Page 1 of Forsaken

1

My mother is the social media queen of the fucking world.

You’d think that having a daughter at the Rejected Mate Academy would’ve made her shrink into a hole, but not Lara Adams, Daybreak Socialite Extraordinaire.

I flip through her Insta, searching her Winter Solstice planning pics for any backgrounds that I recognize. My old bedroom, perhaps? The living room?

That’s the thing about Greystone Academy. You get homesick quickly. And when you’ve been here as long as I have, it’s straight up torture.

I hover my thumb over one shot. The main focus of the image is of four different gowns thrown over a chair. That’s not what catches my eye, though. The picture was clearly taken in her dressing room where I’m one thousand percent certain a photograph of me on Christmas morning used to grace the wall.

I zoom in on that exact spot...and nothing.

Sure, she could’ve just moved it. Or she could’ve removed it for cleaning since she is a bit of a neat freak, but my heart pangs painfully, anyway. It’s as if they’re trying to erase me from their lives. I’m still their daughter. I may not have a damn mate— Correction, I have a damn mate, he just doesn’t want me, but why should that change our relationship?

I click off social media and throw myself back on the bed with a sigh. As if being rejected by your fated mate and sent to Greystone isn’t enough, I’ve also been erased from my pack altogether. My parents hardly visit. They don’t ask me to come home, either. I’m just sitting here, rotting away with a broken heart. Abandoned. Neglected.

“Ughhhhh.” Sometimes I can’t even stand my inner monologue. I hate being unhappy all the time.

My phone pings, and I reluctantly pull it up to check the screen. The name waiting for me makes me smile. Kinsey. As soon as the feisty, auburn-haired girl showed up at the academy, I had a feeling she wouldn’t stick around. There was just something different about her.

I also wasn’t expecting her to leave a lasting impression on me, either. We’re friends. Friends across packs is basically unheard of.

I’ve befriended girls at Greystone before, but when things get sorted and they return to their own packs, they try to forget everything to do with Rejected Mate Academy—even the people still here.

Not Kinsey, though.

The text contains a picture of her hand, giving a thumbs-up, backdropped by her new greenhouse in the bright sun. I sit up so I can peer at the screen more carefully.

Chuckling, I type: I’m so happy for you.

Warmth envelops me. I mean it with all my heart. I am happy for her, but that doesn’t stop the jealousy. Kinsey and Jonah were perfect for each other—are perfect for each other. Sure, he was a dick at first, but he came around.

Not Sean, though.

The thought of my mate makes my heart twinge like it’s being plucked with razor-sharp nails. I don’t know how he does it. When we talk during our mandatory meetings, which are more like therapy sessions, he says he never feels any longing for me like I do for him. He doesn’t get the weird calmness or the pull to be closer to his fated mate. It makes the loneliness that much worse.

Either I’m broken or he’s a damn liar.

I’ve had enough discussions with other shifters here, and they all say the same thing. Why would fate match us if we weren’t right for each other? We’re supposed to be together, and when we deny it, it’s like giving a big middle finger to destiny.

Sean’s proudly heaved two middle fingers since this all began.

I have half a mind to say fuck him. But that’s the thing—I want to fuck him.

In reality, it’s not me. It’s fate. She’s still trying to bring us together like magnets.

How’s Nathan? Kinsey texts.

I heave out a breath. My close friend’s disappointment hurts almost as much as my own. Nathan’s fated partner just happens to be the girl Sean is with. Like with with. Gayle’s also been walking around with her two middle fingers pointed in the air.

Technically, Sean and Gayle aren’t supposed to be together, but I’m way the hell over here at Greystone, so I have no idea what they are or aren’t doing. All I know is that they were dating for years and when we shifted for the first time, they didn’t get paired. Sean and I did. A month or so later, so did Nathan and Gayle.

Fate, apparently, doesn’t matter to them. Yet, for reasons I cannot comprehend, Nathan and I are the ones being punished because we weren’t giant douches who filled out the Mate Rejection Slip.

God, I hate all the stupid paperwork this place entails. As if you can fix destiny with a business-like paper trail.

He had a meeting yesterday, I text back, my fingers buzzing. He’d not been happy when he came by my room afterward. He said he’s going to stop trying.

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