Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Caleb's POV

Betty and his friends scattered like startled rats the moment that commanding voice tore through the air, their laughter dying in their throats as they disappeared down the hallway.

I remained frozen, heart still hammering from the brief struggle. My gaze lifted and I saw Ronan, the Alpha's son.

He was walking toward me, his steps steady and heavy with authority. For a second, relief washed through me. Maybe he'd seen what had happened. Maybe he'd stop to ask if I was alright. Maybe he'd even defend me.

But I was wrong.

The moment his eyes met mine, his expression hardened. "You!" he snarled, and the sound of it made my breath hitch.

For a heartbeat, I thought I'd misheard. The venom in his voice wasn't something I'd ever imagined would be directed at me. I blinked, trying to process what was happening, my mind struggling to keep up as he closed the distance between us.

Did he know me? Had he noticed me before — at school, or when I used to follow my mother to the pack grounds? Why was he looking at me like this, as though I'd done something unforgivable?

I didn't have long to wonder.

"Is it a family problem," he snapped, his tone low and sharp, "or have you and your mother been cursed to cause trouble wherever you go?"

My mouth fell open in disbelief. "What?" I managed to whisper, my voice trembling. He couldn't be serious. Hadn't he seen what had just happened? How I'd been attacked? Why was he acting like I was the problem?

He stepped closer, eyes burning into mine. "Stop pretending, Caleb — or whatever the hell your name is! Why did you and your gold-digging mother have to come to SilverFang? Why did she have to seduce my father? Why are they getting mated?!" His words hit like whips, each one harsher than the last. "Why do I suddenly have to accept someone like you as my stepbrother when I don't want to?"

I stood rooted in place, completely taken aback. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as I tried to understand why he hated me so much. I'd never even spoken to him before. Never wronged him in any way. And yet here he was, spitting venom at me like I'd stolen something precious from him.

For a moment, I wanted to tell myself he was drunk. The Ronan I'd seen at school was always the one laughing too loud with his hockey teammates, stumbling out of parties with a bottle in hand. But this wasn't that Ronan. His eyes weren't glazed — they were cold and full of disgust.

"Surprised?" he asked with a mocking laugh, running a hand through his hair as if even touching the air I breathed annoyed him. "Why should you be? Everything I said is the truth. I know exactly what your mother is — a gold digger. And you?" His lip curled. "You're just like her. Trying to climb the social ladder, one desperate step at a time."

He stepped closer, lowering his voice but not the cruelty in it. "Let me make something clear, Caleb. I will never accept you as my stepbrother. Every single day you live under my father's roof, I'll make sure you regret that your mother ever married him. I'll make you regret ever knowing me."

The words hung heavy in the air between us, like a curse.

He didn't wait for me to respond. He just turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hallway until the sound faded completely, leaving me there alone.

I hadn't done anything to him. Not a single thing. But somehow, he'd already decided who I was and what I deserved.

Drawing in a deep breath, I forced myself to turn back toward the hall where the ceremony was still in full swing. The laughter, the cheers, the music — all of it sounded so distant now.

My heart ached, my pride stung, but I refused to let anyone see me break.

I found myself in the section where drinks were being served, torn between drowning my pain in liquor or bearing it raw, the way I always had. My thoughts were still tangled in heartbreak when I saw Elara.

Walking hand in hand with Maddox.

They strolled out from the crowd like a perfect couple, his laughter easy in the air, Maddox's hand resting on his back as if he were something precious. My stomach twisted painfully. For a second, I thought I was imagining it — until I heard Maddox speak.

His voice was low, confident, familiar. "This is my boyfriend, Elara. We've been dating for a few months now."

I froze, unable to move or breathe. He introduced him to everyone with that same voice that used to whisper against my neck. My heart stung and every muscle in my body went rigid.

Elara's lips curled into that smug smile I'd once mistaken for warmth. He turned, his gaze locking onto mine across the space. I knew he had seen me. I knew he wanted me to see.

"Isn't that Caleb?" he asked sweetly, loud enough for me to hear, feigning surprise.

The bile that rose in my throat burned as I forced it back down. I clenched my jaw, pretending not to have noticed them, pretending that my heart wasn't crumbling all over again. They walked past me — Maddox without sparing a single glance, and Elara wearing that victorious smirk like a crown.

That was when it truly sank in. Maddox hadn't made a mistake that day. He hadn't slipped. He hadn't been confused or caught up in a moment. He had chosen him. And from the way they walked together now, it was clear that what I'd witnessed wasn't the first time.

They had been together for months, maybe longer — while I stayed loyal. While I believed in us.

My knees felt weak and I found myself sinking onto a nearby chair. I waved down a server with trembling hands. "A drink," I whispered. "Something strong."

The alcohol I'd been debating minutes ago was now my only escape.

The first glass went down fast, bitter and burning, like swallowing the memory of Maddox's betrayal. The second followed, then the third, and by the fourth, my eyes were already misty. Tears streamed freely, tracing the same path down my cheeks that they had too many times this week.

Why me?

Why always me?

Everything I'd loved, everything I'd trusted, was turning against me. My boyfriend, my best friend, even my mother. Each of them had made choices that left me feeling smaller, emptier, and unwanted.

Eight years. Elara and I had been friends for eight years. We'd grown up together, shared secrets, dreams, laughter. How long had he been with Maddox behind my back? How many lies had he told me while smiling in my face?

The pain in my chest deepened with each glass I downed, spreading like fire through my veins. I didn't even know who I should hate more — the man who had promised me loyalty, or the friend who had helped him break it.

When I reached for the fifth glass, the world around me was already starting to blur. But from the corner of my teary eyes, I noticed someone across the hall.

Ronan.

He sat at the far end of the room, his expression unreadable, his presence cold yet magnetic. Seven empty glasses lined the table before him and he was already halfway through his eighth.

For a moment, I found myself wondering what he could possibly be drinking away.

He wasn't heartbroken. He wasn't poor. He wasn't alone. He was powerful, respected, the next Alpha of SilverFang — the kind of man who had everything handed to him.

So why did he look like someone trying to drown a pain too heavy to name?

Was it me?

Was my mere existence the thing driving him to the bottom of those glasses?