Delilah's POV

She grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the wall. Pain exploded through my skull. Before I could recover, Michelle punched me in the stomach and I doubled over gasping for air.

"You think you can touch me?" Sarah yanked my hair harder, forcing my head back. "You're nothing. Your mother is nothing. Just trash that should have been thrown out years ago."

Another girl kicked my legs out from under me. I fell hard on the tile floor and Sarah didn't let go of my hair. I felt strands ripping from my scalp.

"This is what happens when you forget your place," Sarah hissed as she slammed my head against the floor. Stars exploded across my vision. "You're beneath us. Your whore mother is beneath us. You don't deserve to be in this pack."

Michelle kicked me in the ribs. I heard something crack and pain shot through my side. I tried to curl into a ball but Sarah still had my hair.

"Maybe if we beat some sense into you, you'll finally leave," one of the other girls said. She stomped on my hand and I screamed as bones crunched under her foot.

"Your mother should have left years ago," Sarah said. She finally let go of my hair and kicked me in the back. "Both of you are parasites feeding off this pack's generosity. Well, we're done being generous."

They kicked me again and again. My ribs, my back, my legs. I tasted blood in my mouth. Storm was howling in my head but she couldn't help me. I was too weak to shift and even if I could, they outnumbered me.

"Remember this," Sarah said as she crouched down next to my bleeding face. "You don't belong here. Your slut mother doesn't belong here. And in three days when you graduate, you better take her and leave. Because if you don't, next time will be worse."

They left me lying on the bathroom floor in a pool of my own blood.

I don't know how long I lay there. Everything hurt. My head throbbed, my ribs screamed with every breath, my hand was swelling purple. Blood dripped from my split lip and nose.

Finally, I forced myself to move. I pulled myself up using the sink and my reflection made me want to cry. Blood covered half my face, my left eye was swollen nearly shut, my lip was split open.

I cleaned myself up as best I could with wet paper towels but the bleeding wouldn't stop completely. I grabbed my bag and stumbled out of the bathroom, keeping my head down as I moved toward the exit.

Every step sent pain shooting through my body but I kept walking. I had to get home.

The twenty-minute walk through the forest felt like hours. I had to stop several times when the pain in my ribs got too bad. By the time I reached our cottage, I was barely standing.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

Mom stood in the kitchen with her back to me. The cottage was decorated with streamers and balloons. A birthday cake sat on the table with unlit candles.

"Delilah?" Mom turned around with a smile, her copper-red hair swept up in a loose bun and her warm hazel eyes bright with excitement. The smile vanished the moment she saw me. "Oh my goddess. Delilah! What happened? Who did this to you?"

I opened my mouth to answer but the Alpha's voice boomed through the mindlink before I could speak.

"All pack members report to the ceremonial grounds immediately. The future Alpha will participate in his mating ceremony tonight."

Mom and I froze, staring at each other.

My mating ceremony. Tonight. Not in three days like Jaxon said, but tonight.

Blood dripped from my face onto the floor but suddenly none of that mattered. This was it. Jaxon was going to claim me publicly and once he marked me as his mate and future Luna, Sarah and those girls would never touch me again. The bullying would finally stop.

"Delilah." Mom's voice shook as she looked between my bleeding face and the determination in my eyes. "You can't go like this. You're hurt and we need to get you to a healer first."

"There's no time." I limped toward my room, each step sending fire through my ribs. "I need to clean up and get dressed. This is what I've been waiting for, Mom. Three years of hell, and it's finally ending tonight."

Mom followed me and helped me out of my blood-stained clothes. She held me steady while I washed the blood from my face and hair, the water turning pink then red in the sink. My hands shook as I tried to cover the worst bruises with makeup but nothing could hide the swelling around my eye or my split lip.

"Let me," Mom whispered. Her hands were gentler than mine as she carefully applied foundation over the bruises, tears streaming down her face as she worked.

She pulled the white mating dress from my closet, the one she'd spent three months sewing with love and hope. Her fingers trembled as she helped me step into it, careful of my injured ribs.

The dress was beautiful with pure white fabric and delicate silver embroidery. It fit perfectly, flowing around me like a dream. Mom braided my copper hair with silver ribbons and mountain flowers, working around the tender spots where Sarah had ripped out chunks of my hair.

When she finished, I looked in the mirror. The dress was stunning and my hair looked perfect, but my face told a different story. Even with makeup, the bruises were visible and my left eye was still half-swollen.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart," Mom said softly, though her voice broke on the last word.

I did look beautiful. Broken and bloody, but beautiful.

Mom kissed my forehead. "I'll be here when you get back."

She never attended pack gatherings anymore. The less they saw of her, the less they could judge me.

