THE OMEGA WHO KNEW WHY THE ALPHA’S WIVES DIED

Chapter 3

Camila's pov

I pulled my hand back from Ethan as if his skin were hot iron. My heart smashed against my ribs, each beat was heavy and painful.

"Camilla, are you okay?" Ethan asked out loud. His voice sounded so sweet, so gentle. But inside his head, the truth was ugly.

*Get up, you stupid girl,* his mind sneered. *Stop making a scene.*

"Do not touch me," I gasped.

I scrambled to my feet and ran. The crowd parted around me like water. Hundreds of thoughts slammed into my head as I sprinted past them.

*Look at the freak run.*

*What a waste of space.*

*I knew she had no wolf.*

I covered my ears, but it did not block out the noise. The mind-voices were inside my own skull. I ran past the burning bonfire, past the stone altar, and plunged into the dark shadows behind the ceremony hall. The cold night air slapped my face, but I could not stop. Tears blinded my eyes.

I collapsed against the dark wooden wall at the back of the building, chest heaving. The quiet of the forest helped lower the roaring static in my head, but my soul felt entirely crushed. Ethan did not love me. He had never loved me.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel nearby. I shrank deeper into the shadows, pressing my back flat against the wall.

"Did you see her face?" a woman’s voice giggled.

It was Isabella.

"She looked like a drowned rat," Ethan's voice replied.

I held my breath. They stopped just on the other side of the corner, only a few feet away from where I hid.

"You played your part well, Ethan," Isabella said, her voice dripping with poison. "She really thought you were going to marry her."

Ethan laughed softly. "It was almost too easy. She is so desperate for love that she believed every word I said. A wolfless freak like her will believe anything if you smile at her."

My stomach twisted into a hard knot. I did not just hear his spoken words; his surface thoughts bled right into my mind alongside Isabella’s.

*I am so glad I do not have to touch her anymore,* Ethan’s thought echoed, cold and slimy into my head. *Her innocence was fun for a while, but she is completely pathetic. I only used her to get close to the Alpha family. Isabella is ten times better in bed anyway.*

*She is so stupid,* Isabella’s mind chimed in, filled with vicious triumph. *She thought she could have Ethan? Ethan belongs to me. He has been coming to my bed every single night for six months while she sat in her room holding that cheap little ring.*

I pressed my hand over my mouth to choke back a sob. Six months. For half a year, while Ethan was meeting me at the stone wall and promising me the world, he was sleeping with my cousin!

"What will your uncle do with her now?" Ethan asked out loud, his hand sliding around Isabella’s waist. I heard the sound of them kissing.

"Father will handle her," Isabella whispered against his lips. "She is finally going to be useful for once in her life."

I could not bear to listen to another second. I backed away silently, stepping softly on the moss, and ran toward the main pack house.

The front doors were unlocked so I slipped inside, the warmth of the house feeling thick and suffocating. I needed to get to my room. I needed to pack my things and run far away from Frostbridge.

As I hurried down the long, carpeted hallway, a door stood slightly open. Bright light spilled out onto the floor. It was my father’s study.

I paused. A loud, booming thought hit my brain before I even reached the door.

*We are ruined if this contract falls through,* my father’s mind screamed in total panic. *The blood debt is too high. The Silver Moon Pack will wipe us off the map by morning if I do not give them what they want.*

I froze outside the c***k in the door. I peeked inside.

My father, Alpha Richard Taylor, sat behind his massive mahogany desk. He was staring at a thick piece of paper covered in official wax seals. His hands were shaking.

*Five hundred thousand gold credits,* his thought raced frantically. *Five hundred thousand credits or ten thousand acres of land. I cannot give up the land. The pack will overthrow me. I have to give him the girl.*

He picked up a pen and pressed it hard against the paper.

*Lucian Simons does not care that she has no wolf,* my father’s mind continued, sharp and desperate. *The Alpha of Silver Moon just wants a bride to fulfill the ancient treaty. It does not matter that his last six wives died. If Camilla dies too, the debt is still cleared. Frostbridge will be safe.*

A chill shot straight down my spine, freezing the blood in my veins.

My father was not just sending me away. He was selling me. He was trading my life to settle a massive debt with the most dangerous pack in the territory.

"Camilla."

My father’s cold, spoken voice broke the silence. He did not look up from the paper, but his ears had caught my sharp intake of breath.

"Come inside," he commanded.

My legs felt like heavy stone, but I forced myself to step through the doorway. I stood in front of his desk, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"Father," I whispered.

He finally looked up. His face was a mask of stern authority, devoid of any warmth or sadness for my failed ceremony.

"Your performance at the altar was a disappointment, but expected," my father said out loud, his tone clipped and cool. "However, the Moon Goddess has provided a path for you. An arrangement has been made."

"An arrangement?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Alpha Lucian Simons of the Silver Moon Pack has requested a bride from our bloodline," my father lied smoothly, putting on a fake, proud smile. "This is a great honor for you, Camilla. You will leave tomorrow morning to become his wife. You will bring pride to our family at last."

He spoke with such calm dignity, as if he were granting me a wonderful gift.

But I looked him dead in the eye, and his true thought blasted into my head like a terrifying scream:

*Let the monster take her so the debt is settled. If she dies in his haunted castle like the other six, it is no loss to me.*