Chapter One

Lyra’s POV

His teeth grazed my skin, his tongue following, slow and deliberate, until every inch of me felt swollen with heat.

I shouldn’t remember the way his mouth dragged down my body—hungry, claiming, until I was trembling under him… but I do.

His hand slammed my wrists above my head before I could breathe, his body crushing mine into the window as he thrust into me hard enough to make the glass crack.

I shouldn’t remember the way his mouth closed over my private lips, pulling every sound out of me, or the way his lips suckled at my tits with slow, desperate hunger… but I do.”

And even now, standing in this stupid wedding hall, my lips still tremble from the way he kissed me like he wanted to ruin me.

I didn’t know his name then. I didn’t know he was an Alpha. I didn’t know he was my mate’s father.

I only knew one thing: a prophecy woke in my blood.

Instead, I arched into the stranger whose scent burned like sin…

*******

Hours earlier, before I let a dangerous stranger drag those sounds out of me, I was just an Omega standing behind a bar pretending I wasn’t breaking apart.

The laughter swirling all around me is too loud, and the music too sweet. They wrap their hands around me like poisonous vines, choking until I don't think I have anything left in me.

The bride's hands wrap around what should have been mine, giggle on her lips, and satisfaction in her eyes. My fingers grip the edge of the bar so hard that I feel it in my knuckles.

I force myself to breathe, to close my eyes, and act like I'm just another Omega pouring drinks at the Alpha's son's wedding. But nothing is that simple.

Because my mate is standing at the front of the crowd, sliding a ring onto someone else’s finger. And not just anyone. Selene. My best friend since childhood, the one who promised she’d always have my back.

What a way to show it. A sharp pulse stings behind my ribs like an arrow. For a second, the world goes muffled, like something inside me is trying to wake up. I blink hard as my throat bobbed unconsciously. Not here and certainly not now.

The glass I’m drying suddenly shatters in my hand from how hard I’m holding it, and at once, heads turn in my direction, their eyes glaring daggers at me.

Somewhere across the hall, a shadow shift. A presence that felt heavy and dominant My wolf, weak as she is bristles so sharply I almost drop the remaining shards. Someone powerful is watching me.

"Be quiet, girl!" Selene's mother scolds harshly, her face squeezing into a frown. "And get away from there this minute. You are ruining such a beautiful day."

She was just like Selene. They acted like they were my friends for so long that I forgot who I was with them. A poor omega, working in the pack’s kitchen with nothing else to her name.

I bow quickly and move farther away from them, walking out back to dump the shredded glass into the bin.

Blood trickles down my hand, but it doesn't hurt as much as every other thing happening today. The wound isn't healing on time because Omegas don't heal as fast as all the others.

Sliding to the floor, I allow the sobs I have been holding back all morning rack through me. My shoulders bob and my lips part wide open. I taste the salt in my own tears and the hurt laced in it.

I hear the sound of footsteps echo in the air until they come to an abrupt stop in front of me. "Lyra, you really shouldn't be taking it this personally," I hear Selene say, and suddenly, I feel the urge to tear her apart from the inside.

“Selene…”

She scoffs and shakes her head. "You are really making a scene out here, and someone from a guest pack might think I actually stole your mate from you."

"But you did," the words come out in a choked whisper as another torrent of tears starts pouring.

She leans in, her perfume chokingly sweet. “You were always too slow, Lyra. Too soft. You really thought fate would choose you?”

"You knew, Selene. You knew how much I liked Aiden, yet you took him from me. You know he was my mate…"

“He asked me to marry him, Lyra. What could I have done? Say no?”

I stare at her disbelievingly, finding it hard to believe that it is the same Selene I have always known.

"And it isn't my fault you didn't figure out that there is no way Aiden will agree to mate with an ordinary Omega like you." I hear the disdain drip from her tone. "You are just a wench in the kitchen. He deserves…."

“Better,” I complete, pulling myself off the ground. “Someone like you.”

Her lips quirk with the ghost of a smile just as Aiden saunters in through the door at one corner.

“There you are, my lovely bride,” he murmurs, then halts when he notices me. “Is she hurting you?”

Selene shakes her head, her eyes turning to stare at Aiden. "I was only trying to explain to her why things have to be the way they are, but…."

“Can you listen to yourself?” I cry out. Suddenly, Aiden charges towards me, hitting me hard on my shoulder and forcing me back to the ground.

