POV: Aria

I was just stumbling down the door of the house of Damien, which I knew so well, when I was barely up. My head still ached with the previous night, and my throat was parched. I looked at my phone again--five unanswered calls with Lyra, all at midnight. My heart pounded. She never stayed up that late.

I rushed to the front door and knocked. "Lyra?" My voice cracked. "Baby, are you home?"

No answer.

The lock clicked and Damien was there.

"Where's Lyra?" I asked immediately.

He gave a lazy smirk. "How should I know? When Selene and I returned a few hours ago, she was not there. Perhaps she went in search of her mother who could not even bother to come home.

I froze. "What are you talking about? She's eighteen, Damien. She's still a child."

Leaning on the doorframe, he crossed his arms. " like mother, like  daughter," he sneered. You vanish all night and come back like that, and now your daughter is gone. Real mother of the year."

My breath caught. I was aware of my appearance, messy hair, red eyes, but I did not deserve this. "Don't do this. Where is she, please, tell me where she is."

"I don't care," he snapped. "You're an omega. Weak. Pathetic. And your daughter too--wolfless and useless."

I had not time to answer, when I heard a voice behind him, which I knew was his. " urgh... she is back? 

I couldn't breathe. "Damien..."

He looked almost bored. "Don't act surprised. I stayed out of pity. But I'm done. You should leave."

Please, I implored, with sore eyes. "Don't do this in front of her. At least--"

Selene made a pause, retiring. There were two huge suitcases next the door--mine.

I packed your things, I already said, coldly. "You should thank me."

Damien opened the door wider. "You heard her. Get out."

"Damien--"

The door slammed in my face.

It was a long time before I could stand there numb. I cleared my throat, and looked down at my phone once more. I was startled by a vibration--ringing.

"Lyra!" I screeched and replied at once. "Where are you? Are you safe?"

"Mom?" Her voice was small and tremulous. "I...I got scared. I awoke and the house was deserted. Your phone was not going through and dad was not home. So I went to Grandma's. I apologize, I did not know what to do.

Floods of relief came over me to the point of making my knees shake. "No, no, sweetheart. You did the right thing. Stay there. I'm coming right now, okay?"

She sniffled. "Okay."

I put down the phone and wiped the face. Then I walked away out of the house which had been my own.

As I entered the house of my mother, Lyra was sitting on the couch next to her grandmother with red eyes as a result of crying. When she beheld me she ran into my arms.

"Mom," she whispered.

I held her tightly. "I'm here. It's okay now."

My mother, Mara, frowned at me, but did not speak. Her eyes said enough--she knew.

I sat next to Lyra and held her hands. "Sweetheart," I began softly. There is something I must say to you.

She frowned. "What is it?"

"Your father and I... we are not together any more. But that doesn't mean any...anything has changed."

She didn't say a word. Her eyes brimmed with tears but she shook her head. "I knew it," she said quietly. Last night he did not even come home.

I reached for her shoulder. "Lyra--"

"I'm fine," she cut me off. "I just need some time." She got up and went to her room and shut the door behind her.

I would have liked to follow her, and I knew she had to have room. My mother looked at me with a sad face and gave me a cup of water. "You did your best, Aria."

I shook my head and could not trust myself to talk.

In the evening I visited the room of Lyra. She was sitting at the window, yet in her night-clothes, looking out.

"Lyra," I said softly. "It's time to get ready."

"For what?"

The mating ceremony, I said, and I had to smile. "It's your first one."

She shook her head. "I don't want to go."

"Why not?"

She swiveled to look at me, with pain in her eyes. "Because I don't want a mate. I don't want to end up like you."

Her words were hurtful, yet I knew. I knelt beside her. "I know you're hurt, baby. Everybody is not like your father. The Moon goddess could be having a kind of someone waiting. You deserve happiness."

She looked away. I do not believe in mates any more.

I sighed. "Please, just go for me." 

She eventually assented after hours of pleading with her. "Okay."

We were late at the ceremony. The mob was already assembled--wolves of every grade waiting till the Elder should read the pairings.

Lyra was standing next to me, still and calmly nervous. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze as we proceeded.

The voice of the Elder was heard in the clearing. Tonight we feast the marriage of souls, selected by the Moon Goddess herself...

My eyes moved around the audience--and stopped.

In the center stage were Damien and Selene, holding their hands together and the Elder proclaimed them as destined lovers. 

Lyra looked at me, confused. "Mom..."

"I'm fine," I whispered.

And then my gaze went floating upwards, to the throne by the seat of the Alpha. There was a young man, sitting erectly, with sharp eyes that can be seen at a distance.

I realized it like a bolt of lightning.

It was him.

The stranger from the bar.

My breath caught. What is he doing there?

People applauded Damien and Selene, but I did not hear it. I was staring at him--the man I had spent one night attempting to forget.

My heart skipped.

"Him?" I said to myself, and gulped. "Why is he next to the Alpha?"

POV: Aria

I was unable to breathe a moment. I could not take my eyes off the man by the Alpha.

The man from the bar. The very one that I had been making so much effort to forget.

