Claimed by the Lycan's Mark

Chapter Two: The Fall

~Aiyana~

I don’t remember leaving the cabin.

One moment, I was standing there, staring at the empty door where Kade had just walked out, and the next, I was stumbling through the forest, my legs carrying me on instinct.

Twigs snapped under my feet, and early morning mosquitoes from the sap trees stung my skin, but I barely felt it. My arms were wrapped tightly around myself, my nails digging into my skin as if the pain would wake me up and say that this was a dream. My mind replayed his words over and over again, each one stabbing into my heart like a dagger.

“You’re just a bet, Aiyana,”

I squeezed my eyes shut, but the tears wouldn’t stop. They poured down my cheeks, blurring my vision as I kicked one foot against the other and stumbled. My breath came in sharp, broken gasps that caught painfully in my throat.

How could he do this? But most especially, how could the Moon Goddess be so cruel?

He wasn’t just my mate. He was my fate. The one person who was supposed to love me, cherish me, and protect me. The one person I trusted more than anyone. And he had used me. He had lied to me and humiliated me.

A fresh wave of nausea rolled over me as I thought about the camera, the hidden red light blinking in the corner of the room. He’d recorded us. He had planned this carefully with no remorse whatsoever. The whole night; the wine, the strawberries, his confession of love: They had all been lies.

I stumbled to a halt, leaning against a tree for support as my stomach turned violently. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear the forest apart with my bare hands, to rip Kade’s smug face from my memory, to make him hurt the way I was hurting. But all I could do was cry.

Tears clouded my vision and the trees became shadows as I pushed forward.

By the time I reached the edge of Silverpine territory, my legs felt like lead, and my heart was deep with exhaustion. The familiar sight of my pack’s village should have been comforting, but right now, it felt like an executioner’s rope tightening around my neck.

I wiped at my tear-streaked face, trying to compose myself. My father couldn’t see me like this. He’d ask questions, and I wasn’t ready to answer them yet.

Taking a deep calming breath, I counted from one to twenty backwards. It was a technique that my late mother had taught me to make myself calm during distressing moments. By the time I was done counting, I felt a little bit of peace.

Sure that I would be able to face anything now, I stepped into the building near the Alpha’s house. My initial plan was to sneak back in as quietly as possible without raising eyebrows, but that plan failed instantly as I saw my father waiting for me.

He stood in the center of the yard, his arms crossed over his chest. His face showed restrained anger, and the way he kept grinding his molars together showed me that the worst had happened. My stepmother and the other pack members were scattered around, their eyes flicking between him and me with unease.

“Aiyana,” my father barked the moment he sighted me, “Come here. Now!”

I flinched, my feet rooted to the ground. “Dad,” I said, my voice trembling. “What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tossed it to the ground in front of me. The screen lit up, and my stomach dropped as I recognized the video playing.

It was THE video. The one Kade had recorded.

I gasped and staggered back, shaking my head. “No,” I whispered. “No, this isn’t—”

“Explain this,” my father demanded.

“I didn’t—” I choked, my words hanging in my throat. “It’s not what it looks like!”

“Not what it looks like?” he roared, his eyes blazing with anger. “You mean to tell me that’s not YOU in that video? That you didn’t sneak off to meet Kade Stone, the Alpha of the rival Pack? That you didn’t betray your family and your pack for him? That you didn’t stubbornly seduce him even though you knew the rules of this pack and the repercussions that come with that action?”

“Dad, please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “It’s not like that. I didn’t seduce him. He—he tricked me. He—”

“Tricked you?” My stepmother interrupted, taking a step closer to me. “Do you think your father is stupid, Aiyana? Do you think the entire Silverpine pack is stupid?”

She picked up the phone and pushed it to my face. “Look at this carefully and tell us once again that this isn’t you climbing on Alpha Kade. Tell us that this isn’t you kissing him and discarding your clothes in the most profane way. Go on Aiyana; tell us that we’re all blind and very foolish.”

I looked around desperately, my gaze darting to the faces of the pack members watching us. Some looked confused, others angry, but most of them just looked... disappointed.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head vigorously, suddenly lost for words. “I didn’t... I wouldn’t...”

My father’s face twisted in disgust. “You’ve disgraced this family,” he spat. “You’ve disgraced me. Do you have any idea what this will do to us? To our reputation as a pack? How could you be so selfish?”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I tried to speak, to defend myself, but the lump in my throat was too thick. All I could do was shake my head, the tears falling faster now.

“I didn’t mean to,” I managed to choke out. “I didn’t know—”

“You didn’t know?” My stepmother scoffed. “You didn’t know that sneaking around with our enemy would destroy us? You didn’t know that giving yourself to him would make you a laughing stock?”

“I trusted you,” my father said, “I raised you to be better than this. And this is how you repay me?”

I flinched at the bitterness in his voice, at the way he looked at me like I was a stranger instead of his daughter.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off with a sharp wave of his hand.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he snapped. “You’ve made your choice, Aiyana. And now, you’ll live with the consequences.”

I shook my head vigorously and fell on my knees before my father, grabbing his ankles. “No, please! You can’t do that to me, dad.”

“You are hereby exiled from the Silverpine Pack,” he said, his tone devoid of emotion. “As alpha of the Silverpine Pack, I strip you… of your original alpha status and demote you to an omega. Effective immediately.”

The moment the words left his lips, I felt the surge of power leaving my body. My wolf howled in distress as the push and pull began. I clutched my belly, the excruciating pain washing me down from head to toe.

“D-dad, please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “You can’t do this. I’m your daughter!”

“You were my daughter,” he said coldly. “But not anymore. You’ve made your bed and you will lie on it.”

The finality in his voice shattered what was left of my heart. I looked around at the pack, at the faces of the people I’d grown up with. No one stepped forward. No one spoke up for me.

“Pack your things and leave," my father said as he turned his back to me. “And don’t come back.”

For a moment, I couldn’t move. My legs felt like they were made of stone, my body felt empty and worthless as I knelt there on the ground, watching as my father turned his back to me without looking back, and the pack that I’d felt at home with abandoned me.