I'd heard that the pain of severing a mate bond was unbearable – but the pain of heartbreak was even worse.
I slid further down the bed as unshed tears stung my eyes. My heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Of course, I was a fool. How dared I believe that a mere omega like me could have an Alpha as a mate? I wished I could disappear and reappear in my own bed, so I could cry myself to sleep.
Just then, I heard drunken voices and laughter from outside the door.
Someone kicked open the door and staggered in, followed by a small crowd.
I noticed Damon, two other Alphas' sons, and five beta girls.
"My, my!" A blonde with a figure I'd only seen on TV before said, pushing further in. "So, the chit believed she was your mate, did she? How stupid of her."
"But the bet's not complete, Zac, not unless you marked her," one of the Alphas' sons said.
It was Damon who grabbed my chin roughly, turning my head until the still-red mark on my throat was bare for all to see.
My tears started flowing uncontrollably as I heard the laughter and snickers from everyone in the room.
Damon's hand lingered on my face. "Mind if I borrow your room for a minute, Zac?"
Zac growled. Through the entire exchange, he had remained quiet, but now his voice sounded cold when he spoke. "Everyone, get out now. You've had your fun. I've won the bet – go ahead and do something else with your lives. In fact, the party is over. Go home, everyone, before I set my guards on you."
Damon seemed alarmed, and everyone in the room muttered their disagreement, but they all left.
"Why are you overreacting?" Damon asked as he walked out. "She's just a mere omega. Don't tell me you're starting to have feelings for her."
After they left, I didn't wait to hear one more word from Zac. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, hoping my useless tears would stop. Then, wrapping the bedsheets around myself, I turned and fled from the room.
I was still crying as I trudged the twenty miles back home, trying not to think of the consequences of Zac marking me and imagining what my life would have been like if I had just stayed back with Beth and watched *The Greatest Showman* for the tenth time.
The blaring noise of pack police sirens reached me as soon as I turned the bend into my street. But it was only when I got to my house that I realized something was horribly wrong.
Two police cars were parked outside, and about three policemen were writing something down while Beth sat in front of the house, a blanket around her shoulders as she sobbed. The moment she spotted me, she ran to me.
"Oh, Freya! Freya! Your parents… they—"
"They what? What happened to my parents, Beth?"
It was one of the policemen who answered, gently guiding me to sit on the front steps before he told me. "There's been a ghastly accident. A couple we believe to be your parents did not make it."
I snorted, on the brink of hysteria. "You believe? A couple you believe to be my parents?" I retorted, emphasis on believe.
The cop seemed flustered. He turned to another cop, the one who seemed to be in charge, who walked up to meet us.
"My name is Detective Folarin, ma'am. We were called earlier to respond to an accident. An omega couple in a black Corolla made a wrong turn and ran off the bridge. By the time we got to the scene, they had drowned. We easily IDed them with the driver's license and a few personal documents. Normally, we'd ask a family member to confirm the identification, but since you're not twenty-one yet, it can be traumatizing—"
"I don't care!" I shouted, feeling like the universe was playing one cruel joke on me and that all I had to do was snap out of it. "I want to see those bodies. I'm sure it's not my parents!"
I was shaking all over. The bedsheet I had wrapped around myself was too thin, and the weather was quickly turning cold. Someone—a policewoman—put her arms around me and led me back to the steps I had stood up from.
"There's no point, Freya—that's your name, isn't it? Our forensics are the best among all packs. The scents and auras of your parents matched those in our database—"
"But there could be a mistake somewhere! I—I want to make sure it's them," I cried.
She shook her head, pity in her eyes. "They're not a very beautiful sight. Don't you want to remember them as they were instead of seeing their bodies all mangled up? With the way the car hit the bridge, it bent, smashing your parents, and…"
I was already crying uncontrollably before she finished. I buried my face in my hands and wished for death.
Later, the next day, my landlord came to tell me our rent had expired. It turned out my parents had been neck-deep in debt, even though they'd never shown it.
I wondered why they'd bothered to buy new dresses for me, celebrate their anniversary in a five-star restaurant, and send me to the most expensive school in the pack, all while struggling financially.
After the landlord left, I walked into my room, packed all my 'practical' clothes, a few of our family photographs, and some protein bars into my backpack, and sneaked out before Beth could come over.
I didn't know where I was going; I only knew I couldn't stay in Darkmoon anymore. The memories were choking me.
I was going to take my chances, work, and earn my keep in any pack that would accept an omega.