Lucas’s POV

 

The moment she turned her back on me, I felt it. The splintering of something precious, a wound tearing through my chest like claws raking against raw flesh.

 

But I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t chase her down and tell her I was lying through my teeth.

 

That I’d just destroyed the one person who made me feel alive.

 

The courtyard was silent, her scent still clinging to the air—wild, intoxicating, everything I’d never deserved. And now it was tainted with the bitter stench of her heartbreak.

 

I closed my eyes, forcing the rising fury back down. Because this was how it had to be. I’d made my choice.

 

Duty over desire. The pack over my own pathetic needs.

 

“Good riddance.” I spat the words into the darkness, but even my wolf didn’t believe me.

 

The beast was snarling, thrashing against the chains I’d wrapped around it. Because my wolf wanted her. Needed her. And I’d just thrown her away like she was nothing.

 

But what other choice did I have?

 

I turned away, my body tense with rage and something far worse. Regret.

 

And for the first time, I realized that rejecting her wasn’t just a decision.

 

It was a curse.

 

Selina’s POV

 

My world collapsed that night.

 

I left the Blackwood estate with nothing but the clothes on my back, my heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. My wolf thrashed wildly within me, her howls of anguish echoing in my skull like a death knell. I could barely breathe, my chest tight and raw as if Lucas had reached into me and ripped my soul clean out.

 

The icy wind cut through me as I stumbled through the darkened woods, my vision blurred by tears and fury. His words repeated in my head over and over, a vicious mantra that wouldn’t stop torturing me.

 

A pathetic fling. A childish obsession. A mistake.

 

I’d given him everything. My heart. My body. My soul. And he’d tossed it all away like I was nothing. No—worse than nothing. I was a stain, a distraction from his grand destiny.

 

I collapsed by a fallen tree, my hands clawing into the damp earth. The coldness of the soil seeped into my skin, grounding me even as my body threatened to fall apart. My sobs came hard and fast, ugly and relentless, but I refused to muffle them. I needed to feel the pain. I needed it to swallow me whole.

 

Because what else was left?

 

I don’t know how long I stayed there, broken and hollow. Hours. Maybe days. Everything blurred together into a void of misery and betrayal. My wolf’s sorrow bled into mine, her agonized whimpers a constant reminder of what I’d lost.

 

But even in the midst of my agony, something darker was born.

 

Rage.

 

It slithered into my chest, coiling around my shattered heart like a venomous snake. The humiliation of his rejection was a bitter poison that burned through me until the pain turned into something colder. Sharper and more dangerous.

 

I wasn’t going to let Lucas Blackwood destroy me.

 

No. He might have thrown me away like garbage, but I was going to rise from the ashes of his rejection stronger than ever.

 

The bond we shared still pulsed faintly beneath my skin, a cruel reminder of the connection he’d severed. But if he could turn his back on our bond so easily, then so could I.

 

I forced myself to stand, my limbs trembling with exhaustion and fury. The ache in my chest was still there, a dull throb of betrayal and longing, but I refused to let it break me.

 

He wanted me gone? Fine.

 

I’d leave. And I would make sure he regretted ever throwing me away.

 

Two Weeks Later….

 

“You’re pregnant.” The words hit me harder than Lucas’s rejection ever could.

 

I stared at the doctor, her expression carefully neutral, her clipboard clutched in her hands as if she expected me to explode at any moment. But I was frozen. My mind was unable to process the words she’d just spoken.

 

Pregnant.

 

With his child. He rejected me; he fucking rejected me, and now I’m pregnant? Is this a joke?

 

The room spun, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. The bitter, vengeful resolve I’d built over the past two weeks crumbled beneath the weight of this new reality. How could this be happening? How could the universe be this cruel?

 

“Miss Carter?” The doctor’s voice was gentle, but her concern was laced with impatience. “Did you hear me?”

 

“Yes.” My voice sounded distant, numb. “I heard you.”

 

“Would you like to discuss your options?”

 

Options? Like there were any. I pressed my trembling hands against my stomach, my mind racing. I’d left the pack with nothing. No home. No money. And definitely no support.

 

But somehow, the thought of giving up the only piece of Lucas I had left made my wolf snarl with raw protectiveness. This child was mine. No matter how ruthless or how heartless Lucas had been, this child hadn’t asked to be brought into this nightmare.

 

My chest tightened, a fierce determination burning through the haze of despair.

 

“No,” I said, my voice like steel. “There’s nothing to discuss. I’m keeping my baby.”

 

Six Months Later…

 

I’d always been resilient, but pregnancy was a brutal test of my endurance. I’d spent the last few months clawing my way back from nothing, building a life out of the ruins Lucas left me in.

 

I worked myself to the bone, doing everything from bartending to temp jobs to keep myself fed. The nights were the worst. Haunted by dreams of him, of what could have been. But every time doubt crept in, I’d press my hand to my growing belly and remind myself who I was doing this for.

 

My son.

 

He was the reason I survived. The reason I pushed through the exhaustion, the hunger, the bone-deep loneliness. Because I refused to let Lucas’s betrayal destroy us both.

 

By the time Damon was born, I had managed to secure a low-level position at a law firm. My intellect and determination quickly earned me promotions, and I devoured every challenge they threw at me.

 

Law became my weapon. My way of taking back control of a world that had ripped everything from me.

 

Within three years, I was no longer just a struggling single mother. I was a force to be reckoned with. A ruthless, brilliant lawyer feared and respected by anyone with half a brain.

 

And I’d done it all without him. Without Lucas Blackwood.

 

But my hatred for him had only grown sharper over time. His betrayal was a scar that refused to heal, an open wound I kept alive to fuel my ambition.

 

Because while he might have broken my heart, I would break him one way or another.