“Funny because I didn’t even want you as a mate. I asked for everyone but you.” I say it too quickly. It slips from my mouth before I can take it back and loud enough for everyone to hear.

His already darkened gaze darkened even deeper.

“What did you say?”

The whole hall is quiet, too quiet. I’ve loved quite places like this all my life, they hide me and keep me safe.

Not this one though, nothing about this silence puts my nerve to rest. To make matters worse, it crowns me as the center of attention. In the middle of people who want nothing, absolutely nothing to do with my existence.

“I asked you a question June.” Pressure radiates from him, so intense I almost fall to my knees.

“I do not want you Alpha Kai. Not every she wolf is crazy about you. I’d have every other werewolf as a mate but you. The feeling…, it’s quiet mutual.” I ignore the pain in my soul to give him a piece of my mind. Everything is breaking on my inside. A complete contrast to my perfect display.

“Come.” He uses the Alpha command.

I know that because my body is moving against my will no matter how hard I try.

“She’s trying to defy the Alpha’s command!”

The echo is followed with loud laughter. Laughter that rips me apart.

I clench my fists in fury.

“Look at you. A pathetic offspring with no root.” He stands right in front of me. His claws outstretched.

“You dare to even think you are worth enough to pick a mate? You? A mere piece of trash? And you go ahead to even attempt to make a decision?”

“You think you can even make a decision?”

“You know, I’ve heard these days, that Betas have become increasingly presumptuous. I never expected to find one with the kind of moral that you have. What’s even more,”

“I’m still wondering, how the moon goddess couldn’t give you parents yet gave you the destiny to parent a clan.” He steps closer to me in an extremely threatening way. I’m barely standing and he knows that.

I hate that he knows it. I hate how the Beta gets to feel more, what the Alpha didn’t want. I hate it.

“Apparently, she’s not an asshole as you are.”

“Get. Down.”

“No.” My tears mix with my blood and I have no idea which exact one is more acidic. The tears or the blood.

“Get. Down.” He strengthens his command. And my knees find their way to the ground. With a loud crack.

I suck in a huge bowl of air immediately. My stomach is in pain. All I want to do is fold and scream. But I wouldn’t do that. I would not give them the privilege to know that I was wounded. I would not give him the ability to let him know that he broke me. No.

“Look at you. Is this how you want to rule my clan? On your knees? A mere dog wants to man a werewolf territory.”

My hands scrape the palace tiles. I can’t fight him. I wouldn’t win. I’d be dead before I even try. There’s no use letting my wolf out.

“Look at me.” Another Alpha command.

I swallow bile down my throat as I feel my eyes staring into his.

“You are a pathetic vile creature. You are the embodiment of imperfection in a perfect world. You do not belong here. The moon goddess did a great favor putting life into your nostrils. If I were in her place, you wouldn’t be useful. Not even as a statue.”

“She would have let nature take you the exact time nature took your parent. But you’re here now. And there’s what I can use for.”

His tone is so sinister, goosebumps fill my skin.

“While you’re here, I might as well just make it known. I found a mate. A woman strong enough to shoulder the weight of this clan. One that has proven herself to me countless times unlike you.”

“What makes you think I care about this… mate of yours?” My hands are vibrating.

“Oh, I know very well, you’d care Lia. Because you didn’t expect it. The mate I have chosen for the clan is one you would have expected if you’d been wise enough to read the handwriting on the wall.”

“Lia.”

“Yes Alpha.” Lia stepped out, her eyes locked directly into mine. No iota of shame or remorse.

I can hear my heart drumming in my ears. Every breath suddenly felt like I was trying to inhale copper.

“Would you do the honors of telling her yourself or should I do the honors?” Kai asked, his hand reaching out to pull Lia to his side.

“I would prefer if you do the honors Kai.”

She used his name. No title. No formality. You could basically hear her affection for him just from the way she pronounced his name.

I bite on my lower lip hard enough to stifle the scream attempting to rip itself out of my throat. Apparently my nightmare was not the moon goddess giving me a darned beat as a mate.

It was Lia.

“Surprised, are you?”

I clamped my teeth refusing to say a word.

“Finally. The barking dog has finally finally gone mute. What a pleasure to see your rage bottled in silent pain. I can relive this day over and over and over again June.”

“But there’s more, much more.”

“Lia, my love, my mate and the one meant to led this clan, would you accept my unworthy self to be mated to you?”

“Can I ever say no to you?”

His fangs extend, fast. And he sinks them into Lia’s neck.

It feels as though a hot knife is passing through my throat and I know screaming would do absolutely nothing to quench the raging fire threatening to consume me.

“All hail the Luna of the Crescent Pack!”

Kai’s large hand buried into Lia’s hair, pulling her head back just enough to allow him to graze her neck. He was suckling at her skin, a slow, possessive mark of a new Luna, claiming her in front of the very woman he had discarded moments before.

I was crouched on the floor, my fingers digging so deeply into the fabric of my silver dress that I could hear the silk groaning. My hands were clutched tightly over my stomach, trying to hold my internal organs together. Every time his teeth grazed her, a white-hot spike of agony shot through my own chest, the shattered remains of our mate-bond screaming in protest. I forced my eyes to the floor, fighting the sob that threatened to shatter my ribs.

