Chapter 1My father endured a thirty-hour hard-seat train journey while battling illness, just to attend my mating ceremony with Grant Lawrence,the Alpha of Lawrence Pack.
I had knelt outside the Lawrence' mansion for ten hours with my father's medical records before Grant finally agreed to play along in this ceremony charade.
But when it was time for his part, I screamed myself hoarse without catching a glimpse of him.
My father drew his last breath the moment he stepped into the hotel.
My mating ceremony became his funeral.
At midnight, after handling my father's funeral arrangements, I saw Grant's female beta posted on social media: "Only the unloved one is the third wheel."
I calmly sent him a rejection message.
Grant responded by bringing his beta back to our home.
...
Past midnight, I finally finished the funeral rites for my father.
I stumbled back to my cold den and peeled off the cheap rented mating gown.
Ten hours since I sent my Alpha MATE - no, my ex-Alpha mate - the rejection text.
This wasn't the first time Grant had ditched me for his she wolf beta, Nicole Reed.
After Nicole slinked into his pack, every date we had got interrupted - on purpose or not.
Sometimes she'd fake an allergic fit; other times, a stomach cramp.
To Grant, those little moans turned into life or death emergencies.
I used to snap and snarl about it. But I learned my place quick enough.
All that was left was a cold, hollow numbness.
I slumped onto the cold floor tiles, my wolf too exhausted to even whimper, and drifted off.
When I cracked my eyes open, Grant was on the leather sofa, smoking, glaring at the crumpled mating gown like it personally offended him.
"Why aren't you in the bedroom? Sitting here like a ghost - you nearly made me shift on the spot."
He scowled at my puffy eyes. "It was a fake bonding ceremony, Della. Fake. We can redo it whenever. You're not still hung up on that, are you?"
Nicole walked in right then, breakfast bag in hand, letting herself in with her own key.
All my raw, wounded pride lay bare.
Nicole took in the tension and blinked with fake innocence:
"I'm so sorry, Della. My heat hit me this afternoon - I nearly blacked out. If Alpha Grant hadn't found me and carried me to the pack clinic, I might've..." She let the sentence hang.
I shot her an icy glare and said nothing.
Then Nicole lit up, rummaged in her bag, and pulled out a black plastic pouch.
"Alpha ran across town to buy these for me, but they're not exactly my size. I thought I'd give them back to you, Della."
She blinked those doe eyes, all innocence.
She thought I was still clinging to this pathetic bond.
I curled my lip into a sneer and said, cold as ice, "Grant, I'm rejecting you."
Real bonding or fake, I didn't want it anymore.
His very scent made my wolf gag.
Chapter 2
I didn't wait for Grant's reaction.
I just walked to the closet and grabbed the duffel I'd packed the night before.
My whole body was stiff from sitting on that cold floor too long - my joints ached.
Grant didn't even look up.
Just kept chewing the breakfast Nicole brought, like I was already invisible.
I dragged my bag to the door, then stopped.
Something clicked in my head - the meat pie.
I turned back, ending up right in front of him.
He paused mid-bite and let out a low, mocking growl.
"Finally come to your senses? Apologize now, and I might let it slide. I've spoiled you way too much, pup."
I didn't even glance at him. Just stared at the fridge and said flatly:
"Move."
He stayed put, jaw tight, pretending not to hear.
So I stepped right over his legs.
From the bottom shelf, I pulled out the venison pie my father had made on his last visit.
I pressed it against my chest like it was the last piece of my dad.
But as I turned, Grant stuck his leg out deliberately.
I tripped.
My skull cracked against the coffee table corner.
Blood trickled down my forehead.
He just scowled. "What's so special about that garbage? Should've tossed it months ago - stinks up my whole den with that greasy meat filling."
I pushed up on my hands, my vision swimming.
Flour dusted the floor, mixing with the blood dripping from my brow.
Grant lit another cigarette, his eyes cold and superior.
"Embarrassing, Della. Why don't you just get on all fours and lick it clean? I helped Nicole out for one day, and you're playing the wounded she-wolf. Who are you performing for?"
"You knew the bonding was fake. Why blow it up now?"
"A fake ceremony - how does that compare to someone's life?"
He still thought this was about him skipping the ritual.
But I saw it clear as moonlight now.
It wasn't that the fake bond didn't matter.
It was that I - Della - never mattered to him.
Five years.
Five years of being the weaker wolf in this pair.
Maybe Nicole really was better for him.
She fit his pack image.
I was just the stray he kept around.
I'd spent so many nights waiting for his footsteps.
All I got were texts about him and Nicole at some pack event.
I'd message: Don't drink too much.
Red exclamation marks. Blocked again.
When it got late, they'd book a room at the same pack lodge, and Nicole would use his phone to unblock me, send photos.
