Chapter 2

Eleanor POV:

A collective gasp swept through the crowd. The Elders started shouting questions, their voices a chaotic buzz in my ears, but I didn't listen. I turned my back on the ceremony, on the whispers, on the pitying stare of the Alpha King, and walked away.

I left the sacred grounds, ignoring the calls for me to return. I found a car service that shuttled pack members to the nearby human town and got in, my mind a blank slate of pain. Halfway there, a cold, hard purpose settled in my gut.

"Turn around," I told the driver. "Take me to the Healer's Den."

The Healer's Den was the pack's hospital, a place that always smelled of drying herbs and antiseptic. I didn't stop at the front. I walked straight to the private rooms in the back, my heart pounding a furious rhythm.

I found her in the last room. Marina.

She was sitting on the edge of a bed, wearing a simple white gown that looked suspiciously like the one I was supposed to change into after the ceremony. A thick bandage was wrapped around one wrist, but the cloying scent of blood and healing herbs still hung in the air.

Her eyes widened when she saw me, a flicker of fear-or maybe triumph-in their depths. She immediately scrambled behind Brendan, clutching his arm like a frightened child.

Brendan hadn't noticed me at first. He was fussing over her, his back to the door. But when Marina shrank away, his head snapped up. His body went rigid, his wolf instantly surfacing as he shielded her from me. A low growl rumbled in his chest.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled.

I ignored him. My gaze was locked on Marina, cold and sharp. "I heard you were dying. Came to see for myself. Rogues are tougher than they look, I guess."

Tears welled in Marina's eyes. Her voice was a pathetic, trembling whisper. "I'm so sorry... I never meant for Brendan to leave you... I just... I love him so much."

The words were an apology, but the tone was pure victory. She was flaunting it. Flaunting that he chose her, a stray, over me, his promised mate.

Something inside me snapped.

All the years of being the perfect, submissive Omega, of swallowing my pride for him, vanished in a blaze of fury. I lunged forward. My hand connected with her cheek in a slap so hard the sound cracked through the quiet room.

Marina cried out.

Brendan roared. It wasn't a human sound. It was the pure, unrestrained rage of his wolf.

"You're insane!" he bellowed, and with a brutal shove, he threw me across the room.