My brother hot best friend

Chapter 1: The red eye freak Jade "I, Kade Blackwood, future Alpha of Silver Blade Pack, reject you, Jade, as my mate." His voice rang out clear and strong. "I sever the bond between us by right and by law." The pain hit me like a freight train. My chest exploded with agony, like someone had reached inside and ripped out my heart with claws. I gasped, doubling over, my hands clutching at my chest as the mate bond tore apart. It felt like my soul was being shredded, every nerve ending screaming, my wolf howling in anguish inside me. I fell to my knees, unable to stop myself. The pain intensified, radiating from my chest outward in waves. My vision blurred, my body convulsing. Dimly, I heard gasps from the crowd, but no one moved to help. No one ever did. —-------------------------- *A day earlier* My hands trembled as I arranged silver platters, each one catching my reflection. Today was my Awakening Ceremony, the day I'd finally discover my wolf, but the pack needed someone to prepare their feast and I was always the one they chose. "Still here, Calamity?" Sandra's voice sliced through the kitchen chatter like a blade. She leaned against the doorframe, her perfect blonde hair cascading over one shoulder, her lips curved in that cruel smile I knew too well. "I thought maybe you'd do us all a favor and run away before you embarrass yourself tonight." I kept my eyes down, focusing on arranging the meat. "I'm just finishing." "You're always just something, aren't you?" She pushed off the doorframe and stalked closer, her wolf's dominance rolling over me in waves that made my skin prickle. "Just a servant. Just an orphan. Just a mistake someone left on our doorstep like garbage." The other servants scattered to the far corners of the kitchen. They always did. No one ever stood up for the girl with blood-red eyes, the girl who brought bad luck just by existing. "Sandra, please." My voice came out smaller than I wanted, barely above a whisper. "I need to finish this." "Please." She mimicked my tone, drawing snickers from the watching wolves. "Is that all you know how to say? Please don't hurt me. Please leave me alone. Please let me exist in your pack like the parasite I am." Heat flooded my cheeks. I hated how easily she could do this, how quickly she could make me feel like nothing. She'd tormented me for years, ever since I'd stumbled into Silver Blade territory at seven years old with no memories and no one to claim me. The pack had taken me in out of obligation, not kindness, and Sandra made sure I never forgot it. "The Alpha wants you at the ceremony grounds in ten minutes." Sandra's voice dropped lower, more dangerous. "Try not to shift into something as hideous as your face." She swept out, her laughter echoing off the stone walls. I braced my hands against the counter, breathing through the familiar ache in my chest. One day, I told myself. One day this would end. One day I'd be something more than the pack's favorite target. But I didn't really believe it. The ceremony grounds buzzed with hundreds of wolves, their excitement thick in the air. I stood at the back of the unbonded group, trying to make myself invisible the way I always did. The moon hung overhead, full and strange, its edges tinged with red that made my skin crawl. "Look, it's the red-eyed freak." "I heard she might not even have a wolf." "Good. One less cursed creature in our pack." The whispers surrounded me like a noose. I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I could disappear entirely, wishing I was anywhere but here with all these eyes on me. Alpha Blackwood called names one by one. Beautiful transformations followed; sleek wolves, powerful wolves, wolves that made the pack howl with pride. Each one reminded me how much I didn't belong here, how different I was from everyone else. "Jade." The Alpha's voice held no warmth when he spoke my name. My legs barely carried me forward. The crowd parted like I carried disease, their stares burning into my skin. I could smell their anticipation, their desire to see me fail, to see their beliefs about me confirmed. Then the shift hit me. It felt like dying and being reborn in the same breath. My bones cracked and reformed, my body stretched and expanded, power flooding through me in waves that stole my breath. I screamed, the sound twisting into a howl as my wolf finally, finally emerged. When I opened my eyes, everything had changed. My body felt massive, powerful in a way I'd never imagined, my fur the deep crimson of arterial blood. The silence was