The cold marble floor bit into my knees as I knelt before Alpha Cassius's desk. I'm Violeta Gomez, an Omega in the Silver Moon Pack—though that title feels more like a brand than a rank. For three years, I've been invisible to everyone except when they need someone to scrub floors or fetch wine. But to him, to my fated mate who pretends I don't exist, I'm something worse. I'm a secret he's ashamed of.

"Begin," Cassius commanded, his voice sharp as broken glass.

My hands trembled as I dipped the quill into the ink pot. The parchment before me was cream-colored and expensive, imported from the Eastern territories. Ninety-nine ancient mating vows. Each one a promise he'd make to her. To Amora.

Not to me.

The mate bond twisted in my chest like a knife turning slowly. I could feel him watching me, testing whether I'd break. My wolf whimpered somewhere deep inside, so faint I could barely hear her anymore. She'd been silent for months now, retreating from the constant rejection.

"Your hand is shaking, Omega." His tone dropped lower, laced with that Alpha command that made my spine lock straight against my will. "Steady it."

My body obeyed before my mind could protest. The trembling stopped. I hated how easily he controlled me, how the Alpha tone stripped away my choice. I focused on the first vow, forcing my perfect penmanship to flow across the page.

*I vow to cherish you above all others, to place your happiness before my own...*

The scent of my own distress leaked into the air—bitter almonds and burnt sugar. It mixed with the sharp tang of ink, creating something acrid that made my eyes water. Cassius inhaled deeply, and I knew he was savoring my pain. Some sick part of him needed to know the bond still affected me, that I still felt every moment he chose her over me.

"Faster," he said. "The ceremony is in three days."

Three days. Seventy-two hours until he'd stand before the pack and mark Amora as his Luna. Until whatever fragile thread still connected us would snap completely.

I wrote faster.

---

The pack hall buzzed with celebration that evening. Long tables groaned under platters of roasted meat and fresh bread. Wolves laughed and drank, toasting to their Alpha's upcoming mating ceremony. I stood against the wall, holding the stack of transcribed vows, trying to be invisible.

Amora glided through the crowd in a crimson dress that hugged every curve. She was beautiful—everyone said so. High cheekbones, glossy dark hair, and an aura that commanded attention. Everything an Alpha's mate should be.

Everything I wasn't.

She approached the head table where Cassius sat, her smile bright and false. Then, as if by accident, she stumbled. Red wine arced through the air in slow motion, splashing across the parchment in my hands.

The vows bled into illegible smears.

"Oh no!" Amora gasped, pressing her hand to her mouth. "The vows! Violeta, what have you done?"

My stomach dropped. "I didn't—"

"You sabotaged them!" Her voice rose, drawing every eye in the hall. "You're jealous that Alpha Cassius chose me, so you ruined our ceremony!"

"That's not true," I whispered, but my voice was too small, too weak.

Cassius stood, his face carved from stone. "Violeta."

The way he said my name—like it tasted rotten—made something inside me crack.

"Clean it up," he ordered. "Now. With your clothes."

Shame burned through me, hot and suffocating. The pack watched, some smirking, others looking away in secondhand embarrassment. I dropped to my knees and pressed my sleeve against the wine-soaked parchment, feeling the liquid soak through to my skin.

Amora crouched beside me, her perfume overwhelming—roses and something chemical underneath. Her lips brushed my ear.

"I know your secret, little Omega," she whispered, so soft only I could hear. "And soon, you won't be a problem anymore."

Ice flooded my veins. She couldn't mean the mate bond—everyone assumed I was just another lowly Omega. So what secret? What did she know that I didn't?

---

An hour later, I descended the stone steps into the dungeon, sent to fetch more wine for the celebration above. The air grew colder with each step, damp and heavy with the smell of earth and old blood.

Voices echoed from the storage room ahead.

"—masking the royal scent is temporary," a raspy female voice said. "You need the real source eliminated."

"I know that, Elena." Amora's voice, sharp with irritation. "Why do you think I'm paying you?"

I pressed myself against the wall, barely breathing.

"The White Wolf must die tonight," the witch continued. "Once her bloodline is extinguished, no one can challenge your claim to the Lycan throne. The potion will hold permanently."

