Chapter 3

AMELIA

Just as I'd expected, it didn't take time before the news of the "dumped heiress" spread through Ravenswood. That morning, the café was filled to the brim with curious onlookers eager to gawk at the "dumped heiress." The word had spread faster than I'd expected for a town that wasn't supposed to care about another pack's business.

I served coffee with a forced smile plastered on my face, my mind replaying the humiliation I'd endured at that mating ceremony over and over again.

Each customer's stare felt like judgemental. Some of them didn't even bother ordering anything. They just wanted to see the woman who'd been publicly rejected in front of an entire pack, the one whose mate had chosen another Omega right at the altar.

A pair of women near the window kept glancing my way and whispering behind their cups, not even trying very hard to hide it. I caught some part of their gossip but I pretended I hadn't heard a word.

I felt their eyes on me every time I turned my back, but I held my ground anyway. This café was mine now. It was the one thing nobody could take from me, and I wasn't about to let a bunch of gossiping strangers chase me out of it after everything it had already cost me to get here.

By midmorning, the crowd had thinned a little, and I had a breath of fresh air for the first time in hours. My hands had finally stopped shaking behind the counter. I even managed a real smile at an old woman who complimented my coffee, and for a moment, it almost felt like I was building something that was actually mine.

That was when the door swung open hard.

Natalia strutted in like she owned the place, flanked by four burly men I didn't recognize. I noticed they didn't have any pack's insignia crested on their clothes as usual and so, my sharp mind came to an immediate conclusion - they were rogues.

Staring at her that morning, there wasn't a single trace of the exhausted, pregnant woman who'd almost been dragged out of that hall a few days ago. Her eyes scanned the room with contempt before landing on me.

"Well, well," she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. "If it isn't the pathetic Amelia Roberts."

She held up something between two fingers — the golden invitation card for my mating ceremony with Damian. It had been printed and sent out to the entire pack months ago.

With a dramatic flourish, she tore it to shreds, and the paper fluttered down around her like confetti.

"Look at you," she went on, glancing around at my little café like it personally offended her. "Playing shopkeeper. How the mighty have fallen."

My blood boiled, but I forced my voice to stay level. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of watching me lose my temper.

"Get out, Natalia," I said. "You're not welcome here."

She chuckled and then snapped her fingers without even looking at the men behind her.

"Teach her a lesson," She hissed. "Make sure she knows her place."

I didn't even have time to step back. The four men charged at me with the coordinated speed of trained fighters, closing the distance before I could think to run. One of them shoved me down hard, and I hit the ground. I was pinned before I understood what was happening.

My forehead had collided against the sharp edge of the counter on the way down and now pain exploded in my temples.

I felt warm blood start to trickle down the side of my face almost instantly.

"Let me go!" I screamed, fighting with everything I had but It didn't matter. Four grown men had me pinned flat against the floor, and no amount of thrashing was going to change that.

Natalia loomed over me, her eyes bright with a kind of satisfaction that turned my stomach.

"Rip her clothes off," she said, loud enough for the whole café to hear. "Let everyone see what the so called Roberts heiress looks like now."

I heard the fabric of my collar tear before I fully registered what was happening. Cool air hit my exposed skin, and somewhere behind me, a few of the men who'd come in just to stare started chuckling.

"So we get to see the slut's boobs too," one laughed.

"Lucky us," another chuckled.

Not one of them moved to help. The humiliation triggered a flashback I'd tried so hard to bury deep in my memories — Damian's thugs from my first life, their rough hands as they tore my clothes and had their way with me, their laughter echoing through the cold stone cell after every night that they left me in a mess.

My whole body went rigid with fear. I wanted to scream, to claw Natalia's eyes out, to do anything except lie there and take it. But I was trapped, and there was nothing I could do but hold on and wait for it to end, counting the seconds the way I used to count them in the dark in my past life.

Just then, a voice roared through the café like thunder.

"Stop!"

All the rogues pinning me down screamed, like something invisible had ripped through their bones. The crushing pressure vanished from my back in an instant and I gasped, blinking through the blood running into my eye as I wondered what was going on.

A couple of the customers near the door scrambled outside, too shocked to keep staring now that the show had turned around.

Natalia backed away toward the door, panic flashing across her face for the first time since she'd walked in.

"Who... who are you?" she stammered. "Show your face! How dare you challenge the Everdale Pack?"

The man rose to his feet, from the floor, with his back still turned to me.

"Show your face!" Natalia ordered

When he finally turned around, I gasped.

It was the blind man from the street - the one I'd given my bracelet to, a few days ago, without ever expecting to see him again.

His eyes were still pale and unfocused, the same as before, but somehow he was staring straight at Natalia like he could see her clearly.

Relief flooded through me as I stared at him. Who was this man? He moved with speed and precision, nothing like the broken, starving figure I'd handed a bracelet to on a street corner.

Natalia tried to pull herself together, straightening up to show some courage even though her voice was shaky.

"You filthy beggar. Do you know who I am?"

She didn't even get to finish the sentence.

A slap rang out so loud and sudden that the whole café froze mid-breath. He'd moved before I even saw him do it, closing the distance in a blink and landing a hard strike across her cheek. The sound echoed off the walls and Natalia stumbled backward, clutching her face. She was too stunned to even scream.

I pushed myself up off the floor, my legs shaky and blood still dripping down my jaw. My hands trembled as I pressed my torn collar back together. Around us, the café was in ruins — chairs overturned, a shattered mug leaking coffee across the floor, and four rogues groaning on the floor.

The blind man didn't say anything. He simply stood there, his blank eyes fixed somewhere in Natalia's direction like he was waiting to see if she'd try something else.

I looked at the man properly. Whoever he was, he wasn't just a beggar. Nobody moved like that by accident.

Above all, he had saved my life and now, I owed him!