Tainted Loyalty

Chapter Two.

Frida's POV.

The world outside my window moved on without me. Days must have passed, but I stayed curled up in bed, the covers pulled over my head. It almost felt like they could shield me from the shame.

I knew that I was still being gossiped about, even in my absence. It wasn't like I could do anything else about it.

"You need to eat." My grandmother, the only family I had left, tried to coax me out every day. She would say that like a song all the time.

I would mumble something back, but they were all words that I had no intention of keeping. She would sigh, leave the tray by my bed, and close the door, and I would stay curled up, drowning.

The girl I used to be, the girl who had hope, who smiled, who dreamed, that girl felt like a stranger now.

Because who was I if not Mark's mate?

What was left of me now?

"Frida, this is enough!" My grandmother yelled, slamming my door open.

Her voice was harder this time, and I knew she wasn't going to leave without a real answer. I sighed, pulling the blanket off my face to look at her.

My grandmother stood by the door, arms crossed, with her gray hair pinned back neatly. She looked at me the way only she could, with love, but also a bit of disappointment.

"Three days, Frida." She said. "You have locked yourself in this room for three whole days. You've barely eaten. This is not the life your parents would have wanted for you."

Her words stung. I knew she was right. My parents had always believed in strength, in moving forward no matter what.

But I wasn't them. I was just a broken girl with no wolf.

"I don't care about what that bot Mark did." She continued to speak. "I only care about you. You cannot let his foolishness steal your future!"

I scoffed.

"Future?" I sat up, rubbing my eyes. "What future, Grandma? The entire pack knows what happened. Do you know what they're saying about me?"

She came to take a seat on my bed.

"What people say doesn't matter. What matters is how you choose to live."

I shook my head. She didn't understand. Their words felt more like knives than insults. I had been a fool to believe I could ever belong.

But then again, my grandmother was probably right. The walls of this house were suffocating me, and for the first time in days, I wanted to breathe in some fresh air.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed to face it.

So I got out of bed hugging her.

"Don't touch me, you smell." She said savagely.

-

The stares started the moment I stepped into the marketplace. I knew I should have ignored them, but it was impossible.

"She actually showed up." Someone muttered.

I gritted my teeth and kept walking.

"Did she really think the bond would work without a wolf?"

"Oh goddess, she's so brave!"

Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them!

I reached the fruit stall and handed the vendor some money. He barely looked at me as he placed the apples in a bag.

Even he was uncomfortable serving me.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell them that I wasn't some pitiful creature who had lost everything. But the truth was that I had lost everything.

I took my apples and turned away. I couldn't take this.

The walls were closing in again, and suddenly, I had to get out.

To the forest. The woods had always been my escape.

The trees were silent tonight, as if they were in mourning with me. Walking in there felt like therapy, like I was walking further away from everything I had once known. The wind brushed through the branches, and the cold bit at my skin. I wasn't sure if it was the wind or my heart that was causing the chill.

"Mark rejected me." I couldn't stop saying it.

I had believed in him. I had believed in us.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I barely noticed it at first. The storm had been brewing in the sky all evening. But it was as if the sky itself could sense my pain, waiting for the moment I could no longer hold it in.

I was running away, but I didn't know where to go. Then, the hairs on my arms rose.

I wasn't alone.

My senses, once so sharp, had been dulled by my grief. But now, they were alert wide awake, like I was being watched.

I wanted to run back to the safety of my house, but my feet wouldn't move. I could hear footsteps moving with stealth in the shadows.

"Who is there?"

I turned around, only to bump into something. Someone.

I gasped, stumbling back, but strong hands shot out to catch me. My eyes flew open, but all I could see at first was the blur of movement of a person that was both close and far away.

Before I could react, I felt the grip on my arms tighten, firm but not threatening. I looked up, my breath catching in my throat.

There, in the shadows, his golden eyes gleamed, and he looked so familiar but I couldn't place where I knew those eyes from.

He was much taller than me, and the shadows seemed to swirl around him, like he was somehow part of them. He looked so familiar...

"What are you doing out here?" His voice was deep, smooth, sounding just like the sound of thunder in the distance. It sent a chill through me.

I blinked, unable to move. Was he part of the pack? No, there was no way he could be. I would have known him.

"I... I..." I couldn't find the words. I had come out here to escape, to be alone, but now I was in here with the alpha.