“What are you trying to do, Lyra?” he barks just as Selene places a hand on his chest, seemingly trying to calm him down. “This is the reason my father should have listened to me when I asked him to send you out of the pack.”

Selene gasps dramatically and shakes her head at Aiden. "Baby, I've told you it's fine. Lyra and I have been friends for so long, and I was only trying to make her understand why I have to get married to her mate. I thought she would understand…."

“You are far too kind,” Aiden murmurs, pushing back a stray curl from her hair before glaring down at me. “You hear that, Lyra? Despite the fact that you almost ruined our day with the scene you pulled inside, Selene still cares about your feelings. You don’t deserve a friend as good as her.”

“Aiden,” I wail. It hurts so bad that I think my heart is going to claw its way out of my chest. My tears flow on ceaselessly, and I get on my knees, wrapping my hands around his ankles.

“You are my mate,” I whisper. “Why are you doing this to me?”

He kicks me out of the way, just as Selene takes in a sharp breath. “She’s already bleeding, Aiden.”

“I don’t care,” he murmurs, then wraps a hand around her waist. “The only person I care about is you.”

And then, his eyes fall once again on my crumpled form. “Just in case what happened in there wasn’t clear, this is me, Aiden, the son of Alpha Kael of the Mystic Hollows Pack, rejecting you.”

It hurts so bad. I see the look of triumph on Selene's face before it is masked by another feigned concern as Aiden whisks her away with him.

Something snarls inside me—quiet, buried, furious. Not my wolf, something that tastes like fire on my tongue.

My whole body quivers underneath me, but that only makes me angrier. My wolf is weak. She can do nothing other than quiver and shake. Why was I even born? Why do I have to go through this?

I hear another sound of footsteps echoing, and I brace myself, expecting Selene again.

The air changes first—tightening, lowering, pressing then a dominance so thick it rolls over like red carpet beneath me. I held my breath, even the warriors outside pause.

And then he steps into the doorway… tall, carved from shadow and authority, his presence hitting my senses like a slap. His feet, clad in black boots, halt in front of me. His eyes drag over me slowly—too slowly, like he’s cataloging every bruise, every mark, and every place I’m breaking.

“Hello, Omega.”

The way he says it shouldn’t curl heat low in my stomach—but it does.

I look up, slightly relieved that someone is finally paying me attention. But his cold eyes regard me slowly, and he mutters after another second.

“You are standing in my way.”

But this time… he doesn’t move. Neither do I.

His gaze catches mine and holds, too intense, too knowing, too familiar like he’s already seen me stripped bare under his hands.

A shiver shot through my spine not from fear but from recognition, memory and from the way my body suddenly remembers everything from the night I should never speak of, but my skin still aches for

His eyes narrow like he felt it too.

“Get up,” he orders quietly. “Before I decide to pick you up myself.”

My breath caught in my throat, and when he reaches out, not to help me, but to touch my wrist, slow and claiming the world goes hot and blinding.

The medallion around his neck burns green.

And everything inside me… answers.

Chapter One

Lyra’s POV

His teeth grazed my skin, his tongue following, slow and deliberate, until every inch of me felt swollen with heat.

I shouldn’t remember the way his mouth dragged down my body—hungry, claiming, until I was trembling under him… but I do.

His hand slammed my wrists above my head before I could breathe, his body crushing mine into the window as he thrust into me hard enough to make the glass crack.

I shouldn’t remember the way his mouth closed over my private lips, pulling every sound out of me, or the way his lips suckled at my tits with slow, desperate hunger… but I do.”

And even now, standing in this stupid wedding hall, my lips still tremble from the way he kissed me like he wanted to ruin me.

I didn’t know his name then. I didn’t know he was an Alpha. I didn’t know he was my mate’s father.

I only knew one thing: a prophecy woke in my blood.

Instead, I arched into the stranger whose scent burned like sin…

*******

Hours earlier, before I let a dangerous stranger drag those sounds out of me, I was just an Omega standing behind a bar pretending I wasn’t breaking apart.

The laughter swirling all around me is too loud, and the music too sweet. They wrap their hands around me like poisonous vines, choking until I don't think I have anything left in me.

The bride's hands wrap around what should have been mine, giggle on her lips, and satisfaction in her eyes. My fingers grip the edge of the bar so hard that I feel it in my knuckles.

