THE ALPHA'S SAVAGE MATE

Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Brielle's POV

I crouched low in the shadows, my body pressed against the damp trunk of an old oak tree. The sounds of the pack gathering still drifted through the forest, laughter cutting through the night like knives. My lungs felt tight, like they were full of broken glass, but I stayed still, knees hugged to my chest, hoping the darkness would keep me hidden.

I’d run as far as I could after Liam’s rejection, but not far enough. Their voices followed me, cruel and relentless, biting into me the way claws never could.

“Did you see her face? Priceless!”

“She really thought he’d pick her.”

“Why would he? She’s nothing. No wolf, no mate,she’s practically human.”

A fresh wave of humiliation crashed over me. I pressed a hand to my mouth, forcing myself to stay silent. My throat burned with the sobs I refused to let out. Crying here, where someone could hear me, would only make things worse. They already thought I was weak.

The firelight flickered faintly through the trees behind me, casting long, eerie shadows. The pack wasn’t finished celebrating,or laughing at me, apparently. I could still hear Kylie’s obnoxious giggle rising above the crowd, sharp and smug.

“She didn’t even say anything,” Kayla said, her voice carrying easily in the still night air. “Just stood there like a sad little ghost. Honestly, it was embarrassing.”

A chorus of laughter followed her comment, blending with the low murmur of the pack.

“Did you see her face when Liam rejected her?” another voice added. It was one of Kylie’s friends: I couldn’t tell which one. Maybe Sydney or Sabrina. They all sounded the same, like spoiled brats who lived to feed off other people’s misery.

“She looked like she was about to cry,” another chimed in.

“Of course she did! Brielle doesn’t have a spine. I mean, would you want her as your mate?”

Kylie wasn’t done, though. She never was. “I mean, it’s not like this is a surprise, right? She’s been pathetic her whole life. Can’t fight, can’t shift, can’t do anything useful. Did she seriously think someone like Liam would want her? Please.”

The laughter swelled, louder this time.

I bit down on my lip, hard enough that I tasted blood. The sting cut through the numbness spreading inside me, keeping me grounded. Barely.

“Whatever,” Ky8 continued, her voice dripping with mock pity. “At least now she knows her place. She’s not Luna material. Hell, she’s not even pack material.”

I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. I wanted to scream at her, to tell her to shut the hell up, but what would be the point?

I thought back to her smirk as she clung to Liam, her golden hair glowing in the moonlight like some kind of twisted halo. She’d looked so satisfied, so smug, like rejecting me wasn’t just Liam’s choice but hers too.

And maybe it was. Kylie always got what she wanted.

I was ten the first time I realized Kylie wasn’t just mean,she was cruel.

“Give it back!” I shouted, reaching for the stuffed wolf she held high above her head. It was my favorite toy, one my mother had given me before she died.

“Why?” Kylie sneered, her perfect little nose wrinkling like she was disgusted by the very idea of me owning something she wanted. “It’s not like you need it. You’re barely a wolf anyway.”

My cheeks burned, but I refused to cry. “I said give it back!”

“What are you gonna do about it, huh?” she taunted, her voice sing-songy and cruel. “Shift and take it from me?” She laughed, loud and mocking, as if the idea was hilarious.

I froze.

She knew I couldn’t shift. Everyone knew.

Kylie leaned in close, her smile so wide I could see all her teeth. “Face it, Brielle. You’re a loser. A defective, broken little loser.”

She tossed the stuffed wolf into the mud and sauntered off, leaving me standing there, fists clenched and tears blurring my vision.

I blinked back to the present, my chest heaving. The memory felt as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. Kylie hadn’t changed in the slightest. If anything, she’d only gotten worse.

And Sylvia? She’d encouraged it every step of the way.

“You need to stop sulking,” Sylvia had said, her voice as sharp as a whip.

I was fourteen, sitting at the kitchen table with a book I wasn’t really reading. Sylvia stood across from me, her arms crossed, her lips painted in her signature blood-red.

“I’m not sulking,” I muttered, keeping my eyes on the page.

“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes, her perfectly styled hair swaying as she moved closer. “You’ve been moping around here for weeks, dragging your feet like some kind of lost puppy. It’s pathetic, Brielle's. Truly.”

I stiffened but didn’t respond.

“You’re embarrassing yourself,” she continued, leaning over the table so her shadow loomed over me. “And worse, you’re embarrassing this family. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold my head up when everyone knows you belong to us?”

I looked up at her then, my throat tight. “I didn’t ask to be born this way.”

“No, but you were,” she said, her tone cold enough to freeze. “And that’s not my problem. It’s yours. So either figure out how to stop being a burden or get used to being nothing.”

Her words echoed in my head as I sat there in the shadows, the laughter from the pack growing fainter as the gathering dragged on.

Nothing.

That’s what they thought I was. Sylvia, Kylie, Liam,the whole damn pack.

And maybe they were right.

The forest grew darker as the bonfire died down. Most of the pack had gone back to their homes or tents, leaving behind only a few stragglers still swapping stories and jokes by the fading flames. I stayed where I was, hidden and silent, until their voices finally disappeared.

Only then did I let myself move. My legs were stiff and shaky as I stood, the muscles protesting after being curled up for so long. I took a deep breath, the cool night air filling my lungs, and started walking.

I didn’t know where I was going,just away. Away from the clearing, away from the pack, away from the shattered pieces of my life.

The trees closed in around me, their branches reaching out like skeletal hands. The darkness felt heavy, pressing down on me from all sides, but I didn’t care. I just kept walking, my feet crunching against the fallen leaves and twigs beneath me.

My chest ached with every step, the mate bond pulling at me like a phantom limb. It wasn’t gone,not completely. It was fraying, unraveling, but the pieces were still there, raw and jagged and painful as hell.

I wanted to rip it out of me, to scream and claw at my chest until it stopped hurting. But I couldn’t.

Instead, I kept walking, my thoughts spiraling as the memories came rushing back.

“You’ll never be Luna material,” Kylie said, her voice cutting through the crowded hallway like a knife.

I was sixteen, standing by my locker, trying,and failing,to blend into the background. Kylie’s friends surrounded her, their laughter echoing off the walls as she closed in on me.

“Can you even imagine it?” she continued, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. “Brielle's as Luna? What a joke. She can’t even shift, let alone lead a pack.”

“Maybe she could be the janitor,” Sydney suggested, smirking. “She’d be good at cleaning up after the real wolves.”

The laughter that followed was deafening, and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

“Stop it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“What was that?” Kylie cupped a hand around her ear, pretending she couldn’t hear me. “Speak up, Brielle's. Or are you too scared?”

My fists clenched at my sides, but I didn’t say anything else. There was no point.

Kylie laughed again, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walked away. “That’s what I thought.”

The memory faded, but the sting of it lingered, mixing with the fresh wounds of tonight.

I stopped walking, my legs trembling beneath me, and leaned against a tree for support. My breath came in shallow gasps, the weight of everything pressing down on me like a crushing tide.

I’d spent my whole life being trampled on, torn apart piece by piece until there was nothing left. And tonight, Liam’s rejection had been the final blow.

But even as I stood there, broken and defeated, a tiny spark of something flickered inside me.

It wasn’t hope. Not yet.

It was anger.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms, and stared up at the moon. It hung high above me, cold and indifferent, its light reflecting off the river in the distance.

They thought I was nothing. They thought I’d crumble, fade into the background like I’d always done.

But maybe… maybe I didn’t have to.

The spark grew, faint but steady, warming the hollow ache in my chest.

I didn’t know what came next. I didn’t know how to escape the suffocating grip of this pack, this life.