Irina’s POV

My head burned like a branding iron.

Mate.

The word pulsed through my skull, drowning out everything else. Pain. Fever. Terror. All of it swallowed by that single, overwhelming truth.

My wolf—barely awake, newborn and screaming—thrashed inside me. She clawed at my insides, desperate to reach him.

Him.

I lifted my head toward the scent that had dragged me through the house like a fish on a hook.

My mate.

Maxim.

No.

No, this couldn’t be real. This had to be wrong. Some cosmic joke. Some punishment worse than anything my father had devised.

My mate couldn’t be him. Couldn’t be the man who’d spent a year turning me into a ghost. Couldn’t be my stepsister’s ex-boyfriend. Couldn’t be the monster who promised to—

Maxim’s face confirmed it.

Shock. Just for a heartbeat. Then rage exploded across his features, twisting them into something inhuman.

The room swam into focus around him. My father stood near the desk, frozen mid-sentence. Stepan—Maxim’s father—sat in a leather chair, his mouth hanging open.

All that mattered was the scent burning through my lungs and the bond snapping into place between us like a steel cable.

Every eye in the room locked on me.

I wanted to run. Wanted to tear my own skin off to escape this feeling.

Maxim moved first.

His hand fisted in my hair before I could blink. The familiar pain exploded across my scalp as he yanked me forward. My legs—still weak, still burning with fever—couldn’t hold me. I stumbled, nearly fell.

He dragged me toward the door.

"Maxim—" Stepan started.

"Not now."

The hallway stretched ahead of us. Empty. No—not empty. Shadows moved in doorways. Servants who should’ve been asleep, drawn by the commotion.

He shoved me forward, hard enough that I hit the wall opposite the door. My shoulder cracked against wood paneling. Stars burst across my vision.

When I looked up, servants lined the hallway. At least a dozen of them. Watching. Waiting.

Maxim’s voice rang out, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I am the future alpha of this pack."

His hand was still twisted in my hair. He yanked my head back, exposing my throat.

"How could I possibly be mated to you?"

The words hit like physical blows. Each one calculated. Designed to wound.

My newborn wolf whimpered. She didn’t understand. Couldn’t comprehend why our mate was rejecting us before the bond had even settled.

"I, Maxim—" His grip tightened until I felt hair ripping from my scalp. "—reject you, Irina, as my mate."

The bond shattered.

I’d heard about rejections before. Whispered stories. Warnings. But nothing—nothing—could have prepared me for this.

It felt like someone had reached into my chest and torn out every vital organ at once. My lungs seized. My heart stuttered, forgot how to beat. Every nerve in my body ignited simultaneously.

I hit the floor without meaning to. My knees cracked against hardwood. My hands scrabbled for purchase on nothing.

The pain was everywhere. In my bones. My blood. My soul.

My wolf—so new, so fragile—howled in agony. She’d barely existed for an hour before being ripped apart.

"I..." The word scraped out of my throat, shredded and raw. "I accept... your rejection."

I had to say it. Had to complete the ritual. If I didn’t, the pain would never end. The bond would hang there, broken but not severed, torturing me for the rest of my life.

The words tasted like ash.

Maxim’s boot connected with my ribs.

I folded around the impact, gasping. No air. Couldn’t breathe.

When I looked up, he was already turning away. Dismissing me. Like I was garbage he’d finished disposing of.

My father appeared in the doorway. His face was carefully blank. No shock. No anger. Nothing.

He’d known. Of course he’d known. That’s why they’d been meeting. Why Maxim had been here in the middle of the night.

They’d felt the bond forming and gathered to watch it die.

"Get her out of my sight," Maxim said.

Two servants stepped forward immediately. I recognized them—omegas who’d worked in the main house for years. They wouldn’t meet my eyes as they grabbed my arms.

I didn’t fight. Couldn’t.

My body was shutting down. The pain from the rejection, the fever, the beating earlier—all of it crashed over me at once.

They dragged me upright. My legs dangled uselessly beneath me.

"Wait."

My father’s voice stopped everyone mid-movement.

He walked toward us slowly. Deliberately. His footsteps echoed in the silent hallway.

When he reached me, he didn’t look at my face. Just examined me like I was livestock. Damaged goods he needed to assess. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"She’s eighteen now," he said. "The contract can be executed immediately."

The servants’ grips tightened on my arms.

"The buyer is already in the city," my father continued. "I’ll contact them tonight. They can collect her tomorrow."

Tomorrow.

The word should have terrified me. Should have sparked some instinct for survival.

Instead, I felt nothing.

Numb. Hollow. Empty.

My father finally looked at me then. His eyes—the same color as mine—held no recognition. No love. No regret.

Just cold calculation.

"Take her back to the omega quarters," he ordered the servants. "Lock her in. I don’t want her causing any more trouble. And send her to the underground trading post after sunrise," my father’s voice hardened. "To work as a sex slave!"