I force myself to breathe, to close my eyes, and act like I'm just another Omega pouring drinks at the Alpha's son's wedding. But nothing is that simple.

Because my mate is standing at the front of the crowd, sliding a ring onto someone else’s finger. And not just anyone. Selene. My best friend since childhood, the one who promised she’d always have my back.

What a way to show it. A sharp pulse stings behind my ribs like an arrow. For a second, the world goes muffled, like something inside me is trying to wake up. I blink hard as my throat bobbed unconsciously. Not here and certainly not now.

The glass I’m drying suddenly shatters in my hand from how hard I’m holding it, and at once, heads turn in my direction, their eyes glaring daggers at me.

Somewhere across the hall, a shadow shift. A presence that felt heavy and dominant My wolf, weak as she is bristles so sharply I almost drop the remaining shards. Someone powerful is watching me.

"Be quiet, girl!" Selene's mother scolds harshly, her face squeezing into a frown. "And get away from there this minute. You are ruining such a beautiful day."

She was just like Selene. They acted like they were my friends for so long that I forgot who I was with them. A poor omega, working in the pack’s kitchen with nothing else to her name.

I bow quickly and move farther away from them, walking out back to dump the shredded glass into the bin.

Blood trickles down my hand, but it doesn't hurt as much as every other thing happening today. The wound isn't healing on time because Omegas don't heal as fast as all the others.

Sliding to the floor, I allow the sobs I have been holding back all morning rack through me. My shoulders bob and my lips part wide open. I taste the salt in my own tears and the hurt laced in it.

I hear the sound of footsteps echo in the air until they come to an abrupt stop in front of me. "Lyra, you really shouldn't be taking it this personally," I hear Selene say, and suddenly, I feel the urge to tear her apart from the inside.

“Selene…”

She scoffs and shakes her head. "You are really making a scene out here, and someone from a guest pack might think I actually stole your mate from you."

"But you did," the words come out in a choked whisper as another torrent of tears starts pouring.

She leans in, her perfume chokingly sweet. “You were always too slow, Lyra. Too soft. You really thought fate would choose you?”

"You knew, Selene. You knew how much I liked Aiden, yet you took him from me. You know he was my mate…"

“He asked me to marry him, Lyra. What could I have done? Say no?”

I stare at her disbelievingly, finding it hard to believe that it is the same Selene I have always known.

"And it isn't my fault you didn't figure out that there is no way Aiden will agree to mate with an ordinary Omega like you." I hear the disdain drip from her tone. "You are just a wench in the kitchen. He deserves…."

“Better,” I complete, pulling myself off the ground. “Someone like you.”

Her lips quirk with the ghost of a smile just as Aiden saunters in through the door at one corner.

“There you are, my lovely bride,” he murmurs, then halts when he notices me. “Is she hurting you?”

Selene shakes her head, her eyes turning to stare at Aiden. "I was only trying to explain to her why things have to be the way they are, but…."

“Can you listen to yourself?” I cry out. Suddenly, Aiden charges towards me, hitting me hard on my shoulder and forcing me back to the ground.

“What are you trying to do, Lyra?” he barks just as Selene places a hand on his chest, seemingly trying to calm him down. “This is the reason my father should have listened to me when I asked him to send you out of the pack.”

Selene gasps dramatically and shakes her head at Aiden. "Baby, I've told you it's fine. Lyra and I have been friends for so long, and I was only trying to make her understand why I have to get married to her mate. I thought she would understand…."

“You are far too kind,” Aiden murmurs, pushing back a stray curl from her hair before glaring down at me. “You hear that, Lyra? Despite the fact that you almost ruined our day with the scene you pulled inside, Selene still cares about your feelings. You don’t deserve a friend as good as her.”

“Aiden,” I wail. It hurts so bad that I think my heart is going to claw its way out of my chest. My tears flow on ceaselessly, and I get on my knees, wrapping my hands around his ankles.

“You are my mate,” I whisper. “Why are you doing this to me?”

He kicks me out of the way, just as Selene takes in a sharp breath. “She’s already bleeding, Aiden.”

“I don’t care,” he murmurs, then wraps a hand around her waist. “The only person I care about is you.”

And then, his eyes fall once again on my crumpled form. “Just in case what happened in there wasn’t clear, this is me, Aiden, the son of Alpha Kael of the Mystic Hollows Pack, rejecting you.”

It hurts so bad. I see the look of triumph on Selene's face before it is masked by another feigned concern as Aiden whisks her away with him.