Room numbers.
The two of them, smiling.
"Della, I'll take good care of Alpha Grant. You should rest!"
She did take care of him.
So well that he stopped needing me at all.
I locked my eyes on his and said, voice like frozen ground:
"Life matters, Grant. But my father's life didn't matter to you, did it?"
His face darkened at my tone.
I grabbed my duffel again, but he snarled from the couch:
"You're really going to pull this crazy act? Fine - I'll go to the pack healer and apologize to your father. That enough? Or do you want me to drag Nicole there too, show him her IV records?"
His words hit my chest like claws.
So that's how he saw us - me and my dad - unreasonable, demanding.
He must've caught the shift in my scent, because confusion flickered in his eyes, and he half-rose to grab me.
But Nicole's sweet voice cut in:
"Uncle's travel papers were probably fake anyway - he wouldn't have arrived yet. Maybe Della's just hurt about the ceremony yesterday. I can show her the hospital records, explain everything."
That did it.
My wolf lunged inside me, snapping my last shred of control.
I snatched the black bag from the shoe rack and hurled it straight at her head.
Chapter 3
The second my arm swung, Grant's momentary softness vanished.
His wolf surged forward.
He lunged, ripped my duffel from my grip, and slammed it against the floorboards.
Clothes scattered everywhere.
His boots crunched over my father's venison pie.
I gritted my fangs, my gaze locked on his feet.
"Della, my patience is running thin. Don't drag innocent wolves into our mess."
I stood frozen, hands shaking, my wolf whimpering inside.
Nicole's eyes glistened, tears spilling as she gave me that innocent look.
"I'm sorry, Della. I just double-checked those travel papers - I was planning to go pick him up myself, I didn't think..."
Her tears dripped onto the floor, mixing with the crushed meat.
"I was just worried Alpha Grant might be deceived. The Lawrence pack has standing - too many strays try to trap powerful wolves with pups or false bonds, and I..."
She bit her lip, glancing at Grant.
My eyes went ice-cold. My voice dropped to a growl.
"Grant, you believe her? You think I'm lying?"
His silence was all the answer I needed.
My father's records were real - from the local pack clinic. I'd taken him myself six months ago.
No way to fake that.
So Nicole picked on his travel papers instead.
He never took a plane. Couldn't afford one.
To save for my dowry, he'd endured a thirty-hour train ride, sick as he was - all to witness his daughter's mating ceremony that never happened.
And for one single line of dialogue, Grant chose to break his word rather than stand beside me.
Looking back, he'd never truly wanted me. Our fate was sealed from the start.
I'd spent five years hunting for proof of his love in every small gesture, lying to myself.
For a while, it held together.
Then Nicole appeared, and that fragile balance shattered.
Grant started acting like a real Alpha mate - for her.
He asked me what herbs eased stomach cramps.
He kept anti-allergy salves in his car, just in case she broke out in hives.
He took her to every Lawrence pack gathering, presenting her as his perfect beta.
Next to her, I was a mangy stray - reeking of desperation.
I could have handed him my dignity on both paws, let him and his precious beta trample it - and still never earn a place in that fight.
Now? I don't want what I can't have.
The bruise on Nicole's forehead swelled instantly, turning an ugly purple. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Grant snarled a curse, but his hands moved fast - pulling a salve from his pocket and smearing it over her wound with surprising gentleness.
After soothing her, he rounded on me, his voice a low, dangerous growl.
"Della, don't test me. Nicole's done nothing wrong. When she woke up at the clinic yesterday, her first words were for me to get to the ceremony - for you."
"Look at yourself - snarling like a jealous pup. How dare you throw her kindness back in her face?"
"One last time - apologize. Now."
"Pull another stunt and you're out of this den for good."
I ignored him, bent down, and gathered my things in silence.
Seconds crawled by.
Grant's growl deepened.
He stalked over, yanked my hair back by the roots, his face twisted with rage, fangs bared.
Scalp burning, I clamped my jaw shut - refused to whimper. I met his bloodshot eyes with my own.
He snarled, "Deaf? Or just too proud to beg? I've coddled you for years, Della."
"You love that pie so much? Then eat it!"
I bit down, but he shoved my face into the mess on the floor - rubbing my cheeks into the crushed meat and flour.
My lips scraped the tiles, tears and flour caking my skin.
Not done yet.
He hauled my head up, then backhanded me across the face - once, twice, three times.
Copper flooded my mouth. Blood streaked my eyes.
"Open up! You were so brave earlier - let's see how brave you are now!"
He scooped up a mostly whole piece of the pie and mashed it into my face, grinding the meat into my skin.
"Smell that? Happy? Now say sorry to Nicole."
"Or I'll have your father shipped back to his old pack - right this second."
