The Rejected Omega is the Moon Goddess's Heir

Chloe’s pov My knuckles hovered an inch from Hudson's door, and a moan slid out from underneath it. I froze. It was three days past the full moon mating day. I'd turned nineteen at dawn, and Hudson had promised me two years ago that the second I did, he'd mark me in front of the whole pack. I pushed the door open instead of knocking. Hudson was on top of Edith. His shirt lay crumpled on the floor, one sleeve turned inside out like he'd torn it off without bothering to unbutton it. Her nails dug crescents into his back, and neither of them noticed me standing there with my hand still raised, frozen mid-knock on a door that was already wide open. The room smelled like sweat and skin and a musk that told me all I needed to know. Edith noticed first. She didn't scramble for the sheet. She tipped her head back against the pillow and looked straight at me over Hudson's shoulder, and her mouth curved slowly in a satisfied line, like she'd been waiting for this exact moment longer than I'd been standing in it. "Chloe." She rolled my name around like she was tasting it. "You're early." Hudson finally turned his head, and to his credit, he at least went still. I couldn't move. My heart slammed hard enough that I felt it in my teeth, and all I could do was stare at the two of them tangled together on the bed where I'd pictured myself all week. The lace under my dress, the underwear I'd bought specifically for tonight, itched against my hip like it was mocking me too. Edith rolled her shoulder and her collar slipped just enough to show me the fresh mark on her neck. "He already gave me this two nights ago" She traced a finger over it like she was showing off jewelry. "Guess he forgot to mention it." I flinched from the words. Two nights ago I'd been picking out underwear for a mark that had already gone to someone else. "Get out." I snapped coldly. "Both of you can stop pretending I'm not here." Hudson pulled back from Edith and reached for his shirt like putting it on would fix anything. "Chloe, it's not—" "Shut up." I stepped further into the room, my hands curling into fists because I needed them to do anything other than shake. "Don't tell me it's not what it looks like. I'm not blind, Hudson. I'm just apparently the last person in this pack to find out." Edith sat up and dragged the sheet across her lap, taking her time about it. "You want to know what it looks like? It looks like he made the smart choice." "Nobody asked you to talk." "Somebody should've told you two years ago." She tilted her head, studying me the way you'd study gum stuck to a shoe. "You really thought he was going to mark a wolfless Omega on mating day, in front of the whole pack?" I ignored her and turned on Hudson, because he was the one who owed me an answer, not her. "Two years, Hudson. You've had two years to tell me this wasn't happening. Why now? Why like this?" He dragged a hand through his hair, and for a second he looked like he might try to explain himself. His eyes went cold when he decided I wasn’t worth the effort. "Edith has Beta blood." He rolled his eyes like it was the obvious answer. "You're a wolfless Omega. It's that simple." "That's simple to you." My voice cracked on the last word, and I hated that he got to hear it crack. "We built a life for two years and you're telling me it comes down to blood type?" Edith laughed, and pulled the sheet higher like she was settling in for the show. "Careful. Nobody likes an Omega with an attitude problem. Especially not the one who's about to be shipped off without a mark." My anger stuttered, replaced by a colder instinct. "What are you talking about?" "You don't know?" Her eyebrows lifted, delighted to share with me the news and she glanced at Hudson like she couldn't believe she got to be the one to say it. "Every unmarked girl who ages out gets sent to whichever pack requests one. And guess who requested an unmarked Omega this season." My pulse kicked before my brain caught up to why. "Who." "The Red Moon pack." She said it slow, like she was handing me a gift wrapped in broken glass. "Their Alpha, specifically. You're the only girl left without a mark, Chloe. That makes you the only option they've got." I looked at Hudson, waiting for him to correct her, to tell me she was lying or exaggerating or just being cruel for the sake of it. He didn't. He wouldn't even hold my gaze. "You knew." My chest went cold just as goosebumps filled my skin. "You knew I'd be sent to the Red Moon pack without a mark, and you still chose her. What about our two years, Hudson? What was any of it?" "Nothing," he said. One word. That was what two years cost, apparently. One flat, empty word from a man who used to trace the spot on my neck where the mark would go, like it was already his to claim. Edith didn't bother hiding her smile now. "Well. This has been fun. You should probably go pack." I didn't answer her. I turned and walked out with my spine straight, and every story I'd ever heard about the Red Moon Alpha rose up behind me in the hallway like they'd been waiting for their turn too. Wolves who crossed him didn't come back whole. Mates who displeased him didn't come back at all. He wasn't the kind of Alpha you survived by being clever or patient or good. He was the kind you survived by being lucky, and I'd never once in my life been lucky. I wasn't marrying him. I wasn't going to be the next girl whose story turned into a warning. There was only one wolf who might help me instead of just watching me get shipped off like cargo. My father would know what to do. He had to. I broke into a run.