White Wolf. Lycan throne. Royal scent.

The words crashed over me like ice water. Amora wasn't just stealing Cassius—she was stealing an identity. Someone's identity. Someone royal.

Footsteps approached. I turned to run, but Penny appeared at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide with panic.

"Violeta," she hissed, grabbing my arm. "The border guards—Amora ordered them away from the northern pass. You need to run. Now."

"What? Why would—"

"Because she's going to kill you tonight." Penny's fingers dug into my skin. "Please. Run."

Behind me, the storage room door creaked open.

I shoved clothes into a worn canvas bag with shaking hands. A spare shirt. Underwear. The silver pendant I always wore—the only thing I owned that felt like mine. My room was barely larger than a closet, tucked in the servants' wing where no one would notice if I disappeared.

Penny had mapped out the blind spots in the patrol routes. The guards changed shifts at midnight. If I moved fast, I could reach the forest before anyone realized I was gone.

The pre-ceremony chaos worked in my favor. Wolves rushed through the halls carrying flowers and ribbons, too focused on tomorrow's Luna ceremony to pay attention to one Omega slipping through the shadows.

I made it to the kitchen door. The night air hit my face, cool and sharp. Freedom was fifty yards away—just across the courtyard to the tree line.

I ran.

My wolf stirred for the first time in months, a faint whisper of warning that came too late. A figure stepped from behind the garden wall, blocking my path.

Amora.

She held a vial in her hand, filled with liquid that glowed sickly green in the moonlight. Her smile was all teeth.

"Going somewhere, little Omega?"

I stumbled backward. "Let me pass."

"I don't think so." She moved closer, and I caught that chemical smell beneath her perfume—the same scent from the dungeon. "You've been very inconvenient, Violeta. Do you know how hard it is to steal someone's essence? I've been siphoning your aura for months, drop by drop, and still the Lycan King's trackers keep searching. They can sense something's wrong."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "I don't understand—"

"Of course you don't. You're too stupid to realize what you are." She laughed, sharp and cruel. "The lost Lycan Princess. The White Wolf everyone's been searching for. And you've been scrubbing floors in my pack this whole time."

The words didn't make sense. Couldn't make sense. I was nobody. An Omega. Worthless.

"You're lying," I whispered.

"Am I?" She tilted her head. "Why do you think Cassius kept you hidden? He sensed something in you, something powerful that he couldn't explain. It terrified him. So he buried it. Buried you."

I turned and ran.

She was faster. Her hand caught my hair, yanking me backward. Pain exploded across my scalp as she dragged me toward the northern border. I clawed at her wrist, but she was stronger—a high-ranking wolf against a dormant Omega.

"Cassius was just a stepping stone," she hissed in my ear. "A way to get close to the royal family. But I can't claim your throne while you're still breathing."

The forest opened onto jagged cliffs. Below, the river raged, swollen from spring melt. The sound of rushing water filled my ears, drowning out my own gasping breaths.

Amora shoved me to the edge. Rocks crumbled under my feet.

"The Lycan King will welcome me with open arms," she said. "His long-lost daughter, finally returned. And no one will ever know the truth."

"Please—" The word tore from my throat.

"Begging doesn't suit you, Princess." Her eyes flashed green, that unnatural color from the dark magic. "Goodbye, Violeta."

Her hands slammed into my chest.

I fell.

The world spun—sky, cliff, water. Wind screamed past my ears. My wolf howled inside me, a sound I'd never heard before, desperate and wild and too late.

I hit the water like hitting concrete.

Cold swallowed me whole. The current grabbed my body and pulled me under, tumbling me like a rag doll. My lungs burned. I couldn't tell which way was up.

Something hard cracked against my skull.

Pain exploded behind my eyes, white and blinding. The river's roar faded to a dull hum. My limbs went heavy, useless.

Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.

I thought of Cassius. Of the mate bond that had only ever brought me pain. Of three years spent hoping he'd see me, really see me, and choose me.

He never would.

The current dragged me downstream, toward the Royal Territory. Toward a kingdom I didn't know. Toward a fate I couldn't imagine.

My eyes closed.

The darkness took me.

I woke to the sound of water lapping against stone.

