Chapter 4

But I didn't even make it two steps.

A strong hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me backward with relentless force.

My back hit the wall, and Mason’s towering frame closed in on me. He pinned my wrists above my head, trapping me completely.

"Run again, Emily. Let's see how far you get."

I couldn't move. The physical disparity between us was ridiculous. I was completely at his mercy.

Before James, I had another boyfriend.

During the summer I turned seventeen, a transfer student joined my class.

His name was Tyler Vance. His face was heavily scarred from wolf-venom.

The other kids were terrified of him. They isolated him, and no one dared to sit near him in the cafeteria.

Word was he had been poisoned during a rogue attack, and his wolf was completely dead. In our society, a wereless werewolf was lower than a human. Everyone called him "the trash."

His desk mate had begged the teacher to move, claiming Tyler's face gave them nightmares.

Left with no choice, the teacher asked the class if anyone would volunteer to sit next to him.

I saw Tyler's long fingers gripping the edge of his desk so hard his knuckles turned white, betraying his absolute terror.

Amidst the dead silence, I slowly raised my hand.

The classroom immediately erupted into howling laughter.

"Of course! Let the trash sit with the trash!"

"A human and a broken wolf. Perfect match!"

Back then, my grandmother was still alive. She worked grueling night shifts as a janitor and collected recycling cans to keep a roof over our heads.

To help her pay the bills, I’d collect plastic bottles at school.

My classmates avoided me, claiming I smelled like garbage. Since my freshman year, I had sat alone in the corner of the classroom.

They gave me a humiliating nickname: "Trash Girl."

Ignoring their jeering, I stood by Tyler's desk, nervously tugging at my shirt. "Tyler? Do you mind if I sit here?"

I was terrified he would reject me, too.

But Tyler looked up, his eyes shining as he nodded vigorously. "If you're not afraid of me... I’d love to."

After that, we became inseparable.

Tyler was brilliant. He was always at the top of the class, and he spent hours tutoring me. When I didn't have money for lunch, he would split his allowance with me.

During our senior year, he confessed his feelings and asked me to apply to the same Ivy League colleges with him.

I said yes. I filled out my application for his dream school.

But on the night of the application deadline, I was working a shift at a five-star hotel restaurant.

I saw Tyler there with his family.

Sitting next to him was a stunning werewolf girl.

When their parents stepped away, I overheard them talking. They were planning to send Tyler abroad for treatment over the summer, and upon his return, the two would get engaged.

My self-esteem shattered.

I went home, changed my college application, and sent Tyler a text saying I had fallen in love with someone else and wanted to break up.

Then, I blocked his number and disappeared from his life.

Nobody knew where I went to college. And I never heard from Tyler again.

"If James hadn't been picked up by reporters that day, I wouldn't have known you were back in Silverfalls," Mason said, his voice laced with suppressed anger. "Did you dump me back then just for that Sunward Pack bastard?"

***