I walked out of the cottage alone as the sun set, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold. In the distance, I could see pack members heading toward the ceremonial grounds.

My heart pounded with hope and fear and desperate longing. Three years of torture and three years of waiting. Finally, it was happening.

Jaxon was going to claim me. He was going to stand in front of the entire pack and tell them I was his, that I belonged to him, that I was worthy.

I touched my split lip and tasted blood. The pain in my ribs made each step agony but I kept walking toward the ceremonial grounds with my head held high.

The ceremonial grounds were packed with hundreds of wolves gathered in a massive circle around the Alpha's throne. Torches burned bright against the darkening sky. Everyone was dressed in their finest clothes.

I walked through the crowd alone. Every eye turned toward us and whispers rippled through the pack.

"The whore's daughter actually showed up."

"Look at her face. Someone finally gave her what she deserved."

I ignored them and kept my head high. Nothing they said mattered anymore because in a few minutes, Jaxon would claim me and they'd have to respect me.

Alpha Sterling stood beside his throne, massive and imposing. Jaxon stood at his side wearing ceremonial dress that made him look like a prince. His golden hair caught the torchlight and he looked perfect.

But he wouldn't look at me.

"Stand in the center," Alpha Sterling commanded.

I walked forward on shaking legs as the white dress flowed around me. I stood alone in the center of the circle while hundreds of wolves surrounded me.

Something felt wrong. The ceremony should feel joyful but instead, the air felt thick with tension like everyone was waiting for something terrible to happen.

Alpha Sterling rose to his full height and the pack fell silent.

"We are gathered to witness the mating of my son Jaxon Sterling, future Alpha of Riverbend Pack, to his fated mate."

My heart hammered so hard I thought it would burst through my cracked ribs. This was it. This was really happening.

Alpha Sterling's expression hardened as he looked directly at me.

"However, the Sterling bloodline cannot be tainted by weakness and shame."

Delilah's POV

Alpha Sterling's voice boomed across the ceremonial grounds. "My son will not bind himself to the daughter of a faithless whore who dishonored her mate's memory."

The world tilted and I looked at Jaxon, waiting for him to defend me. To fight for us the way he promised this morning when his fingers were inside me and he swore I was his forever.

He finally looked at me with ice blue eyes that were cold and empty.

"Jaxon Sterling, do you accept this female as your mate?"

"No." His voice was flat. "I, Jaxon Sterling, reject Delilah Calloway as my mate and sever our bond before the Moon Goddess and this pack."

The pain dropped me to my knees. The mate bond that had glowed warm inside me for two years suddenly ripped apart and it felt like someone tore out my still-beating heart. The white dress pooled around me in the dirt as I screamed. Storm howled in pure agony inside my head and her pain mixed with mine until I couldn't tell where hers ended and mine began.

The pack erupted in laughter.

"The whore's daughter got what she deserved!"

"Did you really think a Sterling would want trash like you?"

Jaxon walked toward me and I looked up at him through tears, still desperate for some sign that this was a mistake. His face was disgusted as he stared down at me.

"You made it so easy," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Just like your slut mother, spreading your legs and letting me touch you whenever I wanted."

The words hit harder than Sarah's fists had.

"You're lucky I was too disgusted to actually fuck you. I was terrified I'd catch something from a whore like you. Your mother probably taught you all her tricks, didn't she?"

Someone threw rotted fruit that hit my shoulder. Then mud, then garbage, then stones. The pack threw things at me like I was an animal while they jeered and laughed.

"You really thought I loved you?" Jaxon laughed. "You were entertainment, something to pass the time. Did you actually believe I'd claim you publicly and make you my Luna?"

The garbage kept coming and my beautiful white dress was covered in filth. The flowers fell from my hair one by one.

"You're nothing but the daughter of a slut," Jaxon said. "And you'll never be anything more."

"Get out of Riverbend territory before dawn," Alpha Sterling commanded. "You and your whore mother. If I see either of you after sunrise, I'll have you both whipped."

I forced myself to stand even though my legs shook. The bond was gone and Storm had retreated so deep I could barely feel her. I turned to run but Jaxon's voice stopped me.

"Finally," he said, his voice suddenly warm and affectionate. "Now you can be my mate and we don't have to hide anymore."

I froze. Those were the exact words he'd said to me this morning.

I turned around slowly.

Jaxon stood with his arm around Sarah's waist. The same Sarah who'd beaten me bloody hours ago. She wore a beautiful silver dress and smiled up at Jaxon like he hung the moon.

He was looking at her the way I'd always dreamed he'd look at me.

"Did you really think he wanted you?" Sarah's voice rang out clear and mocking. "Goddess, you're even more pathetic than I thought."

