Selene's POV

I don’t even remember how I got the door open.

One second I was trapped with my skin sticky from what smelled like spoilt milk, my dress was ruined and the sound of their wicked laughter bounced off the walls. The next moment I was out of that room, running and gasping. Blinking back hot tears that smeared through the cake frosting on my face.

I stumbled into the hallway, pushing past strangers who barely glanced at me. The music throbbed through the floor like a heartbeat I didn’t want to hear. I just needed to find Damien because he always makes everything better and tonight was for me. I had to show him what they did to me.

Then I bumped into someone that made me stop running.

“Oh! sorry,” I choked and stepped back to look at him as my whole body was trembling.

He didn’t answer me immediately.

I looked up into his storm-gray eyes.

He was tall, very handsome and he looked rich and lavish in the black coat he wore. His face was sharp and almost unreadable. He didn’t say a word to me but just stared like he wasn’t sure if I was real or something he'd imagined.

“Help me! I need to get out of here. They’re going to find me.” I was thinking to myself.

His eyes widened and I saw the flicker of confusion that crossed his face.

“What the hell…?” he muttered under his breath as his eyes then narrowed at me. “Did you just mind-link me?”

My eyes widened in shock because how could he hear my thoughts? “Wait… I did what?”

I had no wolf. I had no mind-link. I wasn’t supposed to be able to do that. And yet… he heard me.

Before either of us could figure out what was happening, I heard Talia and Janice from behind me.

“She couldn’t have gotten far, check the hall.”

My breath hitched and I panicked. “I… sorry. I have to go,” I said hurriedly as I turned away from him.

He didn't try to stop me as I turned and ran again.

I needed Damien.

I needed him to see what they did to me and I needed him to hold me and tell me none of it mattered.

“He must be in his room,” I thought to myself as I went upstairs and rounded the corner to the Alpha’s chambers. My heart pounded with hope as I reached for the door handle.

I didn’t bother knocking.

I barged in.

And my heart shattered into a million pieces at the sight in front of me.

Damien.

And Amelia.

In his bed.

She was on top of him with her hands in his hair and his mouth on hers. His shirt was open and her dress was hiked halfway up her thighs. I froze in the doorway frozen, as I felt the ground fall out beneath me.

“Damien?” My voice cracked like a broken mirror.

Startled by who would dare to open his door without knocking, he looked up to see me.

His face showed surprise at first… then a flicker of guilt… and then he was clearly annoyed.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” he snapped at me, pushing Amelia off and getting up from the bed as if I was the one doing something wrong.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I walked a few steps towards him but stopped halfway into the room. “You said… you told me this night was for me.”

Amelia laughed behind him, slipping off the bed and smoothing her dress like this was a show she’d been rehearsing for.

“Selene, come on seriously? You really thought this was all for you?” she said in a voice full of fake pity. “Wow. You’re even dumber than I thought.”

I looked at Damien again, still waiting for an explanation or even a denial.

But he just shook his head.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said coldly. “You could never be a woman enough for me.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“But you told me…”

“I was being nice. Look at you. You're pathetic. I never wanted you. You don’t even have a wolf, Selene. You’re not a real mate. You’re just a placeholder, a curse sent to me by the Moon Goddess.”

Every word he said landed like a punch in my stomach.

Behind me, Janice and Talia had arrived just in time for the humiliation.

“Oh my goddess,” Janice cackled. “You mean she didn’t know?”

Talia chimed in with a fake gasp. “You really thought Damien wanted you? They’ve been together for like what, six months?”

I took a step back. “No… no, that’s not true.”

“It is,” Amelia said, moving to Damien’s side like she belonged there. “He got bored waiting for you to shift. You’re weak. You’ve always been weak.”

Damien didn’t say a word to deny it.

I couldn't take this anymore and I turned and ran off.

I hurried down the stairs, holding back the sobs clawing at my throat. I just needed to leave this place and get out of this nightmare.

I was just getting to the bottom of the stairs when I heard him call my name.

“Selene!”

As soon as he called my name, the music stopped and everyone became quiet as if on cue.

I stopped and turned around, clinging to the smallest, stupidest shred of hope that maybe he changed his mind and he was sorry.

But Damien stood at the top of the stairs with the coldest expression he could find and Amelia joined beside him.

And then he said the words loud enough for everyone at the party to hear.

“I, Alpha Damien Rogers of the Silverback Pack, reject you, Selene Monroe, as my mate.”

The silence that followed was worse than the laughter.

My vision blurred as a burning pain ripped through my chest like lightning. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t breathe.

I fell to my knees, gripping the railing for balance.

Gasps and whispers echoed around the room. While some laughed.

I felt like I was being torn into two.

And still he didn’t stop there.

“You’re wolfless and you’re weak. You’ve always been a mistake. I hereby choose Amelia Stuffin as my mate and Luna. Accept the rejection if you want the pain to stop!” He barked out.

I looked up at him with what little strength I had left.

“I… I accept your rejection,” I whispered.

And then the bond snapped.

I felt it like a thread inside me breaking clean in half.

Everything that ever tied me to Damien… vanished.

The pain of rejection was suffocating, worse than anything I ever felt.

Worse than being wolfless.

Because now… I was nothing.