Chapter 1The day I went to the healer for the vaginal tearing...
I heard someone in the next chamber whisper Knox Sinclair's name.
"You really marked yourself with a rose on your hip? That's insane."
Another woman's laugh followed, sweet and smug.
"I love it. Every time Knox goes down on me, he kisses that mark like it's a vow between our wolves."
"So when are you finally accepting his bond?"
"I told him - 999 times first. After that, maybe I'll let him claim me."
"You're still making him wait? Even now?"
"That's the point, little babe. A true Alpha should crave what he can't have. Besides, you'll heal me before the ceremony, right? I need everything perfect."
"But he's marking Rachel in three days. What does any of this matter?"
The woman's voice turned sharp with confidence.
"That's exactly why it matters. On the night he is supposed to complete his bond with her, I want him on his knees before me, giving me the final vow."
"And when that happens..."
"That bond ceremony, that female beside him - everything disappears. He'll beg like a starving wolf for what he's wanted all these years."
"Damn. That's Knox Sinclair. The Frost Alpha himself. And you've really got him wrapped around your claws? I almost feel sorry for Rachel."
Their laughter seeped through the walls.
I stood there frozen, every word cutting deeper than a silver blade.
Because that Knox Sinclair...
He's my fated mate.
The chamber door opened.
Knox walked in carrying a bag of healing salve, calm and unreadable as always.
He pushed aside the curtain without hesitation.
"You alright? I'll handle the treatment."
Through the small gap, I saw her.
Beautiful.
Confident.
The rose mark on her hip, barely hidden beneath the blanket.
I had the same mark.
On my lower back.
Knox carved it there himself.
Whenever we shared a bed, he never looked at my eyes. He always turned me away, forcing me to kneel before him like a submissive wolf.
And when his instincts took over, he would kiss that mark again and again.
Harder every time.
"Wow, an Alpha making personal visits now?" someone teased from inside. "Fresh out of healing and he's already playing caretaker?"
Knox's voice softened.
A voice I had never heard when he spoke to me.
"Clara is doing this for me. She’s protecting her purity until I earn her acceptance. The least I can do is take care of her."
"How many vows are left?"
"Fifty-two."
Clara's voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"Fifty-two? In three days? That's cutting it close."
Knox gave a low laugh.
"I'll finish them."
Clara's foot brushed against his jaw.
"Stop... you're making me shy."
Their laughter drifted through the room.
And I sat outside, completely empty.
Through the narrow opening, I watched my mate kneel beside another female wolf, touching her like she was something precious.
Meanwhile...
I was still bleeding from the night before.
Knox was never gentle with me.
When his wolf took control, he never cared about the pain he caused. I tore almost every time.
He never noticed.
I always came here alone.
I healed myself.
I went home alone.
I used to think Knox simply didn't know how to be tender.
I was wrong.
He knew.
He just saved that side of himself for someone else.
I sat frozen on the bench, afraid that even breathing would shatter what was left of me.
A few minutes later, Knox stepped out carrying Clara in his arms.
His eyes landed on me for a brief second.
Something flickered across his face.
Surprise.
Guilt.
Then it vanished.
When he looked back at Clara, his expression softened into something I had never received.
"Let's get you back to your den."
He didn't look at me again.
"Rachel Winters!"
The healer's voice pulled me back.
I stood and climbed onto the cold examination table.
The healer frowned as she inspected my wounds.
"This is serious. Your body hasn't recovered from the previous damage, and now there are fresh injuries. You need to protect yourself."
My vision blurred.
My body felt weak.
Ever since Clara returned from the Northern Territories, Knox had changed.
Every night, his Alpha instincts became more violent.
Like he was trying to burn something away.
When I begged him to stop, he ignored my pleas.
And every time...
I ended up here.
Now I finally understood.
It wasn't passion.
It was anger.
And I was just the wolf he chose to punish.
"Lift your hips."
The healer paused when she saw the rose mark.
"Hmm..."
She looked surprised.
"You don't seem like the type."
Her eyes lingered on the mark.
"But you carry a rose claim mark. No wonder your Alpha loses control."
