Fated Error

Aeris’ POV I always wondered what the mating bond felt like, how I would meet my mate, who my mate was going to be. I thought it was going to be all butterflies and pleasant things. Finding out Alpha Cael was my mate was a mix of emotions to be very honest. I didn’t know how to feel. I felt really excited and happy, I became Luna, but it also came with a very heavy weight of responsibilities and trying to please Cael in every way I could. I wasn’t experienced with the job and all the requirements of being a Luna, I literally just learnt on the job and tried to be the perfect mate for Cael because my love for him knows no bounds, but nothing I ever did pleased Cael. The mating bond was supposed to feel like fire. Mine felt like it was dying. It pulsed weakly beneath my ribs as the pack hall buzzed with laughter and clinking glasses. Music swelled overhead, echoing off stone walls carved with the lineage of centuries. Torches flickered along the walls, throwing long shadows that danced over polished banners and sharp silver accents. Unity Night. A celebration of loyalty, strength, and destiny. I stood at Cael’s side like a perfectly crafted accessory. The dress was heavy, the mask of composure heavier. His hand rested at my waist; firm, possessive, and deliberately cold. “Smile,” he murmured, voice low but slicing through the noise. I did. The bond pulsed faintly, weak as a dying ember. It should have drawn me to him, warmed me, reminded me of the life we were meant to share. Instead, it recoiled and Cael wasn’t even making it any better. I felt like a stranger in my own home. I forced my shoulders back, clenching my fists at my sides, fingernails biting into my palms. Focus. Don’t show weakness. The pack was watching. They would see every tremor. Every failure. “Stand straight,” Cael added quietly, just enough to be heard. “You look desperate.” His fingers tightened slightly. Enough to sting, not enough for anyone else to notice. Across the hall, Lyria Vale laughed at something inconsequential. I really didn’t know what was funny, she gets on my very last nerves. The sound cut through the music, sharp and deliberate. Cael’s gaze snapped toward her. Yeah, obviously he would look at her, but giving me more than five seconds of his time was equivalent to me jumping through mountains and hills. The bond inside me constricted violently, a twist of pain in my chest. Don’t flinch. You are Aeris Noctyne, you are definitely worth more than Lyria. You are the Luna I had to hide the nausea, the way my knees threatened to buckle. Those were the words I kept repeating in my head to give myself strength. The council elders approached, bowing with practiced reverence. “Alpha Cael. Luna Aeris. The pack is honored to witness such strength in unity,” one said. Strength. Unity. The words should have comforted me. They didn’t. Cael inclined his head slightly, perfect and controlled. Charismatic. Dangerous. Beautiful. Every movement calculated to remind the pack and me, who held power here. The bond fluttered again. Weak. Malfunctioning. I swallowed hard, tasting iron at the back of my throat. Across the hall, whispers began. Subtle. Curious. Discreet. “Is she well?” “That bond… it’s faint.” I felt every glance like a blade. The bond, normally a tether between us, a fire between mates, thinned to a thread. He didn’t notice. Or perhaps he did. Perhaps he was enjoying it. He was cruel. Purposefully. Every touch, every word designed to remind me of my place. Not as a mate. Not as his equal. An ornament. A symbol. My body was his stage. I could feel the pack’s eyes on me. My heart raced. The hall seemed to expand, then shrink. Every flicker of candlelight was a spotlight on my inadequacy. Control yourself. Don’t let him see. The music swelled again, loud, but it didn’t drown out the pulse of my anxiety. “Do you understand your role tonight?” Cael whispered near my ear. I nodded. “Yes, Alpha Cael.” The truth was that I didn’t. I didn’t even know what would make him snap. The bond throbbed erratically, a warning. My chest ached. My breath hitched. I wasn’t safe. Not here. Not anywhere near him. The pack murmured among themselves. A councilman coughed, eyes flicking nervously between us. The tension radiated in waves. The bond pulsed violently as if it, too, sensed the danger. And then he did it. He stepped forward, voice calm, smooth, lethal. “Before this night ends,” Cael announced, drawing the room into sudden silence, “I will be making a necessary decision for the stability of this pack.” The words slid through me like ice. Every head turned. Every whisper died. Eyes locked on him. On me. On the bond that wasn’t behaving as it should. I didn’t breathe. The bond reacted instantly, twisting painfully, tightening beneath my sternum. Heat flared, sharp and jagged, like it wanted to warn me, pull me back, stop me from surviving what was coming. Cael’s eyes found mine for a fraction of a second. Not a single shred of warmth. Not concern. Just Calculation. Approval. Measurement. The pack watched, they waited. Curiosity rippled through them. Admiration, fear, expectation. And I felt utterly alone. The banners above us bore the crests of our lineages, the family names entwined in gold thread. They should have reminded me of my heritage, my strength. Instead, they mocked me. I was supposed to be an equal mate, a pillar of the pack. And here I was, trembling, a threadbare shadow beneath the weight of his deliberate cruelty. I swallowed bile, forcing a calm I did not feel. My dress felt tight, suffocating. The air in the hall thickened with anticipation. He glanced around once more, surveying the pack. He is calculating, cruel, beautiful and dangerous. The bond flared again, uneven and unstable, pulsing like a warning. I understood. He hadn’t told me. He hadn’t asked me. He hadn’t included me. Whatever decision he was about to make… It did not include me. And in that instant, beneath torches, banners, and the eyes of every wolf in the room, I realized the truth: I had survived trials. Blood. Pain. Fire. But none of that had prepared me for the cruelty of the one I was supposed to call mate. And my chest ached in a way the bond had never warned me of before.