Chapter 2

I got to a clearing, and I fell to the floor, my legs giving off beneath me.

Tears blurred my vision as I sobbed loudly, cursing myself.

“Why! Why does this happen to me all the time?” I screamed, clutching the grass beneath me as my tears flowed.

Did she have to take anything I wanted?

First, it was our parents choosing her over me; now, she went ahead to take my mate.

Was it too much to ask for someone to love me and not her?

Our parents never failed to hide that they just wanted one child, and Camille, who had come out before me, ended up being their favorite.

And me?

They kept wishing for me to die.

Over and over, not even trying to hide that they never wanted me.

It wasn't my fault that I came out second.

I didn't know how long I had remained on the floor, but the next time I opened my eyes, it was morning.

“We slept here," Neela said as I pushed off from the ground, cleaning off the sand particles on my body.

I had no idea what the time was right now, but I needed to go home.

Slowly, I walked back to the house, ignoring the stares and whispers I got from people who saw me.

My parents were the Betas of the pack, and just because they didn't like me, everyone in the pack treated me the same way.

And the worst?

“Where have you been?" Mother hissed, glaring down at me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything, her palm came down on my face.

I staggered back, clutching my face as blood pooled in my mouth.

“You were away all night and breakfast hadn't even been prepared. Go clean the entire house and prepare breakfast for us in thirty minutes," She barked and my head snapped up at her in shock.

“Clean and prepare breakfast in thirty minutes? How am I supposed to–?”

"If you can't do it, then next time, don't make us starve for so long,” Camillie said from behind Mother, her lips pulled into a vicious smile.

Never did I think I would hate my face.

The worst part was that I was expected to do all the chores in the house while the maids and cooks did little.

Camille lived the life of the princess and me, the life of a pauper.

Without hesitation, I instantly went in to start working, the sooner I was done, the sooner I could rest.

As I scrubbed the floor, I cursed under my breath.

I ignored my body aching, biting into my lips to stop myself from crying out.

My arms felt like they were on fire, but I pushed through the pain, desperate to finish cleaning before the time ran out.

I was cleaning faster than I did on a usual so I would be able to be done and it was taking a toll on my body.

Fifteen minutes. That’s all I had before I had to rush into the kitchen and start breakfast.

“Don't overwork your body, they shouldn't expect you to be done cleaning this house in fifteen minutes," Neela said to me, but I let out a sigh.

She knew how they were and so she knew what they expected.

Camille must have told them that I got rejected, and so did the treatment.

"Why couldn’t I have been first?" I muttered angrily, my hands working the rag harder against the stone floor.

“Why did I have to come out second?"

My knees throbbed from kneeling on the cold, hard floor but there was no time to complain.

There never was.

I couldn't even cry because crying wouldn’t change anything.

They never wanted me and it was too late to wish for things to be different.

By the time I finished scrubbing the last section of the floor, my entire body screamed in protest.

I wanted to go to my bed do badly and rest, I had just done a day's worth of work in a matter of fifteen minutes, overworking myself

But there was no rest for me.

I had to move to the kitchen, ignoring the stabbing pain in my limbs.

I started preparing breakfast because they were waiting already.

Chopping vegetables with trembling hands and stirring the pots while my parents and Camillie laughed in the dining room.

It was always the same. Their voices, cheerful and full of life, echoed like cruel reminders of what I could never have.

A family.

I lived with my family, and yet I never truly had one.

Sniffling, I wiped the lone tear that slid down my face with my free hand, cursing myself for crying.

It's been this way since I was born, so why does it still hurt every time?

When everything was ready, I carried the trays into the dining room, placing the food in front of them like I always did.

No one even glanced at me. I wasn’t part of this family. I was just an unwanted extra.

As I served them, my eyes fell on Camille.

She looked exactly like me with no difference.

Same dark hair, delicate features—but the world treated us so differently.

She had everything I didn't. The love of our parents, the attention of the pack, and now even my mate.

Aiden was supposed to be mine and she took him from me too.

She couldn't even let me have one thing all to myself.

I wonder how it would feel with the roles reversed. If I had everything when she had nothing.

I clenched my fists, feeling a wave of anger rise inside me but I forced it down.

I couldn’t say anything.

What good would it do? They wouldn’t listen. They never did.

As long as Camillie wanted it, she would have it.

Doesn't matter if it was a stray pup I picked up or the wooden figure I made for myself.

It doesn't even matter if it was my very own mate, she would get it.

And I hated that.

Just as I was about to turn and leave, my father spoke, making me stop in my tracks.

“Lila.” He called out from his seat. I could feel his eyes boring into my back as they waited for me to turn around.

Wasn't the food to his liking? Did I make a mistake?

All these questions ran through my mind and slowly, I turned to face him, dreading what he had to say next.

"Since Aiden has rejected you," he said, his voice cold and matter-of-fact.

Mother didn't even bother hiding how that one statement made her happy.

Seeing that the Alphas’s son had rejected me and chosen Camillie.

But did it matter who Aiden was mated to?

Why couldn't she have been happy if he was mated to me?

“Are you listening to me?" Father asked and my eyes instantly snapped to me.

“Yes, Father," I lied, my eyes shifting to Camille and back to him.

I had stopped paying attention at some point so I missed what he said

"We’ve found you another husband,"

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and my blood ran cold.

I blinked in shock, anger rising in my chest.

What? Did they find another husband for me?

They were going to marry me off?

Aiden had only rejected me yesterday, and they already had someone lined up.

I glanced at Camille, her lips curving into a smug smile, and suddenly it all made sense.

They’d planned this all along.

They never intended for me to be with Aiden. They just wanted to get rid of me.

I swallowed the bitterness, my hands trembling. “Who?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

It was at least someone good right?

“Alpha Kaidan,” my father said, his words like a punch to my gut.

“We figured you would be best for a political marriage and the Alpha has agreed to it as well,” Father added, staring at me.

My blood ran cold. Alpha Kaidan? The Alpha Kaidan?

The one everyone whispered about? The one who killed anyone that stood in his way?

“No,” I gasped, shaking my head. “No, you can’t be serious.”

But the look on my father’s face told me everything. He was dead serious.

This really can't be happening.

Alpha Kaidan, the man who was feared by all, the one who had a reputation for cruelty and bloodshed, was to be my husband.

“I won’t,” I muttered under my breath, panic rising through me.

“I can’t. Not him. Anyone but him…”

The memories of the stories I’d heard about him, the rumors of his brutality, flashed through my mind. How could they do this to me? How could they expect me to marry someone like him?

But as I stood there, looking at my father’s unyielding expression and Camillie’s satisfied smile, I realized I didn’t have a choice.

I was already doomed.