“Look at her,” Kai’s voice rumbled, vibrating through the hall. He didn't stop his assault on Lia’s neck, his eyes hooded and dark.

“A Beta who cannot even stand. A warrior who crumbles at the sight of her Alpha’s happiness.”

He pulled away from Lia just enough to sneer at me, his lip curling in a way that made my stomach turn. He took a deliberate step toward me, his heavy boots clicking against the marble. He leaned down, placing his hand on his knee, bringing his face level with mine.

"Tell me, June," he whispered, loud enough for the front row of the pack to hear.

"Does it burn? Does it feel like your soul is being shredded? Because that is the sound of reality finally catching up to your delusions. You thought you could be my equal. You thought a nameless, rootless orphan could sit on a throne."He reached out, not to touch me, but to flick a stray bead from my dress.

"You even tried to dress the part. But a crow in silver feathers is still a crow."He stood back up, looking around the room at the hundreds of eyes watching my downfall.

"From this moment, June is stripped of her rank. She is no longer a Beta of the Crescent Pack. She doesn’t deserve to be one. She is an Omega, the lowest of the low. A servant to the lineage she dared to insult."He gestured dismissively to the guards standing at the periphery.

“Take her to the servant chambers. I don't want her filth staining the royal tiles any longer. In fact, scrub the floors where she knelt. I want every trace of her arrogance erased by morning.”

I felt the cold bite of metal before I felt the guards' hands. they snapped silver-lined chains around my wrists. The silver hissed against my skin, dampening my wolf and sending a dull, sickening ache through my veins. As they dragged me away, I heard Lia’s soft, triumphant giggle and the sound of the pack resuming their celebration. The music started again.

By the time they threw me into the small, damp room that was to be my new home, I was gasping for air. The servant chambers were located in the bowels of the palace, where the stone was always wet and the air tasted of mold. Every breath felt like a shockwave of broken glass traveling down my lungs. I collapsed against the stone wall, the silver chains clinking mockingly in the dark. I closed my eyes, praying for a sleep that wouldn't come, a sleep that would swallow the memory of Lia’s hand in his hair.

Hours passed. Or maybe it was only minutes. In the dark, time becomes a distorted thing. I lay there, shivering, my body trying to heal the invisible wounds of a rejected bond while the silver chains continued to poison my blood.

A soft click of the door made my ears twitch.

I became alert instantly, my instincts screaming. Someone was here. I forced myself upright, my back scraping against the rough stone as I tried to find my footing. The door creaked open, admitting a sliver of light from the hallway.

Kai stepped into the dim light of the chambers. He had discarded his heavy Alpha cloak and his formal tunic, wearing only a thin black shirt that clung to his frame. He looked leaner and more dangerous in the shadows, his Alpha aura filling the tiny room until I felt like the walls were closing in.

“Why are you here, Kai?” I rasped, my voice sounding like it had been dragged over thorns.

“Is your new Luna not enough for you? Can you not even tolerate Lia’s bed for a single night before coming to gloat over my ruins? Did you forget to insult my parents one last time?”

Kai didn't look angry. He didn't even look annoyed by my sharp tongue. He looked predatory. He stepped closer, his movements fluid and silent. The space between us vanished until I could feel the heat radiating off his body, contrasting with the freezing dampness of the room.

"You always did have too much pride for your own good, June," he said, his voice a low, melodic hum. He looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the straw pallet that was to be my bed and the single, flickering candle on the wall.

"It’s a shame. Such a beautiful fire wasted on someone who doesn't know how to play the game."

He reached out, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw with a terrifying tenderness that made me want to recoil and lean in all at once. The touch sent a jolt through the broken bond, a cruel reminder of what should have been.

“Lia is the Luna this pack requires,” he whispered, his voice low and dangerous, vibrating in the small space.

“She has the bloodline, the status, and the public grace to lead. The elders respect her. The warriors fear her family. She is the perfect piece for the board I am playing. You... you are a liability to my crown, June. You are a ghost story. You cannot serve this clan as my mate. It would be a weakness I cannot afford. If I took an Omega as my Luna, the surrounding packs would see it as an invitation to war.”

He leaned down, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear, his breath hot against my cold skin.

“But that doesn't mean I am finished with you. I’ve watched you for years, June. I’ve watched the way you move, the way you defy everyone with nothing but a look. You have a fire that Lia will never possess. She is a statue; you are a storm. You cannot be my Queen, but you can very well become something more important to me. Something kept in the dark, away from Lia’s notice. A secret I keep in the heart of this palace. Something that belongs solely to me, without the interference of pack laws or elder councils.”

I felt my heart stop, then restart with a sickening thud against my ribs. I looked up into his dark, calculating eyes, searching for a hint of a joke, a shred of the man I thought the Goddess had intended for me. But there was only the Alpha, cold, hungry, and utterly selfish.

“You want me to be your mistress?”

