Chapter 1 The Rejection and Escape

Serena stood at the outside of the group and looked over everyone, but it was him who attracted her eye. Lucien Thorne. The Alpha. His presence broke through the noise like a hurricane, and for a moment, it felt like the world stopped. She had dark hair, stormy eyes, and a presence that made her heart race, even if she didn't want it to. Of course, she had heard stories and rumors from the pack, but seeing him in person and feeling the weight of his gaze-his intensity-was something else entirely.

She couldn't look away. There was an unspoken but very real tension between them that grew stronger. He looked at her for a split second, and their eyes met. For a split second, his face softened, which made her heart race.

But then everything changed just as soon. His face got hard, like a mask that was falling into place.

"Serena Hale," he whispered, his voice frigid as ice, but his eyes... those eyes were still burning. "You are a curse to this pack." "To my family."

She couldn't breathe. She blinked because she wasn't sure she had heard him right. She was shocked by how severe his tone was and how heavy his comments were. She didn't say anything or move. The others saw Lucien's eyes becoming colder and more contemptuous as he turned away.

She couldn't stop thinking about how he had turned her down. Each syllable hurt more than the last.

Serena's knees gave out. She fell back, her heart racing and her brain spinning at the power of his rejection. She was afraid she would pass out in front of everyone. The pain of his words-his cruelty-hurt her more than she could have imagined. Deep down, she knew that no one desired her. That she didn't fit in. But hearing him say it so loudly and coldly broke her heart.

His words repeated in her thoughts again and over, like a vicious chant: "You'll ruin everything." She held her chest and felt like the air had been taken out of her lungs.

She turned her back on the audience and didn't care who saw how she was breaking apart. The laughter, the talking, and the flashes of judgment all faded as she moved, her feet taking her away from the place where she had tried so hard to fit in.

Her family, the pack, didn't matter. Not any more. Not with that kind of rejection in the air. Her wolf was still inside her, quiet, exactly like she always was.

"I don't belong here," she said softly, but the words seemed empty, like they came from someone else.

Serena walked through the woods, the cold night air on her skin, her body shivering with rage, bewilderment, and shame. She had always understood that the pack didn't want her the most. Always in the background, the quiet, unnoticed omega that no one remembered. But this-this refusal-was something else entirely.

"Why?" she said quietly to herself. "Why did I even think...?"

She was gasping for air and her thoughts were racing. She heard Lucien's words over and over in her thoughts. Damn. Destruction. Not wanted. The words rang in her head like poison.

She had never asked for any of it. The quiet "no." The sensation of not being seen. Why did she think she could have more? Why did she let herself dream?

She couldn't keep doing this. She had to go. She felt terrible about it, but deep down she knew she had to do it.

"Why am I here?" She asked out loud, looking down at the ground and stumbling.

All of a sudden, a piercing pain went through her stomach, and she gasped. She quickly put her palm on her stomach, but the pain just got worse and twisted in a way she couldn't explain. She gasped again, and this time she bent over, feeling like the world was getting blurry.

There was something going on.

It was like nothing she had ever felt before-raw and basic. It was like the wolf inside her was waking up after being slept for so long.

She couldn't breathe. It wasn't only pain in my heart. It hurt a lot, physically. And it wasn't simply the "no."

Something darker and deeper was going on inside her.

Serena's heart raced and her breath was shallow as she stumbled into the woods with her palm on her stomach. Things had gotten out of hand in the last several hours-Lucien's rejection and the terrible way he ended her life. But there was more to it. Something heavier and scarier.

She fell to the ground, leaning down, and felt the ground shake beneath her. The nausea came and went, but it wasn't only the rejection that made her feel bad. Her breath hitched when her fingers caressed her stomach again, and a silent notion came to her mind.

"No," she said to herself in a whisper, closing her eyes as if the words were wrong. "It can't be."

But then the truth hit me hard and slowly. She was going to have a baby. Lucien's kid. The child she didn't want, the child that was now growing inside her. A flood of panic hit her, and it felt like it would drown her. Her chest felt constricted, and she couldn't breathe. Her wolf didn't say anything, as if it was as frozen by how heavy the situation was.

She felt pain in her eyes. She could feel the weight of her unborn kid, but she wasn't happy. Just fear. There was no hope for the situation. She was pregnant with the child of a man who had turned her down in a very cold way. What type of future could she provide her child?

The panic was taking over her, and the loneliness was closing in.

The trail was hard to see and the woods were dark, but Serena had to keep going. She couldn't stay here after all that had happened. Not after what Lucien had told them. Her legs hurt from the long trek, but her mind, which was full of chaos, kept urging her to keep going.

"Where do I go?" She grumbled as she wiped the sweat from her brow and the cold of the evening nipped at her skin. "What do I do now?"

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't go back to the group. Not after Lucien said no. Not after the way he made her feel bad. His comments still hurt her heart, and each one reminded her of how insignificant she was in his universe. She was nothing. Just an omega. A spirit.

When she heard a twig break, she stopped in her tracks and her heart raced. She stopped and looked around the woods. A cold shudder went down her back.

She wasn't by herself.

She moved her gaze quickly from one shadow to the next. She could sense that someone or something was observing her. She couldn't see them, but she could feel them there. She could feel the weight of their gaze cutting through the gloom.

She gasped as Lucien's voice resonated in her head. "You'll destroy everything."

She shook her head, attempting to get rid of the thought, but it stayed with her like a shadow.

She sped up, her heart racing in her ears, and her eyes darted frantically to the trees around her. The presence was there, just below the veil of darkness. It felt like the jungle was pressing in on her, as if it were against her.