Windsor's POV
I ran through the packhouse halls, my vision blurred with tears. The mate bond's severing had left me hollow, like someone had carved out my insides with a rusty knife. Every step sent fresh waves of agony through my chest.
Pack members stopped their conversations as I stumbled past. Their whispers followed me like smoke.
"Isn't that the Wade girl?"
"Looks like someone got their heart broken."
"I heard Weston finally came to his senses."
Their laughter cut through me. Even now, even in my darkest moment, I was still the pack's favorite source of entertainment. The disappointment. The weak link. The girl who thought she deserved better than she was worth.
I burst through the front doors into the night air. Rain had started falling, cold droplets mixing with my tears. I didn't care. I welcomed the pain. It was nothing compared to the emptiness where my bond used to be.
I collapsed on the front steps, my acceptance letter clutched against my chest. The expensive paper was getting soaked, the ink probably running. Just like everything else in my life.
Apex Vanguard Academy. It felt like a cruel joke now. What was the point of going anywhere when the person you thought would be by your side had been lying to you for years?
Two years. Two entire years of pretending to love me while he was with her. While they both laughed at me behind my back.
"Windsor Wade, what in the moon's name are you doing?"
I looked up to find my mother standing in the doorway, her perfectly styled blonde hair protected by the roof's overhang. She wasn't looking at me with concern. She was looking at me with annoyance.
"Get inside before you catch pneumonia," she snapped. "You're making a spectacle of yourself."
I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "Weston rejected me."
"Well, of course he did." She crossed her arms. "Now come inside. You're dripping all over the porch."
Of course he did.
Not 'I'm sorry' or 'Are you okay?' Just acknowledgment that my rejection was inevitable.
I stood on shaking legs and followed her inside. The warmth of the house felt foreign against my rain-soaked skin. I left puddles on the hardwood floor with every step.
"Kaylee, what's all the commotion?" My father's voice carried from the living room.
"Your daughter decided to have her breakdown on the front porch," my mother called back. "In the rain, no less."
I found myself standing in our pristine living room, dripping and shivering while my parents looked at me like I was something they'd scraped off their shoes.
"Weston broke our mate bond," I whispered.
My father, Oliver, barely glanced up from his newspaper. "Can't say I'm surprised."
"You knew?" The words came out strangled.
My mother sighed like I was being particularly slow. "Of course we knew. The whole pack knew. Weston's been with the Monroe girl for years."
The room started spinning. "You knew, and you never told me?"
"What was the point?" she asked, examining her manicured nails. "We hoped you'd figure it out on your own and save us all the embarrassment."
My father folded his newspaper with a sharp snap. "A future Alpha needs a strong mate. Someone who can handle the responsibilities that come with power. You were never going to be that for him."
Each word was a knife to the chest. My own parents. My own flesh and blood.
"I loved him," I choked out.
"Love." My mother laughed, but there was no warmth in it. "Love doesn't make you worthy, darling. It just makes you pathetic."
The acceptance letter slipped from my numb fingers and fluttered to the floor between us. The Apex seal caught the lamplight, still crimson and proud despite being damp.
My father's eyes narrowed. "What's that?"
I bent to pick it up, but he was faster. He snatched the letter before I could reach it.
"Apex Vanguard Academy," he read aloud, his voice dripping with disbelief. "This is a fake."
"It's not fake." I found my voice, small as it was.
"Don't lie to us," my mother snapped. "We all know your test scores weren't nearly good enough for Apex."
"They were." I lifted my chin. "I got accepted on my own merit."
My father studied the letter more closely, his frown deepening. "This... this looks real."
"Because it is real," I said, louder this time.
My mother snatched the letter from him, her eyes scanning the official seal and letterhead. For a moment, something that might have been surprise flickered across her face as she read the part about the scholarship.
Then her expression hardened into something worse. Disgust.
"Well, it doesn't matter," she said coldly. "You're not going."
"What?" I stared at her. "What do you mean I'm not going? It's a full scholarship, it won't cost you anything."
"We can't afford the embarrassment," my father said matter-of-factly, his voice void of any warmth. "Your brothers went to Apex as legacies, as members of a powerful family. You would be attending as a charity case. It reflects poorly on us."
"Your brothers earned their spots," my mother interrupted, her voice sharp. "They proved they deserved the investment of our family's name. You've proven nothing except that you're naive enough to think you deserve what they have."
I watched in horror as she walked to the fireplace. "Mother, what are you doing?"
"Saving you from more disappointment." She held the letter over the flames.
"No!" I lunged forward, but she'd already released it. The expensive paper caught fire instantly, curling and blackening as my dreams turned to ash.
"There," she said, dusting off her hands. "Problem solved."
Something inside me snapped. Not the mate bond this time. Something deeper. Something that had been holding me back my entire life.
"You had no right." My voice was steady now. Cold.
"We had every right," my father said. "We're your parents. We know what's best for you."
"Best for me?" I laughed, and it sounded foreign to my own ears. "You knew my mate was cheating on me for years and said nothing. You've spent my entire life telling me I'm not good enough, not smart enough, not strong enough. And now you've destroyed my one chance to prove you wrong."
"Watch your tone, young lady," my mother warned.
"Or what?" I took a step toward her. "You'll disown me? Pretend I don't exist? News flash, Mother—you've been doing that my whole life."
My father stood, his face darkening. "That's enough, Windsor."
"No," I said, and the word came out like a growl. "It's not enough. I'm going to Apex."
"With what money?" my mother asked, her smile cruel.
"I'll find a way."
"You'll do no such thing," my father said. "You'll stay here, find a nice Beta to settle down with, and stop embarrassing this family with your delusions of grandeur."
"This family?" I looked between them, seeing them clearly for the first time in my life. "This family that's done nothing but tear me down since the day I was born?"
"We gave you everything," my mother hissed.
"You gave Miguel and Matteo everything. You gave me scraps and told me to be grateful."
"If you walk out that door," my father said slowly, "if you choose to chase this ridiculous fantasy, then you are no longer welcome in this house."
The threat hung in the air between us. I'd heard variations of it my whole life, but never so directly. Never with such finality.
I thought about the girl I'd been an hour ago. The girl who would have crumbled, apologized, begged for forgiveness. That girl was gone. She'd died the moment Weston rejected me. The moment my parents showed me their true colors.
"You know what the funny thing is?" I said softly. "I spent my whole life trying to earn your love. Trying to prove I was worthy of being your daughter. But you were never going to love me, were you? Not really. Not the way you love them."
Neither of them answered, but their silence was answer enough.
"If you choose to leave," my mother said, her voice like ice, "then consider yourself not part of this family."
I looked at her. Really looked at her. The woman who had given birth to me but had never truly been my mother. The woman who had just burned my future to protect her own reputation.
"Then, so be it."