Ch. 8 - Lost Hope

Ruby POV

For hours, I sobbed alone in the shadows of a random alley, the cold seeping into my bones as despair wrapped around my heart. I felt utterly lost, terrified, more alone than I'd ever been. How could this have happened? I had been marked by a bastard Alpha, a cruel, unfeeling man who wanted nothing more than to use me. My soul was now bound to someone who had no intention of loving me, no desire to cherish the bond we were cursed to share. How could I have been so foolish?

In a daze, driven by desperation, I found myself running toward Mirror Lake, the one place that still held a shred of comfort for me. Sebastian had asked me to meet him there at midnight. I was unsure of the time but held onto a sliver of hope that he would come. I needed him now more than ever. He was my best friend, the future King; he could force Gabe to reject me, couldn't he? But as I paced the snow-covered ground, the minutes felt like hours, and the hope I clung to began to crumble.

Scarlet whined in frustration, her instincts pulling her toward the powerful Alpha who had marked us. It infuriated me that she was already drawn to him, already attached in some twisted way. I despised the fated bond, cursed it with every breath. How could something so sacred be so cruel? It wasn't fair to be linked to someone so heartless, so vile.

The moon had long risen high in the sky by the time I finally collapsed to the ground, my legs giving out beneath me. I lay there, staring out over the frozen expanse of the lake, the towering mountains standing like silent guardians in the distance. It was a breathtaking scene, one that thousands of werewolves had marveled at over the years, but tonight, it felt like a cruel mockery of the peace I could never have. My eyes fluttered, exhaustion weighing down on me. I knew Sebastian was out there, somewhere, but I was too weak, too ashamed to go back home.

The reality of my situation pressed down on me like a suffocating weight. I was marked by a stranger, a man who would soon be known to my pack as a monster. Fear surged through me as I thought about what he might do next. What if he had a pack of his own, far from here, and he planned to drag me away to some distant, desolate place? I didn't love the North or the South; most people kept their distance from me, but it was still my home. My family was here: my aunts, uncles, my mom and dad, and even my three cruel sisters. Despite everything, I would miss them.

As tears streamed down my face, I cried myself into a restless sleep, each sob feeling like a piece of my soul being torn away. My life was no longer mine. It was over, ruined by a fate I couldn't escape.