Lucian never called me the way a mate should.

No mind link. No warmth in his voice when he said my name. When he wanted something, he sent someone else to drag me to him.

This time, his Beta found me scrubbing the council hall floors.

“He wants you,” Rowan said, looking at me like I was a stain he couldn’t quite remove.

My stomach dropped. I dried my hands on my skirt and followed him down the corridor, each step heavier than the last. The silence pressed against my ears until all I could hear was my own heartbeat.

Lucian’s door stood half-open.

He was at his desk, back to me, knuckles white against the wood. He’d heard me enter, he heard everything but he didn’t turn.

“Close the door.”

His voice was winter itself.

I obeyed. Then waited. I didn’t sit. Didn’t speak. Lucian made me stand there like an unwanted shadow refusing to disappear.

Finally, he turned.

His eyes were empty. No warmth. No recognition. Nothing that suggested I’d ever meant something to him. He looked at me the way you’d look at something broken you’d been forced to keep.

“Do you enjoy embarrassing me?”

The question hit like a fist to the chest.

“I don’t understand,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Stop talking.”

He stepped closer. I backed up until the wall stopped me. He gripped my chin, fingers rough enough to warn me not to resist.

“Look at me.”

I had no choice.

“You never learn,” he said. “You walk around trying so hard to be useful. You fail in front of the elders. You fail in front of the warriors. You fail even when you try to stay invisible.”

He released me with a flick of his fingers, like touching me left something unpleasant on his skin.

You chose me, I thought bitterly. You promised you’d protect me.

But the words stayed locked behind my teeth.

“I didn’t mean to..”

“I don’t care what you meant. I care about consequences. You make me look weak.”

Something in my chest cracked. “Lucian, I try.”

“I don’t want you to try.” His voice was sharp as broken glass. “I want you far away from me.”

He walked back to his desk and slammed a document down so hard the ink bottle spilled. Black spread across the page like blood.

“Do you think I want to stand beside you during the ceremony?” he asked. “Touch you in front of the elders? Every time you come near me, I wonder what I did to deserve this.”

I felt the crack inside me widen.

His eyes darkened with satisfaction. He’d seen it.

“You’re pathetic,” he said quietly. “Weak. You fold under pressure. You speak like you’re afraid of your own voice.” He moved closer, almost relaxed now. “You are nothing to me. Not my equal. Not my partner. You never will be.”

A tear slid down my cheek.

Lucian watched it fall.

“If you want to cry, do it somewhere else. I’m tired of watching you fall apart.”

“I’m trying”

“And I’m tired of hearing it.” He pointed to the back door. “Leave through there. I don’t want anyone seeing you walk out of my office. It’s humiliating enough that you walked in.”

I stood frozen, trying to breathe.

“Aria.”

I stopped.

His voice softened which somehow hurt more than everything else. “If you embarrass me again, even by accident, you won’t like what happens next.”

I opened the door before my legs gave out.

Behind me, I heard paper rustling. Lucian had already moved on.

I made it to the herb shed before the shaking started.

My hands trembled so badly I had to sit on them. The tears came fast and hot, and I pressed my sleeve against my mouth to muffle the sound.

What’s wrong with me?

The question burned. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because part of me was starting to believe Lucian was right.

I was four when the flames came.

The memory surfaced without permission. My mother holding me against her chest, my father blocking the door with his body, men shouting outside.

My father had knelt in front of me, cupped my face. “Aria, listen. You must survive.”

My mother’s hand had pressed against my chest, burning hot. Light had filled the room, white and terrible. Something inside me had been sealed away that night. Locked beneath my ribs.

The elders said my wolf was slow. Weak.

They lied.

I didn’t know what my parents had done to me, but I’d felt it sometimes a flutter beneath my ribs when emotions ran high. A pulse of heat I couldn’t name.

Now, sitting in the shed with Lucian’s words echoing in my skull, I felt nothing.

Just cold.

Just empty.

The door creaked open.

I looked up, heart lurching but it wasn’t Lucian. It was never Lucian.

A young warrior poked his head in, saw me crying, and smirked. “Careful. If the Alpha sees you like this, he’ll have another reason to complain.”

He left before I could respond.

I wiped my face and stood on shaking legs.

The pack had never wanted me. Lucian had made that clear. But I’d survived this long by keeping my head down and my mouth shut.

I could survive a little longer.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

That’s what I had to believe.

Because the alternative, that I was trapped here with no way out was too terrifying to face.