deafening. I looked down at myself, at paws twice the size of any female wolf I'd seen tonight, at a body that rippled with muscle and strength. I was bigger than the other female wolves, bigger than wolves who'd spent their whole lives training for power. Then I smelled him. Cinnamon and pine and something that made my wolf surge forward with recognition. The mate bond snapped into place like lightning, pulling my attention to the raised platform where he stood. Kade Blackwood. Alpha's son. The most sought-after male in Silver Blade Pack. "My eyes widened and my wolf’s muzzle pulled back into a grin. Finally, my future was bright. I couldn't wait to shove this right down Sandra’s throat.” He stared at me, his dark eyes widening. For one heartbeat, I saw the bond hit him too. Then his expression shifted, transforming into something that made my powerful wolf whimper. Disgust. Pure, complete disgust. His lip curled like he'd smelled something rotten. "No." That single word carried across the silent grounds, each letter a rejection that drove into my chest like claws. My mate, the one person who was supposed to accept me, looked at me like I was beneath him, like I was exactly what everyone had always said. "The Calamity is mated to Kade?" Sandra's voice rang out, delighted and vicious. "The Moon Goddess must be playing a joke." Laughter rippled through the crowd, nervous at first, then building. "Look at her, massive as a male but still just a servant." "Poor Kade, stuck with that thing." "Blood-red wolf for a blood-red curse." Kade's jaw clenched, his hands fisting at his sides. He looked at his father, at Alpha Blackwood who watched me with an unreadable expression. "This can't be real." "She's enormous," someone whispered. "Freakishly big," another agreed. "Powerful too, did you see how fast she shifted?" "Doesn't matter how strong she is. She's still just the orphan nobody wanted." I'd spent seventeen years making myself small, quiet, unthreatening. I'd bowed my head and accepted every insult, every cruelty, every reminder that I didn't belong. And now here I stood in a body that screamed power, mated to someone who looked at me with the same disgust everyone else did. Kade turned away from me entirely, his broad shoulders rigid. "I need to speak with you, Father. Privately." The dismissal was clear. I wasn't worth another glance, another word, another moment of his attention. Alpha Blackwood studied me for a long moment, something flickering in his eyes that I couldn't name. Then he nodded once. "Everyone return to the celebration. Jade, shift back and return to your duties." My duties. Of course the kitchen is where I belonged. The crowd began to disperse, their whispers following me like ghosts. "Did you see his face?" "He looked like he wanted to vomit." "Poor Kade, what a curse." I shifted back, my human form returning in a rush that left me shaking and naked. Someone threw a rough servant's robe at my feet, not even bothering to help me. I clutched it around myself, my massive wolf shrinking back down into the small, scared girl everyone expected. Sandra appeared beside me, her smile victorious. "The Moon Goddess herself thinks you're a joke, Calamity. Even she knows you're not good enough for an Alpha's son." She walked away, her laughter cutting through the night air. I stood alone in the clearing as the pack celebrated around me, ignored and dismissed. My mate had looked at me with disgust. The bond pulled at my chest, demanding acknowledgment, demanding acceptance, but all I felt was the weight of his rejection crushing down on my shoulders. In the distance, I watched Kade disappear into the pack house with his father, never once looking back. Chapter 2: The Rejection ceremony The ceremony was set for noon, giving me exactly twelve hours to pretend I still had a future. I didn't sleep. I couldn't. The mate bond hummed beneath my skin like a live wire, pulling me toward Kade even as every instinct screamed to run. