Chapter 3 A CRUEL FATE

DONOVAN'S POV

Something cold and vicious had taken root inside me, twisting around my heart like thorned vines, squeezing the air from my lungs.

Just two days ago, my world had been whole. Two days ago, I'd been counting the hours until Amanda's eighteenth birthday, anticipating the moment the Moon Goddess would irrevocably tie her fate to mine. Two days ago, she was still the girl with the pure smile whose eyes had always followed only me.

Then it happened. The thing that shattered everything, the thing we could never come back from.

I was supposed to hate her. This girl who had shattered something inside me. But I hated myself more for the way my blood still heated at the feel of her warm skin beneath my grip. I had turned 18 two months before her, and from the moment my wolf awoke, I'd known. She was mine.

And then she had ruined it.

"Mark her! She is our Mate!" my wolf roared, a primal demand I had to forcefully shove down.

"Donovan..." The way my name fell from her lips, trembling and tear-laced, was a cheat. If things were different, I would have crushed my mouth to hers, carried her to my bed, and made her moan my name until dawn.

But fate is cruel. I had learned the truth. I would not claim a female destined to be my ruin.

"Listen," I snarled, my gaze hard and unyielding. "I will never acknowledge you as my mate. And you will not dare breathe a word of this to anyone."

I saw the light in her eyes gutter and die. A part of me, the part that remembered, ached at the sight. I buried it deep.

"You," I hissed, "are an Omega now. A traitor's daughter. The very thought of you near me makes me sick. Don't forget my warning."

"So... this is really what you think of me..." Her lips trembled, but she stubbornly held the tears at bay. Damn her. A part of me was still captivated by the act. I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth would crack, just to stop myself from closing the distance between us.

I released her arm as if burned, putting cold, deliberate space between us. "Yes. You were never worthy of me. Now, get out of my sight."

I felt her flinch. The wave of despair that rolled off her was palpable. My wolf thrashed inside, howling to comfort our mate. I strangled the impulse.

I expected her to break. To beg. To weep and plead for me not to cast her aside. We were mates. She was mine. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around herself, as if holding her body together, as if building a wall between us.

"Donovan, whatever is between us... that's one thing. But my family is innocent. My mother is sick; she can't survive in that place. For the sake of our past, I'm begging you. Just this once."

I shouldn't have let her words sting. This was the real her. Cold. Manipulative.

I let out a cold, derisive laugh. "Our past? What past? You didn't actually take all those childhood promises seriously, did you? If I could do it over, I would have never wasted a single moment on you."

She stared at me, stunned for a moment. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, and a familiar, stubborn fire flashed in her eyes. "But you said-"

"I don't care what I said!" I roared, the sound tearing from my throat. "You are dead to me, Amanda. Do not seek me out again. Or I swear, I will destroy what's left of your life."

I turned and strode away without another look. If I stayed a second longer, I couldn't trust myself not to fall for her lies all over again.

---

AMANDA'S POV

Watching Donovan walk away, I had never felt the cruelty of fate more sharply.

His retreating form was both familiar and alien. The bond between us still throbbed, a silent, aching wound, but it seemed I was the only one bleeding.

Donovan.

My best friend.

My mate.

The one person I told everything.

Had truly abandoned me.

That truth cut deeper than any blade. I could feel the newly awakened wolf inside me whimper in agony. Today was supposed to be the happiest of our lives. Instead, it had become a living nightmare.

I don't remember the walk back to the tenement. It felt like someone had ripped my chest open and left me to bleed out on the street. By the time I stumbled into our tiny living area, my whole body was shaking, my teeth chattering.

Mom looked up the moment I entered.

"Amanda? Sweetheart, you look terrible. What happened?"

The fragile dam of my composure shattered. A torrent of tears spilled over.

"He. he doesn't want me, Mom."

"What?" Her expression was confused, but her arms were already reaching out, pulling me into her embrace.

I inhaled her familiar, comforting scent, but it did nothing to thaw the icy void inside me. "Donovan." My voice was a choked whisper. "He said he would never acknowledge me as his mate. He said he would never claim me."

Mom gasped. I felt a tremor of anger run through her, but it settled into a weary calm. Her voice softened, taking on the same tone she used to sing me lullabies. "Oh, my baby. Come, sit down. It's alright. Everything will be alright."

