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How could I leave? Why did he want me to leave?
“But we are mates and—”
My mate didn't let me finish before interrupting me, his expression unchanging.
“My mating ceremony is in a week, and I have no intention of ditching my bride for a mere omega masquerading to be who she is not.”
It was then I noticed the bottle of Allure on his nightstand. It must have worn off during the night and revealed my natural omega scent.
There was a big misunderstanding here but all I could focus on, apart from Diana’s pained howls in my head, was the first half of what he’d said.
“You are engaged?” My voice broke on the words, and my heart shattered when he didn't deny it.
He simply flung my dress at me.
“I trust you know your way out.”
Then he left the room. He just walked away.
As I approached my pack, I felt like an empty husk. A broken version of myself.
My mate might not have rejected me, but he might as well have. He was going to choose another wolf to be his mate. He would touch her, mark her, mate with her.
Diana’s howls of pain in my head reached a crescendo and my vision swam.
“Ivie!”
I looked up to see Mia running toward me.
“I have been trying to reach you. I left you like a dozen messages.”
Messages on the phone I’d forgotten in my mate’s room. My mate who didn't want me.
Mia’s grip on my arm brought me back to myself, her hazel eyes wide with worry.
“Ivie, are you alright?”
My lips parted but I couldn't speak. I just broke down in tears and sobbed.
Mia held me, her confusion apparent.
“Ivie, what's wrong?”
“He… he…,” I tried to speak but only more tears followed. At that point, it felt like I was made of tears.
Couldn't one thing in my life, just one, work out for me?
“Ivie, I need you to calm down,” Mia said, her voice pitched low. “Whatever this is can wait, you need to leave right now.”
I needed to leave?
Mia was still speaking. “It's not safe here. Martin has been spreading obscene rumors about you—”
Mia stopped speaking abruptly as we were suddenly surrounded by our pack warriors.
“Ivie Morgan, you have been summoned by the Alpha.” Stein, the head of our pack warriors announced.
What was going on? Just what rumors had Martin spread in retaliation for last night?
Whatever. It couldn't be any worse than what I was already going through.
“You have been found to be in violation of the honor laws, and as such you have been demoted to breeder status until the pack finds you redeemed.”
I stared at my Alpha unable to fully comprehend what he was saying.
The honor laws were an antiquated set of laws that few packs adhered to in this modern age, the Shadow Pack being one of them.
Laws that punished female wolves for “dishonoring” their pack by losing their virginity prior to being mated or given permission by a male member of their family.
In cases of the absence of a male in the family, the authority reverted to the Alpha of the pack.
In my case, that would be our extremely old-fashioned Alpha who had only permitted cell phones in our pack five years ago.
Becoming a pack breeder meant joining the socially ostracized clique of women who were unable to refuse any prime wolf able to impregnate them.
They were bred all year round till they conceived and were left alone throughout the pregnancy period. Then after the birth, the breeding began again.
It was a horrific fate reserved for females belonging to “traitorous” families to encourage loyalty in the pack, and it was yet another antiquated practice.
I fell to my knees, silently praying no one had seen me with my mate last night, as I didn't have our mate mark to prove I hadn't violated the honor laws.
“Alpha, I have never done anything in violation of our honor laws.”
Martin stepped forward, his signature sneer on his lips but the new rage in his eyes told me he hadn't forgotten about our altercation, and he was going to make me pay for it.
“I saw you leave his room, w***e,” his nose wrinkled. “Besides, you reek of Lycan.”
My eyes widened in shock.
My mate was a Lycan?
I’d never met a Lycan before and while I’d noticed his different scent, I’d thought it was because of the mate bond. But if he was a Lycan… was that why he didn't want me?
“Alpha, please have mercy,” I opted for the complete truth this time. “He is my mate; I couldn't withstand the draw of the mate bond.”
My words were met with utter silence.
I raised my head to see Alpha Zane, Alpha Heir Quen, Beta Reid and Beta Heir Martin staring at me with varying degrees of disbelief playing across their faces.
Martin recovered first.
“Lies. We all know Lycans are strength-matched and rarely have true mates. An omega cannot be mated with a Lycan. She is obviously lying, Alpha.”
“I am not. I—” I protested but Alpha Zane didn't let me finish.
“Enough! My decision is final. Ivie Morgan is henceforth a part of the Shadow Pack’s breeders.” He signaled to the pack warriors standing in the back of the room. “Take her.”
The warriors were at my side in seconds, forcefully dragging me out of the room.
“Alpha, please,” I pled. “Alpha—”
My words died on my lips as that potent scent slammed into me once more.
“Take your hands off her,” my mate growled and the guards at my side fell back.
I stared frozen in disbelief at the man who had callously tossed me aside mere hours ago strode into the Shadow Pack’s council room, several men— Lycans at his side.
Alpha Zane appeared at my side in a split second.
Then he bowed. Bowed to my mate.
“Lycan Prince Dante, what brings you to this humble pack?”
He… He was… My mate was Prince Dante?
Dante’s gray eyes locked onto mine.
“I have come to claim my mate, Ivie Morgan.”
- Writer