Jaxon laughed and pulled her closer. "She was fun to play with though. All that desperate hope in her eyes every time I touched her."

"I told her this morning to leave," Sarah said loud enough for everyone to hear. "When I had her bleeding on the bathroom floor, I told her she didn't belong here. Should have listened."

The pack laughed. They all knew. They were all in on it.

"The bruises on her face really complete the look," Jaxon added. "Trash covered in garbage. Fitting."

Sarah pressed against him and he kissed her. Right there in front of everyone, his hand sliding up her back while the pack cheered.

This morning those hands were on me. All of it had been lies.

"You should go," Sarah said, smirking. "Before we have to hurt you again."

"Almost wish she'd stay," Jaxon agreed. "Watching her finally realize how worthless she is? That's the best part."

They'd planned this. The beating, the ceremony, the rejection. I was never anything but a game.

"Run along now, reject," Sarah said sweetly. "You're ruining our mating ceremony."

I ran. The white dress tore on branches as I sprinted through the crowd. People spat at me and someone tried to grab my hair, but I was moving too fast. I ran until the forest swallowed me and I couldn't hear their laughter anymore.

My lungs burned and my ribs screamed but I didn't stop until I reached our cottage and burst through the door.

Mom rushed toward me from the kitchen. The birthday cake still sat on the table with one slice missing. "Delilah! What happened?"

I couldn't speak. I just stood there shaking in the ruined dress. My chest felt like it was caving in. The bond was gone and Storm had retreated so far I couldn't reach her.

Mom pulled me into her arms and held me tight. "Talk to me, baby. What happened at the ceremony?"

I tried to answer but only sobs came out. Mom guided me to the couch and sat beside me, holding my hand while I fell apart. The pain in my chest kept getting worse.

It took several minutes before I could form words.

"He rejected me." My voice was broken. "In front of everyone. His father said the Sterling bloodline wouldn't be tainted by me. Jaxon rejected me and called me diseased. He said I was entertainment. The whole pack threw things at me and laughed."

Mom's face went pale and her hand tightened around mine.

"He was with Sarah," I continued through sobs. "The girl who beat me this morning. He's been with her the whole time. Everything was a lie."

"Oh, sweetheart." Mom's voice cracked as tears rolled down her cheeks. She pulled me against her chest and held me while I cried.

A loud crash came from outside. Footsteps pounded on the porch.

Someone slammed their fist against the door so hard the whole cottage shook.

"Open up! By order of Alpha Sterling, you have until dawn to leave Riverbend territory!"

Mom's eyes went wide with fear. She looked at me, then at the door shaking under another brutal hit.

"We need to leave," she whispered urgently. "Right now."

The pounding got louder and more violent.

"Come out now or we're breaking this door down!"

Mom grabbed my arm and pulled me toward my room.

"Move, Delilah. We don't have time."

Delilah's POV

The pounding on the door got louder and more aggressive.

"Open this door or we break it down!"

Mom shoved me into my room and started throwing clothes into a bag. Her hands shook but she moved fast, grabbing anything within reach including my favorite books, the quilt my grandmother made, and photos of Dad.

"Change out of that dress," she ordered. "Put on jeans and a sweater, something you can travel in."

I stood there frozen, still unable to process what was happening. The rejection, Sarah, Jaxon's hands on her, the bond ripping apart, and now warriors at our door ready to drag us out and whip us for daring to exist.

"Delilah!" Mom grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. "I know you're hurting and I know this is terrible, but if we don't leave right now, they will hurt us worse. Do you understand me?"

I nodded numbly and started pulling off the filthy white dress. My hands fumbled with the buttons and everything felt distant and unreal, like I was watching myself from far away.

A loud crash came from the front of the cottage as the warriors broke through the door.

"We're out of time." Mom threw the last items into two bags and grabbed my arm. She pulled me toward the window. "We're going out the back and the car is just through the trees."

"Search every room!" A male voice boomed from inside the cottage as heavy footsteps thundered through our small home.

Mom opened my bedroom window and climbed out first, then turned and reached back for me. I grabbed her hand and let her pull me through just as my bedroom door burst open.

"They're escaping! Back window!"

We ran with Mom still carrying the bags slung over her shoulder while I could barely keep up with my cracked ribs and injured hand. Branches tore at my clothes and face as we crashed through the forest. Behind us, I heard the warriors climbing through the window and crashing after us.

"There! Don't let them reach the car!"

Mom's old car sat where she'd parked it that morning, a lifetime ago when she was planning my birthday surprise. She threw the bags in the back and jumped in the driver's seat while I barely got my door closed before she started the engine and slammed her foot on the gas.

The car lurched forward just as a warrior reached us. His hand slammed against my window but we were already moving and his shout faded as we sped away down the dirt road.