Something snarls inside me—quiet, buried, furious. Not my wolf, something that tastes like fire on my tongue.

My whole body quivers underneath me, but that only makes me angrier. My wolf is weak. She can do nothing other than quiver and shake. Why was I even born? Why do I have to go through this?

I hear another sound of footsteps echoing, and I brace myself, expecting Selene again.

The air changes first—tightening, lowering, pressing then a dominance so thick it rolls over like red carpet beneath me. I held my breath, even the warriors outside pause.

And then he steps into the doorway… tall, carved from shadow and authority, his presence hitting my senses like a slap. His feet, clad in black boots, halt in front of me. His eyes drag over me slowly—too slowly, like he’s cataloging every bruise, every mark, and every place I’m breaking.

“Hello, Omega.”

The way he says it shouldn’t curl heat low in my stomach—but it does.

I look up, slightly relieved that someone is finally paying me attention. But his cold eyes regard me slowly, and he mutters after another second.

“You are standing in my way.”

But this time… he doesn’t move. Neither do I.

His gaze catches mine and holds, too intense, too knowing, too familiar like he’s already seen me stripped bare under his hands.

A shiver shot through my spine not from fear but from recognition, memory and from the way my body suddenly remembers everything from the night I should never speak of, but my skin still aches for

His eyes narrow like he felt it too.

“Get up,” he orders quietly. “Before I decide to pick you up myself.”

My breath caught in my throat, and when he reaches out, not to help me, but to touch my wrist, slow and claiming the world goes hot and blinding.

The medallion around his neck burns green.

And everything inside me… answers.

Chapter Two

Lyra’s POV

If I thought the way he looked at me in that hallway was dangerous… it was nothing compared to the way he looks at me now, under the dim lights of the bar like he already knows exactly how tight my thigh would clutch around his fingers if he ever slid them into me.

The heat floods back with such cruelty, I didn’t expect my body to tighten at the memory of how he held me open with one hand while he rammed into me with the other.

My breath stutters at the memory, heat curling low in my stomach: This is utterly wrong, utterly forbidden. And here I am, trapped behind the bar at my mate’s wedding, pretending I’m fine, pretending my skin isn’t still buzzing for a man I shouldn’t even want. A man whose name I still didn’t know when he made me shake apart beneath him. The memory vanishes just as fast, leaving my pulse tripping over itself.

*******

“What?” I whisper, the weight of his words crashing into me.

“The bar,” he mutters,

nudging at the door behind me. “You are in my way.”

Of course. The damn bar.

I slide away from the door, but the stranger doesn’t move. There is something about him that makes me narrow my eyes, peering at him from underneath my lashes.

His eyes take in the blood in my hands, slowly drying. His stare lingers too long, on my lips, my throat, the pulse jumping in my wrist as if he’s memorizing the places he wants to touch later. My breath slips unevenly, and his eyes flick down at the sound, sharp and hungry. Wordlessly, he gets on the same level as me and pulls it to him. At first, I struggle in his grip, trying to flinch away from his touch.

But one look straight into my eyes has me stopping. Slowly, his fingers work at the remaining shards of glass in my hand, taking every bit out. I look into his eyes as he works so intently, the dark pools focused on his task. His fingers barely graze my palm, but the jolt that shoots up my arm is vicious; white-hot, electric, a warning I’m too broken to obey. His jaw flexes once, as if he felt it too.

I don't think I have ever seen him around. I would have noticed. This man doesn't blend into crowds easily, with his silver hair framing his face, and the contrast with his eyes is hard to miss.

Like darkness and light.

He retrieves a bottle of alcohol from his coat and pours it over the injury.

“Fuck!” I groan as the pain hits. He arches his brows but says nothing else, carefully sheathing his drink before rising to his feet again.

He watches me shake instead, eyes darkening with something that feels too much like possession. “Pain teaches you where you bleed,” he murmurs, low enough that only I can hear. “And who notices.”

I gaze up at him, confused.

He shrugs. “I am not particularly a fan of the drinks being served out here. The Alpha’s son could have done better.”

“Why are you helping

me?” I whisper, pulling myself off the ground. The wound has begun to heal, although still slower than the normal rate of other wolves.

“I’m not,” he murmurs.

“You were just in my way.”

We walk back in

together, and I notice we are heading the same way. He slides onto one of the stools at the bar, while I grab a tray.

