Chapter 3

RUBY.

“What's going on here?”

I turned to see the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on enter the hall. Dressed in a gray shirt and black pants, his short blond hair was slicked back, accentuating his striking aquamarine eyes.

His presence exuded power, and without a word spoken, I knew exactly who he was: Kael, Alpha Frederick's only son. I had seen numerous pictures of him, but his physical presence was far more captivating than I had ever imagined. Kael had been away from home for four years, dedicated to learning and studying how to lead a pack.

“Kael, thank goddess that you are back!” Dawn ran, hugging him. “You couldn't have arrived at any better time.”

Someone coughed, and I raised an eyebrow at the woman standing beside Kael. Tall, stunning, and commanding, she possessed a presence that could rival that of a model. Her hair cascaded around her shoulders, emitting a mesmerizing blue hue.

Dawn instantly separated from him. She glanced at her and it took one haughty look from the lady to shut her up.

“What's going on here?” Kael's voice carried a hint of warning, his gaze sweeping over the crowd before settling on me. “Or do you need a reminder of how I can extract answers from all of you?”

His once cold eyes melted into desire as his gaze locked with mine. Suddenly, I felt my usually silent lycan stirring with joy. I was perplexed by what drew her to him. Normally, she would remain silent whenever we were close to any male, but this time was different.

As he approached me, I stiffened, overcome by the rich scent of freshly brewed coffee and warm cinnamon buns that wafted into my nose. Falcon, my lycan, immediately began pacing around my head.

Mate!

Mate!

“What's going on? I mean, is he not supposed to be my brother?” I said to my lycan in both disbelief and awe.

“He's our mate.” Falcon said excitedly.“See how he's looking at us…eyes filled with desire. Get up, Ruby and run to him, she's swooning as he's up close right now.”

Gosh, how does one behave in this case? I'm at a loss because I couldn't just throw myself at him.

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Suddenly, he looked away from me, but didn't move an inch, staring—or more like glaring—at the beta who approached him cautiously, like a man afraid of being found guilty.

“Alpha, it's your father.”

“What about him?” He was impatient, his eyes raging with an intense fire. The fear that left me a few moments ago came back rushing towards me, so much that I was drenched in sweat.

“He will believe us,” Falcon soothed. “He's our mate so he will know we can't do such a thing.”

“But we don't know that right?” He was after all the alpha's son.

“He's dead. He was murdered by her,” the beta pointed in my direction, frantic to put the alpha's attention on someone else.

The alpha's son—no my mate turned to me with the coldest eyes I had ever seen. It was like the attraction he had felt for me never existed.

“You!”he hissed, visibly agitated. “I thought she was the daughter he adopted?” The disbelief in his voice was unmistakable.

“Yes, she was, and she killed him for his kindness,” Dawn answered solemnly, before proceeding to recount all the events that had transpired that day.

When she finished speaking, Kael glared at me as if he wanted to take my head off right then and there. I knew I could fight him and even win, given my lycan abilities. However, engaging in a fight wouldn't clear my name, as he already saw me as a murderer.

“I can't believe father trusted a lycan. He loved you so much yet what did you do? You killed him because he trusted you! Why are you so evil? You just proved the saying that no good thing comes from lycans.”

“No, no,” my lycan whined, “We didn't kill him.” She was wailing then, her tail up as she kept grunting. I didn't know how to console her because I was hurting just as much, so I brought her closer to me, allowing her to rest her head in the crook of my neck.

“Kill her, alpha!”

The hall erupted with chants from the pack members, even those I had trusted as my friends. The girls whom I had trained with judged me with their eyes, their chants rising above the rest. Dawn chimed in as well, along with the beta.

“Silence!” Kael bellowed, and the hall fell quiet. “Throw this ungrateful creature into the dungeons. Torture her however you want, but don't kill her.”

Everyone seemed displeased with his judgment. Did they truly want me dead? Why? A lump formed in my throat, and tears threatened to spill from my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, especially not for a mate who didn't afford me the opportunity to defend myself.

