Chapter 2. The Last Break

That was when I realized the source of the pain I had been feeling in the past month. Why didn’t I even think in his direction?

I pushed the room door open, and Trevor and Alina, my best friend, pulled apart. They both lay underneath the blanket, their underwear laid out on the ground everywhere in the room. My hands clenched in fist in anger, and my wolf snarled within me, scratching to come out and tear both of them apart.

Trevor flailed, holding his briefs before him like a shield to ward off shame.

“Lena, baby, listen to me; it’s not what it looks like.” he stepped closer to me.

“Don’t even dare touch me with those filthy hands,” I interrupted him, moving away from him. “Go on, Trevor. Let’s hear the grand explanation you have for this.”

Alina crossed her eyes and sat up, the blanket wrinkle-fresh in her lap. “Oh, please, Lena. You’re so miserable. You knew you weren’t good enough for him.”

My eyes stretched into hers. The girl who was like my sister. The girl I trusted above all.

“You? You of all people?” I spat, not with fear, but fury for having been so betrayed. “You were my best friend, Alina. I fought for you, trusted you. And this is what you choose to be? A cunting backstabber?”

She’s smiling hesitantly. “Whatever. He wanted me. Not my fault.”

Trevor stepped closer to me, palms raised in pacification mode as if to placate me. “Lena, It’s complicated. I didn’t intend for things to get to this point. It just happened.”

I forced myself to calm down and laughed. “That just happened? Did you trip and fall into bed with her? You sound so pathetic right now.”

He flinched, and his eyes widened in shock. “You know what? I’m tired of pretending. Alina and I have been together for a year. We are in a serious relationship, and you were nothing but the other woman, Lena. You should be lucky I'm even keeping you around.”

The words slammed into my face, but I wasn’t going to let him see that his words affected me. My wolf snarled underneath me to rip him limb from limb, to rip him apart for shame. But I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

I gritted my teeth, fighting the tears in the corners of my eyes from falling.

“You’re going to pay for this, the both of you.” I glared at Alina with seething anger, and she averted her eyes from me. “The two of you are clearly a perfect fit for each other.”

“You’re making a big—” Trevor started, but I cut him off.

“No.” I held my head up high and tried to sound authoritative. “I’m done.”

My eyes bored into his as I said, “I, Lena Petrakis, reject you, Trevor Hale, as my mate.”

The room turned chilly, and Trevor stared at me in shock. Alina looked back and forth between us, awaiting Trevor’s action.

“You are joking, right?” he laughed as he stepped closer, reaching for my arm.

“Does it look like I am?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

His laughter turned to rage. “Do you think you can survive without me? I’m the only one who can help you save your dying mother.”

I knew I was throwing away the last option I had to save my mother, but I couldn’t take the insult and betrayal from them any longer.

“I’d rather die than accept any of your dirty money.” I spat in his face.

“Lena!” Trevor yelled at me.

I glared at Alina, whose face had gone white as a ghost.

“Fuck you, Alina,” I spat at her. “You will need a lot of luck if this is the kind of life you choose.” I moved closer to the bed where she was still sitting with my lip curled in disgust. “Slut is a great name for you. You’ll be a good one.”

I turned on my heel and walked away.

The moment I exited the compound and stepped onto the sidewalk, raw reality kicked my gut. My legs turned to jelly when I registered what had just happened. I squatted on the sidewalk and cried my eyes out as the rain poured heavily on me.

“How could they do this to me?” I breathed, rain and tears shimmering in the air all around me. “What did I do to deserve all this?” I yelled toward the sky, hoping that the moon goddess would give me a reply.

I was tired. I wanted to give up. I craved the warmth and comfort that I had been deprived of since our perfect family fell apart. But giving up was the one thing I could not do. I had a mom to rescue.

Pushing myself up, I dragged my feet in the rain under the dark sky and made my way home.

I stumbled into my one-bedroom apartment, dripping and defeated. I took off my wet sneakers, stripped out of my soggy T-shirt, wrapped myself up in a large shirt, and fell onto my bed.

My brain would not settle.

“Ninety-nine thousand,” I said, glaring at the ceiling. That’s what I needed to save my mother, but all I could gather from all my savings and jobs was three hundred thousand. Where was I supposed to get the remaining money? I had no one left to turn to for help. Trevor was my last option.

I shut my eyelids tight, trying to hold back the tears.

“There’s gotta be another way. There has to be. My mom can’t die like this.”

I rolled back and thought it all through in my head; maybe I could sell some of my belongings, like some of the few expensive pieces of jewelry I had, and the small plot of land my mother left me back home. It would never quite be enough, though it would still add little to the amount I needed.

I didn’t know when I fell asleep, but I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing on the nightstand beside me. Grabbing the phone with sleepy eyes, I squinted at the screen to see who was calling.

It was a hospital.

I jolted and sat up on the bed with my heart thudding in my chest.

With trembling hands, I answered the call, “Hello.”

“Miss Pretakis, you have to come to the hospital immediately. It’s about your mother.”