CHAPTER 3
1963 Words
ALESSIA♡
An announcement came the next morning, delivered by a pack messenger who knocked on my door impatiently.
"The Annual Mating Ceremony will be held in three days' time," he said, trying to avoid meeting my eyes.
"All unmated wolves are required to attend."
I stood in my doorway, very confused and still in yesterday's clothes,
"Required?"
"Alpha King's orders. No exceptions." He added.
"It's tradition. Even... even wolves being banished are expected to attend if they're still within pack boundaries."
Of course they were. Because my humiliation wasn't complete enough yet.
Now I'd have to stand in that grand hall where I'd been sentenced, surrounded by wolves who despised me, and watch as others found their mates and their happy futures while mine crumbled to dust.
"Fine," I said flatly. "I'll be there."
He nodded and left quickly, probably afraid I'd steal his shoes or something.
I closed the door and leaned on it.
The Mating Ceremony. It was meant to be magical, the one night a year when the Moon Goddess strengthened the mate bonds, making them easier to sense.
Unmated wolves attended hoping to find their fated mate, the one person in the world meant for them.
I'd dreamed of it once. Imagined standing in that decorated hall, feeling that legendary pull toward someone who would love me unconditionally.
Someone who would see past my omega status and my lack of family and just... see me.
Now it would be my last night in the pack, one final public humiliation before my banishment. The irony was almost funny.
The next two days passed in a blur.
I stayed in my room, surviving on the stale bread I'd managed to steal before being banned from the kitchens.
No one came to check on me. No one knocked on my door except to leave more cruel notes and garbage.
I used the time to pack my small belongings into the only bag I owned.
A few changes of clothes, my mother's necklace, a simple silver chain with a moon pendant, the few coins I'd managed to save from my kitchen wages… It all fit in the small bag.
Twenty-two years of life, reduced to something I could carry on my back.
On the evening of the Mating Ceremony, I forced myself to bathe and dress in the only decent outfit I owned, a simple blue dress my mother had made me last year.
It was too big now. I'd lost weight in the past week, my appetite disappearing along with everything else.
I stared at myself in the small, cracked mirror above my dresser. Pale skin, dark circles under my eyes, light brown hair that had lost its shine. I looked like a ghost.
The walk to the grand hall felt like the longest walk of my life. The sun was setting, the courtyard was decorated very finely in the pack colours: silver and blue.
Other pack members moved toward the grand hall in their finest clothes, laughing and talking excitedly. They each walked around me as expected, like I was no different from the trash they threw away.
Inside, the grand hall had been transformed.
Silver and blue flowers decorated every surface, a string quartet played soft music in one corner while servers moved around swiftly with refreshments.
It was everything a Mating Ceremony should be. Beautiful, hopeful, full of possibility.
I stood near the entrance, pressed against the wall, trying to make myself as small and invisible as possible.
Maybe if I just stayed here for an hour, I could leave. Requirement fulfilled. No one would care if I actually participated.
"Look who decided to show up." Uma's voice cut through the music like a knife.
She appeared beside me in a stunning red dress, her dark hair in a beautiful ponytail. She looked like a princess, while I looked like I'd crawled out of a gutter.
"I was required to attend," I said quietly, not looking at her.
"Required. Right."
She leaned closer with fake sympathy, her voice dropping so only I could hear.
"Must be torture, knowing this is your last night here. Knowing you'll be gone tomorrow”.
I turned to face her, and the shock on her face was almost worth everything I'd been through. "I know what you did."
Her eyes widened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I heard you. Behind the equipment shed, a few days ago. Bragging about how you framed me. How you planted the bracelet."
My voice was steady and I felt nothing looking at her now. Not anger, not betrayal. Just numbness.
"You destroyed my life because Lucian talked to me."
For a moment, genuine fear flashed across her face. Then an evil smile flashed across her face.
"Really? You heard me? And who did you tell, Alessia? Who believes the word of a thief over mine?"
The truth of that hit me like a physical blow.
She was right. I'd told no one because no one would listen. No one would believe me.
"Exactly." Uma patted my shoulder.
"Even if you screamed it from the rooftops, I'm still the beloved pack member and you're still the omega thief. So just accept your fate and get out of my way. I have a mate to find."
She strutted away, her gown train following along with her, and I watched her go with that same empty feeling.
She was right. She'd won. She'd destroyed me and gotten away with it, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I should leave. Just walk out of this ceremony and spend my last night in the pack watching the beautiful bright moon.
But something kept me rooted to the spot…maybe stubbornness, maybe the desperate hope that the Moon Goddess might give me a tiny ray of happiness tonight.
The royal family walked into the hall soon after and the ceremony began officially.
Alpha Jared stood on his throne, commanding attention without even trying.
He wore all black, looking every inch the powerful Alpha King he was.
