Chapter 2

• Cole's POV
• It's my birthday too.
• The words hung in the air, sharp and broken. For a second, just a second, the room went dead silent. Ava looked like a wreck-frosting streaked in her dark hair, that cheap dress clinging to her frame, her blue eyes wide and glistening with shattered hope.
• She was beautiful in a tragic sort of way. A part of me wanted to reach out. To wipe the mess off her face.
• Mate.
• The word echoed in the back of my mind, a primal itch I couldn't scratch.
• But then Lexi's hand tightened on my bicep. Her nails dug in, grounding me. Her perfume-sugary and expensive-filled my nose.
• I looked down at her. Lexi. The girl who sat by my bedside for three days while I was in a coma. The girl who shared her strength when I was burned and broken. The pack doctor said I would have died without her.
• I owed her my life.
• And Ava? Ava was just... there. Wolfless. Weak. Gordon's disappointment.
• "Enough, Ava," I scoffed, pouring every ounce of cruelty I could muster into my tone. I had to kill this hope now, for both our sakes. "You think just because the Moon Goddess played a cruel joke and paired us, I owe you a party?"
• Ava blinked, her face draining of color. She looked like she'd been punched.
• "If my father didn't need the political stability to confirm my Alpha succession," I sneered, twisting the knife, "I would have rejected you three years ago."
• Her lips parted. A whisper of pain escaped. "What...?"
• I slung my arm around Lexi, pulling her flush against my side. I needed the pack to see this. I needed Ava to see this.
• "Lexi is the one I want," I said, loud enough for the back of the room to hear. "She saved me. She's strong. She's worthy."
• I turned my cold gaze back to Ava. "You? You're nothing but a placeholder. My ticket to the crown. Once I'm Alpha, you're gone."
• My wolf, Reaper, snarled in my head. [You idiot! She's our mate! Don't do this!]
• Shut up, I commanded. I choose Lexi.
• Reaper went silent. The bond between us snapped shut like a coffin lid.
• Ava stood there, trembling. Tears finally spilled over, tracking through the frosting on her cheeks.
• "I hate you," she whispered.
• Then she turned and bolted.
• The crowd murmured. Some smirked, but others looked uneasy. I ignored them all.
• "Cole...," Lexi murmured, looking up at me with those big, wet eyes. "Is she okay? I feel terrible."
• I squeezed her shoulder, forcing a smile. "Forget her. You saved me from that fire, Lexi. I swore I'd love you forever. A wolfless nobody isn't going to change that."
• Ava's POV
• I ran until my lungs felt like they were bleeding.
• The woods were dark, the moon obscured by thick, suffocating clouds. Branches whipped my face, tearing at my skin, but the physical pain was a relief compared to the agony in my chest.
• I collapsed beneath the old willow tree at the territory line. The mud soaked into my ruined dress.
• I had given him everything. Three years. My dignity. My wolf. And to him, I was just a "placeholder." A stepping stone.
• I curled into a ball, my forehead pressed against the damp earth.
• "Moon Goddess," I sobbed, my voice breaking into ugly, ragged gasps. "Please... if you're real... fix this. Wake my wolf. Take this bond away. I don't want him anymore. I reject him!"
• The wind suddenly stopped.
• Above me, the clouds tore apart. A beam of silver moonlight slammed into the forest floor, illuminating the clearing in a ghostly white glow.
• My heart skipped a beat. Then another.
• Heat.
• Liquid fire surged through my veins, starting from my core and exploding outward. My bones cracked and shifted. It wasn't pain-it was power.
• [Ava.]
• The voice rang in my head, clear as a bell, fierce as a storm.
• [About damn time.]
• A white wolf stepped out of the moonlight in my mind's eye. Tall, regal, with eyes that burned like blue stars.
• Nyx? You're back?
• [I never left,] she growled, her strength flooding my exhausted limbs. [But that boy? He is dead to us. It's time to leave, Ava.]
• I wiped my face. The tears were gone. In their place was a cold, steely resolve.
• "You're right," I whispered, standing up. The weakness was gone. "If he treats me like trash, I'll treat him like history."
• The next morning, I walked into the Pack Office.
• Alpha Vance-Cole's father-was behind his desk, looking gray and sickly. He was the only one who had ever shown me kindness.
• "Ava?" He looked up, startled. "You look... different."
• "I'm leaving," I said, my voice steady. "I want to file for Rejection."