't, his words cut deeper than a knife. It's not only him; the entire pack seems to be avoiding me like I am a disease. I made the mistake of stepping out two days ago because I wanted to talk to my parents, and I couldn't shake off the disdain I got from everyone I met on the way to my parents' house.

Even my parents used the excuse of having somewhere to be to get me out of their house. I was left standing outside on the porch as the feeling of loss and being unwanted washed over me. Just like it did every time my aunt would put me out of the hostel because I didn't bring in enough tips for the night. 

I had thought coming back here was the fresh start that I needed, and for two years I had a home, a pack that I thought loved me, and a man I could call mine, only for all that to change overnight, and now my life is no more than a nightmare.

My heart ached at the thought of everything, and I wrapped my hands around my lower half as bile rose in the pit of my stomach. Another wave of nausea hit me, and I closed my eyes to push down the urge, knowing I had nothing else in me but stomach acid to throw up.

'You need to eat, at least for the baby.'

I almost jumped out of my skin at the unexpected sound of my wolf's voice.

'What do you care, Lev? Didn't you also abandon me?'

I bit back harshly, unable to hold back the bitterness in my voice, wincing as another bolt of pain jabbed at my heart.

'I would never abandon you, Jade. You know that.'

Levana's voice was small, almost as weak as mine. It confused me because I hadn't heard from her for the past five days, ever since the horrible morning that changed everything in my life. She had been silent, almost like she wasn't even a part of me, and it had just made everything worse because I couldn't shake the thought that even my wolf had abandoned me, like everyone else.

'I'm not sure if I know anything anymore. I needed you, and you weren't there. I needed you, Lev, and you just... Just like everyone else,' 

I choked up, my eyes stung with unshed tears as I manoeuvred out of the bed in the guest room and made my way down the hallway leading to the kitchen. 

'I would never do that to you; I would never abandon you. I don't know what happened; we were at the party, and everything went blank. I was thrust into darkness, and I couldn't feel you. I kept trying to reach behind our mental walls, but you weren't there. And then Hunter, rejecting us, struck so hard that I couldn't even push against the mental barriers to reach you until today. You know I'll never leave you to suffer alone.'

Levana explained, choking up as she spoke, and I sighed. I know she wouldn't just leave me on my own, yet it was hard to fight the thought that maybe she had also gotten tired of me and my problems. I would be fed up too if I were her and stuck with this useless excuse of a human who has done nothing but brought us both so much pain.

'Do you remember what happened?' 

I asked with high hopes, even though I somehow knew what her answer would be.

'The only thing I remember is Arya rushing to bring you water when you choked.' 

'Hunter caught me in bed with Darren. He thinks I cheated on him. He wouldn't listen to me, and he rejected us.' 

My voice thinned out with every word I said as I tried to fill her in. 

'I know. You're not doing so well with putting a mental barrier around your thoughts. I can hear everything; I know what happened. I'm sorry.' 

'None of this is your fault; there's no one to blame but myself. If I had been extra careful, maybe if I hadn't gone to the party and just stayed home like the perfect mate I was supposed to be, then none of this would've happened. I wouldn't have ended up sleeping with Darren and causing our mate to reject us.'

'You didn't have sex with Darren, and there's no fault in going to your sister's party when she invited you.'

Levana bites out in a low growl.

'You don't know that. I thought nothing happened, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe I don't remember because of whatever made me black out. It's not like I haven't been in this position before; back in the clubhouse, most of the pills made me black out. I'd wake up in bed with four men-five-and have no recollection of what happened. Maybe it happened with Darren, and I just don't remember. And Hunter was right-once a whore, always a whore.'

'You are not a whore.' 

Levana growled so loudly that it tumbled through my head, and I stopped short in the middle of the kitchen at the intensity of the anger behind her growl.

'You are not a whore, Jade. You were a victim, and right now you're a victim once again. Just because you don't remember what happened doesn't make you guilty of infidelity.'

She gritted out in a tight voice, and I shook my head, blinking the tears away as I walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and a glass cup from the cup cabinet.

'How can you be so sure?' 

I asked, despite my resolve.

'You are a mated wolf; I am a mated wolf; if you had sex with Darren, Hunter should've felt it.'

Levana tries to explain,

'What if he couldn't feel it because we blacked out? Maybe.'

'No!' She gave me zero chance to complete my sentence. 'Stop trying to find reasons to make yourself guilty when you aren't.

I prepared to answer her when a cold shudder rushed up my body and my spine stiffened.

"What is... Dear Moon?" I let out a half-choked cry as a sharp pain pierced through my heart. The glass cup I was holding slipped out of my grip as my hand trembled, and I doubled over on my knee with a loud cry in agony as another wave of pain shot up my spine.

"Oh, goddess. Dear goddess... Arghhhh." I let out an ear-shattering cry. My knee gave out, my heart slammed so hard against my ribcage that it felt like it was trying to escape out of my body. My lungs tightened in pain as breathing suddenly became impossible.

"What the fuck is going on?" I howled as a sudden heat wave barreled down my spine and through my entire body. I let out another shrill cry as an unexplainable pain knotted in my stomach.

'Hunter!'

Levana growled in a pain-stricken voice. I crumbled against the wet kitchen floor. Pain shot up in my arm as the broken glass cut through my palm.

"Oh goddess, I can't... I can't... Why?"