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, massive and confused, unable to understand why our mate looked at us with revulsion instead of recognition. "Get up, Calamity." Sandra kicked open my door without knocking, her face bright with malicious joy. "The pack's gathering. Wouldn't want you to miss your own humiliation." I was already dressed in the plain gray servant's dress they'd left for me, my red hair braided tight against my skull. My hands shook as I stood, my body still aching from last night's shift, from the power that had flooded through me only to mean absolutely nothing. "I heard the Alpha is making it official," Sandra continued, leaning against the doorframe. "A public rejection ceremony. First one in fifteen years. You should feel honored—not every pathetic omega gets this much attention." My throat closed. "Public?" "Oh yes." Her smile widened. "The whole pack will witness Kade severing the bond. They're even streaming it to the allied packs. Everyone needs to see that the future Alpha won't be weakened by a cursed mate." The walk to the ceremony grounds felt like a death march. Wolves lined the path, their whispers following me like wasps. "She actually thought she had a chance." "Look how small she looks now. Hard to believe that monster wolf came from her." "I bet the bond was a fluke. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes this big." The grounds had been transformed overnight. A raised platform stood in the center, official and cold, with the Alpha's council seated in a semicircle behind it. Cameras were set up—actual cameras, because Sandra was right, they were broadcasting this. Hundreds of pack members filled the space, and I could see screens showing other packs watching remotely. This wasn't just my rejection. This was a spectacle. Alpha Blackwood stood on the platform, his expression carved from stone. Beside him stood Kade, and next to Kade— My breath caught. A stunning she-wolf with silver-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes stood close to him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. She wore a designer dress that probably cost more than I'd earn in a lifetime, and she looked at me with the polite contempt of someone observing an insect. "That's Celeste Moonbrook," someone whispered nearby. "Daughter of the Moonbrook Alpha. One of the most powerful packs in the region." "I heard they've been negotiating an alliance for months." "Smart move. Political match instead of being stuck with that thing." The mate bond yanked hard, making me stumble. Kade's eyes flickered to me for just a moment before sliding away, dismissive. I could feel his disgust through the bond, feel how much my very existence offended him. "Jade. Come forward." Alpha Blackwood's voice carried across the grounds. My legs barely worked. Each step toward that platform felt like walking through concrete, my body fighting against what was coming. The crowd parted, giving me a wide berth like my bad luck might be contagious. I climbed the steps, my head down, my hands clasped tight to stop their shaking. This close, I could smell Celeste's expensive perfume, could see the perfect manicure on her hands, could feel the raw power that radiated from her wolf. She was everything I wasn't—refined, powerful, connected, wanted. "We gather today for a rejection ceremony," Alpha Blackwood announced, his voice amplified to reach every corner of the grounds and every screen broadcasting this nightmare. "The mate bond, while sacred, must sometimes yield to the greater good of the pack." My wolf whimpered, curling in on herself. "Kade Blackwood, son of the Alpha, has invoked his right to reject his mate for the benefit of Silver Blade Pack and our allies." He turned to Kade. "Speak your rejection." Kade stepped forward, his jaw tight, his dark eyes finally meeting mine. For one heartbeat, I thought I saw something flicker there—hesitation, maybe, or regret. Then it vanished, replaced by cold determination. "I, Kade Blackwood, future Alpha of Silver Blade Pack, reject you, Jade of no family name, as my mate." His voice rang out clear and strong. "I sever the bond between us by right and by law." The pain hit like a freight train. My chest exploded with agony, like someone had reached inside and ripped out my heart with claws. I gasped, doubling over, my hands clutching at my chest as the mate bond tore apart. It felt like my soul was being shredded, every nerve ending screaming, my wolf howling in anguish inside me. I fell to my knees, unable to stop myself. The pain intensified, radiating from my chest outward in waves. My vision blurred, my body convulsing. Dimly, I heard gasps from the crowd, but no one moved to help. No one ever did. "The bond is severed," Alpha Blackwood announced. "Jade, you are required to accept the rejection to complete the ceremony." I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. The pain was consuming me, eating me alive from the inside out. "Say it," Kade's voice cut through the agony, impatient now. "Accept the rejection." I forced my head up, forced myself to look at him through tears I didn't remember crying. He stood there