Rain's POV
The silence was cruel.
No wind. No whisper. Just the sound of my own ragged breathing—short, wet, broken.
My body didn't ache anymore—it screamed. With every heartbeat, I could feel the lash marks opening wider, like mouths crying out for mercy that would never come.
I couldn't move. The chains bit deeper with each twitch, searing my skin down to the bone. I could feel flies crawling across my back, licking the fresh blood, sinking into the gashes Jack had carved into me.
And still—I didn't cry.
I didn't want to give them the satisfaction.
Then… footsteps.
I forced my head up, even though the movement sent daggers of pain down my spine. My vision swam, blurry from blood and tears I hadn't shed.
And there they were.
Dan and Victoria.
Their silhouettes cut through the moonlight.
Dan looked unbothered. Smug. As if he hadn't just torn out my heart with his bare hands and fed it to wolves.
Victoria… God. That smile. She clicked her tongue like a disappointed mother.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," she said, her voice drenched in fake pity. "Poor Rain. The servant girl who thought she could be one of us ."
She sighed as if it hurt her.
"That beast, Jack, really did a number on you," she went on. "Just look at your back."
She turned to Dan with a lazy grin.
"Honey, can you believe it?"
Honey.
I let out a rasp of laughter—dry, cracked, bitter. Then I coughed, and blood splattered across the dirt like flowers blooming in agony.
"Honey?" I echoed, voice hoarse. "I should've known. You both deserve each other."
Dan stepped forward, his expression hardening .
"Yes," he said coldly. "She is the kind of woman who suits me. Not a filthy, stinking slave like you."
He knelt before me.
His breath was minty. His eyes were poison.
"You disgust me."
The chains pulled tighter as I clenched my fists.
"The nerve of you," he spat. "To think—even for a second—that you could be my mate."
I lifted my chin.
"I'm not the one to blame," I whispered. "Take it up with the Moon Goddess. She's the one who paired us."
His jaw twitched.
"Still," I said, voice trembling, "I know this isn't just about me. It never was."
I coughed again. More blood. More life lost.
"Since I'm already dying… why don't you tell me the truth?"
Dan tilted his head, mock-curious. "Oh? Then guess, little Rain."
And I did.
"You're planning to kill the Alpha," I said.
The words hit the air like thunder.
I saw it—the flicker in Victoria's eyes. The shift in Dan's stance.
"You want Batista's throne," I whispered. "And she'll be your Luna."
Dan smiled, slow and sharp. "Very good."
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Please. Even the Omega pups could have figured that out."
She curled her arms around Dan's neck and kissed him.
Slow. Deep. Disgusting.
I didn't flinch. My pain had numbed that part of me.
When she pulled away, Dan chuckled. "But still… she's clever."
I turned my gaze to Victoria.
"And you," I murmured. "I bet you were jealous of me."
She scoffed. "Jealous? Of you?" Her voice climbed. "Has the whip damaged your brain?"
But I wasn't done.
"I think you were," I said, my voice gaining strength. "The Moon Goddess gave me a highborn mate. You? Nothing."
Victoria's fingers curled.
I pressed on. I had nothing left to lose.
"And your father… he sold you to Batista like cattle. Just to save his position. You hated it. Hated knowing he never loved you. That he only took you because of duty. Not love. Not lust. Nothing."
Victoria's face turned red.
"And then… there was me. A servant. A nobody. But I had a mate. Something you would never have."
She lunged.
Her hand struck my face—hard.
My head snapped sideways. Blood poured from my lip, fresh and hot.
But I smiled.
"Even if I die," I rasped, "you'll still be nothing but a loveless concubine in Alpha Batista's house."
She flinched—just a little. Not enough. I wanted to hurt her the way she was hurting me.
Dan's laughter slithered in, cold and sharp like a blade pressed to my spine.
"And you," I said, slowly turning my swollen eyes to him, "will never be Alpha."
His smile twisted unnaturally, stretching too wide, too cruel.
"That's because you don't know me very well."
His fingers brushed my jaw, almost tenderly.
But then they tightened—painfully—forcing my head up until I could feel the bones in my neck strain and scream.
"I am going to be Alpha," he whispered. "And nobody will stop me."
My breath hitched. Not from fear. From grief.
From disbelief that I ever once saw warmth in those eyes.
Victoria's scoff snapped me out of it.
"I told you she was useless," she said, voice drenched in venom. "Just like her mother."
My blood turned to ice.
My mother?
