Relocated
1445 Words
ELODIE’S POV
The door opened slowly, and I was a little shocked when they walked in together. Nyra was holding Damon’s hand firmly as if trying to make a statement to me, as if trying to mark her territory and make sure that I never stole what belonged to her. It would be laughable if it didn’t actually make me sad; it made me sad because a part of me…a part of me that I despised felt entitled to that hand. A part of me felt like this was an injustice, and I had been robbed of what rightfully belonged to me. But that wasn’t true, Damon didn’t belong to me, and he didn’t want to belong to me
I knew what it meant the moment I saw them standing together. Damon first, Nyra beside him. For a second, the room felt smaller. Colder. Nyra’s posture was rigid, her chin lifted in the kind of quiet triumph that only came when someone believed they had already won. Damon stood slightly ahead of her, shoulders straight, expression carved from stone.
They looked like exactly what the pack expected them to be. Alpha and his future Luna. And suddenly I understood. Nyra wasn’t here because she suspected something. She was here because she was fighting for her position. My pulse hammered in my chest as they stepped inside. Part of me small and fragile and humiliatingly hopeful waited.
Waited for Damon to stop her. Waited for him to tell Nyra that whatever happened between us was his decision alone. Waited for him to make it clear that no one touched me without his permission. But Damon didn’t even look at me. He walked past me as if I were a piece of furniture. Nyra, however, did look. Her gaze slid over my face slowly.
Then she smiled, not kindly.
“Still here,” she said.
Damon moved toward the table near the window, pouring himself a drink with calm, deliberate movements. He spoke without turning around.
“This situation needs to end.”
Nyra’s smile widened and my stomach twisted. She thought the same thing I did. Of course she did, I could see it in her eyes and in the way she looked at me as if she could already smell and taste my blood. Her voice softened as she stepped closer to him.
“Yes,” she said. “It does.”
My fingers curled into my palms.
This was it, I had already accepted it in my mind the moment I saw them together. Nyra would not allow me to remain here. And Damon had already made it clear I meant nothing. Still— The bond pulsed quietly in my chest, as if it refused to believe what my mind already knew. Damon finally turned.
But his eyes didn’t find mine. They settled on Nyra instead.
“Elodie will be moved tonight,” he said.
Nyra’s lips curved with satisfaction.
“Good.”
“To the Omega quarters.”
The words fell into the room like a stone dropped into water, Nyra’s smile disappeared.
“What?”
For the first time since they entered, Damon looked completely at ease…controlled. Cold.
“The Omega quarters,” he repeated calmly.
Nyra blinked, clearly certain she had misheard.
“You’re joking.”
“I don’t joke about pack structure.”
Her voice sharpened instantly.
“She lied about being your mate.”
“Yes.”
“She disrespected me.”
“Yes.”
“She’s been living in your chambers for two nights.”
“Yes.”
Nyra threw her hands up in disbelief.
“And your solution is to move her to the Omega wing?”
Damon took a slow sip of his drink.
“Yes.”
I stood perfectly still while they spoke about me like I wasn’t even there.
Nyra laughed sharply.
“That’s not a punishment, Damon. That’s mercy.”
“No,” he said evenly. “It’s strategy.”
She stared at him.
“Explain.”
Damon leaned casually against the table.
“When she lives among the Omegas,” he said, “she becomes insignificant.”
Nyra’s eyes flicked toward me, then back to him.
“She already is.”
“Not while she remains in my chambers.”
The truth of that settled into the room. Nyra’s jaw tightened. Damon continued, his tone cool and logical.
“She disappears into the lowest rank of the pack.”
His gaze never once moved toward me.
“She will scrub floors. Carry supplies. Sleep in communal quarters.”
Each word felt like another weight pressing down on my chest.
“The humiliation alone will destroy any illusion she has about her place.”
Nyra’s breathing slowed as she processed it.
“And you think that’s enough?”
“I think,” Damon said calmly, “that it solves every problem.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Does it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
His answer came without hesitation.
“She will be out of my reach.”
The bond twisted painfully at the words. Nyra stared at him.
“And?”
“And she will be exactly where you want her.”
Nyra’s gaze slid toward me again. Slow. Calculating. Damon continued speaking as if I truly wasn’t in the room.
“You wanted punishment,” he said. “This gives you that.”
Her voice dropped.
“You’re protecting her.”
“No,” Damon said flatly. “I’m eliminating a distraction.”
Silence stretched.
Nyra paced once across the room, her anger barely contained.
“She humiliated me,” Nyra said sharply. “She stood there and claimed you were her mate.”
“And now she’ll be scrubbing Omega floors.”
Nyra turned toward me again, her eyes glittered.
“That does sound fitting.”
Damon set his glass down.
“This way,” he continued calmly, “you have your revenge.”
Nyra crossed her arms.
“And you?”
“I regain control of my household.”
Her lips pressed thin.
“You expect me to believe this doesn’t bother you.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You let her stay in your chambers.”
“Because it was necessary.”
“And now?”
“Now it isn’t.”
His voice didn’t change once. not a flicker. Not a hesitation. It was like listening to someone discuss moving furniture. Nyra studied him for a long moment. Slowly, the tension in her shoulders eased. Not completely, but enough.
“I suppose watching her live like an Omega would be… satisfying.”
Damon nodded once.
“Then we’re in agreement.”
Nyra’s smile returned, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Yes.”
But there was something else there too, suspicion. Because even though she accepted it— She didn’t believe it. Not fully. I finally found my voice.
“When do I leave?”
Both of them went still for a second, not because of what I said. But because I had spoken at all and maybe they had even forgotten that I was in the room with them. Damon didn’t look at me. Not even then.
“Tonight,” he said.
The bond throbbed faintly.
I swallowed the ache down.
“That’s fine.”
Nyra looked almost disappointed by my calm.
“You don’t seem upset.”
I met her gaze.
“You made it clear I wasn’t welcome.”
“And now you understand your place.”
“Yes,” I said quietly.
She smiled again, satisfied. Damon moved toward the door.
“Guards will escort her.”
Still not looking at me. Still speaking as if I were already gone. He opened the door. Nyra followed him, pausing only once to glance back at me. Her smile was colder this time, enjoying the victory. Then they left. The door closed and the room was silent again. I stood there for a long moment, staring at the space where Damon had stood.
He hadn’t looked at me once, not once. Not even when deciding my future. The bond pulsed weakly in my chest. But for the first time since it awakened, It felt smaller. Like something slowly starving. I pressed a hand over my heart and forced myself to breathe.
He didn’t want me, he had made that clear. And now the entire pack would see it too. An Alpha’s mate reduced to an Omega.
Humiliated. Discarded. Forgotten.
A small, bitter laugh escaped my throat. Maybe that was exactly what I needed. Because if Damon Vale wanted me to disappear— Then I would. And one day…
He wouldn’t even remember my name.
- Writer
