4
1109 Words
Maisie’s POV
I woke up on the cold marble floor of the Alpha’s office.
My body felt heavy, like it didn’t fully belong to me anymore. My head throbbed, and my chest beat as I tried to take a breath. I could hear voices, low and tense, echoing around the room. Elders. Guards. My father. And him.
No one rushed to help me.
Of course, they didn’t. It would have been a miracle if any one of them helped a lowlife like me.
I slowly pushed myself up on my elbows, my palms slipping slightly against the smooth floor. My vision was still hazy, but I could feel it. The intensity of their gazes pressed down on me like stones. Judgment. Disgust. Fear. Curiosity.
I swallowed hard.
Then I felt it.
Heat.
Thick, suffocating, angry heat rolling off one person in the room.
Gaius.
I didn’t want to look at him. Every instinct inside me screamed not to. But my body betrayed me, as it always did. My eyes lifted on their own, drawn helplessly to him.
He stood a few feet away, tall and rigid, his jaw clenched so tightly I could see the muscle jumping. His eyes locked onto mine for a brief second, and the hatred in them nearly crushed me.
There was no confusion there. No softness. Only revulsion.
My throat closed. I looked down immediately, my fingers curling into the fabric of my torn dress as shame crawled over my skin. My whole body began to shake.
I felt him move.
Each step he took toward me echoed loudly in my ears. My heart pounded painfully as his presence loomed closer, darker, heavier.
“Gaius—” I whispered without thinking.
“Shut up!” his voice exploded through the room.
I flinched violently.
“Don’t you dare say my name, you disgusting hoe!” he shouted, his Alpha aura flaring so hard it made my ears ring. “This must be some sick joke. Some twisted punishment.”
I pressed my hands to the floor, trying to steady myself as his words cut deeper than any beating.
“How could I be mated to someone like you?” he continued, his voice dripping with contempt. “You? Over my dead body!”
The room went dead silent.
“I reject it,” he snarled. “Do you hear me? I reject you! It can’t be! I, Gaius of Black Stone Pack, reject you as my mate!”
The moment the words left his mouth, something inside me shattered.
Pain ripped through my chest so violently that I screamed.
It wasn’t just emotional. It was physical. Real. White-hot agony spread through my ribs, my spine, my heart. I clawed at the floor, gasping as if my lungs were collapsing.
I had already been weak from the failed shift. From the fever. From everything he had done to me earlier.
This was too much.
My vision blurred. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably as my body convulsed.
I screamed again, louder this time, the sound raw and broken.
Then everything went black.
“Maisie!”
I faintly heard my father’s voice as darkness swallowed me whole.
When I woke again, I was in my room. My real room. The one I used to sleep in before everything went wrong.
For a brief second, I thought it had all been a nightmare.
Then the pain reminded me.
My chest still ached where the rejection had torn through me. My head felt heavy. My body is weak and hollow, like something essential had been ripped away.
I turned my head slowly and saw my father sitting beside the bed.
He looked… tired.
Older.
His eyes were red, his expression strained in a way I had never seen before.
“You’re awake,” he said quietly.
I didn’t answer.
My throat was too tight, my emotions too tangled.
After a moment of silence, he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I… I forgot your birthday.”
The words landed strangely.
I let out a weak, humorless laugh. “You’ve forgotten worse.”
He flinched.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said. “Things have been complicated.”
I turned my face away. “They always are.”
Silence stretched between us again before he spoke.
“Maisie,” he said carefully, “a rejected mate is considered a bad omen. A symbol of misfortune. The elders believe your presence brings instability to the pack.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
“The Alpha has decided,” he continued, voice heavy, “that you should be banished.”
Something inside me went still.
Banishment. Great! Just when I thought my life couldn't get any worse, I am about to become a Rogue!
No pack. No protection. No wolf. No Mate!
I might as well die!
“I see,” I whispered.
“There’s more,” he said, hesitating. “Your shift… it failed.”
I looked back at him sharply.
“What do you mean?”
He swallowed. “The trauma your body endured interrupted the process. There’s a chance your wolf may never fully awaken.”
My chest tightened painfully.
Lose my wolf forever.
Just when I thought there was nothing left to take from me.
Before I could respond, the door burst open.
Gaius walked in.
His presence filled the room instantly, sharp and suffocating. His eyes flicked to me for half a second before he turned to the Alpha who followed him inside.
“No,” Gaius said harshly. “She’s not going anywhere.”
The Alpha frowned. “She’s been rejected. She’s a liability.”
“I don’t care,” Gaius snapped. “She stays.”
The elders murmured among themselves.
“She should be cast out,” one said. “A rejected mate brings ruin.”
Gaius’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Then let her stay where I can see her. Where can I control her?”
My stomach twisted.
“It's official then,” the Alpha said after a moment. “Maisie shall remain in the pack. But as a servant.”
Gaius smirked in satisfaction.
The room slowly emptied, leaving only the two of us.
I tried to shrink back into the bed as he approached, my body trembling despite my effort to stay strong.
He leaned down, his mouth close to my ear.
“You think I will let you go easily?” he whispered.
My breath hitched.
“I might not claim you as my mate,” he continued softly, cruelly, “but you are mine, little pet.”
I shivered in fear.
- Writer