Mom's hands gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She kept checking the rearview mirror like she expected them to chase us down any second.

"Are they following?" My voice came out hoarse and broken.

"I don't think so." Mom's voice shook. "Alpha Sterling just wants us gone and as long as we leave Riverbend territory, he won't waste resources hunting us down."

We drove in silence through the dark forest roads. Every bump and turn sent pain shooting through my ribs but I stared out the window at the trees rushing past and felt nothing. The numbness was spreading through my entire body like ice water in my veins.

The birthday cake was still sitting on our kitchen table. The white dress was probably lying on my bedroom floor where I'd dropped it. We'd left everything behind including our furniture, our dishes, and the life we'd built in that small cottage on the edge of pack lands.

And for what? Because my mother dared to love again and because I dared to believe I could be wanted by someone who actually saw me as worthy.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Mom's voice broke through the silence as tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry this happened to you because you deserved so much better than that cruel boy and his vicious father."

I didn't respond because what was there to say? Sorry didn't fix the gaping hole in my chest where the bond used to be. Sorry didn't erase the image of Jaxon kissing Sarah or take back three years of believing his lies.

"Ryker will keep us safe," Mom continued, trying to convince herself as much as me. "Nightshade Pack is different and stronger. We'll have a fresh start there where no one will know about the rejection and no one will judge us for the past."

I wanted to believe her but I'd believed Jaxon too, and look where that got me.

We crossed the Riverbend border just as the clock on the dashboard hit one in the morning. Mom's shoulders sagged with relief but she didn't slow down, just kept driving like Alpha Sterling's warriors might still appear behind us at any moment.

The drive to Nightshade territory took hours with dark forest roads stretching endlessly ahead. I leaned my head against the cold window and watched the darkness blur past while Storm remained completely silent in my head. The bond was still a raw wound and everything hurt with a deep ache that went beyond physical pain.

Somewhere around three in the morning, exhaustion finally pulled me under despite the pain. I fell asleep with my face pressed against the window and tears drying on my cheeks.

I woke to sunlight streaming through the windshield. We were parked in front of a massive packhouse made of dark stone that looked more like a fortress than a home, imposing and cold against the morning sky.

"We're here." Mom's voice was soft. "Nightshade Pack."

I sat up slowly and immediately regretted it as every muscle in my body ached. My ribs screamed, my hand throbbed, and my face felt swollen and tight from the bruises that makeup could no longer hide.

Through the windshield I could see wolves moving around the grounds. Some stopped to stare at our beat-up car with curious expressions while others looked hostile, like we were intruders invading their territory.

This was supposed to be our fresh start and our escape from judgment and cruelty. But looking at those cold stone walls and the suspicious faces of the Nightshade wolves, I wondered if we'd just traded one nightmare for another.

"It'll be better here," Mom said quietly as she squeezed my hand. "Ryker promised we'd be safe."

I didn't believe in promises anymore but I got out of the car anyway because there was nowhere else to go.

The packhouse doors opened and a man stepped out. He was large and powerfully built with silver-streaked dark hair and gray eyes that looked kind even from a distance. Ryker Blackwell, Mom's new mate and the reason we were here in unfamiliar territory.

He smiled warmly when he saw Mom and walked down the steps toward us with his arms open. But before he could reach us, two other men appeared in the doorway behind him.

Both were tall and dangerous-looking with the kind of presence that made you take a step back instinctively. One had black hair and storm gray eyes that swept over me with cold assessment. The other had dark brown hair with gold highlights and amber eyes that should have looked warm but were anything but welcoming.

They stared at me with expressions that made my stomach drop and my breath catch. Not curiosity, not welcome, not even the indifference of strangers meeting for the first time.

Pure hostility radiated from both of them like heat from a fire.

Ryker reached Mom and pulled her into his arms, clearly relieved to see her safe. But I couldn't look away from those two men standing in the doorway like guards protecting their territory from invaders they wanted gone.

"Delilah." Ryker turned to me with that same warm smile that seemed genuine and kind. "Welcome to Nightshade. These are my sons, Dante and Mateo."

The black-haired one, Dante, looked at me like I was an insect he wanted to crush under his boot. His storm gray eyes were ice cold as they traveled over my bruised face, my rumpled clothes, and my exhausted posture with clear disgust.

The other one, Mateo, smiled at me but it was sharp and cruel and didn't reach his amber eyes at all.

I had just escaped one hell where my mate called me worthless and let the pack throw garbage at me. Where the girl he was sleeping with beat me bloody in a bathroom and where I was nothing but entertainment and a joke to amuse them both.

The look in those brothers' eyes told me I was about to enter another hell, one that might be even worse than what I'd left behind.

And this time, there was nowhere left to run.