She continued treating me.
"Listen to me. You need to take care of yourself. Keep letting this happen, and you'll damage your wolf permanently."
She hesitated.
"Do you plan to have pups someday? Because at this rate, that may become impossible."
Then she frowned.
"You're not formally bonded yet, are you? Be careful. Some wounds cannot be healed."
The words almost escaped my mouth.
In three days...
I was supposed to complete my mate bond with Knox Sinclair.
But then I saw him again.
Walking away with Clara in his arms.
The words died before they left my lips.
There wasn't going to be a mating ceremony.
Chapter 2
I came home to an empty den and started throwing my things into a bag.
If the woman he'd been waiting for was finally back, the least I could do was get out of his way.
I'd actually believed it meant something. That the mating ceremony, the bond - all of it was real.
How stupid.
I knew who Clara was. Everyone in the pack did.
Untouchable. Wild. The kind of she-wolf who didn't answer to anyone's Alpha command, not even her own instincts. The kind who made every wolf in a room feel the pull without even trying.
And Knox - cold, controlled, dead-eyed Knox - turned into a lovesick pup the second she looked his way.
Night came. He still wasn't home.
Then my phone buzzed. One of his packmates, voice rushed and tight.
"Rachel, you need to get down here. Knox's wasted and he keeps asking for you - "
Any other night, I would've dropped everything. Didn't matter the hour.
But tonight, I said, "Find someone else," and hung up.
The phone kept going. I flipped it face-down.
Then a text from a number I didn't know:
"Rachel. Your sister. Want her to stay safe?"
"Then come pick Knox up. Now."
The next message was a photo.
My sister. Hospital bed. Pale and still, the same way she'd been for years.
She'd been in a coma since the accident. I'd stayed with Knox for a lot of reasons - the mating bond, the pack politics, the obligations - but one of the biggest was that he covered her care. Best facility in the region. The kind of place that kept her breathing without me having to think about it.
Now they were holding her over my head.
I grabbed my keys.
The bar was loud and close, reeking of liquor and wolf. Through the gap in the door I spotted Knox slumped in a corner booth, face flushed deep, completely gone.
"How much did he drink?"
"Man. He's been proposing to Clara all day. She made him drink whiskey off her skin - been at it since morning. Every time he gets to his knees, she moves the finish line."
Knox was grinning to himself, words barely strung together.
"Almost there... just a few more... fuck, I'm so - "
My stomach dropped.
He'd been on his knees for her all day. Running himself ragged, half-drunk on the scent of her, just to earn something she kept just out of reach.
Something inside me went very quiet.
I turned to leave.
One of his packmates spotted me from across the room.
"Hey - there she is! Knox, we got you covered - get in here!"
He grabbed my arm and shoved me through the door before I could pull back.
The room erupted.
"There you go, man! Don't say we never did anything for you!"
Knox's eyes cut to me through the haze. Dark. Blown wide. That particular look his wolf got when it was running the show and he'd stopped trying to rein it in.
He stood - unsteady - and grabbed my wrist.
He dragged me into the small bathroom off the back of the lounge. Thin partition walls. Gaps in the screen you could see right through.
"Knox - no. Not here - "
The heat coming off him was wrong. Fever-hot, Alpha-drunk, something in him wound past the point of reason.
Shadows shifted outside. People were watching through the slats.
"Stop - I don't want this - "
I shoved against his chest. Hard.
He laughed - low and rough, no warmth in it at all.
"You don't get to say no." His voice dropped, flat and final. "You think you have a choice here? This is what you're for."
A beat.
"And if you're not in the mood - think about your sister in that bed."
The word hit me like cold water.
I went still.
He shoved my dress up, ripped through what was underneath - no warning, no hesitation - and forced himself in.
The tears that hadn't healed split open again.
I made a sound I didn't mean to make. He pressed a hand over my mouth and pushed harder, body slamming me against the cold sink, his wolf's growl vibrating low in his chest - not possessive, not desire. Just release. Just somewhere to put what Clara had wound up in him all day.
Shadows crowded the screen outside.
Laughter.
