Chapter 2 I Accept Your Rejection
INDIE
I couldn't believe it. This had to be a nightmare. West pulled out from her, and she whimpered, moving to hide behind my husband as he shoved himself into his pants.
"What are you doing here?" Those were the first words he said to me, and I let out a choked sob, feeling my heart ripping in half.
"Is that all you're going to say? H-how long has this been going on?" I croaked.
He picked up a cigarette from his desk and lit it. My heart plummeted into my stomach, bile threatening to push up the back of my throat. He'd quit smoking years ago for me because the smell made me sick. Clearly, he didn't care about me anymore.
"It's high time you were replaced, Indigo. My mother suggested that I take up a mistress. Clearly, you are tainted. You can't give me a son."
His mother. Again.
It was bad enough that she hated my guts, but how could he do this? Where was the man I fell in love with? And...Stella...how could she...?
"Is this the payment I get for everything I did for you, Stella? You were a rogue. I saved your life and gave you a home. And this is how you repay me?!" I demanded, the pain in my chest worsening by the minute. She cowered again, refusing to meet my gaze.
"Shut the hell up, Indigo! Stop trying to paint her as the villain while you're the rotten one!" West yelled at me, his eyes blazing with fury.
"How did I ever wrong you?! It's not my fault I was born with a birthmark! I've only ever wanted to make you happy. How could you do this to me?! I work for hours in the healing hall just because you asked me to. Even when I was in pain, I quietly did everything you asked!" I cried out, my ears buzzing.
West didn't even flinch, and that broke me even more. Exhausted and in pain, I lowered my gaze.
"West, I'm sick," I finally said, and he blew smoke into the air.
"So? You're the healer, why are you telling me that?"
"You haven't touched me in a year, the bond is making me sick," I rasped.
He eyed me with disgust.
"Is this your new strategy now? Desperation is not a good look on you."
More tears streamed down my cheeks at his nonchalant attitude. My West wouldn't be so calm if I told him I was dying. He wouldn't scoff at me while I cry in front of him. Who was this man? I was stupid to think our relationship could be saved. Stupid to think that there was hope.
"I'm done," I croaked, wiping my tears away with shaky hands.
"You're what?" he said, his eyes burning dangerously.
"I want a divorce," I spat.
He was in front of me before I could blink, his hand collided with my face so hard that my vision went black for a second. I crumpled to my knees, my ears ringing.
"You filthy animal. This has been your plan from the start, hasn't it? You plan to run away with some bastard," he drawled, and I whimpered.
"That's not true."
"It's not?"
He crouched in front of me. "Then you must swear to me in front of the pack members tonight during the Truthfire ritual."
I froze, blood draining from my face. It was the most humiliating ritual that has ever existed in the pack's tradition. It was also the most painful.
"Don't do this. Please, West, I'm begging you," I sniffled, and he smiled.
"Why are you so afraid? If you are truly innocent, the truthfire wouldn't hurt you, would it?"
I could barely breathe at this point. His mother must've suggested the ritual. And if she had, there was a high chance that she would manipulate the truth just to harm me.
It was a ritual that hadn't been performed in centuries in all of Meadows Creek County.
"Now get out," West hissed.
I rose to my feet, numb. Then I walked out, my knees threatening to give out. And as I headed back towards my room, I glanced out the window at the stormy sky. I was alone, I realized. If I died now, who would care?
'Let us leave, Indie. If we stay here, we're going to die,' Rain said, and I let out a sob.
What about my daughter? She was still little. She needed me. No matter how painful my life had become, how could I give up on her?
...
"Do you vow to tell the truth only?" the priestess asked, and I kept my head lowered, clenching my fists. I knelt there on the snow-covered raised slab of stone, naked to the waist. My upper body was covered in red runes for the truth fire ritual. And I was exposed to everyone who was watching. I had never felt so violated.
"Answer her, Indigo," came West's impatient voice. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, hot tears threatening to spill.
My dignity was gone, wasn't it?
"Speak, child," the priestess urged, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat, my body shaking in the cold.
"I do," I croaked, fighting the urge to hold my hands to my boobs. They were large enough to draw attention.
"Have you been faithful to our Alpha?"
My chest tightened. The wind cut across my bare skin, but it was nothing compared to the terror swirling low in my stomach. I knew the truth. I knew my answer. And still...the runes pulsed like living embers on my skin, waiting to strike.
"I... have," I whispered, barely able to force the words out.
The runes ignited.
White-hot agony tore up my ribs, spreading across my sternum. I screamed before I could stop myself, my back arching.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"Adulteress!"
"Liar!"
"Whore!"
The words rained down like stones.
My head spun. What—how—
"I told the truth!" I cried out, choking on pain and disbelief as the fire seared deeper, blistering my skin as if I had spoken the foulest lie.
Behind the crowd, I heard a familiar voice, his mother's.
"It burns because she is unclean," she announced. "She's a disgrace."
I trembled, bile rising in my throat. They didn't even hide it. She had done something to twist the outcome.
The priestess hesitated for a moment, but it was enough to make my heart drop. She knew the truthfire was corrupted. And still she continued.
"Next question," she said stiffly.
My vision blurred with tears as the runes dimmed back to a simmering glow, waiting for the next strike.
"Have you harboured desire for another male?"
My blood ran cold.
Oh gods. The dream.
The dream I had no control over, no desire to have.
I hesitated, only for a second. But it was enough. Gasps filled through the air.
"Slut."
"She hesitated."
"She wants another man."
"No wonder the Alpha despises her."
The runes ignited at once.
I shrieked, collapsing forward on my hands as fire whipped across my ribs. I could barely breathe. Tears blurred my vision, freezing against my cheeks as they fell.
"I— I haven't— I didn't—" I sobbed.
"Adulteress!
"She's been spreading her legs for her patients since day one, look at her!"
My stomach twisted. I wanted to curl up, hide and die.
West didn't move. He stood there like a statue carved of ice, watching me suffer with a blank face. But his mother was smiling with her arms folded. And my daughter... oh god... Lila was watching.
I coughed, choking on sobs, trying to breathe through the scorching agony as the runes cooled again, leaving angry red welts across my body.
The priestess swallowed, visibly shaken, but she pressed on.
"Two more questions and the ritual is complete."
I almost fainted.
My hands shook violently against the stone. I couldn't stop crying. The snow around my knees had melted into puddles, steam curling into the air.
"Have you wished harm upon your mate?"
"No," I gasped, shaking my head furiously. "Never. Never."
The fire tore into my spine so hard my body jolted like I'd been struck by lightning. I collapsed fully onto the slab as the crowd roared with accusations.
West didn't silence them.
By the time the flames died, I was trembling uncontrollably. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive another question.
The priestess's voice softened, as if she knew this final one would finish me.
"Do you—"
"That's enough," West said and I whimpered from the immense relief that washed over me. It was over. Thank goodness.
"I, West Nolan Ashford..." he began and my eyes widened in horror. "...reject you, Indigo Kaia Emberwylde as my fated mate."
A cry tore out of me as our mating bond snapped. I realized then that it was useless to hope. West was the source of my ruin. Why should I hold on to him?
"I accept your rejection!" I screamed through my pain. His eyes widened in shock.