I had no idea what I was asking, but I couldn't form coherent words anymore. Not with the sudden flame of pain burning through my entire body. Nor could I keep back the tears that flowed freely down my cheeks. My other hand wrapped instinctively against my stomach while I writhed against the kitchen counter in agony. 

'You didn't accept his rejection. Hunter's having sex with someone else.'

Levana whispered so lowly that I could barely hear her.

He had told me this morning he'd make me suffer because I refused to accept his rejection. I was foolishly holding onto hope that we could work things out and that maybe the council would prove my innocence and make Hunter take back his rejection. Or that my mate would finally believe me and change his mind. I knew it was foolish, yet I held onto what was left of our bond, refusing to accept his rejection.

Another bolt of pain and a searing heat flashed through my body. My stomach felt like a hundred and fifty pins were stabbing through it all at once, and I coiled into myself.

"My baby," I whispered weakly, hot tears rushing down my cheeks as the pain shot through my head and darkness consumed me.

~JADE~

My eyes blinked open. My vision was hazy, as I tried to focus on the shadow hovering above me while at the same time trying to make sense of where I was and what had happened.

"Get up and get out of my kitchen." The rough sound of Hunter's voice had me blinking into focus, the fog in my vision and pain in my head gone as I took in his appearance.

A groan slipped past my lips as I pushed away from the cold kitchen floor, my eyes taking in the broken glass around me, and an onslaught of headaches barreling in as memories of the pain I had felt before passing out.

'You passed out from the pain.' Levana, my wolf, mumbled as I stood up.

"Quit stalling, stand up, and clean up your mess." Hunter boomed above me, and I winced.

 "Why?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, even if I knew his answer would only end up hurting me more, yet I still asked because a part of me still hoped that the mate who had loved me was still there somewhere and that he would come back to his senses and see that he was hurting me.

 "Why what?"

"You slept with someone else." It wasn't a question; it was a statement, one I hoped he would deny even though I knew better. "Why are you hurting me? I would never intentionally hurt you, Hunter. Yet you had sex with someone else despite knowing what pain it would cause me."

"I warned you, didn't I? I told you to accept my rejection or face the consequences of still being attached to the bond. You got what you asked for." He snarled in anger before stalking past me into the kitchen.

"I got what I asked for, really? All I asked for was that my mate at least show some fucking trust in me." I spat, unable to put a hold on my outburst of anger. I was never one to raise my voice, but the ache splitting through my head right now and the pain in my stomach had me fuming.

"Is it so wrong that I wish you would just listen to me and fucking see that I am telling you the truth? Why are you so eager to get rid of me? The day you brought me into this house, telling me it was my home and promising to shield me from the rest of the world, was it all a lie? Answer me, Hunter, because you seem so eager to throw it all away." I yelled angrily, pulling his arm as I yanked him back to face me.

His bloodshot eyes pinned me with a glare as he snarled in my face. "You want to stand there and play the victim like any of this is my fault?" He yanked his hand out of my grip.

"Unfucking believable." He sneered, wiping his palm down his tired face.

"The audacity you have. This is all your fault. You destroyed us; you destroyed the home I worked so hard to give you, and you are fucking ungrateful." He snarled, stalking closer to me, and he jammed his finger into my chest as he continued, "You came back to this pack, broken and used. Even though you thought no one wanted you, I did. I was willing to love you despite your past; even though I was still recovering from a bad heartbreak, I focused on you. I tried my best to make you happy and give you everything I thought you deserved because I fucking loved you and I thought you were better than the whore in your past. And all I asked-all I ever asked of you-was your loyalty, I told you. It was the only thing I'd ever need from you, but what do I get in return? I get cheated on, yet you dare to yell in my face like I am the one who destroyed us. This is all you." Hunter bellowed, his voice bouncing off the kitchen walls, and the items against the wall rattled violently.

I stood stock still, his words hitting me like a wrench to my guts, and my throat burned as I struggled to find the words to say.

"I was never ungrateful to you for your love, even though I knew it was too good to be true. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I always made sure to tell you that and show it in my actions. So to think you won't even give it a thought for a single second that I might be telling the truth, you won't even try to find out why I blacked out and I don't remember a fucking thing. Besides, if I did cheat on you, if I truly had sex with Darren that night, shouldn't you have felt it? You should've felt the pain the same way I did hours ago when you were fucking another woman. Or maybe you already know that I am telling you the truth, and  you are just so eager to get rid of me so badly."

Perhaps I shouldn't have added that part, but I was so far done with giving a shit because nothing I say will change his mind. If begging him to see the pain behind my eyes won't work anymore, I better just hurl my heart at him.

"Yelling at me didn't work, so now you want to gaslight me?" Hunter scoffed, shaking his head.

"It's always the same fucking thing with you Dimaano girls, always gaslighting and manipulating men to make yourselves the victims. Stupid me, I should've known better than to trust or fall in love with another Dimaano daughter." The obvious pain in his expression and the resignation in his voice had me wincing in pity for him, and it took me a moment to finally register what he just said.

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked just as he turned to walk away, "You should've known better than to fall in love with another Dimaano daughter, Hunter; what does that mean?" I asked, my voice strained in apprehension.

"Ask your bloody sister, Jade." He sneered, turning his back on me as he stormed out of the kitchen, leaving me to pick up the scattered pieces of his words.