chapter 4
1430 Words
Alaric pov :
I caught the scent the exact moment my boots hit the cobblestones of the courtyard.
It hit me like a physical blow to the chest—a blinding, intoxicating wave of dark earth, midnight rain, and something ancient that made my blood run hot. Before my mind could even process what was happening, my beast, the Lycan that I had kept perfectly leashed for years, violently detonated against my ribs.
Mate.
The word echoed in my skull, a deafening, instinctual roar.
I froze. Twenty-nine years. For twenty-nine years, the elders, the healers, and my enemies had all told me the same thing: The Reaper was cursed by the Moon Goddess. No fated mate. No heir. A fated mate wasn't just impossible; it was a myth I had buried a long time ago.
But my wolf doesn't lie.
I needed a second to steady the tremor in my hands. I covered my hesitation the only way I knew how—I drew my blade and took the head off the pathetic Alpha who had stepped out of line. The courtyard went dead silent. The metallic tang of fresh blood finally masked the overwhelming scent that was driving my beast insane.
I swept my eyes across the kneeling rows of Blackridge wolves. They were all trembling, their faces pressed into the dirt. All except one.
She was kneeling, but her spine was locked straight. Her chin was up.
I stopped in front of her. "You. Look up."
She lifted her head, and my breath caught in my throat.
MATE, my lycan snarled, clawing desperately at my insides.
I forced my mind to look at her objectively. I took her in for less than two seconds. She was a wolfless Omega. Thin. Narrow shoulders framing a full chest. There was a fading, purple bruise along her jawline, and the unmistakable stain of leaked milk soaking the front of her drab shift. She was recently birthed, marked and clearly discarded by another Alpha.
She wasn't even beautiful. Her cheeks were hollow, her skin pale, with heavy dark circles bruising the skin under her gray-green eyes.
This isn't possible, I told myself, locking my jaw. The Moon Goddess wouldn't make a sick joke like this. Twenty-nine years of a bloody, agonizing curse, only to be broken by a broken, A used breeder from a weak pack?
No. I didn't need a fated mate. I especially didn't need the weakness of this fated mate.
I let the cold, empty void of The Reaper swallow the howling of my wolf. I looked down at her with indifference.
"You are in my way," I said, my voice dead and hollow.
I turned on my heel and walked toward the great hall, leaving her behind in the dirt.
Rhea pov :
It took a full breath after Alaric’s boots faded away for me to remember how to use my lungs.
My heart was hammering violently against my ribs. Seeing him again, hit me in a place I hadn't braced for. There was too much between us in the life I had lived. Too much shared blood, too much war, too much devastating intimacy. My body recognized the terrifying Lycan King long before my mind could catch up.
But as I slowly let out my breath, the cold, calculating part of my brain took over. I saw it clearly in his golden eyes. The beast inside of him had recognized me, but the man had violently overridden it. He had looked at me with disgust and walked away.
For my current plan, that was perfect. I needed to remain a shadow. I needed him distracted by Cassius while I navigated my way out of this hell.
I picked myself up from the stone and slipped away from the courtyard, retreating to the quiet, damp room near the nursery to pump. My breasts were aching, heavy with milk for a son I couldn't even touch.
I had just unlaced the front of my tunic, the cold air hitting my damp skin, when the heavy wooden door creaked open.
I didn't flinch. I knew exactly who it was.
Hayes. Cassius’s Beta.
In my past life, Hayes had been one of Selene's most useful pieces. He had cornered me in a room just like this, a few days after I was stripped of my title, and violently taken what he wanted while I cried and begged like a helpless victim.
This time, as I looked up and saw his polite, handsome face twist into a hungry smirk, I didn't feel a drop of fear. I was completely empty.
"Luna Rhea," Hayes purred, stepping inside and locking the door behind him. His eyes dropped immediately to my exposed chest. "Or, I suppose it's just Omega now. Such a tragic fall from grace."
I didn't bother covering myself. I just stared at him with dead eyes. "What do you want, Hayes?"
He stepped closer, the scent of his arousal filling the small room. "I saw what happened in the nursery. They're going to kill you, Rhea. Cassius is just waiting for the King to leave. But... I can help you." He reached out, trailing a rough finger down my collarbone. "Let me have you. Pay me with what's between your legs, and I'll smuggle you and the pup out past the border guards tonight."
"No," I said, my voice flat, devoid of any emotion.
Hayes's smirk vanished. His eyes darkened. "It wasn't a request, you broken bitch."
He lunged, grabbing my wrists and slamming me back against the stone wall. His mouth crashed down toward my neck, his hips grinding desperately against mine to force my submission.
I didn't fight back. I didn't cry. I didn't even blink.
I just tilted my head back against the cold stone, looked down at him as he pawed at me, and began to laugh.
It was a dark, hollow, raspy sound that bubbled up from a throat that had been crushed to death. It was the laugh of a woman who had already died and had absolutely nothing left to lose.
Hayes froze. He looked up at my face.
I smiled at him. Not a warm smile, but a psycho’s grin—staring straight through him into the abyss.
He blinked, suddenly aware of how deeply unnatural this was. His body sensing the lack of fear. He lost his arousal. The great, powerful Beta of Blackridge was completely impotent against a woman who wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a single tear.
"You—!" Hayes stumbled backward, his face turning an ugly red as he realized his body had failed him. Humiliation and terror waged war in his eyes. He couldn't handle the blow to his ego.
Then, he completely undid himself.
"Guards!" Hayes screamed. He stumbled toward the door, flipping the script with desperate, practiced ease. "She attacked me! The Omega w***e tried to seduce me!"
He threw the door open, shouting into the corridor. "She offered me her body to betray the Alpha! She tried to buy my help to kidnap the heir!"
I stood still, calmly lacing up the front of my tunic. I realized it instantly. This wasn't a crime of passion. The whole thing was Selene's setup. Hayes had been sent here to be found.
Right on cue, Selene appeared in the doorway, flanked by four pack guards and one of the pack elders. She gasped, covering her mouth in perfectly feigned shock as she looked at Hayes's torn shirt and my half-dressed state.
"Rhea..." Selene whispered, her eyes shining with malicious triumph. "How could you? To stoop so low as to seduce our Beta and plot against my son?" She turned to the guards, her voice hardening into a Luna's command. "Bind her."
The guards swarmed me. I didn't fight them. I let them drag me out into the corridor.
But as they hauled me toward the baptism hall, a chilling sound caught my attention. It was far more men than were needed to drag an Omega to the dungeons.
My blood ran cold.
Selene wasn't planning to lock me up and wait for Cassius. The elder was here to authorize pack law immediately. She was going to have me put down. Tonight.
- Writer