Beside him stood Lucian, equally in dark formal wear, his golden eyes scanning the crowd.
"Welcome," Alpha Jared's voice came on, and the hall fell silent.
"Tonight, we gather under the Moon Goddess's blessing to honor the sacred mate bonds. For those seeking their fated mates, may you find them. For those already bonded, may your connections grow stronger."
He continued speaking about tradition and destiny and the importance of mate bonds, but I stopped listening.
My attention had caught on to something else…a strange feeling building in my chest. Like something calling to me.
I frowned, pressing a hand to my chest. What was that?
The feeling grew stronger. My wolf stirred for the first time in days, whining softly.
I looked around the hall, trying to figure out what was wrong, and my eyes landed on Lucian.
He stood awkwardly still on the throne, his face pale. He was staring out at the crowd, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Alpha Jared noticed. "Son? Are you alright?"
Lucian didn't answer. He took a step forward, then another, descending from the throne very carefully and with a confused expression.
The crowd parted for him,whispering among themselves. He was searching the crowd, his expression a mix of shock and something that looked like horror.
And he was moving in my direction.
No. No, that was impossible.
That strange feeling in my chest couldn't mean what I thought it meant.
Not with him. Not with the man who hated me, who'd called me a liar and a schemer.
But the feeling grew stronger with every step he took. That pulling sensation was enough to fully awaken my wolf.
Lucian stopped directly in front of me. So close I could hear his unsteady breathing.
He looked at me with fear in his eyes, like I was his worst nightmare come to life.
"No," he whispered. "Anyone but you. Please, Moon Goddess, anyone but her."
The words should have hurt. They probably would have, if I wasn't so shocked.
Because I felt it now, clear and undeniable. That legendary pull.
Lucian was my mate.
The Alpha Prince who despised me, who thought I was a thief and a liar, was my fated mate.
His hand grabbed my wrist, his grip almost painful.
"You," he growled, his voice barely human.
"Why you?"
I couldn't speak or even breathe.
The entire hall was staring at us now, in a kind of silence where you could hear a pin drop.
Lucian opened his mouth, and I knew what he was going to say before the word came out.
The word that would change everything, would doom us both.
"Mate."
The crowd erupted in shock.
I heard Uma's sharp intake of breath somewhere behind me. On the throne, Alpha Jared had gone very still.
Lucian's hand dropped from my wrist like I'd burned him.
He stumbled backward, shaking his head, his expression filled with regrets.
"No. No, I reject…"
"Lucian." Alpha Jared's voice came on suddenly. "Don't finish that sentence."
The Prince looked at his father, then back at me.
I saw the war raging behind his eyes…his wolf demanding he claim his mate. How could his mate be the omega who'd stolen from him? The thief he despised?
Without another word, Lucian turned and marched away from the hall.
The crowd parted instantly, and he was gone, the doors slamming behind him so hard the sound echoed.
Everyone was staring. Uma looked like someone had slapped her. Derek from the kitchens had his mouth hanging open. Marcus was shaking his head in disbelief.
I stood frozen, trembling from head to toe. My wrist had tiny marks where he'd held me.
My wolf was howling in pain at being rejected, at watching our mate flee from us in disgust.
Alpha Jared descended from the platform, moving through the crowd with swiftness. He was coming toward me, his expression unreadable.
I stood back to embrace whatever he was going to do to me as punishment for daring to be his son's fated mate.
The Alpha King stopped in front of me, and I realized that I'd never been this close to him.
I had never noticed how tall he was or seen the silver streaks in his hair up close.
Something shifted. That pulling feeling in my chest…it hadn't gone away when Lucian left.
If anything, it was stronger now.
Different, but stronger.
Alpha Jared's eyes widened slightly.
"No," he whispered.
But unlike Lucian's horrified rejection, this sounded almost... in awe.
Confused, but amazed.
The Alpha King took another step closer, closing the space between us. So close I could feel the heat radiating from him, his known smell of cedar and pine.
My wolf, who'd been howling in despair, suddenly went quiet.
"Tell me I'm wrong," Alpha Jared said, his voice so low only I could hear.
His hand came up slowly, hovering near my face and careful not to touch .
"Tell me what I'm sensing isn't real."
I didn't understand. Couldn't understand what was happening.
But that feeling in my chest, it was reaching toward him now.
The same pull I'd felt with Lucian.
His hand finally made contact, cupping my cheek with surprising gentleness.
The moment his skin touched mine, I nearly fell to my knees.
That pull in my chest was now different from what I'd felt with Lucian…deeper and more powerful.
Alpha Jared jerked back as if he'd been slightly electrocuted, but his hand remained on my face.
He stared at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"Mate," he whispered.
The word was soft, barely audible over the murmurs of the crowd.
But in the sudden silence that fell, everyone heard it.
- Writer