My chest tightened. The crowd had died down to a wailing murmur, and, except for the sound of my own heart being beaten heavily, I heard no more. 

The candles surrounding the ritual area became as grey as possible, until a loud shout woke me up again, in a deep, commanding howl that rumbled through the night and drowned out the conversation.

"Lucian Vale, the son of the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack!" A young soldier yelled. 

The name reverberated in the night, as Lucian left his seat next to the Alpha, his father. Every head turned in unison. Gasps and murmurs, murmurs of people who could not believe what they had just heard.

He came out, so calm and so tall, that he did not need to make himself noticeable. He spoke in a voice that was strong enough to silence the rest of the people when he started speaking.

"Good evening, folks," he said, in a pleasant but firm voice. "It is weird to be standing here once more after so long being away. I dropped this pack when I was a boy, and now I come back when I am a man-- and yet one of you, and still proud to be called one of you." 

There was a ripple of cheers. He smiled, small but genuine.

"My parents," he added, looking at the Alpha and the Luna, "had always told me that going out of home would make me responsible, that I must first learn to serve, before I could lead. I thought they exaggerated."  

Some gentle laughs arose out of the audience. "Turns out they were right. My time in exile taught me that there was nothing like territory, nothing so title, as Blood Moon Pack. It's family."

He stopped and glanced about the crowd, a mere gesture, but it seemed to him he was looking at all, at every face.

"I missed my home," he said. The smell of the forest, the power of our togetherness and the fire of our people. It's good to be back."

Applause followed. He waited till it died, and then proceeded.

"I come back, ready to occupy my place, where the Moon wills," he said, and his voice grew a little deeper. "I am finished with my education, and I am prepared to serve, as a son, as a soldier, and, should the Moon be kind to me, as a mate." 

A moment his words were suspended in the air. Then he said a little, and smiling, "I can see that I have surprised some of you. I understand you can not fault me, you know, going missing and not coming back in years was not the best thing to do to have a lasting impact." 

There came laughter in the crowd. Even the Alpha smiled, faintly.

Lucian chuckled too. "But tonight isn't about me. It is about us all of us, the ones who will find their destined ones and begin new histories. I pray that the Moon goddess has penned mine somewhere in the stars to-night. Or I'll have to give another speech next year." He said, earning another round of laughter from the crowd. 

He bowed his head slightly. "May she bless this ritual, and all the ties that are made to-night." 

The crowd erupted in cheers. Howls filled the air. I could not help but be impressed by the strength of his words, by the manner in which he delivered them in a calm, confident, and warm way, as though each word was heartfelt.

Beside me, Lyra was beaming. "He is wonderful, mom, she said to herself." 

I managed a small nod. "He is," I murmured. My throat felt tight.

And there came the Elder, who had a long scroll in his hand. His voice was dramatic and full of pride.

"You have come back to your people, Prince Lucian Vale, strong and honourable. Moon shines on you to-night. You will not be waiting another year to have your mate." 

Lucian blinked, confused. "Elder?"

The old man smiled knowingly. "You already have a mate written in your stars to-night." 

Gasps ran through the crowd. I felt my stomach twist.

The Elder rolled up the scroll and read aloud the name which changed everything.

"Lyra Damien Hale!"

My world stopped. I was deaf with silence though the whole pack had begun cheering and all heads turned to us. My daughter stood still next to me and her eyes were open in disbelief.

"Me?" she whispered.

I couldn't answer. My lips were moving, but no sound was produced.

Lyra looked at me, hesitant. I forced a trembling smile. "Go on," I whispered. "It's your moment."

She paused a moment and then took a step forward. The people cleared a path to her and she slowly strolled towards the stage.

Lucian stepped down the steps, and looked at her with an expression that was gentle. As their hands touched, the crowd that surrounded us screamed, applauded, cheered.

I stood there, acting as though I were smiling, acting as though I were happy. My heart was racing with disbelief, guilt and what can be described as fear.

Since the man before my daughter, the soon to be Alpha, the pride of the pack, was the same  man who had touched me in the dark just a few hours before.

I swallowed, my lips closed together, and i  whispered  to myself.

"My one-night stand," I said to myself, "will be the future Alpha... and the mate of my daughter?"

The applause.

It didn't even sound like applause anymore. It hit me like a wave-a thick, crushing roar that rolled over my head and swallowed me whole.

The clearing was packed. Hundreds of wolves were cheering, stomping, vibrating with happiness... but somehow everything around me felt muted, far away, like someone had shoved cotton into my ears.

Or maybe my ears were actually ringing. It was that sharp, high-pitched sound-thin and painful, like glass right before it cracks.

It was too much.

All of it.

Lucian and Lyra.

The second their hands touched-just a simple, polite motion-the air shifted. Something invisible but violent swept through the space, brushing over skin and bone. It wasn't physical, exactly, but it slammed into me anyway: a deep, aching sting right in the center of my chest. Recognition. Loss. Both. Neither. Something in between, sharp enough to bruise.

I blinked hard. Get it together, Aria. Breathe. Smile. You're her mother. You're supposed to look proud.

