Chapter 7
1387 Words
Chapter 7
Lena
The dress they left for me was dark blue silk. It was soft, but it felt like a costume. I put it on and looked in the mirror. I looked pale and small, like a doll waiting on a shelf.
A sharp knock came at the door. It was not the quiet maid.
The woman who entered was stunning, but in a way that felt dangerous. Her hair was black and perfect, tied back tightly. Her eyes were the color of winter smoke. She wore a red dress that clung to her, and she looked me up and down with a smirk that didn’t reach her cold eyes.
“So you’re Lena,” she said. Her voice was smooth, but it had an edge. “I am Selene. I run the Omega wing. Consider me your new… guide.” She said the word like it was a joke. “Come. The Alphas are presenting you to the pack tonight. Try not to embarrass them.”
I followed her into the hallway. Other doors were open. Beautiful women leaned in doorways, watching me pass. Their eyes were not friendly.
“Another one?” one whispered, not bothering to be quiet.
“She looks half-dead already,” another laughed softly.
“I give her a week before Verena breaks her.”
Selene heard them. She stopped and turned her icy gaze on the women. They fell silent immediately. “Jealousy is an ugly color on you, Elara,” Selene said to the one who had spoken. “She is the Alphas’ personal acquisition. Your petty gossip is beneath her… and me.” She turned back to me, that cold smile returning. “You see? Even here, there is a ladder. And you are at the very top… or the very bottom. It depends on how you look at it.”
She led me down a grand staircase. The noise of a crowd grew louder. My heart pounded in my ears.
The room at the bottom took my breath away. It was all glass and light, filled with the most beautiful and terrifying people I had ever seen. They glittered with jewels and confidence. When Selene and I entered, the conversations dipped. Dozens of pairs of eyes turned to me. I felt like a rabbit in a wolf den.
“Remember,” Selene whispered, her lips close to my ear. “Stand straight. Do not speak. You are a symbol of their power. Nothing more.”
She guided me to the center of the room. The crowd parted. On a raised platform at the far end, Ares and Cassian stood. Cassian held a drink, smiling casually. Ares stood with his arms crossed, his face like stone.
A hush fell.
A huge man with a bald head stepped forward. “The Alphas present a new holding,” his voice boomed. “An unranked Omega. She is under the sole protection and authority of Alphas Ares and Cassian Thorn. She is not to be touched or acknowledged without their command. Her name is Lena.”
A ripple went through the crowd. I heard a soft, mocking laugh.
From a group of women near a fireplace, she stepped forward. Verena. She was even more beautiful up close, with curves that her red dress showed off. A ruby pendant hung at her throat. Her eyes, a striking violet, looked me over like I was dirt on her shoe.
“A new pet!” Verena said, her voice sweet and poisonous. “How… quaint. Tell me, little Omega, do you know why you’re here?”
I said nothing, as instructed. My face burned.
“Cat got your tongue?” she teased, her friends giggling behind her. “Or are you just too weak to speak?”
“Verena.” Cassian’s voice cut across the room. He didn’t shout, but everyone heard him. “That’s enough. She’s new.”
Verena pouted, a perfect, fake gesture. “I’m just playing, Cassian. You used to like my games.” Her eyes shot daggers at me. I was not just an Omega; I was a threat to her.
Ares finally moved. He walked down from the platform, his steps heavy. The crowd respectfully made more space. He stopped in front of me, looking down. His amber eyes were unreadable.
“She is not for your games,” he said, but he was talking to Verena, not to me. He looked at Selene. “Take her back. She’s seen enough.”
Selene bowed her head. “Yes, Alpha.”
As Ares turned away, he spoke one last time, so low only I could hear. “This is not a refuge. It is a prison. Remember that.”
Selene took my arm, her grip firm. We were walking back toward the doors when a man stepped into our path. He had kind eyes and neat, ash-blonde hair. Dorian.
“Selene,” he said, smiling warmly. “Let me. I have to go that way anyway. I’ll make sure she gets back.”
Selene’s eyes narrowed, but she let go of my arm. “As you wish, Dorian. Don’t get lost, Lena.” She walked away, blending into the crowd.
“Come on,” Dorian said softly. “Let’s get you some air. You look like you’re going to pass out.”
He led me not upstairs, but through a side door into a quiet, dark garden. The cold night air was a relief.
“Thank you,” I breathed, my voice shaky.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. He leaned against a stone wall. “This place… it eats people like you. You need to be careful.”
“Why are you helping me?” I asked.
“Let’s just say I don’t always agree with my cousins’ methods,” he said. He looked around, then lowered his voice. “They bought you for a reason, Lena. A bad one. It’s not just about owning an Omega.”
My blood went cold. “What do you mean?”
He fiddled with a silver ring on his finger. “Your father. He’s not the human man you think. Your real father is a wolf named Silas. He’s an enemy of this pack. He’s caused them a lot of pain.” Dorian looked at me with pity. “Ares and Cassian didn’t buy you to have you. They bought you to break you. To hurt him. You’re their revenge.”
The world tilted. My father? A werewolf? An enemy?
Before I could process it, Dorian straightened up. “I’ve said too much. Just… be smart. Trust no one. Not even the ones who seem nice.” He gave me a meaningful look. “Especially not them.”
He walked away, leaving me alone in the dark garden.
I stood there, shaking. The pieces crashed together in my head. My sickness. The medicine. The lie of my entire life.
But the biggest twist wasn’t that my father was a monster.
It was what Dorian said last: "Especially not them."
He wasn’t just warning me about Ares and Cassian.
He was warning me about everyone. Himself included.
I looked back at the bright, noisy house full of beautiful, smiling wolves. A prison, Ares had called it.
He was right.
But I wasn’t just a prisoner anymore.
I was a prisoner who knew the warden’s secret. My father was their enemy. That made me a threat. And maybe, just maybe, it also made me powerful.
A cold calm settled over me. The fear was still there, but underneath it, a new plan was forming.
If I was a pawn in their revenge… maybe I could turn the game around.
- Writer
