Chapter Three: Denial
511 Words
The hall emptied in minutes.
Wolves left quickly, excitement buzzing through them like electricity. A rejected Luna. A chosen Luna. Scandal.
Alpha Kael remained seated long after they were gone.
His hands were clenched into fists.
Impossible.
He had felt it—sharp, sudden, undeniable. The bond had slammed into his chest like a blade, burning, claiming.
Mate.
An omega.
His jaw tightened. “Bring her back,” he snapped.
Beta Rowan hesitated. “Alpha… you ordered she be taken to the servants’ wing.”
Kael’s eyes flashed. “Now.”
Rowan bowed and left immediately.
Kael rose from the throne, pacing the length of the hall like a caged wolf. His senses were in chaos. Every breath carried her scent—soft, wild, infuriating.
He had married her for politics. Nothing more. An omega with no pack, no power, no worth.
Yet his wolf snarled inside him, demanding claim her.
Kael slammed a fist into the stone wall. Cracks spidered outward.
“No,” he growled. “I will not.”
Aria collapsed the moment the guards released her.
The servants’ corridor was narrow and dark, smelling of soap and old stone. Pain twisted through her chest again, sharper this time, stealing her breath.
Mate.
The word echoed in her mind like a curse.
She pressed a hand over her heart, fighting the heat spreading through her body. She had heard stories—how mates felt drawn, how their wolves rejoiced.
There was no joy in this.
Only terror.
Footsteps approached fast.
She looked up just as Kael entered the corridor.
The air changed instantly—charged, heavy, intimate. His eyes locked onto hers, dark and burning.
“You felt it,” he said.
It wasn’t a question.
Aria pushed herself to her feet, back straight despite the pain. “Yes.”
Silence stretched between them.
Kael stepped closer. Then closer.
Her body reacted traitorously—heat pooling low, breath catching. She hated it.
“You are mistaken,” he said finally, voice low and dangerous. “This bond will not be acknowledged.”
Aria laughed bitterly. “You think I want it?”
His hand shot out, gripping the wall beside her head, caging her in. “You will not speak of this. To anyone.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Afraid your perfect pack will know the Moon Goddess chose an omega?”
His eyes flared gold.
“Watch your tongue.”
The bond pulsed painfully between them, alive, demanding.
Kael inhaled sharply, then stepped back as if burned. “You will remain where you are. You will do your duties. And you will forget what you felt.”
He turned away.
Before he could leave, Aria spoke.
“You can deny me,” she said quietly. “But your wolf already knows the truth.”
Kael froze.
For a heartbeat—just one—his control slipped.
Then he was gone.
Aria slid down the wall, trembling.
She had been rejected by her mate.
But deep in her chest, beneath the pain, something else stirred.
Strength.
- Writer