“Do not think of it in such common terms, June,” he whispered, his voice smooth as silk but heavy as lead.

“You are looking at this through the lens of human morality, but we are wolves. We are creatures of destiny and design.”He stepped even closer, his heat radiating through my thin, silver dress, a cruel contrast to the damp stone wall at my back.

“By staying here, in the shadows of my shadow, you will be fulfilling the very purpose of your creation. The Moon Goddess tied our threads together for a reason. She gave me the strength to lead, and she gave you the spirit to endure. By keeping you close, I am doing exactly what she has always wanted me to do. I am honoring the bond without compromising the crown.”

I felt a surge of bile rise in my throat. The arrogance was staggering. He wanted to rewrite divine law to fit his own greed, turning a sacred union into a dirty secret.

“Never,” I rasped, the word cracking in the air like a whip. I pulled my face from his grip, the silver chains around my wrists clashing with a violent, metallic ring.

“I would never do such a thing. I would rather spend the rest of my life in these chains, rotting in the dark, than spend a single second as your secret. I am not a pet, Kai. I am not a toy you can tuck away in a drawer when the Luna enters the room.”

The air in the room suddenly turned freezing. Kai’s demeanor shifted instantly. The tender Alpha was gone, replaced by the monster that had publicly humiliated me in the hall. His eyes flashed a toxic gold, and the growl that ripped from his chest vibrated in my very marrow.

“You think you have the luxury of choice?” he hissed.

Before I could move, his hand shot out. He didn’t grab me this time. He extended his claws, the sharp, obsidian points glinting in the candlelight, and pierced the soft skin of my shoulder. I gasped, a sharp cry of pain escaping my lips as blood began to seam down my dress.

“Look at you, June,” he sneered, leaning in until our noses touched.

“You are a rejected Beta who has been demoted to the dirt. You are an Omega with no family, no rank, and no future. Who do you think is coming for you? Do you think some stray wolf from a neighboring territory is going to walk into my palace and claim the woman I cast aside? To accept you would be to declare war against the entire kingdom. None of my clan members are stupid enough to make such a silly, suicidal mistake.”

He twisted his claws slightly, and I bit my lip until I tasted iron to keep from screaming.

“You are of no use to this world outside of what I allow you to be,” he continued, his voice dropping to a sinister purr.

“You can be the secret power behind my throne, or you can be nothing. And I do not keep 'nothing' in my palace.”The pain in my shoulder was a burning fire, but the fire in my heart was hotter. I looked him dead in the eye, my vision blurring with tears of rage.

“You can chain me, you can pierce me, and you can tell the world I am nothing. but you will never have me, Kai. You will have my shadow, you will have my scars, but you will never have my soul. You are a king of dirt.”

His face contorted into something truly demonic.

“We shall see how long your soul lasts when your body is broken.”

He lunged forward, his massive frame pinning me against the stone wall. The silver chains caught between us, searing my skin as he tried to force his mouth onto mine. I fought like a wild animal, scratching at his chest, kicking at his shins, but he was a mountain of muscle fueled by Alpha rage. The weight of him was suffocating, a dark tide rising to drown me. I felt the first sob of true terror break through my defenses.

Goddess, please, I screamed internally. Not like this.

“Kai?”

The voice was like a bucket of ice water thrown over a fire. It was melodic, sharp, and carried the effortless authority of a woman who knew she was exactly where she belonged.

Kai froze. His grip on my wrists didn’t slacken, but the feral light in his eyes dimmed instantly. He pulled back, his breathing heavy, and smoothed his hair with one hand as he turned toward the door. The transition was terrifying in a heartbeat, he went from a predator to a composed Alpha.

Lia stood in the doorway. She looked like an angel of mercy, her yellow dress glowing softly in the torchlight of the hallway. She looked down at me crouched on the floor, bleeding from my shoulder, chained like a beast and then back at Kai.

For a moment, a sliver of hope pierced through my heart. Lia and I had been sisters in everything but blood. We had shared dreams, secrets, and bread. Surely, she wouldn't allow this. Surely, the woman I grew up with would see the horror in this room and demand my release.

“Kai, love,” she said softly, stepping into the room. She didn’t look at the blood on my dress. She didn’t look at the silver burns on my wrists. She walked straight to Kai and placed a delicate hand on his arm.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. The celebration is still ongoing, and the elders are asking for their Alpha.”

“She was being... difficult,” Kai said, his voice now calm, though his eyes still drifted back to me with a lingering hunger.

Lia finally turned her gaze to me. I looked up at her, my eyes pleading, begging her to remember the girls we used to be. Help me, Lia. Please.

Lia’s expression remained unreadable for a second, and then a small, pitying smile touched her lips.

“I know she’s been a burden, Kai,” Lia said, her voice dripping with a false sweetness that made my skin crawl.

“But there’s no need to spend your night in this damp cell. She’s learned her place now.”

She looked me up and down, as if assessing a piece of furniture that had been moved to the wrong room. The hope I had felt withered and died, turning to ash in my throat as she spoke the words that would seal my fate.

“We can use her as the palace maid. There is much work to be done after all.”