Adriel POV
The cold wind slapped against my tear-streaked face as I ran, dress torn, feet bare, and heart bleeding. I didn't stop when the guards called my name. I didn't stop when my wolf whimpered in protest. I didn't stop when the gate loomed before me like the edge of a cliff.
I kept running.
The pain of rejection clawed at me from the inside. My bones burned, my skin blistered from the severed mate bond. Alex's words still echoed in my ears: "You're just not enough."
Not enough.
That was all I had ever been in this kingdom. The orphan. The servant girl. The weak omega. Now, the rejected mate of the prince.
Moon Goddess, was this your divine cruelty? To match me with him, only to watch him shred me apart like discarded flesh?
I collapsed once I reached the forest beyond the castle gates, the ceremony fading behind me like a distant nightmare. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees, pressing my hands into the cold earth. My wolf whimpered within me, hurt and retreating further into the shadows of my mind.
"Breathe," I whispered aloud, though I didn't know who I was speaking to my wolf, my heart, or the broken girl I saw every time I looked into a mirror.
The stars blinked overhead, indifferent to my pain. The forest, dense and still, cradled me in its silence.
I didn't know how long I stayed there. Time ceased to exist when your soul was bleeding.
Eventually, I stood, shaking, heart hollow. I didn't know where I was going, only that I couldn't return. I needed to leave the kingdom, the pack, the memories.
I needed to leave… him.
The city was a different kind of beast.
It pulsed with noise, lights, and unfamiliar scents that overwhelmed my heightened senses. Cars hissed by like metal serpents. People passed without glancing at me, their faces lit by glowing rectangles in their hands. No one noticed the girl in the oversized hoodie and ripped boots. No one cared.
That was good. I didn't want to be noticed.
Camilla had followed me. Of course, she had. Sweet, mute Camilla the one person I didn't deserve, but the only one I had. She'd found me shivering in a back alley the morning after I crossed the barrier into the human world. No words passed between us, only the warmth of her hug and the quiet understanding in her eyes.
She had money, somehow. Enough for a small apartment in a rundown building in the city's underbelly. She never asked about Alex. Never asked why I'd run. She just… stayed. She cooked when I couldn't move. Sat beside me when I had nightmares. She reminded me I still had a reason to breathe.
But every night, when the city grew quiet, I still heard his voice. "You're just not enough."
And every morning, I repeated to myself: He was wrong.
The job I found was a simple waitress at a dingy diner where no one asked questions. The manager was a grumpy old woman with a cigarette permanently lodged between her lips, but she paid in cash and didn't care about legal documents. Or that I could carry six plates at once and hear conversations from the other end of the room.
A month passed. I began to heal.
Or so I thought.
One night, I was walking home late from work, hoodie pulled low, when I saw the car sleek, black, and expensive enough to not belong in this part of the city. It was parked near the alley I always cut through. My wolf stirred slightly, sensing something.
Too late.
I turned the corner and came face to face with three men. Drunk. Reeking of whiskey and rot. One held a switchblade. Another licked his lips like he hadn't eaten in days.
"Well, well, what's a pretty little thing doing here alone?" the knife-wielder sneered, stepping forward.
"Leave me alone." My voice was steady, but my heart pounded. Not from fear but from restraint. My wolf begged to protect me, but I couldn't risk revealing myself.
"Aw, don't be like that," the second man grinned. "We just wanna talk."
One lunged.
I reacted instinctively, grabbing his wrist and twisting hard. A sickening crack echoed as he screamed, dropping to the ground. The others froze.
"Run," I warned, my voice low, edged with something primal.
But they didn't.
The second one charged.
I sidestepped, elbowed him in the ribs, then swept his legs out from under him. He hit the ground, groaning.
Only the knife-wielder remained now. His eyes darted nervously behind me.
And then I heard the growl.
Not from me.
From someone else.
A man stepped out of the shadows tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a midnight black coat. His eyes glinted under the streetlight, like twin shards of obsidian.
"Step away from the girl," he said, his voice calm and cold.
The attacker snarled, lunged, and was promptly slammed into the wall with bone-shattering force.
I blinked.
The stranger turned to me. "You alright?"
His scent hit me then earthy, crisp, but entirely… human.
He wasn't one of us. And yet… There was something about him that vibrated in my bones.
"I'm fine," I said, steadying my breath.
He studied me for a second longer, then nodded. "Let me walk you home."
"I don't need a babysitter."
He gave a crooked smile. "Consider it insurance. That was the third attack this week in this area."
I hesitated… then nodded. "Fine. It's just a few blocks."
We walked in silence for a bit. I kept stealing glances at him. His jaw was sharp, his nose straight, his black hair slightly tousled like he'd just run his hands through it. There was a quiet intensity in the way he moved, like someone used to control and danger.
"You've got good reflexes," he said after a while. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"Kitchen brawls," I said dryly.
He chuckled. "Remind me not to eat where you work."
We reached my building, and I paused at the door. "Thanks," I said. "For earlier."
He nodded. "No problem."
He hesitated. "You know, if you're looking for a safer job… my company could use someone like you."
I blinked. "Your company?"
He smiled, and for the first time, it wasn't guarded it was warm. "Mason Sharp. SharpTech. You've probably never heard of it."
I had heard of it. He was that Mason Sharp the reclusive billionaire who didn't like the press, who made headlines for buying crumbling tech companies and turning them into gold.
"You're kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"…Kind of."
He grinned. "Come by my office. I promise, no alley fights involved."
I looked at his outstretched hand, then back into his eyes. For the first time in a long time, I felt something shift inside me.
Trust.
Curiosity.
Maybe even the faintest flicker of hope.
I took his card.
"Maybe," I said.
That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Camilla slept quietly beside me, her chest rising and falling in rhythm.
I traced the card's edges with my fingers.
Mason Sharp. CEO. SharpTech.
I didn't know who he really was. What he wanted. Why had fate crossed our paths?
But I did know one thing:
This city had not broken me. I had survived the rejection. I had faced death.
And now… maybe I was finally ready to live.
Not as the omega servant.
Not as the rejected mate.
But as Adriel the fierce, independent, and rising.
And this time, no one would make me feel like I wasn't enough.