“Kael—” I started, but he silenced me with a raised hand and a hard glare.

“It's alpha to you,” his voice rumbled low and dangerous. “If you want to live, never call me by my name, and never try to stop me.” He squatted so that we were on the same eye level. “Ever.”

With that, he left my side and grabbed the woman he came with by the arm, whom I assumed to be his girlfriend. My chest burned, and as I parted my lips to voice my thoughts, I felt a kick at my side.

I turned, furious at the person who dared do that. Dawn raised her leg to repeat her act, but I was quick to evade her. Grabbing her leg, I sent her flying away. The guards ran towards me, but with one look from me, they retreated backwards. They knew better than to fight the one person who had defeated their alpha in a duel.

“How dare you kick me!” I hissed, retaliating with a kick of my own. She winced in pain and pointed her middle finger at me.

“Teach her a lesson,” Falcon roared, pissed as hell at everything that happened.

“No, Kael might come back here and order for our execution.” I reasoned, then turned to the guards and surrendered to them.

They led me to the dungeon, a place of darkness and despair, a place I hoped to never find myself in. The air was thick with the stench of death and decay, and the shadows seemed to close in around me, suffocating me in their cold embrace. Goosebumps washed over me at the thought of being here for goddess knows how long. The guards threw me to the ground like I was worth nothing—like a thrash they so much wanted to dispose of. Then they exited the room, and I felt it, the dam closing in on me, so much that I heard it burst open. The events of that day came rushing back in torrents, the alpha dying, the accusation, the look on the people's faces when they heard I could actually kill, and worse… the way my mate looked at me.

Is he going to reject me? I can't bear rejection for the second time, I wept as pain tore through my chest like needles.

“Falcon,” I reached out to my lycan but found the connection empty, almost as if she wasn't there. “Falcon dear,” I tried again… nothing.

She had done what she had been doing ever since our first rejection. Withdrawn to the darkest part of my mind where I can never be able to reach her.

I remained in the dungeon for several days without food, with the guards hitting me like the alpha ordered them to. Most times I felt a burning sensation in my chest, and I didn't need anyone to tell me what that was.

My mate was with a woman who wasn't me.

∞∞∞

“Where is she?”

I shot my eyes open as the stream of sunlight came through the door, blinking my eyes in surprise at the sight of Kael standing before me in all his glory. Unlike the previous day, he was dressed in a more casual attire—a button-down shirt that hugged his sculpted torso, accentuating his well-defined six-pack, paired with sleek slacks that emphasized his confident stride.

“Kael,” I started, but then his hand connected with my cheeks, and I winced at the burning sensation I felt.

“I warned you never to refer to me by my name!” He thundered. “Guards! Drag her out this instant!”

Three guards rushed in and dragged me forcibly outside. Everyone was present and I shuddered at the appalled looks in their eyes.

“For justice to be done,” he paused, and I sat on the floor, waiting, “I have decided on banishing you from this pack.”

The crowd welcomed the news with gasps. However, on my side, I was suffering—silently and slowly. Soon, once again, I was going to be without a home.

“But before I do that I'd like to say this first,” he came to stand in front of me, holding tight to my jaw and I felt a searing pain pass through me. He stared me right in the face, and I gulped at the emptiness in his eyes. “I, Kael Leonard, from the River pack, reject you, Ruby Donalds, as my mate. And I hereby declare you a non member of this pack. You have twenty minutes to depart this pack, but if any of the guards catches you when that time elapses, consider yourself dead.”

I had no time to process his words because in an instant, I was up and running for my life, heading towards the path that divided the pack borders.

I could hear the guards closing in on me, and I shifted into my lycan, knowing I was no match to them in my human form.

Soon, I crossed the border and continued to run, even though I knew they wouldn't dare to cross it with me. I kept running, not knowing where I was heading but believing I needed to be somewhere else. I kept at it, running until my legs failed me and I slumped down on the floor, exhausted, before falling into an abyss.