"No, it won't," I sobbed, another wave of tears shaking me. "Everything is ruined. Everything is broken. He hates me now. And I don't even know what I did."

She rubbed slow, soothing circles on my back, just like she did when I was scared of thunderstorms as a child.

"He doesn't hate you," she murmured. "He's confused, fed lies about our family. He's young, and he's under pressure. Fear makes people do foolish things."

I pulled back, wiping my wet face.

"Really?" A flicker of hope sparked, only to be extinguished by the memory of his eyes-looking at me like I was garbage. My voice turned raw again. "No, Mom. He hates me. My mate hates me."

Her eyes dimmed. She placed her hands on my shoulders. "You're too young to understand the ways of fate," she said gently. "The Moon Goddess paired you for a reason. But if. if Donovan truly cannot see your worth, then perhaps the Goddess has a different, greater plan for you. You have always been a good girl. She sees that."

I didn't answer. After the cataclysm of this day, I didn't know if I could believe in a fate this cruel.

"Rest tonight, my love. Cry if you need to. But don't let this break you."

I cried until my throat was raw and my eyes burned, but it did nothing to ease the ache in my soul. I tried everything to fall asleep, but each time I closed my eyes, I saw Donovan shoving me away, heard his cruel rejection. I pressed a pillow over my face to muffle the sound, but it was useless.

I had a math test tomorrow. With my father branded a traitor and everything taken from us, school was my only lifeline now. If I wanted any chance at a scholarship, any chance at a future, I needed perfect grades.

So I sat at the small, rickety desk, wiping tears from my practice test as I reviewed quadratic equations. Fate might be cruel, but I refused to just lie down and take it.

My grandmother used to tell me that time was the greatest healer. Given enough of it, maybe I would get through this. Maybe.

---

The morning light did me no favors. My eyes burned, and a dull throb pounded behind my temples. Still, I forced myself through a shower, dressed, and made my way to the bus stop.

I had just stepped into the school hallway when I spotted my two best friends, Lila and Brinley, ahead. I tried to straighten my posture, hoping to mask the mess I felt inside.

"Hey, good morning!" I called out, forcing a bright tone as I quickened my pace toward them.

They sidestepped my approach in unison. The looks they gave me were ones of pure disgust, as if I'd rolled in mud and then waded through a sewer.

Brinley crossed her arms. "Don't talk to us."

A cold dread trickled down my spine.

Lila snorted, tossing her hair. "Are you really that clueless? Your dad's a traitor, Amanda. Everyone knows."

My stomach churned.

"Please. don't. You both knew my dad. He wasn't like that."

"Who knows?" Brinley rolled her eyes. "He faked his own death. Maybe the 'devoted Beta' was an act, too."

"Exactly," Lila chimed in. "The daughter of a traitor needs to keep her distance. We don't want any of that filth rubbing off on us."

Anger, sharp and hot, finally overrode my hurt.

I stepped forward, glaring at them with fution, "Really? That's it? After everything? Lila, when your little brother fell into the ravine during the winter hunt, who was it that rappelled down and carried him back up, risking his own life? My father! And Brinley, when your family's house caught fire, who organized the bucket line and ran inside twice to save your grandparents? My father! I considered you my closest friends, and you turn on me like this?"

Their faces flickered with a hint of shame, but their resolve held. "We can't afford to be associated with you," Lila retorted, though her voice had lost some of its edge. "Weren't you always boasting about being Donovan's best friend? Where is he now that your family's in trouble? Too scared to confront him, so you take it out on us? Pathetic."

The blow landed with brutal precision, draining the color from my face and silencing my retort.

As they drew breath for another verbal strike, a calm, steady voice cut through the tension. "The final bell for the exam rang twice already. If we don't hurry, we'll all be dealing with the proctor's wrath."

I turned to see Steven, a transfer student from last semester. He offered me a small, gentle smile-the first person today who didn't look at me as if I carried a plague.

I returned a grateful, if wobbly, smile and hurried toward the exam hall.

What I was missing was the sight of Donovan around the corner, his hand clenched white-knuckled around a steel handrail, bending it out of shape.