FATED AGAIN TO ALPHA ASHRIEL: HIS MATE, HIS ENEMY!

REYA’S POV I couldn’t stop the scream that burst out of me. Pure joy, wild and breathless, echoed through my room. My chest felt like it was filled with stars, too bright and too full, like if I didn’t let it out, I’d float straight into the clouds. My cheeks ached from smiling, my hands wouldn’t stop fluttering like birds, and my feet tapped a rhythm against the floor that had no melody—just emotion. Today……. Today. The day I had been dreaming about since I was five years old. Since the first time I saw Ashriel standing in the training yard, wooden sword in hand and dirt on his cheeks, pretending not to notice me staring at him from behind my father’s legs. The day the priestess smiled down at me and said, You’ll meet him properly when you’re ten. He’s your fated. I had counted the days, carved the numbers into corners of notebooks, whispered his name into my pillow when I thought no one could hear. And now I was seventeen. And it was today. The mate-bond ceremony. Our ceremony. The entire house buzzed with energy. My room smelled of jasmine oil, soft candles flickered at the window, and my friends were sprawled on the floor around me, dresses fanned out like flower petals across the carpet. Leena held up a soft blue one against the sunlight, inspecting it like it held the answer to life itself. Sora was brushing strands of my hair through her fingers, talking about updos and curls and silver pins shaped like moons. Everything felt like a fairytale poised at its climax. Even the dust motes in the air danced like they were celebrating. I wrapped my arms around myself, heart thudding so hard it felt like it echoed in the floorboards. Ashriel was going to be finally mine. Though he had always been, there was just something about it being official. Even if he’d been a little distant lately. Even if his eyes had been harder to read, his touch a little colder. He was going to be Alpha soon. He had the entire pack on his shoulders. I didn’t blame him. I told myself, He needs someone strong. Someone who understands. And that was me. “You think he’ll cry?” Leena teased as she held a lavender dress up to the light. “He better,” Sora grinned. “If I were him, I would.” I laughed, breathless and full of butterflies. I felt beautiful already, even though I hadn’t begun to dress. My heart knew joy, pure and unquestioned. Still, beneath that happiness, I was feeling somehow worried. My parents had been acting off the past few days. Tight-lipped. Distracted. My mother barely smiled. My father, usually full of laughter, had been quiet at breakfast, eyes distant, hands shaking slightly. I told myself it was the stress of preparing for the ceremony. After all, their only daughter was becoming Luna. And Ashriel… he had seemed distanced lately, like he was walking under a weight no one else could see. But I knew him. I knew him. And I believed in him. “I’ll go get something from my mother,” I said suddenly, standing. “There was this necklace she wore during her bond ceremony… I want to wear it.” Leena waved her hand. “Don’t take too long. You still have to pick a dress.” I smiled and slipped out of the room. The hallway was still. No footsteps. No murmurs. Just the soft creak of floorboards beneath my feet. My robe swished around my ankles. I padded down the stairs, expecting to hear my mother in the kitchen or my father outside speaking with the guards. Instead— A scream. Not mine. Not joyful. This one was jagged and raw. The sound of something being torn apart. My breath caught. My heart faltered. For a moment, I froze. Then something deep inside me—instinct, dread, fear, I don’t know—kicked in, and I ran. Down the stairs. Through the hall. Into the open air. The front door was wide open. No guards. No sounds of laughter or chatter. Just silence that roared in my ears. Then— Blood. It was the first thing I saw. Bright red, too much of it, soaking into the earth, trailing like vines across the stone. Then I saw my father. Lying face down, blood pooling beneath him. His head—gone. Then my mother. Twisted, broken. Her neck severed cleanly, like she was just a puppet someone had discarded. My mind refused to understand. I walked forward, slow, as if I could delay the truth if I didn’t move too fast. I dropped to my knees. My hands reached for her, uselessly. I gathered her to me, or tried to. Her body slack. Her blood soaking into my robe. Her head was… I saw it. A few feet away. Eyes open. Staring. No. No, no, no. The scream that tore out of me didn’t feel like it belonged to me. It came from somewhere deeper. Primal. Agonized. Endless. My body shook, trembling uncontrollably. My fingers dug into her dress, her blood warm and sticky. My voice cracked and broke. “What happened?! WHO DID THIS?!” No one answered but it didn’t matter More feet thundered behind me. Voices, gasps, murmurs. The crowd gathered. Faces blurred. My friends stood still at the threshold, horror etched into their expressions. I rocked back and forth, her head cradled in my lap, humming a tune she used to sing to me as a child. A lullaby. I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Everything was blood. Everything was wrong. Leena and Sora came running, then froze at the doorway, eyes wide in horror. Behind them, voices swelled. Pack members were gathering outside. The air buzzed with murmurs and fear. “…traitors…” “…betrayal…” “…they tried to kill the Alpha…” I couldn’t comprehend. I couldn’t breathe. My mother’s lullaby hummed in my ears, and I began to rock to it, humming it under my breath, blood soaking into my dress. My hands trembled. And then the crowd shifted. Ashriel stepped through. I surged to my feet and ran toward him. “Ashriel! Ash—what’s going on? What happened? My parents—” He shoved me back. I stumbled. His eyes… I had never seen them like that before. Cold. Hatred burning deep within. “I can’t believe it,” he said, his voice hollow. “All these years. Was that the plan? Get close to me—make me fall for you—so your parents could murder mine?” “What?” My voice cracked. “No—Ashriel, what are you saying?” “You were going to be my Luna,” he growled. “And the whole time your family was plotting to destroy mine?” “I didn’t know anything! I don’t know what’s happening!” I cried. His lip curled. “I loved you, Reya. Really loved you.” I shook my head, still clutching my mother’s locket. This doesn’t make any sense. What exactly was he saying? Was this some kind of nightmare before my big day? Or was this a joke, a prank? I couldn’t cry anymore. I just… rocked. Back and forth. The blood on my dress had dried sticky. My wolf whimpered inside me, weak and confused as I was. My head was numb. Ashriel stepped closer. The coldness in his eyes was sharper than any blade. His hand shot out, fingers clamping around my chin with bruising force. His touch used to make me shiver — now it burned with cruelty. “I, Ashriel Nightbane,” he said, voice slicing through the silence like a knife, loud, deliberate, merciless. My heart stuttered. “Don’t…” I whispered, but it came out as a breathless plea. He didn’t stop. “…reject you, Reya Callen, as my mate.” “Run, Reya. Run. Because if I see your face again, I’ll make sure to skin every inch of it out as the daughter of a traitor that you are.” He added. The words didn’t just land — they exploded. Something inside me tore wide open. Not metaphorically. I felt it — the actual, gut-wrenching rip of soul from soul. It was like being gutted from the inside, every nerve ending ignited with unbearable pain. My chest exploded with fire, and then — emptiness. An infinite, echoing hollowness. I collapsed. My knees hit the floor with a dull thud I barely registered. Air refused to come. My lungs were lead. My wolf gave a soft, heartbroken whimper inside me — and then she was gone. Gone. The bond. The warmth. The tether that made me feel alive. Snapped. And I was just… here. On the floor. Nothing but silence in my head. No howl. No heartbeat but my own. My soul bled in ways no one could see. I reached for her — for us — and touched nothing. Everything crumbled in an instant. On the very day that was meant to be my happiest. Today.