Sold to the Cursed Alpha

The kitchen smelled like burnt toast and cheap coffee. Stella wiped her hands on her apron, already running late with the breakfast service. She'd been up since five, scrubbing floors in the packhouse while everyone else slept. Today marked her nineteenth birthday. Not that anyone cared or remembered. "You're slow as hell this morning," Cassidy snapped from the doorway. She was Beta Ryker's girlfriend, well, soon-to-be wife if the rumors were true. The woman was twenty-five and acted like she already owned the place. Her red hair was pulled back tight, making her sharp features look even harsher. "Where's my coffee? I asked for it twenty minutes ago." Stella kept her eyes down. "Coming right up, Miss Cassidy." "That's *future Beta Female* Cassidy to you." The correction came with a sneer that made Stella's stomach twist. "Maybe if you weren't so useless, you would remember these things." Two other omegas stood nearby, watching. Maya, a blonde with too much makeup, laughed. "Honestly, Stella. You've been here for how long? And you still can't get a simple order right?" "She's probably distracted," the other one, Jenna, added with mock concern. "Too busy dreaming about finding her mate, I bet. As if any respectable wolf would want an orphan." Heat crept up Stella's neck, but she didn't respond. Couldn't respond. Not if she wanted to keep her place here at Silver Ridge pack. She had lost her parents when seven rogues had attacked during a border dispute. Since then, she had been passed around foster homes until she was old enough to work. Now she cleaned toilets and served breakfast to wolves who looked right through her. The coffee machine hissed as she poured Cassidy's drink. Her reflection stared back from the stainless steel surface, tired brown eyes, dark hair that never quite stayed in its ponytail, a face that looked older than nineteen. She had gotten her wolf at sixteen like everyone else, but Kira was weak. Barely there, really. 'It'll be different today,' Kira whispered in her mind. 'We'll find him.' Stella wasn't so sure. She had spent a year waiting, watching other wolves find their mates while she stayed invisible. After delivering the coffee and enduring more cutting remarks from Cassidy, Stella escaped to the storage room. That's when it happened. A scent hit her like a physical thing, it was cedarwood and leather, with something wild underneath. Her knees went weak. Everything in her body pulled toward it, like someone had tied a rope around her chest and yanked. 'Mate!' Kira howled, suddenly alive in a way she had never been before. 'That's him! That's our mate!' Stella's hands shook as her eyes widened. This couldn't be real. But the scent was everywhere, filling her lungs, making her dizzy. She followed it without thinking, feet moving on autopilot down the hallway, out the back door, across the lawn toward the training grounds. Warriors were sparring in the early light. She scanned the crowd, searching with desperation. There. Beta Ryker stood in the center ring, demonstrating a takedown move. He was thirty-one, second-in-command to Alpha Drake, and absolutely off-limits. Dark hair, broad shoulders, a scar running through his left eyebrow. Every unmated she-wolf in the pack had tried to catch his attention at some point. And he was hers. Their eyes met across the field. For one perfect second, she saw recognition flash in his gray eyes. Her heart soared. This was it. Her chance to finally matter to someone, to have a place that was truly hers. Then his expression changed. His jaw tightened. His eyes went cold, He looked at her the way you would look at something you stepped in. Stella froze, confusion mixing with a creeping dread. Why wasn't he coming to her? Why wasn't he…… "Ryker!" Cassidy's voice rang out across the training grounds. She appeared from nowhere, practically shoving Stella aside as she ran toward him. "Baby, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He caught her easily, his whole face transforming. Warm. Affectionate. He kissed her right there in front of everyone. Stella felt something break inside her chest. 'No,' Kira whimpered. 'No, he's ours. Make him see……..' But what could she do? Walk up and announce herself? They would laugh her out of the pack. Or worse Cassidy had connections. Her father was Alpha of the Northern Ridge pack. One word from her, and Stella would be lucky to end up in the dungeons instead of exiled. Ryker's eyes found hers again over Cassidy's shoulder. This time there was a warning in them. Clear as day: Stay away! Her mate was rejecting her without even saying the words. Stella turned and ran. She made it back to the storage room before the tears came. They had been building for years every insult, every moment of being invisible, every night spent wondering if life would ever get better. Now they are pouring out, hot and bitter. She had actually believed things would change today. That she would find someone who saw her, really saw her. Instead, she got this, a mate who wanted nothing to do with her, who had rather been with someone else. The bond pulled at her chest, a constant ache. She could feel him even now, probably still kissing Cassidy, pretending Stella didn't exist. 'We have to do something,' Kira said desperately. 'We can't just accept this.' "What choice do we have?" Stella whispered to the empty room. She was nobody. He was Beta. End of story. The door creaked open behind her. Stella scrambled to her feet, wiping her face. She wasn't sure who it was since no one barely came to the storage room. Stella was hoping that it wasn't Cassidy, knowing that she was the last person she would be able to face now especially after what she just saw. But still reminded of her position, she remained calm, whoever it was, she was ready to face it. And no doubt a part of her was hoping that it was Ryker.