Chapter 2 CHAPTER TWO

ZANE

Fuck.

This couldn't be happening.

I knelt frozen, unable to tear my eyes away from the woman kneeling before me. Her shiny black hair cascaded around her shoulders in soft waves, and light freckles danced across her cheeks. The urge to pull her close and mark her was stronger than anything I had ever experienced, but I fought it with every cell in my body. Every breath scraped against my ribs, and the healing she'd given me had only dulled the agony instead of erasing it.

‘Mate,’ my wolf growled insistently.

No.

There was no way I was going to ruin this young girl's life because of my instinctual urges. As a healer, she was already too good for me. But now she was trying to save my life, instead of abandoning me like everyone in the pack.

“You...” She blinked. “You are...”

“Juliet!”

Our intense eye contact broke when she heard her name. The healer turned to see her alpha, Franklin Donahue, walking toward her with brisk steps. As soon as he reached her, he shoved her behind him protectively, then faced the captain of the guards.

“What the hell are you doing?” he growled, his voice evident with displeasure. “I thought I told you he was not allowed any visitors until he had left the pack.”

Sam bowed his head in regret, then sputtered. “Sir, I was about to take him away when the healer—”

“I was the one who insisted on seeing him.”

Frank froze.

Juliet stepped away from behind him and grabbed his arm.

“Frank, I beg you,” she said, looking at him with desperate eyes. “Do not exile him. He is innocent.”

As I stood there, my heart constricted painfully in my chest at the sight of her raw desperation. No one had ever defended my innocence with such unwavering conviction, even with the absence of evidence.

I raised my head to the bright moon overhead and let out a weak sigh.

It seemed that the moon goddess had given me a mate who was my complete opposite. In polite terms, I would say that she was too soft and kindhearted. But if I were being blunt, I’d call her a fool.

Frank’s expression contorted with annoyance as he replied to her. “The trial has already ended, Juliet. The council reviewed the evidence. It all points to him being the culprit behind the pack nursery explosion and the one who has been rallying the rogue wolves in the Forbidden Forest.”

Juliet shook her head stubbornly.

“None of this makes any sense. You know he didn’t do it, Frank!”

Frank’s expression darkened.

Murmurs erupted from the crowd, their angry voices growing louder with each passing minute. Juliet lowered her eyes in submission when a dominant female wolf glared at her, hurling curses loud enough for everyone to hear. The scene made my wolf snarl in rage, but I restrained him further.

The consequences would be dire if he were unleashed.

“Zane is…” She gulped nervously before confessing. “Zane is my mate.”

The entire place was doused in stunned silence.

Frank’s eyes widened as he stared between us, as if he was trying to catch us in a lie. “T-That’s impossible…” he stammered. “There’s no way Zane Valdez is your mate…”

“So, I want to invoke my pack immunity right…” she declared, her head held high. “…to save him.”

The crowd gasped.

Frank stumbled but was caught by the captain of the guards. “N-No….”

I whipped my head sharply to see the woman standing in front of me with me. I couldn’t understand why she was going to such lengths just to save me, but my wolf didn’t care. He surged forward with a triumphant howl that rattled every wall I’d built around me.

Our mate was choosing us.

“Yes, I do,” Juliet replied firmly. “The pack laws allow me to sacrifice this immunity for my mate-”

“He is not worthy of you!” Frank broke free from Sam’s grip and pointed at my kneeling figure. “Do you know who he really is? The things he has done?”

“I do not care- “

“He is a rogue wolf, Juliet!” Frank yelled. “He has been hiding his identity all this time just to live amongst us and harm our children!”

Juliet’s eyes were wide with shock as they fell on me. As the silence stretched between us, I could sense she was waiting for me to refute the accusation, to tell her that I was an ordinary dominant wolf in the pack.

But I didn’t want to lie.

Rogue wolves were the abominations of the world, born from the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. They were unnaturally strong and swift, but mentally unstable. Most of them were known to be cannibals, preying on weaker wolves and causing chaos anywhere they went.

Juliet took a step back as the truth settled between us. Her expression became complicated as the crowd’s curses grew louder, insisting that I should be put to death instead. But all I could focus on was the fact that she was no longer looking at me anymore. The gentleness in them was instantly replaced with caution as she let Frank pull her away even more.

I let out a weak, low chuckle under my breath.

Juliet's silence lasted only a few seconds, yet it felt long enough to hollow out everything the Moon Goddess had just placed inside my chest. The hope my wolf had clung to shattered beneath the weight of her hesitation, and the bitter ache of disappointment quickly hardened into cold resolve. I had spent these past few months watching people look at me with fear and disgust. I refused to let my own mate pity me.

My wolf fought viciously against my decision, snarling and clawing at the walls of my mind, but I crushed him beneath sheer will.

"Forget what you just said," I rasped, forcing myself to meet her wounded gaze. Every word scraped against my raw throat like broken glass. "I reject you."

Juliet's eyes widened with horror. "W... What?"

"I will never accept a weak, submissive healer as my mate," I continued mercilessly, ignoring the unbearable pain twisting through my soul. "Even if I were taking my last breath, I would rather die alone than be tied to someone like you."

The color drained from her face as though I had struck her myself. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head desperately. "You don't mean that."

"I do."

Every lie tasted like poison, but it was better than condemning her to a life chained to a rogue whose death had already been decided.

She suddenly broke into a run, reaching for me despite everything.

"Stop!" she cried. "Please don't take him!"

Before she could reach my side, Frank closed the distance between us. His hand flashed through the air, and the sharp crack echoed across the silent clearing.

Juliet's body went limp.

Ruth screamed as the healer collapsed into her waiting arms, unconscious before she even hit the ground.

My wolf unleashed a howl of pure anguish that nearly tore free from my control, while the guards seized my chains and dragged me toward the waiting gates of the Forbidden Forest.