Heart of a Beast

Chapter 5 | Crystal

Mate?

It wasn't possible. She couldn't believe it. She'd be able to feel the matebond and she didn't. She didn't feel anything for him except fear.

His odor was also repulsive. Mates were supposed to find each other's natural musk alluring, but his triggered her gag reflexes.

The way he tried to claim her... It gave her chills. Mates were supposed to court each other for a period of time, not show up out of the blue and immediately sink their teeth into each other.

Instinct told her to run. As soon as she relieved herself in the bushes, the word repeated over and over in her head.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Adrenaline spiked and gave her the strength to bolt, but of course, she didn't get far.

The sight of him barreling after her when she looked over her shoulder...

He was horrific. A beast ready to kill. To take her down and have his way with her whether she liked it or not.

She'd never been so scared in her life.

He couldn't be her mate. Soulmates didn't hurt each other like this.

He picked her up and carried her under an arm as if she were a stuffed animal—a dog's favorite humping toy—and with her limited strength now spent, she was powerless to fight him off.

Pain dug into the side of her stomach, but it was nothing compared to the ache in her heart.

As a werewolf without a wolf, she was an outcast of the pack, an omega, alienated and ostracized by her werewolf peers at school. Laughed at for being a late bloomer. Mocked for not having a wolf.

Until she started having her episodes at school.

At first, no one knew what was happening or what to do. They stood back and watched as her body convulsed on the hallway floor with wide eyes.

She remembered them staring at her. Staring at her and doing nothing.

Only her two best friends—humans—stayed by her side. They helped her up from the floor. They carried her to the nurse's station. They wiped the tears from her face and comforted her. They waited with her for one of her parents to come and pick her up and take her home.

Her packmates did nothing.

They stopped teasing her then, but they also turned their backs on her. They gaped at her from afar, whispered, avoided eye-contact—they were embarrassed to have someone like her in their pack.

The first time she had a seizure at school, she thought it was the worst day of her life. Nothing could top that.

Until now.

After returning to the forest, the beast set her down and tried to touch her. She recoiled, the bile jumping up her throat despite the whines and whimpers that came from him.

He groveled at her feet and it only made her feel sicker.

He hurt her, forced himself on her, and now he was begging her forgiveness?

She squeezed her eyes shut—shutting out the sight of him—as she pulled her legs up to her chest and held herself tightly.

He continued to whine and whimper profusely for several minutes, nudging her with his nose and licking her hands.

The muscles in her stomach only knotted tighter and she refused to move. Refused to look at him or acknowledge him.

And the more he whimpered, the more her heart hurt.