“Sit,” he orders. The command isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. My knees go weak before my mind catches up, heat flooding embarrassingly low in my thigh. Alphas don’t usually affect me like this. No one does actually.

I blink rapidly. “What?”

His eyes, dark and unreadable, pin me in place. “I said sit. I’m sure someone else can play servant tonight.”

I should argue. I should walk away before I get into trouble.

But for some reason, I can't find the willpower to say no, so, instead, I slide onto the stool, staring at that pool of dark eyes again. His hands work mechanically as he retrieves the alcohol in his coat again, pulling two glasses our way.

After pouring a healthy amount, he pushes one to me. The smell burns before it even touches my lips. He studies every movement I make. Every swallow, every breath like he’s stripping me without touching me. The worst part? My thigh throbs like it’s begging for his hands in me instead of his eyes.

“Drink up.”

“Are you trying to make me drunk?”

He shrugs. "You don't need my help for that. You already look half–drowned in exhaustion and mystery."

Heat creeps up my face as I turn away, my gaze landing on Aiden. "I guess I am not a fan of parties where I can't enjoy myself."

“Me neither,” he murmurs, his firm hands circling his glass as he raises it to his lips. “I’m here out of obligation.”

“At least, you are not made to serve tables like some slave.”

He smirks. “I’m far from being a slave, Lyra.”

Perfect. He knows my name. What else does he know?

I should go help the others out with serving drinks till the end of the wedding, as Aiden has instructed. Yet, for some reason, I slide further into the stool, taking my first sip of the drink.

It burns my throat instantly, and I wheeze. But I keep going back for more, under his watchful gaze.

The stranger.

He isn’t saying anything. Just watching, as if trying to unravel a mystery.

The liquor becomes dull on my tongue as I keep going. It gives me something else to focus on other than Selene's sharp laughter, finding me from across the room. It is easy to point her out, standing as regal as ever.

She is now beside her mother and father, the Beta of the book. Happiness flows through them. In the near future, their daughter is going to be a Luna.

While I will remain the same.

Nothing.

“Careful,” he says, his lips barely moving.

A scowl etches onto my face. "Why do you care?"

“I don’t.” His lips twitch, but it doesn’t stretch into a smile. “I just prefer not to drink with someone who collapses halfway through. And alcohol poisoning is a thing.

Haven’t you heard of it?”

“You’re bossy.”

“I’ve been told worse.”

He leans back against the counter, his silver strands catching the dim lights.

I can’t read his gaze, no matter how hard I try. And right now, his dark eyes are beginning to twirl.

Or is that the drink?

He leans in closer to me, his warm breath teasing my ears… just enough heat to burn along my skin. My thighs

clench instinctively. He pauses just a fraction too long as if he hears the sound my body makes.

“You have been staring at the bride for a while now. You should say hello while you can.”

The rest of the room seem to fade away, leaving just the two of us. Every part of me is aware of the stranger as he lingers on my ear, his lips grazing my skin softly before he pulls away.

"I should leave," I mutter, sliding out of the stool and heading towards the door blindly. Halfway through, I remember the warriors won't let me out. Not after Aiden warned them to keep her inside the building until I watch every minute of the wedding.

I hate him. I should hate him.

The stranger from earlier approaches, taking my hand in his. He doesn’t ask permission. His hand closes around mine, large, warm, unyielding. A single tug and my body follows his like it

always belonged in his pull. The warriors bow their heads as we approach, spines stiffening under his aura.

And without warning, he strides out of the door. The warriors do not as much as blink at him, keeping their gazes to the ground until we walk past them.

“Who are you?” I mutter the words I should have asked an hour ago.

“Where should I drop you?”

I stop then, realizing that I cannot go back to the pack house. Selene is going to move in tonight,

and I do not think I can bear to see them all cuddly, the look of smug satisfaction on her face.

In a split second, I look up at the stranger, saying the first thing that comes to my mind.

“Take me home with you.”

For a breathless moment, something passes between us—dark, magnetic, terrifying. The air hums. The medallion beneath his shirt sparks to life, a faint green flash against his chest, answering something inside me that aches to be touched.

He doesn’t notice it, but I do.

And suddenly, I am filled with the strange belief that it belongs to me.

“Get in the car, Lyra,” he says softly. “Before I do something I’m not supposed to.”

Something in me tightens, trembling.

And I obey, because gods help me, I want him to.