My lungs burned. Every breath felt like swallowing glass. I coughed, and river water spilled from my mouth, bitter and cold. My body was heavy, wrong, like it didn't belong to me anymore.

Where was I?

I tried to move, but my limbs wouldn't cooperate. The world tilted sideways. Sky. Trees. A figure standing over me, backlit by moonlight.

"Easy." The voice was deep, commanding, but not cruel. Not like Cassius's. "Don't move yet."

Strong hands lifted me from the mud. I should have fought. Should have screamed. But I had nothing left. My wolf was silent, buried so deep I couldn't feel her at all.

The man—no, the wolf—pulled me against his chest. Heat radiated from him, chasing away the cold that had seeped into my bones. His scent hit me like a physical force: pine and steel and something wild that made my dormant wolf stir for the first time in months.

Then it happened.

Electricity shot through my body where his skin touched mine. Not painful, but shocking. Alive. The sensation spread from his hands to my chest, wrapping around my heart like a fist.

The man went rigid. His eyes—golden, glowing—locked onto mine.

"MINE." The word came from somewhere deep in his chest, more growl than speech. His Lycan beast, speaking through him.

I didn't understand. Couldn't understand. I already had a mate. A mate who rejected me. A mate who—

"What..." My voice cracked. "What are you?"

"Augustus Walker." He said it like I should know the name. "General of the Royal Army. Lycan Prince."

Prince. Royal. The words floated past me, meaningless.

He wrapped something around my shoulders—a cloak, heavy and warm, smelling like him. His hands lingered on my arms, possessive in a way that should have terrified me but didn't.

"You're safe now," he said, and I almost believed him.

Then he lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing, and the world went dark again.

---

I woke to softness.

A bed. Clean sheets. The scent of lavender and something medicinal. Sunlight streamed through tall windows, too bright, too warm. This wasn't the servants' quarters. This wasn't anywhere I'd ever been.

Panic clawed up my throat. I tried to sit up, but my body screamed in protest. Bruises covered my arms. My head throbbed where it had hit the rocks.

"You're awake." That voice again. Augustus.

I turned my head too fast, and pain exploded behind my eyes. He stood by the door, watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. In the daylight, I could see him clearly: tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and those impossible golden eyes. Battle scars crossed his forearms. He looked like he could tear apart armies with his bare hands.

I should have been afraid.

Instead, something in my chest pulled toward him, desperate and hungry.

"Please don't hurt me," I whispered, hating how small I sounded. "I'll do whatever you want. I'll work. I'll—"

"Stop." He crossed the room in three strides and dropped to his knees beside the bed. Knelt. Before me. "You don't bow to anyone here. Not to me. Not to anyone."

I stared at him. Alphas didn't kneel. Princes didn't kneel. Especially not for Omegas.

"I don't understand," I said.

"You will." His hand reached out, hovering near mine but not touching. Asking permission. "There's something about you. Something—"

The door opened.

A woman entered, and the air itself seemed to shift. She was beautiful in a way that hurt to look at—regal, powerful, with silver streaks in her dark hair and eyes that glowed the same silver as moonlight. The Lycan Queen. I knew it without being told.

She moved toward me like she was being pulled by invisible strings. Her gaze locked onto my face, and something flickered there. Recognition? Impossible.

"May I?" she asked, her voice soft.

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

She reached out and pressed her palm to my forehead, checking for fever. The moment her skin touched mine, the world exploded.

Light erupted between us—blinding, silver, pure. It shot through my body like lightning, burning away the fog that had clouded my mind for years. My wolf surged forward, no longer dormant but awake, screaming, alive.

My eyes burned. I gasped, and when I looked down at my hands, they were glowing. Silver light poured from my skin, from my eyes, from somewhere deep inside me that I'd never known existed.

The Queen stumbled backward, tears streaming down her face.

"It's you," she whispered. "My daughter. My baby girl."

The light faded. My brown eyes—I could see them reflected in the window—flashed silver before returning to normal.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

"No," I said. "That's not—I'm nobody. I'm just—"

"You're the lost princess," Augustus said quietly. "The White Wolf."

The room spun. This was wrong. This was impossible. I was Violeta Gomez, Omega, worthless, rejected—

The Queen pulled me into her arms, and I shattered.