When I opened my eyes, Lyra was... glowing. There was no other word for it. Her hazel eyes-dull, unsure just last night-were sparkling now, lit up from somewhere deep inside. She stood taller, steadier. And Lucian... he was looking at her with this soft, focused intensity that made my stomach twist. The kind of look an Alpha gives his destiny.

But even then...

When she grabbed his hand, his body flinched. Just a tiny jerk-barely noticeable. His shoulders tightened, his gaze cut sideways like someone touching a live wire.

Shock?

The bond?

Or something else? Something tangled and dangerous-something remembered from a dark hotel room and a name whispered into his ear that he never knew belonged to me?

Stop it.

Stop. It.

You're imagining things. He doesn't recognize you. He was drunk. You were a blur. He sees his mate-your daughter. That's all.

Fear coated my tongue, metallic and sharp. Woodsmoke from the fires, damp dirt underfoot, and beneath it all... Lucian's scent. Cinnamon. Alpha musk. Thick enough to choke on. It clung to Lyra now, wrapped around her like a claim.

I forced a smile so big it hurt. Lyra glanced back at me, relief flooding her eyes. She looked like she needed my permission to be happy. So I gave it-I nodded hard. Yes. Go. Take this chance. Want this opportunity.

But panic was tightening in my throat, inch by inch.

This wasn't just any match. This was the future Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. And I-Aria Hale, rejected omega-had slept with him barely twelve hours ago. I had stained the bond before it even formed.

The weight of my own recklessness nearly knocked me over. I needed to disappear. Melt into the crowd. Get away before-

Too late.

Helena Vale-Luna Helena-Lucian's mother-appeared out of nowhere.

She moved through the crowd with the cold, effortless confidence of a predator. No softness. No warmth. Just sharp edges and silk. She stopped in front of me, close enough that my spine instinctively straightened.

"Aria."

Her voice didn't need volume. Somehow it cut through everything.

I bowed my head. "Luna Helena."

Old habits. Old fear. Submission coming out of me like muscle memory.

She looked me over-slow, clinical. Not my eyes. Not my expression. She catalogued my dress, my shoes, the faded rejection mark near my collar. She saw all of it.

"Lyra is beautiful," she said. The compliment felt like a blade wrapped in velvet.

"A perfect match for my son. Though..."

The pause stretched, humming with intent.

"Though?" My heartbeat stumbled.

"Though her lineage is... complicated." Her smile didn't touch her eyes. "A rejected omega for a mother. And a father who abandoned his pack duties for a housemaid."

Heat exploded across my cheeks. Shame, old and deep. I wanted to defend myself. To defend my mother. To say I wasn't weak. But the words died somewhere in my chest. I just took it, the way an old scar takes a hit and remembers everything.

Helena placed a hand on my arm. Cold. Controlling. Unmovable.

"It will be my duty to prepare Lyra," she said. "She needs proper guidance. Someone who can make up for..." Another glance at my clothes. My everything. "Lack of foundation."

Her fingers tightened-just enough to hurt, not enough to leave a visible mark-and my breath hitched.

"Bring Lyra to the Main Lodge tomorrow morning. Early. Her lessons begin immediately. We can't afford missteps."

Then she leaned closer, her perfume sharp and suffocating.

"And Aria... don't trouble yourself by trying to instruct her. Stay quiet. It's what will benefit her most."

A command. A threat. A cage.

Then she swept away like she'd never touched me at all, heading straight for Lucian and the Alpha.

My legs were trembling. I tasted blood-I'd bitten the inside of my cheek without noticing. I needed to get out. I shoved through the crowd, whispering apologies, heart hammering.

I was almost free when my foot caught on a root. My ankle twisted. I pitched forward-

A hand grabbed me. Warm. Firm. Cedar and cinnamon surrounding me like a trap.

"Careful."

Lucian.

He wasn't looking at Lyra. He wasn't watching the stage.

He'd been watching me.

His silver eyes were wide, too clear, too sharp for someone who'd just accepted his mate. He steadied me, then held me that split second too long-long enough for the connection to snap into place again, stronger, unmistakable.

He let go. But his gaze didn't.

He didn't see Lyra's mother. He saw the woman from last night. The one whose name he'd forgotten even as he burned it into my skin.

"What is your name?" he asked, voice low enough to tremble inside my bones. "Tell me your name."

I should have stayed silent. I should have walked away.

But Helena's warning, my humiliation, the raw intensity of his stare-it cracked something inside me.

I opened my mouth to say "Aria Hale."

What came out was:

"I'm Lyra's mother. That's all you need to know."

I pushed past him, swallowing the shock in his eyes, and disappeared into the tent shadows.

I couldn't look back.

Tomorrow I was expected at the Main Lodge.

Tomorrow I walked straight into the home of the Alpha I'd slept with.

And he had just looked at me like the mate bond had snapped into him-for me.

My arm still tingled where Helena had gripped it. My skin still burned where Lucian had touched it.

Lyra... my sweet, brilliant girl...

I hope this lie is enough to protect the future you just stepped into.