I stared at her, the sting of betrayal momentarily eclipsed by shock. "What did you just say?" The words came out barely audible, trembling.
She smirked. "Your mother, you idiot. She worked with us. And she failed. Miserably. Just like you."
The air left my lungs.
No.
No. She's lying. She has to be lying.
My mother… she was good. Kind. She believed in right and wrong. She would never—
Victoria leaned in, and her whisper was like poison dripping into my ear.
"Like mother, like daughter."
"No…" I shook my head weakly. "You're lying. You're just trying to hurt me."
Dan stepped back, bored. "Let's go before someone sees us."
"Yes," Victoria drawled. "Let's leave this delusional girl to rot."
Rot.
That's what they saw when they looked at me.
Not Rain. Not the girl who once dreamed of love, of freedom. Just rot. Just something broken. Something disposable.
They turned their backs to me.
And for a heartbeat, I wanted to scream after them. To beg. To demand answers about my mother, about why they hated me so much. Why he—
Dan paused.
Turned back.
His eyes gleamed with mockery.
"Wait," he said, almost lazily. "Before I go…"
I forced my head up.
"Tell me something, Rain," he said, crouching slightly. "Why didn't you tell everyone?"
I blinked slowly, struggling to keep my focus. "Tell them… what?" My throat was raw.
He chuckled. "That I'm your mate. That I gave you the necklace." His voice dipped, taunting. "Or did you stay silent because you still love me?"
His laughter rang out, bouncing off the trees like a cruel echo.
I let out a weak chuckle of my own, though it came out wet and bitter, soaked in blood and despair. "You think I'm crazy?" I whispered. "Of course not."
"Then why?" he asked, brow raised.
Why?
Because I was a fool
Because I believed—somewhere deep down in the shattered parts of me—that he might turn around. That he'd protect me. That this was a game, and I was just too stupid to understand the rules.
But I knew now.
I forced a breath through my lungs, heavy as stone. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I met his gaze.
"So I could do this," I whispered, "face to face."
His brow creased. "Do what?"
I swallowed the pain. The betrayal. The love that had rotted into hatred.
And I spoke.
"I, Rain of the Supreme Blood Moon Pack," I said, each word a knife I had to pull from my own ribs, "reject you, Dan Windell, as my mate."
The forest fell still.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
His smirk faltered for a second—just a second—but then he laughed. Loud and mocking, like I'd just told the world's greatest joke.
"Wow," he said, shaking his head. "I really thought I'd be the one doing the rejecting."
His eyes sparkled with something I didn't recognize. Was it pain? Or just ego bruised at being bested?
"Clever little witch," he said. "You beat me to it."
My voice cracked. "Fuck you. Just accept it."
"I won't."
I flinched at the venom in his voice.
"You wicked bitch," he hissed. "You just want to hurt me. You don't even have a wolf—so your pain will be less."
That was the point.
He wanted me to hurt.
He wanted me to suffer.
"So," he said, stepping back, "you better wait. Because I will be the one serving the rejection. To you."
He offered his hand, and Victoria took it without hesitation, her smile smug, victorious.
Like she'd won.
They walked away.
And I watched.
I watched until the trees swallowed them whole.
I had spoken the words. But the bond still lingered. It clung to me like a curse, like chains I couldn't shatter.
And for the first time in a long time, I wanted to cry.
Not because I loved him.
Not because I lost him.
But because I ever believed he could be more than this.
Because I stayed silent for so long, hoping he'd save me.
And he left me to die instead.
Five Days in Hell
They left me tied to the tree.
Five days.
No food. No water.
Only rain. Only pain.
Children threw stones.
Laughed.
Their parents watched. Some joined in.
No one stopped them.
The ropes burned my wrists.
My knees gave out days ago.
Now I hung like a lifeless doll,
swaying in the wind.
Jack came every day.
Always dry. Always cruel.
"Are you ready to confess?" he asked.
My lips cracked.
My voice barely a breath.
"No."
He sighed like I'd disappointed him.
Like I'd failed some test.
He left.
They always left.
The rain stayed.
Cold, endless, steady—
like the heartbeat of the earth mourning me.
By day five, I stopped feeling the cold.
Stopped seeing the faces.
Stopped caring.
Dan.
My mate.
The one I loved.
The one who betrayed me.
He let them do this.
And I—
I still held on to the hope he might save me.
Stupid.
Now, there was nothing.
Not even hate.
Only silence.
And then…
darkness.
It wrapped around me like peace.
Like sleep.
Like death.
And this time,
I wasn't sure
if I would wake up.