Someone tossed a jacket over my head - my face, my shoulders - but the rose on my lower back stayed exposed. Visible. Still trembling.
"Damn. Clara really has you that strung out?"
"That ink though - she knows what she's asking for when she puts it there."
"When's it our turn?"
Their voices came through the partition like they were commenting on something that had nothing to do with a wolf.
It felt as though a silver dagger had pierced my heart.
And I understood, in a way I couldn't unfeel after:
I wasn't his mate.
At that moment, I felt lower than trash.
Chapter 3
"Fuck off."
Knox's voice was flat, dead.
His body kept going. Harder.
Under the jacket, tears ran down my face and soaked into the collar. The ache in my chest was worse than anything happening to my body.
How stupid.
I'd actually believed he loved me.
The year my parents died, all I had was my little sister lying in a hospital bed and a pile of bills I had no way to pay. I worked until my hands shook, got treated like dirt by people who could smell the desperation on me, until Knox showed up and pulled me out of that hole.
I stayed quiet for years. Secret. Never asked for more because I didn't think I'd earned it.
Then one night, out of nowhere, he said -
"Rachel. We should get mated."
No ceremony planned. No mark offered. Like he was suggesting where to eat.
But I believed him.
I kept asking if he meant it until he cut me off, irritated.
"The venue's booked. Everything's arranged. Just show up."
I thought maybe - finally - I meant something to him.
Now I knew.
I was just a warm body to fill the space while he waited for Clara to come back.
The pain hit in waves. The tears in my pussy from last night had split wide open again, and tonight felt like it had no bottom to it.
Around us, shadows pressed closer to the screen. Breathing changed. A few hands reached through the gaps.
When he finally stopped, I grabbed the jacket and pulled it tight around myself.
Then I slapped him across the face as hard as I could.
The crack cut through the noise in the room.
He turned his head slowly, the red mark already spreading across his cheek. When his eyes found my face - wet, wrecked - something flickered behind them. Panic, maybe. Or the ghost of it.
"Rachel - come on. I'll take you home. I had too much, I'm sorry - "
He reached for me.
"These guys won't say anything."
Then Clara's voice drifted over from the other room. Soft. Trembling just enough.
"Knox... where'd you go? I don't feel good..."
He stopped.
One second.
Then he stepped back and set his hands at his sides like I'd already been handled.
"Just get a car," he said. "Clara's not doing well. I need to stay with her."
"I'll take you to that thing next week. Get you whatever you want."
He didn't even register that the jacket was all I had on. That everything underneath had been destroyed.
Clara came around the corner, leaning lightly into his side, her eyes finding mine.
She smiled.
Slow. Satisfied. The smile of a she-wolf who'd just confirmed something she already knew.
Then she pulled away from Knox and walked straight toward me.
Before I could move, she grabbed the jacket and yanked it open.
Every bruise. Every mark. Every place he'd used me - all of it under the bar lights.
She leaned in close, lips almost brushing my ear.
"Whore."
I shoved her back.
She hit the floor hard. Knox's face went blank and cold in an instant - that Alpha stillness that meant something was about to come down.
"Rachel."
He grabbed me and slammed me into the doorframe. The handle drove straight into my spine.
White-hot pain exploded through my lower back. Something warm started running down toward my hips.
Clara's voice broke on cue, just enough to sell it.
"Knox... your little stray just attacked me..."
He looked down at me like I was something he'd stepped in.
"On your knees. Apologize. Now."
I wiped my face with the back of my hand.
Looked him dead in the eye.
"Knox."
A beat.
"We're done."
I pulled the jacket closed and walked out.
Behind me, his voice cracked open.
"Rachel! You're gonna fucking regret this!"
I didn't turn around.
Clara's voice followed me out, light and almost amused.
"Knox... I think she actually left."
The night air hit me like a wall.
Cold. Clean. Biting straight through the jacket and into my skin.
Blood was still running down my back.
My wolf was dead quiet inside me - not the quiet of submission, but the quiet of something that had finally, completely, stopped waiting.
Whatever had been breaking inside me all this time -
it was done breaking.
It was just done.
