Chapter 3

I stared at the ceiling. The room spun.

My stomach turned over.

I pushed up on my arms to get off the bed.

Too late. I threw up on the floor.

I hadn't eaten. It was all water.

Sour, bitter, mixed with tears.

I hung over the edge of the bed.

The world was shaking.

The fever hadn't broken.

The images kept turning in my head.

Mom's last words. The woman's moans.

One on top of the other.

I heaved again.

Nothing came up this time. Just dry retching until my stomach cramped.

I lay back down and closed my eyes.

When I opened them again it was morning, and I was in the medical center.

The fever had broken. My body ached.

Damon was sitting by the bed. I don't know how long he'd been there.

Leaning against the wall. Eyes closed.

Like he'd been keeping watch all night.

I shifted.

He woke.

He opened his eyes to look at me.

For a split second there was something blurred in them, like he'd forgotten what had happened between us.

Then he stood up.

Reached out and touched my forehead.

His palm was cool.

"Fever's down."

His voice was hoarse.

I tried to open my mouth. My throat felt like I'd swallowed razor blades.

He held my eyes.

"Why didn't you call a nurse?"

"…"

"Why didn't you call me?"

"…"

"Wren. Did you not know you had a fever?"

When I wouldn't answer, he said one more thing.

"The ceremony is off."

"Happy now?"

I blinked.

"I —"

"Enough."

He cut me off and bent to tuck the blanket around my shoulders.

"Stop putting me through this."

The door burst open.

"Damon, who is she?"

It was the girl from the elevator, the one who had flung herself into his arms.

"Selene. What are you doing here?"

"My friend works at this clinic. If she hadn't told me, I'd never have known you were keeping a mistress on the side!"

Selene's voice was shrill. It cut right through my head.

She stormed up and jabbed a finger at my face.

"You little bitch. Did your mother not teach you anything? You'd steal someone else's Alpha?"

The next second her hand was already swinging.

Slap.

My face snapped to the other side. It burned.

My ears rang.

Did your mother not teach you.

She'd said I had no mother to teach me.

Mom, lying in a pool of blood — the image crashed back.

Gone again.

The world started to go black.

I could hear myself breathing.

Fast.

Couldn't pull in enough air.

My heart was slamming like it was going to burst.

"Selene!"

Damon's voice, distant.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Have I? She's stealing my Alpha!"

"She's sick. Lying in a bed. Can't you see that?"

"So she's lying down, so what? Playing pitiful — anyone can do that."

The voices got farther.

Blurrier.

My eyelids got heavier.

Before I blacked out,

I felt someone touch my face.

Softly. Like they were afraid of hurting me.

Fingertips cool.

Right where she'd hit me.

Just once.

When I woke again, the bedside was empty.

Damon was gone. The sun was too.

The sky outside was ashen.

Voices at the door. Nurses talking.

Through the half-closed door the words filtered in.

"That one? The one in this room?"

"Yeah. That's her."

"I heard she's stealing someone else's Alpha? Became a mistress?"

"Worse than that. Her mother saved the Alpha's life once, and now the daughter's using it to blackmail him into a mating bond."

"Collecting on a blood debt?"

"Exactly. Her mother's dead and she's still waving the corpse around."

"Shameless."

I lay there.

Selene had posted a video.

Right under that same viral post.

I reached for my phone. I opened it.

Millions of views already.

Her eyes red from crying, her voice breaking prettily.

"Her mother saved my Alpha's life. We've always been grateful."

"But what does she do? She uses it as leverage. Bullies him into bonding with her."

"My Alpha is soft-hearted. He doesn't know what to do."

"And she just won't leave."

"I'm his girlfriend…"

The comments detonated.

This she-wolf is disgusting.

Cashing in a blood debt — her mother would be rolling in her grave.

Poor girl, stuck with a leech like that.

Expose her! Drag her on the public boards!

The thread-diggers had already found my name.

Wren Calloway.

They dug up Mom, the old accident, all of it.

The comments were wall-to-wall hate.

Single-mother Omega with a pup in tow — her mother was probably angling for a rich Alpha when she jumped in front of that bullet.

Apple doesn't fall from the tree.

"Saved his life" — she was running a con that blew up in her face and got her killed. Now the daughter's picking up the con.

Little homewrecker. Disgusting.

I put the phone down.

Did your mother not teach you.

She was right.

Mom was gone.

There was no one left to teach me.

But when Mom had saved him, she hadn't asked for anything back.

All she said was: Little Wren, take care of yourself.

She hadn't said: Make Damon take care of you.

She had said only that I had to take care of myself.

It had been Luna Hawthorne who said I was pitiable. Who wanted me to have somewhere to land.

Who left the mating contract between me and Damon.

Not Mom. Mom had been fine.

She hadn't asked for anything.