CLAIMED BY HER TRUE MATE

Numb. That was the only way I could describe how I felt as I walked into Kaylan's house and saw him pressed against the wall, a naked omega against him, their putrid moans filling the room. The bracelets I had initially made for him slipped from my hands and thudded to the ground, breaking upon impact and immediately alerting the naked pair. That was when Kaylan turned around and saw me, his eyes bulging wide as saucers. He quickly pulled up his pants, covering the girl who was behind him. with the guilt evident in his phase, not because he felt sorry for it but because he had been caught. I wanted to understand what kind of person would do this. Who would betray me and take my betrothed mate to bed, shamelessly having s*x with them? "Eryna, sh*t!" I heard my name being uttered through the bleak silence as I was almost consumed by the loud beating of my heart. But nothing could prepare me to see the woman who stood behind him—it was Rina, my so-called best friend and sworn wolf sister. I could feel my body vibrate endlessly from the heartbreak and betrayal all at once. "How could you... How could you do this to me, Kaylan?" I was utterly broken and lost, forcing myself to breathe because of how lightheaded I already felt. "He doesn't want you, Eryna; why can't you accept that?" He wants me, and he always wants me. "I have given you so many clues since the day your mother decided you would be forced to marry him!" Rina says. I couldn't believe all this was coming from Rina's lips—my sweet Rina, who was my friend and my only confidant. This was a nightmare; it just had to be! "Rina, how could you?" I snarled, lunging for her, but I was immediately pulled back and harshly pushed to the ground. "Enough!" Kaylan growled; he looked overwhelmed that he had been caught by me, especially since my mother was the pack leader, and yes, she was the one who chose Kaylan to be my future mate two years ago when I was seventeen and he was twenty-two. She had promised his family that I would be ready to be mated the moment my wolf would present at the age of eighteen, but I'm nineteen now and my wolf has not presented, and the mating ritual was pushed back in hopes I would present soon. And what's worse is that the person who comforted me every day about my wolfless status was Rina, yet I had no idea she would betray me like this. "Enough of this, Eryna; enough of these lies and charades!" he screams at me. "We are nothing to each other; why would I want a broken wolf?" Kaylan claims as he paces and his chest heaves in rage. "Kaylan..." I started. "Tell her," Rina states firmly to Kaylan while she stares at me with so much hate and disdain that she had hidden from me all these years, and she was such a good actress that she never once let it slip. "Tell her, Kay," Rina says again to him. Tell me what? I wondered, as my heartbeat had become ten times faster. I felt pathetic staring them down since I had no wolf to fight for me, as my wolf had not yet presented itself, and Kaylan or Rina could attack me right now. "I, Kaylan Markov of the Star Moon Pack, hereby reject you as my betrothed mate." "No, Kaylan," I uttered as my body jittered. The only reason I accepted this proposal was because Kaylan was one of the few males I could talk to because I knew my mother had plans to sell me off before for political gain, and because of the agreement, I was safe. And with that agreement, I had grown to have feelings for him. But now it's all over. "Stop. "Please," I begged, but I could only see Rina's wicked grin and her midnight black hair that acted like a hood, hiding her joy and glee from Kaylan, and was left for me to witness. "You are no longer my betrothed mate," Kaylan tells me as he moves forward to take my pendant, which I try to protect. It was a humiliation of the highest order to be rejected and abandoned. He walked closer to me, ripping off our betrothal pendant, before his fingers lined up his claw that scratched my collarbone, leaving a mark called the "Anteros" on my skin. It was a term used for rejected females. And now, like a daunting nightmare, I was the one being rejected. And I could feel something inside me break from the humiliation. "Go away and leave us alone, Eryna," Rina tells me as she walks toward me. I couldn't do anything but clutch my chest as if pierced by multiple poison arrows lunging into my heart. My body felt hot and dizzy as I looked back at them before I left Kaylan's cabin. "You will regret this. You both will," I told them as I shut the door. With the moment left, I hoped I wouldn’t be noticed, but I was unlucky when I immediately encountered two older female wolves. They both wore pitying expressions the moment they saw my collarbone with the claw mark of rejection; whispers of shock passed through them. While I could hardly feel my body anymore, my body ached, and my legs felt like molten lava that gave out immediately in the middle of the pack grounds. I could hear shouts of my name, but I was too out of it and too dizzy to answer as my body burned—an intense heat that I couldn't bear, not even as an anguished scream left my mouth. A scream filled with anguish from Kaylan and Rina's betrayal and how something inside me thrashed around, wailing to come to the surface—that was the last thing I felt before the world turned black.