untouched, unbothered, with Celeste's hand now resting possessively on his arm. The bond was already gone for him, I realized. He felt nothing while I shattered. "I—" My voice broke. "I accept—" My body seized. The shift started without warning, violent and wrong. My bones cracked, my skin rippled, but the transformation stuttered, caught between forms. I screamed as fur sprouted and receded, as my body tried to shift but couldn't complete it, couldn't hold either form. "What's happening to her?" someone shouted. "The bond breaking destabilized her wolf!" "She's going feral!" My massive wolf clawed to the surface, desperate and in pain, but my human side fought back, trapped in the agony of rejection. I was stuck between forms, my body a twisted nightmare of both, neither human nor wolf but something broken in between. "Restrain her!" Alpha Blackwood's command cut through the chaos. Guards rushed forward, silver chains in their hands. The metal burned where it touched my skin, adding new pain to the unbearable load. They forced me down, forced my convulsing body still, the chains wrapped tight enough to cut off the partial shift. "The rejection has damaged her beyond normal parameters," the Alpha announced, his voice clinically detached. "Until she stabilizes, Jade will be confined to the pack cells for the safety of Silver Blade." "No—" I managed to gasp, but another wave of pain cut off my protest. "Furthermore," he continued, addressing the crowd and the cameras, "given the unstable and dangerous nature of her wolf, Jade is hereby stripped of all pack privileges. She will be treated as a rogue until such time as she proves she can control her beast." Rogue. The word rippled through the crowd like wildfire. Rogues had no rights, no protection, no place in pack law. Rogues were fair game for anyone who wanted to assert dominance, to punish, to hurt. Sandra's delighted laughter cut through the crowd noise. "Finally putting the trash where it belongs!" The guards dragged me off the platform, my body still seizing, still caught in the incomplete shift. Every movement sent fresh agony through me, the silver chains burning, my wolf howling and thrashing inside my mind. "One more thing," Kade's voice stopped them. He descended the platform steps, Celeste still clinging to his arm. He looked down at me with a cold, clinical assessment. "I want it known that I didn't request this ceremony lightly. I've been in discussions with Moonbrook Pack for six months, planning an alliance that will strengthen both our territories." Six months. Before the Awakening Ceremony. Before he even knew who his mate was. "When the bond snapped last night," he continued, his words destroying me more thoroughly than the rejection itself, "I already knew what I had to do. Some bonds are mistakes. Some mates are... incompatible with destiny." He'd known. He'd felt the bond forming and had immediately decided I wasn't worth keeping. "The alliance between Silver Blade and Moonbrook will be sealed with my mating to Celeste in three weeks," Alpha Blackwood announced. "Our packs will be stronger together." Celeste smiled, beautiful and victorious. She looked at me like I was already forgotten. The guards hauled me away as my body convulsed again, the shift trying and failing, trying and failing. Through my blurred vision, I saw the crowd's faces—disgust, satisfaction, relief. I saw Marcus, the kind cook, turning away with grief in his eyes but unable to help. I saw Sandra practically dancing with joy. The pack cells were underground, dark and damp, reeking of fear and silver. They threw me inside, the chains still wrapped around my twisted form, and slammed the iron door shut. I was alone in the darkness, my body caught between forms, the mate bond's ghost still screaming in my chest where Kade had torn it out. Every breath hurts. Every heartbeat felt like dying. Above me, I could hear the celebration starting. Music, laughter, joy. They were celebrating my rejection. Celebrating that their future Alpha had escaped the cursed red-eyed girl. My wolf tried to howl, but the sound that came out was broken, half-human, half-beast, all agony. Three weeks until Kade mated another woman. Three weeks until whatever remained of our bond turned to poison in my veins. I closed my eyes and prayed for unconsciousness, for anything to escape the pain. But consciousness held on, cruel and relentless, forcing me to feel every second of what I'd become. A rogue. A rejected cautionary tale. The Calamity who'd finally gotten what everyone always said she deserved.